Thyroid system symptoms and conditions

I took 20 mgs a day for 5 days in September of 2006. I developed a terrible cough, but worse than that, severe chest pains & shortness of breath upon exertion. I still can't go up & down stairs; my pain is brutal and it's going on 3 years since it all began. Before I took the lisinopril, I hadn't been having any chest pains or trouble breathing.

Is there any hope of recovery? My doctors all say they've never heard of this kind of side effect; that lisinopril is a very common drug; it's clear that I have reduced lung function & definite pain & symptoms, but there is no way to isolate the exact thing causing it or to figure out how to make it go away; just to control the symptoms.

My theory: the lisinopril triggered an autoimmune response in which my body physically tries to reject my own lungs. Any thoughts on that one? I had been taking cozaar as an ACE inhibitor to slow the rate of my renal failure; I have type 1 diabetes and hypoparathyroidism, and while I needed meds before this episode, all I had to do then was manage my diabetes & I was able to live normally. Since this, it's been nearly impossible to do ANYthing. I am at the end of my rope & I want this to stop. But 3 years later, and while the shortness of breath is improved, the pain is actually worse now. I could sure use some advice & support. I'm on my way this week to get set up with a new dr. because we've moved, and I'm going to have to go through this whole thing again. Also - I'm trying to compile a list of other people who have had side effects with chest pain & shortness of breath. Also anxiety & panic attacks as collateral damage.

I was first diagnosed with hypertension in the late 80's and have been on several different medications to treat it. I think that Lisinopril is the worst that I have been on. I have extreme fatigue and severe dry and burning mouth, sore tongue and difficulty breathing and flu like symptoms. I have anxiety and PTSD so my symptoms have been blamed on that. With all these symptoms,
I sometimes wonder if it would be better off to have the hypertension.
Sometimes my mouth and throat is so dry and sore, I can't eat and I have difficulty breathing which is not addressed with asthma medication. Daytime symptoms are bad at night but when night time comes, it is almost impossible to sleep.
I would be interested if anyone has these symptoms and would like to hear from you.
Jenny

I am a 57 yr old female who has been taking lisinopril for about 4 years, after the Zestril became too expensive. I have had the cough and intermittent shortness of breath for several years, but really did not attribute the shortness of breath to the drug until it became quite severe recently. I stopped taking it three days ago, and of course, am concerned that my BP will be out of control. I exercise, eat pretty well, and am about 20 lbs overweight. I also experience abdominal bloat that by evening I look six months pregnant, but no ankle swelling. I hate that. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat, still the bloat. Anyone else bloating? My question, have any of you who stopped taking the drug finally experienced an end to the shortness of breath? I notice I can still exercise moderately, and have the shortness regardless of sitting or exercising. Anyone out there truly get relief for symptoms and how soon after stopping

I started taking Lisinopril for my bp about 2 1/2 months ago and even though it did lower my bp, I started having strange side-effects. It started out with drowsiness throughout the day, no matter how much sleep I got. And, waking up feeling drowsy even after 8-10 hours of sleep. Then, I started getting strange aches and pains throughout my body, like I was getting over a stomach flu. My asthma also flared up and I started having to use my inhaler for the first time in almost 15 years (usually I just need it after exercise.) The side-effects continued to get worse over the next months with increased fatigue, drowsiness, coughing, anxiety, muscle aches, poor concentration, feeling like my nerves were "shot," headache, weakness, tightness in my lungs, numbness in my hands and feet, and just plain feeling bad.
I made an appointment to see my doctor because I thought there was something seriously wrong with me. It crossed my mind that I might be feeling this way because of the Lisinopril. I stumbled across this website and after reading everyone's testimonials, I decided to stop the Lisinopril. I haven't taken it in 3 1/2 days, and I am already feeling much better. I would rather try a more holistic approach to lowering my bp then taking Lisinopril.
I hope this helps someone else out there who might be going through the same thing.

Feeling like one is not all here, and, shortness of breath are a symptoms of thyroid system problems caused by lisinopril that I have had, along with weight gain, favoring sweet sugary foods (I've traditionally a meat eater, no dessert, no sugar, few starches).

The most likely action seems to be that the lisinopril creates a chemical toxicity that overdrives the immune system, which then runs the body low on or out of zinc and selenium. (Of course then there is the more direct lung dammage that lisinopril causes too.)

I have found the following helpful: Zinc, selenium, L-Cysteine, tyrosine, iodine, boron, and other trace minerals help and nourish the thyroid system. Manganese and molybdebum help the lungs function better (they are used in asthma treatment). Iron, copper, and chromium sometimes also helps the lungs work better. Sulfur (MSM), L-cysteine, and silcia (found in horsetail form or oceanic form) nourish the lungs as they are found in high concentration in the lungs. Calcium and magnesium, vit-e, vit-c, vit-b are also helpful. Since I'm in the hbp camp, I also try to get plenty of magnesium, which relaxes muscles including arteries, and potassium, which helps transport other nutrients into the cells.

I developed shortness of breath after using lisinopril for 3 months. I quit lisinipril because of all of the other side effects it gave me (stomach pains, the hit by a truck feeling).

For me the cough didn't get serious until near the end when I quit because of the other problems. After I quit the cough kept getting worse as did the bouts of shortness of breath.

It took me a long long time to figure out what was happening, which as near as I can tell goes something like this: the cough irritates the lungs and causes direct damage. However, as the immune system kicks into overdrive trying to clear the lisinopril and associated toxins out of the lungs, liver & rest of the body, it uses up zinc and selenium reserves.

When the body runs low on selenium (from the immune system using it up) then it can no longer effectively clear the lungs, causing more lung damage. But even more is happening, since selenium is also used by other systems, and they begin to suffer too. One such system is the joint protection mechanism. Another is the thyroid system, both in the thyroid itself as well as the thyroid receptors in the various organs all over the body.

The thyroid receptor problems cause weight gain, energy problems, etc... Combine the thyriod system having problems with the lung damage and that resulted in my shortness of breath.

To combat this problem long term I found zinc & selenium helpful. In the short term I also used tyrosine & iodine & boron & cal/mag as needed to help stimulate the thyroid along with the zinc & selenium.

I also found that the traditional asthma support to be quit helpful in the short term, which are molybdenum and manganese.

I'd prefer to get my nutrition from food, but minerals are hard to absorb in the quantities needed after such a brutal, toxic chemical assault on the body, so I choose supplementation to help me.

Best of luck to all.

tommy,
My experiences taking lisinopril convince me that my immune system was hurt by the drug. In trying to clear out the cough, my immune system used up my body's stores of zinc and selenium, which weakend my immune system, let the cough get worse, and also caused other problems since zinc and selenium are used for other functions too (like thyroid system) and those then suffer too.

For your dad, you might consider getting off the lisinopril, and, taking extra zinc, selenium, vit-c, vit-e, vit-b, and, bioflavinoids and betaglucan. I personally have found zinc & selenium very helpful with clearing up my lungs - these minerals are key to the functioning of the immune system. Also vit-c and vit-e are good for healing. Bioflavinoids are good for certain kinds of sores. And betaglucan stimulates the immune system. (If you beef up with these minerals for an extended time, you might also consider beefing up all the other ones too somewhat to avoid imbalances.) These things helped me a lot, I hope something in the list helps your dad.