Are there any meds that are safe? I was taking 10mg norvasc. I st...

I forget to add I took the name brand norvasc. Not generic.

you know, all drugs have some dangers. they talk about risk/ benefit ratios like maybe this drug will kill 5 people but help 500,000 so it's worth it, although try telling that to the 5 who die!
or maybe the drug has terrible side effects but it prevent death so it's worth it.
but these days, since wall street's need for constant growth rules everything, the risk/benefit ratios are skewed as in "this drug has terrible risks but it will benefit our shareholders by making us tons of money if we can convince otherwise healthy people that they are sick. hey i have an idea- let's change the cholesterol guidelines so that everyone has high cholesterol and let's change blood pressure recommendations and let's invent diseases like restless leg syndrome."

you say you can't live without your meds. what did people do before they had them? try yoga and meditation. you can bring your BP down without drugs; i'm sure of it

You say . . . "I am afraid of all my meds" . . then why are you still taking them?
AGAIN, there are many natural products/alternatives . . . INSTEAD of taking drugs that cause side effects. . . . You say, " I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM " . . . .I guess you like to give your $$ to the drug co's and suffer with the side effects. Since you have the time to do new posts/replies, I suggest that do research on ways to help your health issues . . . .WITHOUT DRUGS !!

I have researched. And your very rude. You act like im evil because I have to have my meds to live. Thats because you have no idea what your spouting about

You are wrong . . . you DON'T have to take drugs to live. I used to take various drugs and I got tired how I felt with the side effects . . .I spent countless hours on research and now, I no longer take drugs. . . my mission is to educate people to use natural products/alternatives . . . instead of taking drugs that cause side effects.

Oh sure i've read tons of those scams of people who want you to pay them to tell you what works. But none of what they tell you after you pay is worth anything. It's usually some bogus suppliment that doesn't change anything but you bank account. I got stuck with one of those scams. So you take your fake suppliments and good luck.

ladyrich007
why do you think supplements are a scam but you don't think pharmaceutical drugs are a scam? i'm just curious. it seems to me that drug companies spend millions advertising their drugs to convince people to "ask your doctor"
you've never seen a commercial for an antibiotic because when you need one, you need one and you only take them for a limited amount of time so they can't really make billions of $$ for drug companies.
if you felt you were doing fine on norvasc, i'm not really sure why your doctor felt the need to add lisinopril to the mix. i don't really know much about norvasc- i've never researched it- but i do know about lisinopril because i suffered an idiopathic kidney inflammation in february and one of the drugs they put you on for that is lisinopril, even though my BP is perfect, even on the low side.
but it's one of those "standard of care" things. i was very afraid of it, after reading about the cough it can cause and some other harmful effects but i was on a very low dose (5 mg er day) and i was only to stay on it until my kidney inflammation cleared up.
i took it for 4 days and i had no side effects that i could see/ feel but on the 3rd day i had blood work done and when the doctor got the results (on the 5th day but before i had taken the 5th pill) he called me at home and told me to stop it at once.
lisinopril is an ACE inhibitor and it can drive your potassium levels up too high which can damage your heart. my potassium levels had always been great and suddenly i needed to have an EEG to see if my heart was ok! you can imagine how pissed off i was, considering that i didn't want to take the damn drug in the first place!
luckily my heart was fine but that was the end of lisinopril for me!
why did i have such a strong fast potassium response to such a low dose after only 4 pills? here's my theory and my doctor thought it made sense: americans eat a lot of processed foods which are high in sodium and low in potassium. high BP has never been a problem in cultures that eat their ancestral diets. it is a condition of modern western people. potassium regulates BP but too much can damage the heart. so if the average american with high BP and a high sodium intake is on lisinopril, it will cause their potassium levels go up some but not into the danger zone.
i eat lots of raw fresh vegetables which are naturally high in potassium so when i started taking lisinopril, it drove my potassium levels way too high.
when the doctor gave me a list of low potassium foods that would be safe for me to eat while on lisinopril, a fresh squeezed mixed vegetable juice would be strictly forbidden while a bagel (white flour not whole grain!) and coffee would perfect!
well, i've never had a cup of coffee in my life and i'm not about to start now. and i'm sure as hell not going to start eating white flour bagels, so we both realized that there was no way i was going to be able to take lisinopril safely.
but, even with the kidney inflamation, which has as one of its symptoms high BP, my BP never went up, which surprised the doctor. but it was because of my diet.
also, to treat my kidney problem, he wanted me on 6 different drugs. i refused all but the main one, prednisone. the others (lipitor, lisinopril, lasix, fosomax & nexium) i absolutely would not take. instead, i took a slew of vitamins, ate really well, took tons of omega3 fish oil and did yoga. and i got better faster than any patient he had ever seen.
i guess, i'm telling you a long story but my point is that i think there are ways to deal with your BP that are not pharmaceutical and not necessarily supplements either.
yoga and meditation have been around for thousands of years, aren't scams and could help a lot in many ways.
garlic is known to control BP.
and if you were comfortable on norvasc and you are confident that it wasn't doing long term damage to you, maybe that was enough.
i hope you can find something that works without doing harm.

propsguy . . .see the replies above . . she is referring me.

Im not going to discuss this with you anymore. Your rude and I don't talk to rude people. Im not trying to help the drug companies. But your not a docter and you don't know my problems. My problems are not fake. They have a medical reason. I use niacin in place of lipitor and some other drugs. My docter put me on it. Aspiren is my blood thinner. I take garlic to keep from getting chigger bites in the summer. I have nothing against suppliments. I do think yoga is all in your head. I would never trust my health to vodoo.

propsguy . . . well, we tried. for me, enough said now.

hey, i think it's great that you use niacin instead of lipitor. doctors used niacin for cholesterol before statins came along. now most doctors don't even remember those days! there's way less potential for harm with niacin and it also helps with depression. i used it to get my BF off his 15 yr long use of multiple anti-depressants.

but please don't pan yoga. it's not voodoo. it has been around for thousands of years and recently, as western science has examined it, they've documented the many benefits. it's greatly helped my asthma. they've found that cancer patients do better when they include yoga in their program. and it helps de-stress which aids BP. i'm not claiming that it's a cure-all, just that it has many benefits.
but so does walking a 1/2 hour a day, working in the garden, swimming- all these things can help, if they are things that you enjoy
i don't think anyone thinks that your problems are fake but you yourself were wondering if your meds were "killing" you and if any were safe.
i guess the real answer is that some are more or less safe and the longer you take them and the more kinds or combinations of them that you take, the greater the chances of them not being safe.
no one is accusing you of supporting drug companies. lord knows we all do that. our government gives them so many tax write-offs that we end up subsidizing whether we take drugs or not.
but you asked the question so you must have doubts about their safety and efficacy

777 came on very strong and acusing. I don't know what his beef was. All I did was ask a question. He has no idea of the things I have tried. No one wants off these killer meds more then I do. But FIRST you have to find something that will work. In the mean time YES I have to have my meds to survive.

hey ladyrich

did you by any chance read all the other posting for norvasc? i just skimmed through now and it looked like lots of people had a range of problems with it- lots of swollen ankles and chest pains

don't laugh- ever try accupuncture? i know they can place needles in certain areas to control BP