Diovan and 3 years

I have been on Diovan 80 mg for 3 years and have experience a lot of symptoms listed above. 8 weeks ago I got very sick and had constant diarrhea (my stool looked like it had oil floating on the water) and lost 40 lbs. After numerous blood work, ultra sounds, ct scans, colonoscopy and many stool samples I found out thay my pancrease was not working properly. The doctor told me that diovan had caused the problem with my pancrease. I now have to take a medication not to help me digest food and they have changed my bp pills. I am hoping this will work because I have missed a lot of work in the last 8 weeks and they tell me where I got so weak it will take me months to recover from this. Anyone having stomach problems please consult your doctor to see if you are having troubles with your pancrease.

49 years old. I took diovan 80mg for about 2 years. Never thought to associate dry eyes and throat, low back and muscle aches, and weight gain to this drug. I lost 10# by doing 1 hour of fast walking and 30 minutes of weights 3x week and my b/p went to 110/70, so I stopped the drug to see what would happen. In 2 days my head was aching and my b/p was 170/102!! Beware of rebound, which Novartis does not list in its warning section. Back on the diovan to prevent a stroke, but I will talk to my doctor about a low dose beta blocker, and will keep exercising and eating light, with the goal to get off all meds with a healthy lifestyle. Does anyone else ever feel fullness in the throat? that is another weird symptom I get sometimes.

have been on diovan for about 3 years. taking 80 mg. twice a day. have gained weight. then in oct. 2007, my doctor upped my dose to an extra 40 mg. i had noticed side effects when i first started the diovan, such as back pain, dizziness, weight gain, diarrhea. then when my dose was increased, i now have knee pain, muscle pain all over, weakness in legs, more fatigue, no energy. i have to force myself to do what i need to do, because my body is so tired. the thing that scares me the most is the weakness. not just feeling tired, but muscle weakness. has anyone experienced muscle weakness while on diovan?
thanks for any response.

I'm a 57-year-old male. I have been on Divovan 160 for about 3 years now. Several months ago I started to have back pain and it has been increasing. The doctor took x-rays and cat scan and the reports said that while I have some disc degeneration in my lower spine, the films are virtually unchanged since they were taken 5 years ago. In other words, I should not have back pain - but I do!
Lately, the pain has gotten worse - so bad that I can hardly get out of bed in the morning. It is located on the left side of my lower back. I also have incredible gas and despite diet and exercise, which is now impossible due to the pain, I could not lose weight no matter how hard I tried.
In the last 6 months I have slowly transformed from feeling pretty good for my age and capable of an hour a day on the treadmill to feeling like a 90-year old man. Today the pain was so bad I had to book off sick from work.
I went to the doctor and told him about all the negative stories on the Internet about Diovan. He looked up in his medical journal and decided to take me off the drug. Instead he prescribed a new drug, Rasilez (aliskiren fumarate).
Last month I tried stopping Diovan for 4 days and experienced a significant reduction in pain. I had to go back on because my pressure shot up again. I hope this new drug works without side effects.
Would appreciate responses from any of you who have had success with drugs alternative to Diovan and also success with natural remedies.
Best wishes to you all.

You are all completely 100 % right
I have a book here called the high blood pressure hoax
the lady that wrote it is 100 % right in her findings we are all living it !!!!
the list of side effects is overwhelming too many too list
I quit all hypertensive meds yes my blood pressure shot up rebound etc

but I can actually sleep and don't feel depressed and tired anymore

it may not be a good thing but id rather live with no side effects my skin is actually clearing up in 2 days from the itching, the nausea is still coming and going brain fog is clearing up as well as a ton of other horrible side effects for the first time i actually feel good .....in 2 years of taking these horrible drugs ,,,,,yes they are keeping us alive but in the long run they will kill us just as fast as the hypertension !!!!!!!!!! good luck with diet and exercise everyone I am starting it myself this weekend