Took myself off Verapamil - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

nospin06 · 02-09-2004, 05:45 PM

Greetings everyone,

About a week ago, I took myself off varapamil. At that time, it had been a 3 full weeks using the 180mg drug with good results (avg. 130/65) , at least according to my home bp omron monitor. The reason I took myself off it is because of the constipation that set in at around the 3rd week. And being a full time college student, it was making me feel uncomfortable at school.

So a week has passed without any drugs and I took my bp at night about 2 days ago. The readings average out to
135-140/75. The systolic number looks a lot better than before (150-160/70 before the verapamil) , but my diastolic number seems to have jumped up 5 points. Perhaps this is a result of the weaning process? I have noticed that my heart rate increased a bit for a couple days after I quit, but is now back to normal (resting pulse now is 66-75.

I hope that through a controlled diet and exercise, I will be able to lower the numbers even more. With my current class schedule, I barely have time to work out, but I do use weights at home everyday with 50 full situps and 200 crunches everynight. In fact, I am getting closer to achieving the 6 pack that I had back during the football season in high school, lol!

pslam 91 · 02-11-2004, 12:52 PM

Hi nospin, I havent been taking my verapamil for about a week either. I went through the constipation thing too. It passes as your body adjust to the meds. Magnisium helps that problem. I went off it because I was put on it for anxiety and racing heart. I really feel that my calsium magnisium supplement has helped my heart rate. I usually am below 72 or right at it. I also found out that I am peri-menopause. The symptoms are anxiety and racing heart to just name two out of many symptoms. Of course, my male gp had NO clue to what was happening to me. I didnt have a clue either until I started talking to friends. So my course of action has to do with keeping my hormones in balance.
Nospin, You know your body best. You are ultimatly in charge of your health. Make wise choices that you feel are best. Ultimately, we are just a chart to most drs.

Also, Do a yahoo search on celery and high blood pressure or hypertension. I found some sites that say eating celery helps blood pressure and that it acts like a calsium channel blocker like verapamil. If I have a choice, I pick God's natural creation to eat over some synthetic pill! Add peanut butter or pamento cheese to add some taste and protien. Bless you!