Went to ER.....Very worried!!!!

[Mellie310]

Okay, all this blood pressure stuff is beginning to get to me. For the past 10 days, my ankles have been swelling throughout the day. When I get up, they're fine. They never get huge, but still they're swollen. Due to the fact that I'm on such a high dose of Lisinopril, (160 mgs.), my dr. has told me to have periodical kidney tests ran. So, I went to the ER to have one ran last night to make sure they were functioning properly. Now...I was SCARED in the first place, who isn't scared when they go to the hospital? I had been smoking heavily all day long, (I know, I have no business doing that), and because I have panic/anxiety disorders, I was anxious to begin with. So, at the hospital, they call my name, not long after I signed in, walked all the way to Triage, sat down and she slapped a cuff on my arm and got a reading of 145/80. So the dr. sees that and he throws a fit, saying that that was WAY too high for all the meds I'm on. I take 160 mgs. of Lisinopril, which I have heard from this board that nothing much over 40 does any good anyway, 5 mgs. of Norvasc, and 200 mgs. of Toprol XL which I've been on for years for some minor heart problems. My kidneys were OK, he says I am "overhydrated" and thus the ankle swelling. I DO drink tons of water, plus Coke on top of that. My question is this.

IS A READING OF 145/80 AT THE HOSPITAL, AFTER HAVING SMOKED LIKE A CHIMNEY ALL DAY LONG, BEEN ANXIOUS, SCARED ABOUT BEING AT THE HOSPITAL, THEN WALKING TO THE TRIAGE ROOM AND IMMEDIATELY HAVING MY B/P TAKEN TOO HIGH A READING? THIS MAN HAS ME SCARED TO DEATH.

Also, I am weaning off of Tylenol 3 w/codeine, so would it be safe to start weaning off of the lisinopril?

I am soooooooo confused, I don't know what's going on with me, and I don't know why my ankles are swelling. He called it "trace swelling". Do I just simply have too much time on my hands and am I dwelling on something so hard that I'm making it catastrophic in my mind or what?

Mellie

[redherring]

I'm not on BP meds, but from what I've read about Norvasc (yes, my doctor tried to push this med on me), it can cause terrible leg swelling. The caffiene in your coke can elevate your BP. Being in the ER can raise your BP. Also smoking can raise. Add all three together and you'll have an high reading in spite of meds.

I hope you feel better. I think the anxiety is worse than actual BP problems.

[mgraylorn]

One would hope that with all the drugs you are taking that your bp would be lower than 145/80. But, some people have white coat even when they get good control at home. By the way, 145/80 is not bad. First stage hypertension starts at 140/90, so only your top number is in the hypertensive category. Unless you have some other medical condition like diabetes or heart trouble, your doctor is over reacting. And you are obsessing too much. You are being your own worst enemy here with stessing and obsessing about your blood pressure. Stressing so much and engaging in bad habits like smoking will give you blood pressure problems.

Norvasc is notorious for causing swelling. The slight swelling you are getting is probably from that. Don't worry about slight swelling. Were you on your feet all day? That in and of itself will cause some ankle and foot swelling.

Start cutting down on the Lisinopril. Cut down gradually.

[zuzu8]

Mellie,

You've got a few threads going so forgive me if I've missed something.

Didn't you stop the Norvasc about a week or so ago? By now, you know from others on the board that this drug alone can cause peripheral edema.
So, are you on or off it at this time?

The ER doctor overreacted..... 145/80 when you're in a panic, in a clinical setting, have been smoking, etc. is absolutely nothing to be alarmed about!

What IS it with these guys?

And there is absolutely NO REASON for anyone to be on 160mg of Lisinopril!!!!

Initial dose is usually 10mg, but many people need to go up to 20 or 40 mg.
Occassionally some people take 80mg but this dose doesn't appear to have any greater effect on BP.
As for 160mg, this is positively nuts. Way too much drug for nuthin!

What I am surprised about is the fact that nowhere in your regimen is a thiazide diuretic.

Lower doses of lisinopril with the addition of even 12.5mg of HCTZ more often than not provides terrific BP control.

Your home #s are good and low...don't worry about the ER spike..I'm actually surprised it wasn't higher!

Yes, you need to reduce the lisinopril- If your doctor won't go for it PUL-EASE find ANOTHER DOCTOR. He isn't very savvy about these meds.

zuzu xx

[Mellie310]

Yeah, I know I've got several threads going on this board, and I feel like an idiot. To answer some of your questions, (first, thanks to you all for responding, I feel so much better now), I cut the Norvasc from 10 mgs. to 5 mgs. And I have been on my feet all day long for days. My blood pressure had been running so low that I had NO energy and just laid around and slept most of the time. Then I started smoking heavily, why I did that I'll never know, and my b/p started to rise, naturally.

I am just sick to death of one doctor saying one thing and another one saying another thing. I mean come on, all that stress last night, worrying about "trace swelling" in my ankles, worrying about kidney failure, heavy smoking, anxiety, walking to the room and before I even got situated in the chair she slaps that cuff on me and hits the button. He then throws that fit. I thought, "Well, this high blood pressure is going to get me in the end". I think I'd better get off this board and go find a mental health board instead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

I AM still on 5 mgs. of Norvasc, have been on my feet much, much more than I have been in almost a year, plus, (and this is embarrassing), it's "that time of the month". I don't know what to do, can't get my regular dr. to even listen to me, he put me on all the junk to begin with, but doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. Went to my husbands dr. and he wasn't too concerned either. So I'm going to go to a cardiologist, at least they'll know what they're doing. And I'll certainly feel better.

Thanks for your help and support and for putting up with my idiocy here. High blood pressure has ALWAYS been a fear of mine. My Mother had it, and I didn't like what she went through with it.

Thanks again and good luck to all of you.

Mellie