Good folks symptoms and conditions

I am a 56 year old that had an aortic valve replacement 51/2 years ago, I have been on toprol only 12 mg a day for around 4 years I have had minor side effects, cold feet, cold hands, optical migraine headaches (once in a while). I was on the real toprol for years and then the folks at walgreens offered a generic and I excepted, things were fine and I was rolling along until they chaned generic brands from SANDOZ to ETHEX, I seemed fine on the SANDOZ it even looked the same as the real thing, but when walgreens gave me ETHEX (which is a round pill about twice as large as the other) I began to feel sensations in the middle of my chest and sometimes while taking my pulse it felt like my Heart stopped or skipped a beat, this scared the shit out of me! I took about 22 days worth of EHTEX and the symptoms kept getting worse, I finally called the Cardio folks and they suggested that I wear a Holter monitor for 24 hours, which I did and felt that I had a few Heart stopping moments along with a odd heart burn sensation in the middle of my chest. Two nights ago I found some of the SANDOZ that I had saved for vacations and began taking 12 mg of that instead of the ETHEX today for the first time in nearly 3 weeks I had NO Heartburn problems and NO Heart stopping experience, mind you this was only day one! Looking forward to day 2 and now that I have read all of the side effects from all the good folks on this site, that are not listed when you purchase the drugs, my opinion is that all GENERIC drugs that are suppose to be IDENTICAL to the real thing is a huge lie! What the hell is the FDA doing? Are they trying to let the GENERIC FOOLS poison all of the good folks that actually need these drugs without doing or maybe reading the test results? Or maybe the drug company's have so much clout that they can grease a few palms and get there GENERIC shit to market. To think that these drugs are suppose to be IDENTICAL and then to receive a pill that looks NOTHING like the real thing and when you bust it in half it's a different frickin color (ETHEX)!!!! What was I thinking taking this GENERIC piece of garbage! The GENERIC buttheads along with the real manufacturers should be required by LAW to list ALL ingredients on the label so all of the good folks can read and compare to see what there swallowing and putting into there bodes! I hope to get off of thos drug soon but if I don't rest asure that I will seek out the real thing. I was so freaked out by the side effects that the Cardio Doctor scheduled an ECHO for this Friday, I think the valve is fine but we will find out! Good luck all!

This is my 1st month on the ring. No real problems except the headaches and had cramping in my legs. I'm 45 today and think this is the last time I'm using this. I notice most people say their cramps go away when they take the ring out...well that's when my started. I thought at first I had strained my lower back again...thanks to this site, I know it's the ring. + the fact that I had sex w/my b/f almost 4 days ago and his stuff was still on the ring when I took it out...that's not good folks.

Discontinuing Lisinopril:

Like many of you good folks that have been taking Lisinopril, I have discontinued taking the med after 10 days usage.

ONE WORD OF CAUTION: Please, please, please, go to a local drug store and purchase a blood pressure cuff. It doesn't have to be anything fancy... the manual-inflate, analog-dial type costs around $15 at CVS. If you don't know how to take your own BP, then let either a nurse or your local rescue squad show you how.... It's really quite simple. Different people act differently to meds and there is a real possibility that your BP could go very high. You need to check it several times a day. Also, after discontinuing many BP meds (including Lisinopril), your potassium (and possibly calcium) levels may drop, causing some really nasty side effects.

I've been an EMT for 25+ years and have seen quite a few patients (including my mother) "stroke out" due to HBP.... please don't let it happen to you. Discuss it with your doctor; there are many other HBP meds out there and one of them will no doubt work for you without causing side effects. Just don't disregard your HBP.

(Disclaimer: the above is a personal opinion and not offered as any type of medical advice.)