Swapped out symptoms and conditions

I have bipolar, and for a year I was willing to attribute my symptoms to that illness. I started the lisinopril when I moved and made a bunch of life changes, so I didn’t connect the onset of the symptoms with the med. Every night, though, I would get sick around 5 or 6 PM (I took lisinopril in the morning): nausea, headache, body aches, extreme lethargy, shortness of breath, fluttering feeling in my chest. These symptoms were so bad that twice I went to the emergency room. (Unfortunately, I presented as a bipolar patient with anxiety, so my treatment was less than comprehensive.) I swapped out all my bipolar meds to rule out drug interactions, but never touched lisinopril because I thought of it as a “safe drug”. My PCP (who prescribed the lisinopril) referred me to a cardiologist who did a battery of tests. I stopped the 30 day heart monitor after 3 weeks because every time I had cardiac symptoms, I checked out fine. The only option left seemed to be that the symptoms were psychosomatic, which scared me because I had no idea how to tackle that. I finally decided to investigate lisinopril and found this site by accident. It was amazing to read all the posts that were similar to my experiences. The day I discontinued the lisinopril in the morning, that night I did not get sick. I waited until I had been well for a week before concluding that the symptoms were indeed side effects of this med. It’s been a couple of months since I discontinued the lisinopril. And I have not been sick once, though I do struggle regularly with the bipolar. (I do monitor my blood pressure regularly: there’s a reason why everyone tells you to do that!) I feel stupid for not suspecting lisinopril earlier (I’m the kind of person who has a PDR and quizzes doctors on pharmacological modes of action) but I just thought that someone would flag it if there could be a problem.

I think those of us with a chronic illness tend to try to make symptoms fit within the framework of our known disease models. I’m writing a book and would welcome input on any aspect of bipolar or about dealing with chronic illness in general.

This site is a blessing. Congratulations on finding it!