flowergirl2day

Hi Tigger,

Welcome - and congratulations on becoming a mom!

I had to wean off 800mg of Labetalol. I went from 800mg to 400mg to nothing within one week, under the doctors' supervision. I don't think the cessation of therapy was done properly as I had considerable withdrawal symptoms, accompanied by a long-lasting headache, for weeks afterwards.
If you were on a thiazide diuretic at the time of starting Lisinopril, it should have been stopped for a couple of days prior to the use of this drug. Stopping the diuretic gives the body a chance to get used to the new drug without too many adverse effects and also reduces the likelihood of hypotention, should the dosage prove too high. Doctors often ignore these and similar types of warnings.
Your Lisinopril dose seems excessive. Normal dose in an uncomplicated hypertension and without the use of diuretics is 10mg a day. Depending on the response, the dose can be adjusted to 20-40mgs. It is recommended that if the blood pressure response is not adequate at a lower dose, a low dose of a diuretic be added. In combination with ACE inhibitors, diuretics have an additive effect. That means that one gets better results on small doses. Higher doses of ACE inhibitors do not appear to have a greater blood pressure lowering effect.
Your circumstances are a little different. Even though your hypertension appears to be moderate, you've been on Labetalol for quite a while. Avoiding rebound hypertension and other physiological responses to stopping this medication must be the reason for your fairly high dose of Lisinopril. I hope all goes well for you and that in the very near future your dosage of Lisinopril will be REDUCED to a low daily maintenance dose (10-20mg). You should take a full dose as instructed by your doctor to get the best results. Any problems you might experience should be reported without delay.

With your type of hypertension, given the right lifestyle and plenty of exercise (not difficult to get with a baby to look after ) you have an excellent chance to achieve and maintain a normal blood pressure without ANY medication at all.

Best of luck!
flowergirl