bethsheba

I was on 25-50mg of hydrochlorothiazide for over a year, and I was also on benicar hct 40/25 for about 11 months. I can gain/lose as much as seven pounds of water weight within a short period of time depending on my salt intake---but for the record, the phrase "salt sensitive high blood pressure" has little medical meaning to me. However, given my experience on these medications I feel qualified to share my experiences with you.

While on 25-50 mg of hct per day, I experienced the following:

slept 12-20 hours per day, slept through doctor appointments, physical therapy appts, etc. I was still charged for these appts, by the way. I was too tired to brush my teeth, I was too tired to dry myself off after a moring shower--I would have to sleep an hour or so in my terry bathrobe before I could finish drying myself off and dressing, I was too tired to fix meals, too tired to return phone calls, too tired to call the doctor and tell him I was no longer able to function.

experienced excructiating pain in back making it difficult if not impossible to get out of bed in the am, and severe pain in left shoulder--was not allowed to lift so much as a gallon of milk for 6 weeks--saw a physical therapist for 14 weeks....neither doctor nor I realized these were side effects of the medication until after I had discontinued it (although these symptoms were listed on the rx drug sheet as side effects). Did not experience these symptoms before or after taking hct.

experienced changes in vision---got new eyeglasses (for $350/pair plus eye exam) but side effects of hct blurred my vision so glasses were worthless---went through 2 more pairs of glasses before I realized it was a side effect (overdose) of the medication as doctors were not aware of it either...but it is listed as a side effect in the literature! Am now using eyeglasses that are about 5 years old but I can see perfectly! If you add the costs here, it comes up to over $1000 of worthless eyeglasses...

Experienced brain fog---someone who is articulate should start a thread defining this side effect. If you've had it, you KNOW you've had it. Basically, you can't think, can't add numbers, can't do anytning that requires the use of memory or your mind! Decision making is POOR at best. I drove through a number of familiar stop signs/lights while under the influence of this medication---I have a perfect motor vehicle history, but to this day I am grateful I didn't kill someone with my vehicle while taking this medication.

experienced periodic limb movements (as many as 388 per night) while on this drug as recorded in a sleep study six months after I started taking hct. Although I have no proof (because I did not have a sleep study done before I started taking hct, nor did I have a sleep study done after discoing the drug)I am convinced I stopped experiencing these nocturnal movements when I discontinued the hct....my experience with benicar hct supports these suspicions.

Cholesterol level went from a healthy 160 to over 260 in the year I was on this med, and yes, elevated cholesterol levels are listed as side effects as well as elevated blood glucose levels.

Oh, and because I was ALWAYS exhausted, I was not able to eat or exercise properly and I gained over 20 pounds that year, which I'm sure increased my blood pressure because I was then put on another med...

benicar hct 40/25 mg

This too was a doozy....

exhaustion comes to mind but the real problem I had with benicar hct was restless leg...although I had periodic limb movements while I slept when I was taking hct, while on benicar hct, my legs started jumping around in the afternoon, several hours after taking my medication. These movements progressively got worse and at bedtime, despite my exhaustion, I had to get out of bed and pace for 1-2 hours before going back to bed to try to sleep. My sleep doctor and my primary both denied a connection to the benicar but I insisted on discoing the med and it was just a matter of days of discoing the med before the movements stopped...I haven't had them since! And I don't expect to have them again because I will never, ever take hct again in my life.

These are not all of the side effects I experienced while on these medications, but I think you get the picture.

Both medications may be a godsend to many with high blood pressure...but you need to be aware of the possible side effects BEFORE you take the medication as the doctors don't---mine certainly didn't, and my mind was too far gone to help me out. If I hadn't been too tired to eat and to take my meds, I'd still be on this medication today because it wasn't until I was too tired to take my meds that I started to feel better...it was only after several days of "missed doses" that I could pull it together enough to call a friend for help.

Bsheba