Hi all. I just discovered this website, and reading all these ...

Hi all. I just discovered this website, and reading all these comments makes me want to comment also. I, too, am on Lisinopril and am suffering many of the side effects mentioned here. I'm a 54-year old male, and have had high blood pressure since around 1998-99. Nothing really controls it, although I've had episodic success from time to time. I lost a lot of my hearing last year due to a BP-related disorder called "hydrops" (my right ear particularly), and my eyesight has declined from 20/20 to "mediocre" in record time (although it's been largely stable now for 5 years). Really, everything bad started when the medications began in 2002. For example, I now have Type II diabetes, almost certainly as a result of the diuretic I was prescribed from 2002-2007. I could also tell horror stories about clonidine, Toprol, Accupril, and others. Latest event: I ended up in the hospital ER last Wednesday for what seemed like a minor stroke. I am now suspecting the Lisinopril because the symptoms so mimic much of what folks describe here. I've never had the bad cough, but the joint aches are awful. As for the stroke (actually, a TIA -- Transient Ischemic Attack) -- we'll know for sure after the MRI tomorrow, but my regular doc and the neurologist suspect it was NOT a TIA. Then I see descriptions here of tingling, neuralgia, and other symptoms identical to what happened to me! Sadly, I don't have any simple answers to share. I've tried to cut all sodium from my diet, and I know that's helped. I am now trying a device called the Zona Plus (******), some $300 but possibly worth it. I used it for 90 days in 2007, then gave up and went to a no-salt diet ... and my BP dropped like a stone. I thought diet would do it all, but I was wrong. I should have continued using the Zona. So now I've started a new trial of it. We'll see what 60-90 days on it PLUS a low-sodium diet can do. There's another device called the Resperate which is also kind of spendy. Anyone tried it and had success? I'll be seeing my doctor this week or early next, and asking him to get me off the Lisinopril. But what to replace it with? Any ideas will be welcome.