BYSTOLIC (Nebivolol) - New Hypertensive(Beta Blocker)Medication

[flowergirl2day]

Hi Ace,

Your doctor was right. Altace and other drugs in this class help treat several conditions and have been shown to be very effective for blood pressure control, especially in combination with diuretics. Thank goodness I can tolerate this medication. I am on 20mg and had the ugly cough initially. It went away after a while.
Sounds like you've had your share of side effects or, more accurately, adverse reactions (as Beth pointed out they are called now) with prescription medications. As helpful as Lipitor is supposed to be, I can't get over the feeling that it is damaging my muscles. I get the weirdest aches and pains. Most notably in my calf. My joints hurt, especially the right hip, knee and leg, so much so that I have to take the pain medication I was given for it. I am also on an antibiotic at the moment which made me extremely fatigued and sleepy after I took it with the pain meds at work. I don't remember ever feeling so tired. Somewhat concerned I stopped at the pharmacy after work to ask about any possible interactions. According to the pharmacist, (a new one I don't like) none of my meds are supposed to interact. Yeah, right! I happen to know of SEVERAL interactions even before these two new additions........ so will have to check for interactions myself. I think Lipitor is causing the muscle aches you and many others experienced as well. Why is it we always end up discussing our adverse reactions (side effects)? Could it be because they are much more common than our doctors believe?
I hope your low doses of medication will prove to be high enough for a good blood pressure control. Because the side effects are usually dose related, it is in our best interest to remain on the lowest doses of medication possible.
Thank you for sharing your experiences with both the old and the new antihypertensives. Good luck with Bystolic!

flowergirl

[ACE28]

Originally Posted by flowergirl2day

Hi Ace,

Your doctor was right. Altace and other drugs in this class help treat several conditions and have been shown to be very effective for blood pressure control, especially in combination with diuretics. Thank goodness I can tolerate this medication. I am on 20mg and had the ugly cough initially. It went away after a while.
Sounds like you've had your share of side effects or, more accurately, adverse reactions (as Beth pointed out they are called now) with prescription medications. As helpful as Lipitor is supposed to be, I can't get over the feeling that it is damaging my muscles. I get the weirdest aches and pains. Most notably in my calf. My joints hurt, especially the right hip, knee and leg, so much so that I have to take the pain medication I was given for it. I am also on an antibiotic at the moment which made me extremely fatigued and sleepy after I took it with the pain meds at work. I don't remember ever feeling so tired. Somewhat concerned I stopped at the pharmacy after work to ask about any possible interactions. According to the pharmacist, (a new one I don't like) none of my meds are supposed to interact. Yeah, right! I happen to know of SEVERAL interactions even before these two new additions........ so will have to check for interactions myself. I think Lipitor is causing the muscle aches you and many others experienced as well. Why is it we always end up discussing our adverse reactions (side effects)? Could it be because they are much more common than our doctors believe?
I hope your low doses of medication will prove to be high enough for a good blood pressure control. Because the side effects are usually dose related, it is in our best interest to remain on the lowest doses of medication possible.
Thank you for sharing your experiences with both the old and the new antihypertensives. Good luck with Bystolic!

flowergirl

My doctor is well aware of medication side effects. When I mentioned the TOPROL occasional nightmares and vivid dreams, he commented that these side effects are not typical. When I did further research, I discovered that beta-blockers (as TOPROL) cross the blood and brain barrier which can cause these type of symptoms. When I mentioned the neck and muscle aches he said this is a rather common side-effect and told me to stop LIPITOR. He later switched me to 10mg of PRAVACHOL which worked better for me.

Drug Interractions (as you mention) are very common, they are the cause of most drug related fatalities. The more drugs you add to the mix the greater the sid-effects. No Doctor or Pharmacist can state with certainty that pill combinations are 100 % safe. They will always say "To the best of my Knowledge" Which means they really don't have a clue......

P.S. Remember the LIPITOR Interraction with Grapefruit Juice about 8 years ago? The LIPITOR blood levels increased enough to cause severe muscle aches and damage.. It was later discovered that approx. 500 + medications have this negative interraction. Are there any other Interractions we are not aware of??

[flowergirl2day]

ACE,

you've raised several good points.
I don't think anyone can be fully aware of all of the existing interactions between prescription and non-prescription drugs. They exist and people are experiencing them every day. They are not always recognized as such and are attributed to other causes - aging, ANXIETY, etc. Few drug combinations have been tested over extended periods of time (years...) and their numbers are very limited. As people age, more health problems arise, making it difficult or even impossible to distinguish a side effect of a medication from a symptom of a developing medical condition.
As far as the safety of prescription drugs - I read an article stating that the number of people dying each year from rx drug use is about the same as the number of casulties of an illicit drug use. It pays to do one's research and be very careful, especially when using multiple drugs.
You don't get any muscle aches on Pravachol? I'll do some reading about it. It seems to me that everytime I mention the wonder drug (Lipitor) as a possible cause of my aches the doctor gets MAD and says they are caused by -what else?-anxiety. I even quit taking it once because of scary muscle/nerve coordination problems and was persuaded to go back on it by my nephrologist. That's why I am not sure I have the option of stopping it completely or switching to another drug (unless it is very effective in reducing cholesterol). Oh well. I am lucky I am not on a high dose, I guess.

flowergirl

[ACE28]

Pravachol (at the 10 mg dose) did not give me the muscle aches. PRAVACHOL ZOCOR, LOVASTATIN are the only (NATURAL - Red yeast) statins proven in Large Research studies to reduce all cause mortality. The FDA has approved PRAVACHOL and ZOCOR for almost every CARDIO-RELATED problem. LIPITOR has not been proven (By far). LIPITOR (Pfizer) marketing has been phenomenol.. Doctors push LIPITOR like crazy. CRESTOR is most similar to PRAVACHOL (except about 5 times more potent) when you add NIACIN to either of these Statins (Regression of Atheromas and CAROTID artery improvement have been noted in many studies)

P.S. You can search out the FDA information on these STATINS. <removed>

[flowergirl2day]

Thanks for your response and advice, ACE.

The red yeast rice and related products are not available in Canada.

Many of the Chinese health and medicinal products are being recalled almost daily by our government. (I get e-mail notices with every recall). I can't believe how frequent the recalls are. I think it's safer to consider all of these types of herbal, weight loss and other medicinal products UNSAFE unless proven otherwise! The red yeast rice was not available the last time I inquired, which was several months ago. I am not sure any of the products you have suggested are. I will definitely look into it. Many thanks once again!
P.S. I read many horror stories from former users of Lipitor. It's a Catch 22, taking chances either way.

flowergirl