Diovan symptoms and conditions

I'm 54, started taking lisinopril in jan 09. I took for about 3 months and noticed a decrease in libido. My pressure was pretty much in control, so I stopped taking it. I started again around 1st of Aug 09. Approx 3-4 weeks later, I began to experience severe pain in my left shoulder and arm. It began to move into my neck and back. I went in for an EKG to ensure I wasn't having a stroke. It was normal. I experience dizziness and headaches. I wake in the night and my 2 left fingers on the left hand are completely numb. The pain in my neck is now moving to the right side and some shoulder pain seems to be apparent. I noticed pain in other joints as well. I'm unable to work out at the gym as I usually do due to the pain my my left arm. I highly suspect these symptoms to be caused by lisinopril. I've been taking 20mg and was just switched to 20 mgm Hct. a week ago. X-Rays were taken of my neck and shoulder last week. Haven't' heard from the doctor as of yet. I was on Diovan before I lost my job and health benefits. As a vet, the VA put me on the Lisinopril. The Diovan worked fine for me, too expensive for us vets I guess. I am discontinuing the Lisinopril as of today 10/24/09. I feel like I imagine a ninety year old would feel with these aches and all. I havent' admitted it, but I believe I'm feeling mildly depressed as well. Let's see what a week of purging this from my system does. f. D.

I am 61 years old. I started taking Lisinopril 10mg, once a day about 6-7 months ago. Because of cough, I switched to Diovan 80mg, once a day (samples from my physician friend). After running out of Diovan samples, I started taking Lisinopril 5 mg, once a day again about three months ago. For better BP control, I ended up again taking Lisinopril 10 mg, once a day about 5-6 weeks ago. I started to simultaneously suffer from having persistent, extensive and progressively worsening joint and muscle pains in my both sides of neck, both shoulders, both upper arms, left elbow, left lower arm, both wrists, both hands, all fingers, both knees and left calf muscles. I had difficulties walking, moving my arms, shoulders, doing anything with my hands at the peak of the pains about 7-8 days ago. In the night, my fingers were very stiff and uncomfortable that I hardly could make a fist and I had difficulties getting up to go to bath room because of pains. I felt like I were a 90 years old man. Even Cataflam and Advil did not work well to relieve the pain. As a retired physician, I started to suspect it was Lisinopril-induced side effects. I searched on Google and found this web site. Now, I realize that I am not alone. I got my Lisinopril from CVS Pharmacy. I immediately stopped taking Lisinopril about one week ago. All my joint and muscle pains have been dramatically subsiding (although not completely disappeared) without taking any NSAID pain killer. Even "cough problem" became much worse during the same time. I am convinced that Lisinopril I got from CVS caused my serious, extensive, multiple joint and muscle pains. Perhaps, FDA should look into this side effect: whether it is common ACE inhibitor related side effect or it is possible manufacturer, country origin of the product related problem (made in a non-USA country and imported by CVS?). I would never take Lisinopril again. Posted by myh810.

About 10 hours after I took my first diovan, it felt like someone was pushing hard on my collar bones. It felt sometimes like my 35 lb. son was setting on my chest. I had difficulty breathing. This lasted around 7 hours. I will not be taking it again.

I was on lisinopril for appx 6 month, during which time I had a continual hacking cough, went on an inhaler and switched to diovan. Now a year later, every time I get a simple cold it goes right into bronchitis, I had never had bronchitis before this med.

I have been on both Diovan 160 mg and Diovan HCT 160 mg / 12.5 mg, started having trouble swallowing right away. After a couple years on this med suffered severe acid reflux so bad it burned through 2 prilosecs a day. I thought I was going to die of esophageal cancer. One day I forgot to take the Diovan and had no reflux. Doc switched me to a new different pill so now the acid reflux has vanished. Yes Diovan does cause acid reflux! Also joint pain, and I am wondering if it caused me to have an enlarged uterus as well, that I developed on the med. No fibroids or cancer, just hyper-uterine lining the tests revealed.

Ayurvedic Herbal Treatment for Hypertension

Hello. I have been dealing with my hypertension now for approximately 1-1/2 years now and those of you that have read my findings through my previous posts know that I'm always looking for natural supplements to stay off of the lisinopril. I stumbled onto a new herb for bp. You absolutely have to try this. I went to see my doctor yesterday and I was having a really stressed out day dealing with a family crisis and my bp was 150/100. I left with a prescription, but I received my order of this stuff in the afternoon and I took the recommended two tablets twice a day and woke up this morning with my bp 108/69. This product gets shipped from India and takes approximately two weeks to arrive by registered air mail, but very much worth the wait. I have the link to order it and to read more about the herbal treatment. If you are interested, feel free to e-mail me and I will send it to you. Take care and good luck.

I was taking lisinopril and as far as my blood pressure goes, it worked great. However, after taking this drug (and Diovan and Benicar as well,) over time I developed Gastritis and GERD. I've switched to Micardis recently. Day 5 today and I don't get the sharp stomach pains I would get 20 or so minutes after dosing Lisinopril. IMO blood pressure is important to control. There's 100's of these type of drugs out there. I suggest to keep on trying different ones until you find one that works for you. This is number 5 for me (I tried Tekturna, which did not give me the digestion side effects, but was not effective for my bp.) I went with Micardis next because it's formulated differently than the Diovans and Cozaars and Lisinoprils, and so far so good. Wish me luck.

Well, let's see now.................
I am a 48 year old female who has always been healthy.
4 months ago I went to the clinic for stomach pain that was gnawing at me. That's when my nightmare started. I was told to go straight to the local hospitals ER room because my Blood Pressure was 238/127
I was kept for 2 days in the cardiac unit. Tests were run and they all came out perfectly fine. I was then put on 50 mg toporol along with 20 mg Lisinopril. I was sent home and couldn't hardly function. Nauseous and dizzy, I was hanging onto walls just to go to the bathroom. Doctor switched me to Diovan instead of the lisinopril but insurance would not cover it. So once again I was switched to Avapro taken along with toporol.
By the second day on Avapro I was itching extremely and my skin was on fire. I called the Doctor once again and he said to Quit the Avapro and just take the Toporol alone. Well, within 4 days I ended back up in the emergency room with an elevated bp of 204/107. Once again, I was kept overnight and put on Labetelol (an alpha and Beta Blocker).
I did quite well on this med for a month and then the bp levels started to rise once again. I called the doctor this evening and was told to take 20 mg of the Lisinopril I had in the medicine cabinet along with the Labetelol.
It's been two hours and I'm starting to itch from the Lisinopril now....sigh.
Thank God I go to the clinic in the morning!!
I am really getting anxiety problems from dealing with these meds!!
Hopefully I can get everything straightened out. I am willing to hang in there until I can find something that works. It is obvious to me that I need HBP medication. I just wish They could find the right ones for me without having to go through all this . To all of you that have high BP, Hang in there. If one med doesn't work, keep trying!!
God Bless All Of You!!!!

Alright, listen. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who have found this site. My story was posted on June 20th. I would have to say that I cannot trust any doctors for anything since then. This web site has saved me money from the idiot doctors and my insanity. Really. It is so scary that when you go to the doctor they will never investigate your meds you are taking and will send you through many tests and prescribe you medicine that you don't need. I went through 4 different doctors multiple times that prescribed many different things with no effect to my condition. I went off Lisinopril and went back on Diovan and it took 8 days before I noticed any improvement. During those 8 days I got more depressed because I didn't feel any better. Then my symptoms started going away. My anxiety and coughing started to decrease. By the second week i did not need the help of sleeping pills to knock me out due to the anxiety at night and the gagging and coughing decreased.Since then I am almost back to normal. I still though have some symptoms of coughing, but not that bad. If you found this site and taking Lisinopril, please take note that your doctor is probably wrong. You are not going to die. Get off the da#m med and start living again. It may take longer than me. Don't get discouraged.It may take more than a month or so. Stay strong. I am pissed off and would love to beat the s&it out of the ones that created Lisinopril. I know we are the small % that has the effects, but get it off the market. People are dead from this med and the others are going though Hell......I feel for the ones who have had family members that have died from allergic reactions. I had an undiagnosed throat swelling that took me to the ER. I know what it was now...Take care, stay strong, get off Lisinopril, enjoy the rest of your life...

Me too... I've had a nagging cough ever since an upper resp tract infection (treated & improved w Z-pak). This has been over a month ago. I started Lisinopril:HCTZ combo many months ago & no complaints before. Could drug be the cause of my cough? I've been thinking I aggravated my throat from all of the coughing w the sinus infection. Whatever - it's a drag! My SO is tired of my coughing & fumigating our living space with Hall's cough drops all the time. My BP is good though.... I'm thankful for that.

Wow, is all I can say. I just found this website this past Thursday morning before going to my Doctor. I am off it now and back on Diovan thanks to this forum. Here's my story... I switched from taking Diovan to Lisinopril-hctz about 3 months ago because it was way cheaper. I started getting a mild runny nose, and cough that didn't go a way.It was getting harder to sleep as the days went by. I tried sinus, allergy, cold, and cough medicine with nothing helping. I went to a different doctor at a local after hours clinic and they gave me a steroid shot for allergies. I have never had allergies all my life. I am 36 yrs old and work outside for a living. I knew something was wrong and started to get a little worried. I went back to see my main Doctor on May 5th and he switched me from Lisinopril-Hctz to 30mg of Lisinopril because I thought I was going to the bathroom more often. I questioned the side effects again and was told you just get a dry cough and what I had is allergies and gave me a prescription for Astelin. Not long after, my hell began. I started having the EXTREME coughing, gagging until you vomit, stuffy runny nose, and I was starting to get a little anxiety. Not to mentioned scared at this point. I could not sleep at night due to the coughing fits. I would sleep best after I had some drinks at night, so that became my sleep aid. I got a respiratory infection late May and took a Z-pack and Lohist 12d. I got a little better. This past Sat I woke up with a sore throat and something like a cold. Sunday morning I woke up with the sore throat that was worse and a panic attack! I was freaking out, pacing around wanting to go to the ER. It took 3 hrs to calm down and fell asleep. Sunday night anxiety kicked in again at bed time and I didn't know why. I just knew something was very wrong with me and mentally I was losing it. I took some melatonin and still couldn't sleep because of anxiety and coughing. Monday I was afraid of what was going on mentally and started to question if I was safe to be by myself if a bad panic attack occurs. I scheduled an appointment to see my doctor on Thursday. Hoping I could make it till then. Monday night I took a melatonin trying to stay calm and keep anxiety down. Could not sleep, bad coughing and gagging, but started to wind down about 1:30 am when it started. I was laying down making my ears pop/click and for some reason I could not make my right ear pop before my left ear. All the sudden anxiety kicked in full force. It took a long time to calm down that night. I finally did get my right ear popping before the left one. Its sounds funny but it wasn't at that time. It was official, I have lost my mind. I did not sleep at all wed night before my appointment. I did find this website that morning before going and felt better after reading other posts. After talking to him I switched back to Diovan. He still was leaning towards allergies though. He told me to take benadryl at night and claritin during the day and my coughing may take about 4 weeks to see improvements. I had my hopes ups on Thursday, but after reading a lot of posts here I am still discouraged about the outcome. For those of you that had anxiety attacks at night, how long before those stopped? Also how long before the coughing and gagging starts to slow down or end? Is there anybody that stopped taking Lisinopril, but symptoms have not improved? I am glad I found this forum and happy to be back on Diovan. Right now with the way I feel with the sore throat, coughing, gagging, vomiting, sinus pressure, anxiety, I am still unsure on the outcome and what may come next....

I have only been on 20mg of Lisinopril for 3 days now and am having constant headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and very lightheaded.. I never got the headache even when my BP was up, much less any of these other symptoms. My DR. advised that if they don't go away after the 3rd day to stop taking the drug and take naproxen till I can get in to see her. Which will be this week! I refuse to take this drug with ALL of its side effects. NO OTHER DRUG I HAVE EVER TAKEN had EVER GIVEN ME THIS MUCH PROBLEMS WITH THE SIDE EFFECTS! Also, since taking this drug, I have cried more over stupid things than I can remember.

There seems to be similar increases in nausea and dosage size of Diovan. Dosage has gone in two years from 40 to 80 and now 160. I am pursuing the idea that the nausea is caused by gastroparesis, which is slow emptying of the stomach, and there is some indication on websites that Diovan can indeed cause gastroparesis. I am now backing off the Diovan dosage slowly, by chopping pills and taking the 80 pill plus about 20 or 30's worth 12 hours later. As the pill is coated a bit, I wonder at what rate the exposed, chopped pill piece dispenses itself.
I had an endoscopy a few days ago and it was mostly negative, no cancer, no esophageal damage, no Barrett's, a little redness in the stomach lining which the surgeon is testing for H. pylori.
I have lost about 14 lbs due to being careful with all the nausea, and it is time to work outside on my vegetable crops, so I hope to get the BP down the right way and get rid of most or all of the Diovan.
The nausea happens about 12 hours after eating.
Anybody else having nausea?

I have been on Diovan HCT 160 for several years. The other day I woke up with joint pain in my hands. The next day it was in both ankles and arches of my feet, also both elbows and my right knee felt swollen and painful. I am a physical therapist and am
In tune with my body. I know this is atypical joint pain and not from physical activity. I was afraid of rheumatoid arthritis so I am shocked and a bit relieved to read others with same effects. I am going to my MD for full blood work and a new BP med for sure. I will post any new info if it might help others.......

I've been on Lisinopril 20mg for a week now. I have been having the hoarseness, leg cramps, tired (no energy), getting no sleep, and cough. But what worries me most is my blood pressure has dropped to what I think is TO LOW, (example: 87/60, 90/58, 96/66 89/68. I called my dr. 2 days ago and explained my concerns. They told me to cut my 20mg pill in half and we will decide what to do at my next appt. which is in a few days. Even after cutting the pill in half, my bp is still running 96/67, 98/66. Should I demand to be taken off the Lisinopril and be put on a different medication?

I am a 31 year old male, in decent shape (play basketball, volleyball, workout at least 3 times a week) but I have a family history of high blood pressure and have had it myself as long as I've been tested. Went to cardiologist as a check up on my slightly enlarged heart, long story short, ended up on Metoprolol (25mg) beginning of 2008 and have been fine but no real help with bp. Then was put Lisinopril (5mg) a few months ago and my blood pressure was great at last checkup. However during that time I had a couple of weeks where I was very dizzy, that sort of feeling your brain is taking a second to keep up with your head as you get up, along with a fogginess and what seemed like sinus issues but I chalked it up to weaning off of a small dosage of Zoloft I had taken for over a year. I also developed "the cough" everyone refers to, but since it is winter in New England I chalked it up to dry heat, even though it was a choking cough unlike any I've ever had before. Also during that time I seemed to completely lose my sex drive, again figuring it was just something to do with the Zoloft or general anxiety. Then in the past week I started getting a constant headache, having really interrupted sleep, very foggy and out of it, tired, dehydrated, constipation, nausea, all things that I would normally associate with allergies or some kind of sinus/flu, but yet I couldn't really pinpoint anything that would be causing it.

Then I finally started looking up things about the meds I was taking and came upon this site, and guess what? Everything and every way I was feeling was described in hundreds and hundreds of posts on this site. I don't think my side affects were quite as strong as some have experienced (for instance the cough is very infrequent, like twice a day) but I have only begun my journey with Lisinopril. So despite the warnings, I decided to stop taking it a few nights ago, and almost instantly I began feeling better the next day and since then.

I have since called my cardiologist and he has recommended I switch to Diovan, basically saying that based just on the cough symptom alone, he wants me off of Lisinopril as this is a known side affect. Now I am left debating whether or not I want to continue down this path of trying different combinations of pills to poison my body in order to lower my bp. It seems like others have noted marked differences between taking Diovan and Lisinopril, where the Diovan has been much more tolerable than Lisinopril (with a great decrease in any side-affects) but I'm 31 and although I know it will be very difficult to reduce my bp on my own (believe me, I've tried) maybe I'm too young to start with the "last resort" of these toxins. Just reading about the possibility that Lisinopril was robbing my body of zinc or other minerals, so that my immune system is greatly weakened, likely being the cause for most of the symptoms, is enough to ward me off of pills altogether. It's a sad statement on the state of health care in America when I am left to basically make such an important decision on my own, because I can't trust that my doctors aren't just working in the interest of the drug companies to boost their income. I don't want to have to choose between a silent killer and a horrible existence filled with "side-affects".

In the end, based on some of the reports on here, I think starting on 40mg of Diovan will be fine, but I will certainly be VERY wary of anything unusual and immediately find other options.

I used to take Diovan, but I wanted a more economical alternative, so Dr. gave me Lisinopril. I am now experiencing itchy skin, especially on the back of my legs, cloudy urine, and experienced tendinitis on my shoulders. The tendinitis is especially aggravated at night time.

Side effects seem to be different with two different brands of Lisinopril.

First maker is International Labs Inc. seems to give me the heavy chest along with more sluggish feeling. Which results in some Ed problems as well. Terrible gas.

Where as I have some Lisinopril from Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. which seems to be better.

I was told by someone that the makers may use different fillers to make the pills which I could be reacting too ?

Has anyone else found this to be true, Plus what brands does everyone else get ?

Either way I have been on this Lisinopril for 5 weeks now not liking it much but did get past the terrible couch scratchy throat feel by drinking some milk first to coat my throat, someone told me and it did work.

Waiting to see what troubles show up next with taking this long term. Not sure I can afford the blood work it will require when they soaked me 625 plus 222 dollars for two visits to get this 4 dollar pill.

Maybe they just prescribe this to lower our pressure for when the bills show up for us Unlucky Unemployed people without Health Insurance !!

I was on Diovan HCTZ for a number of years for my high blood pressure. It worked pretty well, keeping my b/p to around 130/80, it had been 158/90. The Diovan, since no generic is available, is expensive but I did have a prescription plan at the time. I recently retired and asked my doctor to switch me over to a generic medication to cut my cost. He put me on lisinopril hctz 20/12.5mg. I took it once a day and had great results with lowering my blood pressure. No side effects until the third month, I then began to notice a great deal of hair loss. Since I am 58, 15 years post menopausal, dye my hair, I thought maybe it was the dye (unusual since I have been using the same product for years). I started washing my hair every other day instead of daily. This did not help, I still had to vacumm my bathroom floor daily. At this point I looked up on the internet and found this site about the connection of lisinopril and hair loss. Being an RN I decided to cut the pills in half for a week and see what happened. Sure enough, my hair loss stopped. I then went to my doctor equipt with this information. I am now on HCTZ 25mg daily and taking my blood pressure 2x/day. My b/p stays around 140/80. I know I have to go back to the doctor next week to discuss what to do next because this is not working. Luckily I HAD very thick hair otherwise I would be bald. Does the hair grow back? Does anyone have any other medication they can suggest that does not have this side effect? Too bad, I was doing so good on the lisinopril with my b/p and it did not make me tired like the diovan did.

I too have light headedness,dizziness,cough & ED problems. have been on Lisinopril 3 Months. Hated the stuff. Finally got my Doctor to change. Trying Diovan now.Why can't someone do something about this drug? Doctors just won't believe anyone! After 1 week I do feel a lot better,never really realized just how bad I actually felt on it.We'll see how the Diovan works,but am I early of this one too.

I got off Diovan because of diminished energy, drowsiness, and all-around lack of ability to focus after several years on it. I didn't realize it was the Diovan until I got off it and got on a weight loss med: Phentermine. I felt like I was 20 again. But that was short-lived of course because you can only take that stuff for 90 days, max. Diovan was bad for me. Then the Doc prescribed Lisinopril and I was on that for a couple of months until a week ago. I'd been suffering with a dry cough for a week when I told the Doc about the side effect and I've been off Lisinopril for 7 days. The cough is still but slowly going away. Bouts of coughing are no longer every hour on the hour but about 2-3 times a day and still all night long. I'm off of any BP meds now and my BP is 150/90, same as it was on both Lisinopril and Diovan. Apparently it takes a while for the Lisinopril coughing spells to go away.

After being on Diovan hct 160/25 for about two years I developed a severe stiffness in my neck, a piercing center chest pain when I coughed and so much muscle/joint pain I could barely get out of bed in the morning. Don't know if it is a result of Diovan, but this is my only med. Finally (after a year) I spent six months undergoing tests and consults with one doctor who finaly gave up. A second doctor diagnosed fibromyalgia and prescribed diclofenac, which somewhat controls the neck stiffness and pain. Now, a year after the fibromyalgia diagnosis I am learning Diovan might be at fault but don't know what to do next. Any suggestions welcome!...

I had been taking 160/25 for the last couple of yrs. Was doing ok, on it until june of this yr. I started having circulation problems. Hands and feet numb and cold when I would wake in the night. Then finger joint problems started. It came on so fast. I had read that arthritis could be a side effect on another blog. So I started to reduce the meds. slowly to see if that would have any change in the conditions I was feeling. It did! I continued to lower the meds. and got myself off the Diovan HCT. I have been working on the natural method of lowering the Blood pressure. Kelation, exercise and diet. I won't go back to the Diavon.

Well.....ain't this drug wonderful!! Glad I came here first. I am currently on Diovan 80mg. basically doing very well on it, but I started to loose some hair, and do have some sinus issues, so talked w/Doctor he gave me a prescript. for Toprol XL yesterday, got it filled (my proper prescription for 3mos. supply mail in is written for the Brand Name) the prescrip. I filled yesterday locally (he gave me 2mos to fill locally before sending in my mail in prescrip.) My God! When I read the patient info, scared the living crap out of me! See if I TAKE that medication - NOT! I will stick with the devil I know, Diovan and hope that the hair loss thing will resolve itself. I suffer from anxiety, so can push my BP up at will, and it's been up since I started stressing on the hair loss - I have made up my mind to just try and chill about it, but Diovan appears to be one of the least "evil" of the BP meds I'v taken so far. Lisinopril was a nightmare, Diltiazem wasn't too bad, but thought my teeth were going to fall out! I swear, the anxiety about these meds. does nothing to help ones BP but I definitely am not taking this poison, probably would make me stress worrying, I'd give myself a stroke. I am making a copy of the patient info. and sending it to my Dr. (whom I love by the way) and ask him "what the hell were you thinking Doctor?" Good luck everyone