Verapamil symptoms and conditions

Well, my Fiancee (Sandra) started taking Topamax a few months ago. Her side effects have included: loss of energy, tiredness, tingling in the feet, nausea, chest pain, appetite lose, rapid weight loss, and a severe decrease in her sexual drive. The worst of the side effects is her sudden and unpredictable mood changes. She verbally assalts me and her children all the time. She is aggressive and picks fights over anything and everything. I love her with all my heart but I can not live like this. So bottom line, Topamax has gotten rid of her migraines and/or decreased their frequency and severity. And the cost of that benefit is the destruction of the relationships with the people that love her most.

I have been on Securon Verapamil for over 5 years,together with Digoxin and warfarin, prescribed for atrial fibrillation.
Have been having problems of pain in my biceps, and more latterly pain in my hip joints. Has anybody else had these symptoms

I have been on Topamax for a year. I am on a low dose of 25mgs morning and night for Migraine prevention (instead of the Verapamil I had been taking for years). I am pleased with the results. No migraines. I do not drink soda any more due to the after taste but thats fine. I think I am a little more "hazy" in my thought process but not to an extent of it interfering with my life. I will see how I continue.

Hi All, I am a 37 year old mother of 4, with a history of severe Hemiplegic migraines (up to 14 a month). I've been on Verapamil and Topamax for 7-8 months with a gradual increase of the Topamax to 150 mg a day. Before I start writing this I have to preface it with two things: First, Before Topamax I was one of those women my friends refer to as a "Supermom", I home school my kids and used to love it, we normally have a lot of fun and I have a successful, happy marriage. Second, on Topamax, I went from 14 migraines a month to 0. It didn't happen over night, they went away as we ramped up the dosage, but for the last few months I have had no migraines, I can feel it occasionally when my head is fighting one off, but nothing an Advil won't stop, and for those of us who've lived with trying to care for kids while having migraines (especially Hemiplegic) you may understand why I initially put up with the following: I started out with the tingling in my hands and feet (that went away in a couple of months), word finding difficulties (which never really went away, I just learned to accept it),occasional blurred vision which never lasts very long but which has been an issue the entire time I've been on the med, and weight loss ...I am 5'4" and was only 118 lbs to start with, and have nearly "disappeared" into a size 0 and 105 lbs, and it doesn't matter how much I eat, I've been trying 3 meals, snacks, cookies, candy, you name it, I can't gain weight. I was never nauseous, no diarrhea, I just don't get hungry... I had to start wearing a watch at one point to remind myself to feed the kids, because if they didn't ask, they weren't getting lunch until 2:00 because I wasn't getting hungry! Soda does taste like metal (fortunately I don't drink it normally anyway), and you do get loopy with one glass of anything alcoholic.
Then to add to the lovely appearance of skin and bones, my hair is falling out. Before Topamax I worked out regularly, I am even on commercials for my gym (recorded a year ago), since Topamax, I was so tired, depressed, and so afraid of losing weight that I stopped working out. Now a woman who has always made it a goal to set a good example for my daughters that a fit body is the goal, not a thin body, has her mother in law telling her that she looks "bulimic"! In August I noticed I was crying a lot, then I thought well, maybe it's the Topamax, so I started drinking more water and it went away... so I've been very careful to drink A LOT of water and only decaf tea while on this med, but apparently that wasn't enough, because a few weeks ago my husband pointed out that I stopped showering every day. I have been crying at the drop of a hat for a couple of months again, and I have never been someone to cry in public, I have even started crying in front of my daughters friends' mothers and near tears in front of her teacher over the littlest things... then last weekend I found myself with four hours to myself in my house for the first time in months and I was thinking about how I might be able to use it for unspeakable things like running away, or worse... if those aren't signs of a pretty severe depression I don't know what are, fortunately I recognized them and put them together with the memory problems, etc. As for the memory loss, there have been problems with that for months as well, my daughter has been telling me I "have a bad rememberer" , This weekend everything culminated and other people were recognizing the memory issues that I had been keeping private until now (including my husband). Before that, I would be in the kitchen cooking and forget what I was doing, I went to drive to a party this weekend and forgot where I was going, so I called a friends husband and he had to tell me four times where to go before I could retain it (at first he thought I was joking) and then I still couldn't remember the name of the place, only the # and street, I haven't been able to remember routes to places I used to drive... I'll find myself sitting at a light not sure where to go, and making mistakes with our money because I forgot whether I did or didn't pay a bill (something I've never done, we have always had excellent credit). On Topamax I went from feeling like an attractive, successful, good mom,with a happy family... to constantly stressed, even by things I had previously enjoyed doing, and a completely depressed failure... but I had no migraines. I have now been weaning off the Topamax for a few days. I was playing phone tag with my neurologist... so due to the urgency of the problem I took myself down to 100 mg a day. I have since spoken with my neurologist and I am going off of it completely... by the way don't ever discontinue this med without ramping off of it, doing so can cause a seizure. I am unbelievably grateful that I put 2 and 2 together the weekend I had time to myself and got lost going to the party and I already feel more awake, less tearful and depressed... I know that things will be ok anyway. I hope that anyone reading this who is having memory or emotional issues on Topamax and just brushing them aside (because they don't want to risk going back to the migraines or whatever), will get off this med. Please realize that this med could have cost me, my kids and my husband a lot more than my migraines ever will. I have never experienced depression before Topamax, and I can't say that I'm completely back to myself yet, but I hope that when I am off this med I will find normal again, and I pray it will be without migraines, but I know that I wouldn't wish these past few months that I've put myself and my family through on anyone. Now, I need to go take a shower :) , then I'm going to my neurologist to pick up some 25 mg samples to continue ramping off! Good luck to you all!

About a month ago, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure (160/101). I am a 46 year old female in pretty good shape. I exercise weekly, eat pretty good, and I am not overweight or stressed. My doctor said it is hereditary, and he put on Verapamil and a diaretic for one month and my pressure did go down, but never went to the normal level (120/80). I was finally begnning to feel better and get back into my normal exercise routine. My doctor decided to add the Lisinopril and take me off the fluid pill along with the Verapamil. I took my first pill (Lisinopril) yesterday, and within a few hours, I started to feel nauseous and weak. By the time I got home from work I was feeling lightheaded, and sluggish and wasn't breathing normal. It was to the point that I didn't feel like going to my exercise class. I even struggled to walk my dog--moving a little slower than normal and got really overheated and it was 40 degress in my areaa. Then, later on that night, I woke up with this bad pain/cramping feeling in my upper abdomen that I have never felt before as well as diarrhea. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. It didn't feel like heartburn or gas and I usually don't have stomach issues. It keeped me up all night to the point I had to get up and walk around and sit up in the chair. So I took some pepto bismol because that was all I had, but it didn't help. I woke up this morning and felt a little better except my throat was beginning to feel dry. I took another Lisinopril, and the pain in my stomach immediately came back in my stomach. I will not be taking another one. I put a call into my doctor to give me something else because I don't like how I feel. I will see what he recommends, or I will take some herbal supplements to help balance my blood pressure with the Verapamil. I usually don't have problems with most durgs, but I noticed a big difference in this one. At first I was thinking my body has to get used to it, but after reading your emails, I would rather try something with a little less side effects. My doctor did tell me that if I started to get a dry cough to discontinue the Lisinopril, and call him immediately. I can feel my throat getting dry already this morning so I am not going to wait until I get a cough that I can't control. Just remember to consult your doctor before stopping your meds. I wish you all the best.

Hi, I'm a 51 y/o female nurse that started taking Toprol-XL for high blood pressure. I don't like taking meds because of side effects (other blood pressure meds have caused my hair to fall out, fatigue, depression, etc.) so I started out only taking half of the 50 mg tab. I recently upped it up to the whole tab to get my blood pressure a little lower and immediately started having severe headaches and joint pains. I'm going back down to a half tab and wean myself off this crap. I'm taking Magnesium, potassium, and L-Arginine, which all help relax the blood vessels. I was taking a higher dose of magnesium, which causes some diarrhea, when I decided to lower it and increase the dose of Toprol-XL to see how that worked. I'd rather have the diarrhea from the magnesium! At least then I wasn't crying from depression, having bad headaches and hurting all over! I'm losing weight on Weight Watchers, so hopefully I'll get this blood pressure under control. My blood pressure was pretty well under control with the lower dose of Toprol-XL, higher dose of magnesium, and the L-Arginine and potassium. I'm going back to what was working before. I'm also going to talk to my Health and Wellness doctor about a safer replacement for the Toprol-XL.

My husband started taking Plavix a couple of months ago, in addition to Verapamil. Within about 3 weeks of taking Plavix, he suffered a complete loss of taste. He cannot taste anything. He can smell. He has lost 25 pounds, is weak. A couple of days ago, his doctor took him off Plavix and put him on another drug, although the doctor states that he has never heard of loss of taste from this drug, but I found 2 articles that stated "taste disturbance" can be a side effect of this drug. Has anyone else experienced this with Plavix.

I've been on Diovan for about 9 months and I have all of the side effects everyone else here has mentioned! Weight gain, bloating, fatigue, mood swings, extreme muscle aches- especially in my lower back and legs, hunger, and more! These Drs. are sooo stupid!!!! They tell us to lose weight and then give all of us medications that cause weight gain. I am also diabetic and my Dr. also has me take Humalog insulin- which also causes weight gain! I would enjoy hearing from everyone who has had side effects from Diovan, and I would like to hear about alternative remedies for hypertension. Good luck and Best Wishes to all of you....Kim Q.

The doctors haven't been able to determine if I had a stroke or drug related (symptoms- if the slurred speech, facial palsy, memory problems, problems with working memory, and a 30+ drop in IQ points, weakness right hand). I had an open MRI and nothing was abnormal. They took me off the topamax and there has been no change and put me on verapamil sr. Trust me the verapamil is horrible as cause anxiety, insomnia, increase in appetite and congestive heart failure. At this point, the only thing that the topamax is responsible for was a decrease in appetite ( Yup, I had a stroke). I can't wait to get back on the topamax.

I was on Lisinopril for 1 year. It had not been mentioned to me that a terrible cough was a side affect. When I finally learned that it was through other people and stopped taking it. 2 months later I had full blown Asthma. Some time prior to
taking Lisinopril I had been diagnosed with Airspace Desease without any symptoms. I feel the Lisinopril pre-disposed me to Asthma, now can never be reversed.
Now put on Verapamil - refuse to take it so far without doing proper research first.
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Has anyone used Verapamil as a preventive medication for daily headaches? That doesnt have any side effects at all. But I cant recollect if it was as effective as Topamax. I want someone's firts hand account on that please.

I was put on Verapamil 120mg after being taken off of Atenolol which I had been on for 5 years. I also took Lisinipril along with the Atenolol. I had a couple of rough months getting off the Atenolol as there are some side effects to doing that. I was put on th Verapamil along with Enalapril and Hydrochlorithiazide, didn't feel well. Off the Enalapril and Hydrochlorithiazide now and have increased the Verapamil to 180mg. I feel so tired but can't sleep, have no energy and my heartrate is still up there. Doctor wants to add Digoxin, will this help or make it worse. I felt better on the lower dose but it wasn't controlling the BP.
Thank you for your time and would appreciate any info.

Hi Everyone - I sent in a email yesterday and was guest #29349. Due to taking Lisinopril my kidney's weren't functioning correctly. The Creatinine test was abnormal and this was due (just found out yesterday) to taking Lisinopril. So the side effects are extreme. The good news is that I no longer am taking this drug and my blood test came back normal yesterday. I am feeling pretty good and getting back to normal again. It has only been a week since I have been off of this drug and the doctor told me it could take up to a month before it gets out of my system...this should tell you how powerful this drug is and VERY DANGEROUS! FYI, I was taking this drug for high blood pressure and am now taking Verapamil.

I was taking Lisinopirl for one month almost to the day and then one day I woke-up with huge hives all over my legs and starting to go to the rest of my body. I went to the doctor that day and was told I was having an allergic reaction to the drug. That same day they did a blood draw and put me on a new medication called Verapamil. I have now been taking the new meds for one week and today I received a call from the doctors office and they are making me come into the hospital for "stat" blood draw, because my kidney functions were not good. I truly believe this is due to taking the lisinopril. I also had other side-effects in the muscles of my legs and was also very fatigue. I'll let you know what the results are. Sounds like I got some kidney damage from taking this drug! If your currently taking this drug, I would highly recommend getting off of it immediatally!

Just got back from the Doctors today. She thinks the dry tickle cough that I've had for a year now may be from the lisinopril. After reading this, I think so too. I'll fill the rescription for verapamil tomorrow, but aslo see if there is a board like this for that drug.

I originaly was prescribed verapamil (240gm) for HBP of 240/110. This did bring it down to 160/90 after a week or two, then I was prescribed initially 5mg and then 10 mg of lisinipril. I've been on these tablets now for four years.

Blood pressure now runs around 130/70.

I haven't attributed any problems to Lisinipril but I have gradually found I need to urinate very frequently, even having to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. Impotence is another problem, both of these difficulties my doctor put's down to being age related .(I'm 57) Recent prostate examination did not find enlargement and PSA test was negative.

I'm in otherwise wise excellent health, eating sensibly, 5'9" weighing 148 Lbs, exercising at gym 3 times a week, plus golf and walking.

I noted someone else attributed floaters in the eye being a side effect of this pill. I too experienced this in both eyes . Examination discovered both retinas had torn. I was immediatelly operated and thankfully operation was successful . Hospital did not associate Lisinipril with this condition.

Doctor has tried other tablets to help with urinary problem, nothing has worked so far.

I did not have any of these health problems until after I had started lisinipril and verapamil. I do not have evidence that either or both are the the cause .

If anyone knows of any proved association I'd love to know.

About a month ago I was put on Lisipril in place of the Verapamil I was taking. My pressure was at 148 over 93 for the longest time and my PCP didn't like it. Since I've been on the Lisinipril I've noticed a difference in my sleep habits as well and I do have a cough that wakes me up in the middle of the night and I wind up sleeping the rest of the night on the sofa so I don't wake my husband. My doc never told me of any side effects. I'm so glad I decided to check out this web site. I will be seeing my doc again soon for a BP Check and I will be telling him about these things.

Several months ago my dr prescribed verapamil and quinapril to control my high blood pressure. My diet is the same as before taking these medications, but my cholesterol and triglycerides are much higher now. Total cholesterol has gone from 168 to 217. This may not be related to the drugs, but my cholesterol level has been fairly constant for several years.

I began taking verapamil,240 mg. twice daily, zocor and digoxin, .125mg once daily about 3 years ago. I was weak and ill every day. This was prescribed for arrithma and atrial fibrilation. After stopping the zocor I experienced severe abdominal pains for days before again feeling a lilttle better. I found that policosonils and red rice yeast worked far better that ther prescribed devils poison. I would like to find a wholeistic cardiologilst within 200 miles of oklahoma city and hopefully get weaned off of this pharmaceutical poison, however all cardiologist appear brainwashed.

My new doctor put me on lisinopril in additon to verapamil and plavix which had been taking for over five years.
When I began having nose bleeds and bleeding piles, he implied it was the plavix, so I reduced it more and more.
But am now convinced it was the lisinopril.
Finally I have stopped lisinopril and will see what happens when I again take more plavix.

I have been taking verapamil for seven years, but I have to watch the dosage. My doctor took me up 3 180mg pills a day but that made me so tired and weak in the legs I could not take my daily short walks
I reduced to 1-1/2 pills and am able to take my walks. If I get a headache and find my pulse quite strong, I will take a additional half or whole pill for just that time. Doctors always want to go by the BP readings they get in the office, but surely by now everyone knows that the reading can be high from the "white coat syndrome" and that BP varies widely all day every day in every person.

I had been taking lisinopril for about a month when I began having nose bleeds and bleeding piles. My doctor insisted that it was not the lisinopril and pointed out the Plavix I was taking is a blood thinner. He didn't say it directly, but I inferred that he suggested I reduce the Plavix, which I did. But the bleeding has stilling continued irregually.
Then about a month ago, I woke up with tinkling in my hands and feet, although I sleep only on my back in my recliner. After several days of this, I check the info sheet that comes with the medication. It states that lisinopril may cause swelling of hands and feet. Since once before, when a pharmacist told me another medication could cause swelling of the extremities and when I got the numbness and tinkling I called and he confirmed it was the same thing.
Any way, I stopped the lisinopril completely and informed my doctor thru his medical assistant, who relayed that although the doctor doublted lisinopril was the cause, he cautioned that I keep checking my BP. (I have been taking Verapamil for seven years to control it, but this new doctor wanted the BP even lower, so he put me on lisinopril in addition.)
I stayed off it for ten days and the numbing of the hands and feet vanished. But to verify that it is the lisinopril, I took one pill two days ago and woke up with strong tinkling in my right hand and lesser amount in my left hand.
Even today, as I am writing this, I still experience tinkling or numbness in both hands.

having been taking toprol for nearly two years. This drug was presecribed to help with blood pressure and cardiomyopothy hypotrophy. Started out with 100mg per day and was advised to increase to 200mg per day/ morining and evening. My morning dose is taken with 180mg Verapamil. Primary physician just added nifedapine. I stopped the toprol regime for about 6 days and ended up in the hospital for about 4 days. My heart started racing and got up to 180bpm. My cardiologist stated that I should have never stopped the toprol. I would like to come off this medication. Does anyone have any suggestions. I don't not want to go through that rapid heart beat situation again. has anyone experienced such a heart rate based on stopping the use of toprol. I am now back on 100mg of it in the a.m. with 180 of verapamil and an aspirin. My evening dose is 100mg of toprol, 10mg of crestor and Niaspin 500mg as a nightime dose. This seems like it is so much medicine. I hate the feelings that come with this. Would love to have some feedback so that I can resume a much better life. Sex drive is low as well and I am only 49 year old black american male.

help

Good grief! All I'm looking for is something on Calan /Verapamil causing gum tenderness so I can explain to my dentist that my gums may be tender because of the medication since he doesn't have an explaination for the problem. It's just one of those things I'm not complianing about anything ,but this site seems to act as thought one wants to sue or something ! I've been taking this medication for years and have no complaints I just want to know from another source if it's possibly the cause. As the info I get from the pharmacy states it can cause this problem. Can someone varify this??? LLE