Thanks, Crafter...

I was on hydrochlorothiazide, lisinopril, benicar/hct, atenolol, and norvasc....but only one drug at a time so, looking back, it is easy to see exactly what drug caused what side effects.

I have never had health problems but once I started bp meds, my health deteriorated rapidly to the point I couldn't walk, talk, or think. I think I would have figured out it was side effects except for the fact that I would disco one med and continue to have similar or different problems on the next med....and of course the side effects didn't start or stop when I started or stopped the medication. I've done a lot of reading since and now know why this is the case.

Good luck!

Bethsheba

Crafter,

I GAINED 35+ pounds on bp meds, but have lost about 25 of those pounds since disco'ing meds. Despite this, my pressures are still lower than when I was first diagnosed. Must attribute some to cpap treatment, which is med free, and which is documented to reduce pressures on an average of 10 points, but my pressures dropped about 20 pounts after I came off a meds...some high pressures may have been a result of "rebound" hypertension due to disco'ing the beta blocker cold turkey....when I stopped taking norvasc due to sleep problems, without the doctor's blessing, I went from an average systolic of 160 to an average of 140, and the DASH diet brought it down to less than 120/85 or so. Exercise (which is hit or miss with me) has dropped the diastolic more. I am still 50 pounds overweight...

Bethsheba