How fast does a jump in Diovan from 80 mg (for 6 months) to 160 take to go into affect? I had my first 160 tonight at 8pm, and by 9:30 i started to feel like my extremities were getting slightly bloated.. I am thinking there is NO possible way Diovan 160 could have caused this, right..?

I had no side-effects from the 80mg pill.. si I should no experience anything on the 160 either..?

Help, i hope this goes away.. I don;t want to take the HCT version, cuz the HCT component floors me..

F.

Please take a look at this document:

Value of low dose combination treatment with blood pressure lowering drugs: analysis of 354 randomised trials (http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/326/7404/1427)

—Max.

ok.. so it's 11pm and i can get my BP easily down to 121/75 at 59bpm .

Should i stop taking this stupid 25mg toprol..? the doc gave me some sample packets and it worked somewhat ok with the diovan 80mg.. but now with the diovan at 160, i am not feeling so well..

my right side feels a little bit "tingly", and my heart-rate is definatly slower than normal..

F.

F- Don't stop the Toprol cold turkey. You probably don't need it now with the increased dosage of Diovan BUT....beta blockers need weaning and it can be dangerous to just quit cold. Call your doc first thing in the AM.

I started on 8omg Diovan, like you.
It didn't quite bring my #s down enough 2 weeks later.
Upped it to 160 and one week later when I went back to the doc, BP was perfect and has remained so. The add'l dose should not be causing you side effects (in theory) if you tolerated it well @ 80mg.

My guess is that you don't need the Toprol anymore....I bet once it's weaned and out of your system you will have no problems at all! As far as I know the side effects of Diovan do NOT appear to be dose related. If you were going to have any...you would have already known it on the 80mg dose. And as you know, the ARBS (Diovan et al) have the least side effects of all these BP meds.

zuzu xx

Thanks zuzu..

I have pretty much confirmed that you are on target here.. Last night I could not sleep because of simple FEAR. My BP reached 112/69 @59-bpm and I was so scared because I know I should have NOT taken the toprol 25mg blindly..

So, you are saying I should cut the 25mg in half for a day or so..?

I have been able to determine that the bloating seems to have passed, but I sense a definite change in my system, which I am attributing (after monitoring) to the simple fact that my BP is much lower than before.

I guess this drug really can produce changed in just a few hours of changing my dose after all.

This morning I woke up a little groggy and feeling slightly floating, but I am confidant that not getting any sleep had something to do with that. I was afraid to go to sleep because every time I would relax, I would feel like I was losing consciousness, so I decided to take my BP and noticed the extremely low readings..

When I started on the toprol 25, I did notice about a 5-7 point addition drop in bp and a 10pbm drop in heart rate.

I trust that with dropping the toprol completly, I will be doing just fine as well.

I got scared after taking the increased Diovan because, quite frankly, I an sick and tired of having to switch drugs and play with dosages (with my doc) until I get fed up with the darn things. Diovan was doing ok at 80mg with the toprol, but under high stress, the doc said I should move up on the diovan ladder (is there a diovan 120mg out there?).

I just want diovan to work.

F.

Flamaest- Regarding discontinuing the Toprol...just call your doctor, explain you feel not so great and want to get off, and ask if you can just quit or should you wean. With your very low #s now... I can't see why the doc would insist you continue it. But far be it from me to play doctor here! I just know I keep reading that USUALLY beta blockers should be tapered off because of risks of heart attack or angina, but this may not be a problem for you. Just check first.

Your anxiety about upping the Diovan dose is understandable...But Diovan is such an effective, virtually side-effect free med, please don't fret!

One phonecall to the doc's office....and I bet you'll get a call-back from his nurse that it's okay to get off Toprol. How or even IF to taper will be something you'll need to find out.
Relax! I will REALLY be suprised if the 160mg Diovan isn't going to be perfect for you. I mean it.

zuzu xx




[This message has been edited by zuzu8 (edited 10-03-2003).]

Thanks for discussing all of that... I benefited greatly from the data, as well !!! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif

max,

Thank you for that excellent link. The analyses of all those studies clearly points to the increased benefits of small doses of several drugs over large doses of single drugs.
(Now if only the universe could make PDF handling easier....well maybe when we all have 35" monitors!)

flamaest,

I agree with zuzu that the doubling of the diovan dose is apt to be inocuous side-effect wise. Unfortunately I agree with maxjasper that you'd get more BP lowering effect with addition of a second class of drug (or even a third) instead (and keeping the diovan at 80.)
Was the Diovan 80 and the toprol not enought? I think it would work lot's better than the 160 Diovan alone.

On a dollar basis, the high dose ARB is the most expensive way to go as well.

[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 10-04-2003).]

[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 10-04-2003).]

Hi Zip- You may be right about the blood pressure lowing affects of more than one agent, but given the potential side effects of Toprol, wouldn't it be best for Flamaest to at least give the 180mg Diovan a shot first? If BP comes down (like mine did) then we've got good BP control with no side effects on this one med alone.

zuzu xx

PS for ZIP- This is the second time you mentioned frustration with pdfs.......Don't you have a "zoom in" feature whenever you open one?

zuzu xx

Thanks everone for you help..

I weened off the toprol 25 and am now on my second day of diovan 160.. All signs point to few, to no side effects and my bp at rest is 122/75 at 60bpm .

To answer a previous question about my expereince with combinging drugs.. well no, the combo might have been working for those "overly relaxed" BP tests, but not during normal everyday activities.. where it would go up considerably..


The toprol definatly had something to do with some of my side effects, even at such a low dose..

I have literally been thorugh a hellish set of weeks where I could barely bring myself to get to work.. I don;t know the absolute cause or combination of factors.. but i am better now..

Feeling good,
Fabian.

zuzu,
Sure I have a zoom feature. Unfortunately then the up-down, left-right scrolling is maddening.
PLUS, perhaps worst of all, I'm still a poor man's dial up connection and sometimes a big PDF takes an interminable time to load. No fun especially if turns out to be twaddle.
I am always grateful for the choice:"read as html."