I presently take Clonidine .1mg 5x's day. It is not controlling my bp very well so the dr. added Diovan 80mg 2 x's day. Whenever I take the Diovan I get such a rush in my body. My heart starts racing, my bp shoots up and I start getting an internal shaking. I wait about 30 minutes and then I take a Clonidine and eventually that helps calm me down. I switched to Diovan 40mg
2x's a day thinking that it would not effect my body as bad. It still does it.
Within a few hours my bp goes down and so does the heart rate but sometimes I still feel the shakiness inside.
Why does the bp shoot up? You would think when you take a bp pill the bp would come down. Why the surge in my body? Has anyone else experienced these sensations. I am very sensitive to drugs and have taken some many different classes of drugs...but this is crazy! I am at my wit's end trying to control the bp.
I have had all the tests and everything came out fine. My mother had hbp so they say it is heridetary. My husband seems to think I should see another doctor....but I have no faith in them....all they want to do is push drugs. I don't see what another dr would do differently.
I seem to have the same experience with Benicar. Within an hour of taking it my bp goes up. I don't have any other symptoms, just the increased bp, but it doesn't make any sense to me why it does this. I told the doctor about this but I don't think he believed me. He said "stop taking your bp so often, no more then once a day." I now take cardizem LA at night and that keeps it down. the doc told me to take the Benicar in the morning but I don't understand why since it doesn't seem to do anything. What a frustrating malady this is!
Emeraldeyes~I know just how you feel. I have been on Diovan for over a year. I take 80mg which keeps my BP in the 130's over 80's. The doc was not pleased with those readings so she had me take an 80mg pill in the AM and then one in the PM~WELL~I had the same rush thru my body you mentioned and then my heart would race like crazy. I reported this to the doc so she had me take only half the pill in the PM~Same thing happened~I was jittery and my heartbeat was fast and wacky. I nver took my BP during those episodes so I dont know how high it was? I just take 80mg once daily~and with the help of Ativan to control occassional "spikes" I am in range. Keep me posted ~I am interested to know how your doc handles your dilemma.
take care~RR
Emeraldeyes~I know just how you feel. I have been on Diovan for over a year. I take 80mg which keeps my BP in the 130's over 80's. The doc was not pleased with those readings so she had me take an 80mg pill in the AM and then one in the PM~WELL~I had the same rush thru my body you mentioned and then my heart would race like crazy. I reported this to the doc so she had me take only half the pill in the PM~Same thing happened~I was jittery and my heartbeat was fast and wacky. I nver took my BP during those episodes so I dont know how high it was? I just take 80mg once daily~and with the help of Ativan to control occassional "spikes" I am in range. Keep me posted ~I am interested to know how your doc handles your dilemma.
take care~RR
I take 320mg of DIOVAN once a day in the morning. I started off with 80mg twice a day, once in the morning and another one at night. My doctor then decided to give me 160mg pills to take once a day. I went for a blood pressure check and my reading was 130/80 so he increased the dosage to 320 mg once a day. My readings all over the place now. Sometimes 123/78 and other times as high as 135/80. I occasionally get readings 146/78. My doctor also told me not to check it so often, maybe once a week. I still have been checking it a few times at night and on the weekends I check it during the day at different times. I have no noticeable side effects from the Diovan and from what I understand it is supposed to be a mild drug that just blocks a chemical that constricts blood vessels that the kidneys make....
Here's a pplausible hypothesis.
Whenever you take any drug that vasodilates the arterioles like angiotensin receptor blockers are claimed to do, a feedback loop kicks in to speed up the heart, sometimes dramatically (palpitations) and very quickly, to pump more blood. This effect can actually also raise BP somewhat nullifying the effect of the drug. I've been researching the effects of an old drug, hydralazine, acts directly to dilate the arterioles and there are warnings about the effect. Alas, the hydralazine doesn't do boop for me either much like ARB's and ACEI's.
Anyhoo, people who are high renin hypertensives and thus sensitive to ARB's and ACEI's will probably notice this effect. Nitroglycerine does it too.
What is in effect happening is that the heart, through evolution, mistakenly thinks that the body has suffered a major cut and is losing blood when the arteries open and it reacts accordingly in a effort to save the sufferer's life.
Lenin~I am amazed at your knowledge of how these meds work. I wish my doctor could explain it like you do! Come to think of it,I have been to 3 docs for my BP and they have never explained a thing to me. Do you think most are prescribing what's the most abundant in their "freebie" cabinet? I dont think think my BP will ever be or stay at 120/80. And I know it rises during the day when I'm busy with kids etc. At night it calms down. I wonder if most of us should be getting one of those sophisticated heart machine checks like Oprah did on her show a few weeks ago? I think I'd have major anxiety at the thought of getting one....but they do tell the tale~good or bad. I have whitecoat bigtime~which is no fun~but those heart machines are tempting!
*RR*
Lenin - is this something I should be concerned about. Is it bad enough to stop taking Diovan? When I take the Clonidine I settle down. I'm thinking once my system gets use to it I will do better. It is helping my bp with the least side effects.
Here's a pplausible hypothesis.
Whenever you take any drug that vasodilates the arterioles like angiotensin receptor blockers are claimed to do, a feedback loop kicks in to speed up the heart, sometimes dramatically (palpitations) and very quickly, to pump more blood. This effect can actually also raise BP somewhat nullifying the effect of the drug. I've been researching the effects of an old drug, hydralazine, acts directly to dilate the arterioles and there are warnings about the effect. Alas, the hydralazine doesn't do boop for me either much like ARB's and ACEI's.
Anyhoo, people who are high renin hypertensives and thus sensitive to ARB's and ACEI's will probably notice this effect. Nitroglycerine does it too.
What is in effect happening is that the heart, through evolution, mistakenly thinks that the body has suffered a major cut and is losing blood when the arteries open and it reacts accordingly in a effort to save the sufferer's life.
Yes..but the body will *reset* after a period and BP should stablize after time.
