I've been reading the responses to this medication, and I have to say I'm shocked. I've been experiencing most of the side effects on this site, and I thought I was starting to lose my mind.
I've always had panic and anxiety disorder, and I had developed an inner ear infection 4 months ago. This was also AFTER I quit smoking and started exercising and eating healthier. Well quitting smoking gave me horrible panic attacks that would last 3 or 4 hours at a time, and when I woke up that morning feeling dizzy I panicked because I had never experienced an inner ear infection.
I went to the hospital 3 days later because I was so dizzy and I was experiencing numbness in my face and left arm. I thought I was having either a stroke or heart attack, and it turned out my heart was just fine but my blood pressure was 195/105. They immediately put me on Lisinopril and Metoprolol to bring my BP down. They said I had high blood pressure brought about by obesity and panic disorder (no crap?).
I took the metoprolol for about a week before I started noticing my hands and feet go cold and my heart rate was dipping down into the 30's. Being someone who reads up on his medication, I knew what medication was causing what and I stopped taking it. My heart rate went back to normal and my body temperature went from 96 back to 98.6.
The only thing I was taking was Lisinopril 10mg which my doctor later increased to 20mg. After this I started feeling like I was constantly hanging upside down because my whole head felt so congested. I figured the ear infection was coming back again and didn't give it a second thought. Then the panic attacks started getting so bad, worse than I've ever had before. I was experiencing panic attacks 3 to 4 times a day (I still do, but I'm going to stop taking Lisinopril after today). The dizziness came back as more of a light-headed feeling, despite still having medium-high blood pressure. Since being on Lisinopril, my blood pressure stays in the 130/80 range, going as high as 145/90 during the day. What a help that was.
I also noticed my heart rate dip again. For 2 weeks my resting heart rate was around 51 and lower, though my blood pressure was still high. This is unusual for me, this past week my heart has been racing with a resting heart rate of around 106. I went from bradycardia to tachycardia in a matter of days. My hair has been falling out, my body temperature has been low, my heart rate is all over the place with Hell's own palpitations, I'm getting chest pains every now and then, my neck and head have been hurting, I've been coughing so hard I throw up, my stomach hurts, I have diarrhea and bad heart burn.
And on top of all of that, I'm so fatigued I can barely get out of bed half the time. And this is while eating VERY HEALTHY and walking 2 miles a day! ***? I thought maybe it was my thyroid (I'm scheduled to have blood tests for that next week), but now I'm quite convinced this "medicine" is the root of all my problems.
If I want low blood pressure, I will have to continue losing the weight, and eating less salt, because I will NEVER do this again.