Hi all, I'm new to BP and this group. I thought I needed glasses three months ago and found out I had high blood pressure after a visit to an optomologist who freaked out and ordered me straight to the nearest hospital. Apparently I had a reading of 255/145 and was almost legally blind in my left eye as a consequence. Since then I have regained some of the vision in that eye but some of the damage was permanent.

After 6 to 8 weeks on Monopril 20mg and Monopril Plus 20 mg every 12 hours I managed to maintain readings between 115/75 and 125/85. That was until I got the flue about a month ago and everything went hay wire again.

My BP started dropping to low for me, I was getting reads of 90/65 and feeling sick not only due to the flue but also to the BP. I couldn't see the doctor I am under at the hospital so after a lengthy discussion with another GP, I stopped taking the MonoPlus 20mg (Fluid Tablet Combo) and the Monopril 20mg and began using Monopril 10mg as needed.

I'm confused about all of this because when I initially got over the first discovery of having Hypertension at the age of 41, I was of the understanding that I would be on a total of 40mg of Fosinopril Sodium for the rest of my life. Even after recovering from the flue which wasn't that serious, I still haven't been able to maintain stable readings like I had been prior to catching it.

These days I can wake up and have a read of 110/70 and not climb above 125/80 unless there is an obvious cause such as stress or activity. All the same it may drop back down provided I stop and take it easy, on the other hand sometimes it doesn't, I then take something to bring it down. Either 10 or 20 mg depending on how long its taking to drop. Its all over the place from one day to the next, some days I need to take a total of 30mg through out a day and others I don't need to take anything which can sometimes be for as long as 36 hours. Other days I may only need to take 10mg for the entire day but for what ever reason it can flatten me and drop me down below 105/75 and I feel very groggy. It would make sense to me if that happened the day or evening after I had needed to take 30 or 40 mg, but not when I have taken smaller doses.

I have begun to notice that my pulse can start to race, and I have had reads of 95/65 with a pulse of 110. not every time but I become aware of my heart beat. The monitor I use has also started to pick up irregular heartbeats more often which is happening between 2 and 5 times a week regardless of the pulse rate or the BP.

I feel like I am playing with fire here, I understand that our BP can go up and down over the course of a day but its difficult to tell what its going to do. I also understand that I will be on medication for this for the rest of my life but is it common for people to need to monitor themselves and juggle their medication like this?

As an example, last weekend I had to drive some one else's vehicle which made me a little nervous but Ive been driving for 20 years so I wasn't petrified, just consciously careful. My BP before leaving home was 110/70 and I had taken 10mg of Monopril an hour before. I drove for 35 minutes on the freeway at 110 kms and read my BP after arriving and parking the vehicle and it was 160/100. I sat down for 25 minutes and checked it again and it was 115/80.

Is it OK to fluctuate the way I did over that amount of time? bearing in mind that some days I do get a read similar to that, but It doesn't necessarily drop down and I do need to take something. As a rule I usually wait 20 minutes to see what its going to do before I take something because too often it drops me down to low and I feel sick the following day.

Kaz

Thanks Flowergirl, thats also what I understood when I first found out about it myself. The trouble is that if I was still taking 20mg every twelve hours I'm not sure I would still be here. The Doctor I am under is based in the local hospital and is a professor who specialises in this field, but due to going through the public health system its gone from a week to a month between visits at this stage. How ever I have spoken to him over the phone and described whats been happening and he has said there isnt much else I can do. He said that If I drop down to 90/65 again I have to go to the hospital as its to low for me after being so high for what he beleives could be several years. I know what your saying about changing the medication even the pharmascist quized me last week when I had a script filled.

Much earlier on after I first got out of hospital and went to see the Professor, he said I had some heart damage and would probably finish up on a lot of medication. A week later he looked at my BP reads and said he had a new plan for me and handed me a script for Minipress 0.5mg (Prazosin) three times a day ontop of 20mg of Monopril. I took it that night and thought I was going to collapse but decided it must have been something to do with having a hot bath. I tried it again the following morning before taking the Monopril but it did the same thing and dropped my BP down to something like 77/59 from 130/90. Talk about a wild ride, I was clinging to the wall down the hallway thinking it was all over for me. I got to the couch and stayed horizontal for 90 minutes before I attempted to stand up again.

The most frustrating part of all this is that I was studying full time at TAFE and was halfway through an Accounting diploma when this all began. I had to withdraw when my eye sight got really bad and I first went into hospital. I now have to wait until July 2008 when they begin the same area of the course again. I was planning to finish the course this year and move to Townsville where my mother lives but appart from the professor telling me I am not to get on a plane until he tells me I can it looks like im stuck in Sydney for another 12 months in order to finish my course.

Something that blew my mind was finding out that some body can be legally blind in one eye and still be one notch above legally blind in the other and still hold a full drivers liscence. I was one notch off being legally blind in one eye and all though I have damage in the other eye but can still see properly, I had stopped driving particularly at night. I hate to think that anyone would still be driving around day or night with one eye that can only see portions of whats in front on them. Im very careful on the road theses days particularly when I am a pedestrian. I know what I could and couldnt see and even now I dont have full vission in both eyes so how many people out there are driving around almost legally blind in both eyes?

Cheers Kaz

Hi Fam, One thing the GP mentioned to me was that being on Monoplus (Fluid Tablet combo) and catching the flue may have made me dehydrate. He said I would only need to dehydrate by around 10% and it could do that to me because I am a small person. I didnt think I was that small, I'm 5 foot 3 inches and weigh 55 kilos and I also know that I was drinking plenty of fluids and didnt have a fever so I dont know that it makes much sense to me.

All the same i have stayed off the Monoplus and kept taking the normal Monopril as I have needed them. I dont go back to see the professor who is treating me until 12th of November but I have spoken to him over the phone and been for a blood test in the mean time. I just wish they could figure out whats happend or for that matter it would be lovley if they actually found a reason for the entire problem but I dont like my chances. Im not even sure that he will keep looking any further. Ive had an angiograme on the Kidneys which showed they were beautiful, in fact I have three arteries going to one which is a little unusual but better than what most people have. I think he was hoping they would find a blockage as they had me sign papers permitting them to put a stint in if they had. Appart from a chest Xray and a kidney scan when I first found out, I have had about 6 blood tests done in the past 3 months.

I get the impression that they have done all the tests they intend doing and they cant find a cause which is frustraiting considering I have never been seriously ill and I am only 41 years old.

Any way if you do recal what you read about catching the flue etc, please let me know. I am open to any explination at this stage because the one I was given by the GP didnt make sense to me.

Cheers Kaz