Just started on Diovan 160.. Help.. - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

hpbguyfromca · 10-01-2003, 08:44 PM

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.

maxjasper · 10-01-2003, 09:11 PM

Please take a look at this document:

[url="http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/326/7404/1427"]Value of low dose combination treatment with blood pressure lowering drugs: analysis of 354 randomised trials [/url]

—Max.

hpbguyfromca · 10-01-2003, 09:53 PM

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.

zuzu8 · 10-02-2003, 12:33 AM

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

hpbguyfromca · 10-02-2003, 08:16 AM

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.