Dash diet symptoms and conditions

I think it's really sad when everyone here has the same side effects without seeing this site ,thinking they are crazy and your doctor looking at you like you should be in a mental ward! I took lisinopril 10 mgs for about 8 months I was borderline high blood pressure ,ok I am over weight and did not eat as well as I should have ,but instead of my doc telling me to lose weight(and I know I needed to) and eat better she put me on the drug from hell! I had started walking and eating better since she put me on the drug,at first everything was great I was feeling better I started walking and started the dash diet ,which works great by the way.then all hell broke loose ,I started getting weak ,tired all of the time, my feet felt like they were on fire ,numbness in my hands and feet(felt like I was having a stroke)started taking the drug in may and by thanksgiving I was in the emergency room,I was supposed to work on thanksgiving (I am a bartender)and could not get out of bed,of course they found nothing,I went home an then a week before Christmas the heart palpitations started ,I was lying down watching t.v.and I started having them.still weak and then the palps started,I was scared I was having a heart attack,I went to see a heart doc. and he told me I need a holter monitor for 24 hours and an echo (did I mention I don't have insurance)so after three e.k.g's from different doc's my medical bills are sick and an emergency room visit you can imagine.well to let you all know you are not crazy we all have the same symptoms without seeing this site!My echo and holter monitor test both came back normal,my doctor took me off the meds my bp is 120 over 80 , and I am loosing weight with the dash diet ,and my palps are coming less and less,I don't know how long they will last but hopefully not long.good luck everyone and god bless

I was prescribed this about two weeks ago. I knew I had high blood pressure and decided to work on getting it lowered. I started taking this and immediately had headaches in my temple...then numbness up by my cheeks and something that felt like hot flashes. I would get dizzy, was extremely tired, couldn't concentrate and had one of the worst cases of diarrhea I had ever experienced. My distant vision became very blurred. However, I thankfully never got the cough.

I spoke with the doctor about this and she said that there was no way this drug was causing my headaches. I'm scheduled for an MRI tomorrow and she wanted me to have a temporal biopsy, which I think is drastic.

I read an article from a medical journal that low blood pressure can cause headaches. This was just published last spring of 2008. I started getting the 24/7 headaches 3 days after I took Lisinopril. Aspirin or pain relievers never helped.

I took myself off of it two days ago. Yesterday I was so weak and tired with headaches all day long ...however today, I'm beginning to feel much better with much more energy. The numbness is disappearing in my cheeks and the headaches have greatly reduced.

I am thinking about a natural alternative to this ...losing weight...exercising and going on the dash diet. Unless of course the MRI shows something. I also thought about cutting the dosage of the pills in half or to one quarter.

I am a 35 year old woman and my doctor put me on lisinopril 10 mg at first I had the cough that I see almost everyone gets,but I could deal with that then I started getting very tired all the time,I had started working out and was feeling better since I had been diagnosed with hbp,I ws following the dash diet ,it is said to be real good for hbp.I started taking lisinopril in may and by November I was a complete mess, My doctor never told me of any side effects so I read the little paper that the drug store give you on the side effects but it does not do this justice!I was so weak and tired I could not get out of bed,On thanksgiving I went to the hospital and told them I have no energy I feel sick all the time and dizzy,of course they sent me home thinking I was insane because I was crying ,I felt depressed all the time I did not know what was going on .About two weeks later very close to Christmas I started having palpitations at first I just thought it was stress from the holiday then they came more often ,I was so scared I went to my doc. told her I was have palpitations and she blamed it on my weight! ok now I am overweight but I have lost almost forty pounds and was walking four days a week ,then I said to her do you think it could be the lisinopril ,then she said something I will never forget she said well who put you on lisinopril? I was done then I said well you put me on the drug ,her face went white she said oh yes you should stop taking it I will give you a different one ,so I went home and took it for week and the palpitations kept getting worse so I went back to her and told her I was still having palpitations so then she gave me an e.k.g. and found nothing of course.I told her I was going to stop taking the meds all together and she then said she wanted to see me in two weeks ,In the meantime my boyfriend made an appointment for me to see a heart doc. ,he took another e.k.g.(did I mention I have no insurance)and said there was nothing he could do that I need an echo and a holter moniter for 24 hours to tell him whats going on .I had been off work for a month now so I had no money left so I started crying but my boyfriend paid for the tests to be done which cost a pretty penny .I am still waiting for the results of those tests yet but the more I think about it the more I wonder if I was having lisinopril panic attacks?I have stopped taking all blood pressure meds and my bp is most of the time 120/80 sometimes it is lower sometimes it is higher but I would rather not deal with the side effects of the drug until I really need them!

I have been on Lisinopril 10mg and HCTZ 12.5 mg for about 2-3 weeks. I have noticed extreme fatigue, especially during and right after exercise. The other day I went swimming and I laid on the couch for 3 hours until my energy started coming back up. I have also noticed I don't have the energy to get as good or intense of a workout as before. My BP is in the 130'-140's, but I am 32 and I would like to fix the problem now since I am young. After reading the postings here, I am going off the medication and trying alternative ways to lower my bp---exercise, dash diet etc. Hopefully I can lower my bp about 15-20 points by doing this. I am not opposed to taking a pill, but not at the expense of feeling tired and confused and not being able to exercise. Any thoughts on better bp meds?

Hi- I was on Lopressor 50mgs. twice a day for my slightly elevated BP, MVP, SVT, palpitations, and anxiety attacks. Started having some intermittent chest pain (not bad, just annoying). Dr. switched me to Toprol XL 100 mg/day. Of course, insurance made me get Metoprolol ER 100 mg/day (the generic) but I haven't had a problem with it!! I love taking just 1 pill a day instead of having to juggle the two pills and remembering if and when I took them. I take the pill every morning with breakfast (which is usually an apple and a small bowl of cereal and a glass of water). I have gained some weight since being on the Lopressor, but I started the Dash Diet and have lost about 8 lbs. in about 4 months, not too good but I'm not following the diet as well as I should be! I also get tired and occasionally have problems with hearburn and gas, but anytime you take any kind of medication you will have side effects. Wish I didn't have to take any meds but am not willing to subject myself to the effects of high blood pressure, I would rather have the side effects from the meds. My BP is usually 110/75 now and my heart rate is around 70-75. I'm 47 years old and feeling like I might make it into my 90's now!!

I was on 10mg of Lisinopril for 6 weeks (switched from Azor). After the first 3 days, I was having trouble swallowing . . . this went away 2 days later. Then, I was having trouble breathing, sinus problems, dizziness and constant FATIGUE during the course of the 6 weeks. I am a very active, energetic, 30 year old male. I'm not overweight, and play basketball 2 or 3 days a week. I really think I have White Coat Syndrome (170/110 at dr's office - 130/75 at home), but better safe than sorry.I could not even run for more than 5 minutes straight without feeling like I might pass out. I would have to say during those 6 weeks, I was functioning about 50% of normal, at best. I tried to stick it out to see if the side effects would go away; they only seemed to get worse over time. My Doctor said it was the "summer fever" and allergies. I felt it was the medication, especially after reading these posts, so I switched doctors. My new doctor took me off of this medication. He said Lisinopril can has been known to effect your lungs and cause breathing problems. He is located in the same practice as my previous doctor. Why she didn't inform me of any side effects, I'm not sure (thanks for nothing). All of my terrible symptoms were gone within a week. I am now taking Bystolic (5 weeks), and feel normal again. My father has been on 30mg of Lisinopril for 12 years, and never had any problems. I believe everyone reacts to medications differently. I am now on my 3rd medication in 7 months, and think I have found the one that works best. I guess I'm just one of those people that has trouble adjusting to medication. Good luck to those of you that have not found the right medication yet.

I think some of the severe symptoms reported here are just that.. severe, and as advised on the drug information insert they can happen, and should be reported to your doctor. We are led to believe our doctors will stop the meds and try something else. If they are not willing to do that, or try to convince us it's all in our heads then... we should stop the meds ourselves and find another dr. These side effects are real, and scary. I've stopped cholesterol meds for that reason. I don't need a dr. to tell me to stop... I know my body, and how I feel and know when something isn't right.

I've been on Lisinopril for two weeks now. I was initially on the diuretic Hydrochlorothiazide, but had so much arrhythmia that I thought my heart would jump out of my throat. The dr. discontinued that after less than a week, and put me on Lisinopril. I am a bit dizzy sometimes, and do have a mild cough, but I had the cough before the meds so I can't really blame it on that. However, for all those with the problem of coughing and headaches... I read at drugs.com that you should take this medication with a full glass of water, and drink lots of water throughout the day. This tip was not in the drug handout and I thought that odd. Something so easy, and yet left out. Luckily, I drink water at my desk all day at work. This weekend while home I didn't drink water and had a horrible headache the entire time. I never connected it until I read that you should drink lots of water. Back to work today and drinking water and my headache is gone. It's worth a try, it might help. My husband is on Lisinopril/HCTZ combo, has been for at least 3-4 years with no adverse side effects.

We are all different, medication effects all of us in different ways. I hope I never experience the kinds of side effects I'm reading about here. If so, I'll be off the drug in short order. My dr. told me there are loads of other medications we can try. While there are side effects to everything we take, mild is ok but no one should put up with life altering and/or life threatening side effects like what I am reading here.

I am still experiencing hot flushes even though I am post menopausal. I reckon it could be down to the Lisinopril pills. My dose has been doubled to 20mg from 10mg. Could this be the case? Has anyone else had these symptoms?

I have been off this poison for exactly a month now.....and my symptoms seem to be getting worse.....i ended up in the ER last weekend thinking i was having a stroke or heart attack but they couldnt find any....i have a rash on my legs and back the dr says is hives....my leg cramps never go away and still have stomach cramps and grumbling....dr says its stomach hives.....never heard of that....metallic taste in mouth sometimes and spells of feeling really ill....arms go numb etc....joints ache.....pains in hands and feet.....on the dash diet and taking supplements.....i pray i get better....

i went to my alergy doctor because i had some serious allergic reaction a while ago.. anyways I told him the drugs I was taking and I said lisinopril and that i was taking a 5mg tablet (after cutting it in half). Wow he got pissed.. he said to get off of that junk and that it has alot of horrible effects and its a horrible drug.. I guess my 5mg along with my very low blood pressure must of lead him to believe that id do fine whitout it.. He actually seemed like a doctor that cares about people.. not like my other one (drug dealer trying to prescribe everything). He was trying to get me free samples of my allergy medicne and gave me 50% off and stuff so It seems like he really cared about my health and not the money.. So im officially going off lisinopirl... Originally i went on it because my blood pressur ewas about 10 point shigher on the dia..

From this experience it has thought me that lisinopril is not a good thing.. I also started the DASH diet after seeing it mentioned on this board... wow i lost 10 pounds in about 2 weeks and my blood pressure was lowered about 8 point so far...I think if you are strong willed and are able to cut your sodium you should try it instead of taking this horrible medicine... Ill update all of you if my side affects finally go away. Right now its just some strong heart pumping and stomach pulling.. im still gonna do a stress test in a week just to make sure im safe.. id advise no one stop taknig their medicne just like that unless you take a few precautions like second opinions and other heart monitorings..

I would like to give you all hope!! I, too, was on lisinopril for about 2 weeks and it was horrible. It lowered my blood pressure, but had so many horrible side effects, not to mention the cough which I still can't quite get rid of 5 weeks later. I am 43 years old, and have run 5 marathons, 6'1" and weighed 195 and ate decently. Like the guy a couple of messages earlier, I went on the dash diet and added a multivitamin and magnesium supplement and it has changed my life. Normal blood pressure, no meds, and I lost 10 lbs, without trying to. There are many books and articles with the dash diet, so I don't think it's too important which one you get. I hope this helps some of you.

I am a 36 year old guy, i went to the doctor six weeks ago and had pretty high blood pressure, 200/100. She suggested I get on Lisonpril - 10 and Lipitor 20, metformin 1000. At the same time I started doing some research on the side effects of these drugs and they were pretty bad. I felt some of them mildly. But I did find a book, The Dash Diet for Hypertension Lower your Blood Pressure in 14 Days - without drugs by Thomas Moore, M.D. . I fallowed the suggestion and drastically changed the way I ate overnight. Cut out all bad food. I also cycle stationary bike for about 30 to 45 minutes. I added a lot one serving of oatmeal a day and cheerios every morning. It seemed to have done the trick for me. My blood pressure has come down as well as cholesterol to normal levels. The doc also agreed to lower my meds by half. So now 5 lisinopril and 10 lipitor. I am shooting for no meds in six months. I do still go out but go to places that serve a more natural selection. I hope this helps some of you out there.

I started taking 20mg 6 weeks ago for High Blood Pressure ...im experiencing extreme muscle and stomach cramps...excruciating low back pain....joint pain...i spent this weekend curled in a ball unable to move with elevated pulse and heaviness on my chest. I feel like im slowly poisioning myself. I am med sensitive anyway and cannot force myself to take anymore....the dr says its not the lisinopril...but all these side effects started right after beginning the med. I have no health insurance and cant afford more lab tests and dr appts. Im going to try to survive by using strict DASH diet. I hope it works.