Diovan and diabetes

I have been on Diovan for 11 years. Most of those years, I believe the dosage was 80 mg. About 2 years ago my doctor increased my dosage to 160 and again up to 320. I am also on medication for Diabetes and High Cholesterol. I believe my doctor was over medicating me because I started to experience many different side effects. As a result, I never ended up taking the full dosage of Diovan until October 2008. He also had me on two other medications for High Blood Pressure. Within two days, I felt like I was so fatigued I couldn't move. And my blood pressure wasn't all that low either. My wife and I looked at the side effects accompanying the medications and we concluded I should stop taking one of the medications. A few months later, my doctor added another med to the list. I didn't mind this one and the dosage was low.

In any case, between the 320 mg of Diovan and 80 mg of Atenol I was feeling constantly tired. Getting up in the morning, I felt like someone had given me a heavy tranquilizer. Now I have complained about that feeling for a few years now but never thought it was medicine related until the effects worsened. Then, once I was up, I used to feel good all day long but now I was feeling drugged all day long. Driving the car, I felt tired and questioned if I should even be driving a car. But I had to drive to work. At work, I had trouble concentrating, I was so tired.

My memory was gone. It was like I had a full blown case of Autheimers which came on in a period of about 3 months. I couldn't think straight or remember anything.

Finally, the effects got really scary. My wife and I both have a tendency to snore at times. Since we are getting older, we are developing allergies which makes us snore at night. For my wife, her problems are when she wakes up in the middle of the night and I am snoring so bad she can not fall back to sleep. For me, her snoring is a problem when I first go to bed. In the past, I would try shaking the bed hoping she would stir just enough to move and stop snoring. I really didn't want to wake her up fully to get her to stop. This routine of shaking the bed would go on for about 20 minutes or so. Well, on this one particular night, after about 2 minutes, I got this urge or desire to put both of my hands on her back push with Superman strength so she would fly out of the bed and on to the floor. This bothered me because I do not normally think this way or get this violent.

The next day, I was in a meeting at work. I am not sure what happened but I could tell my mind was going some where scary. I was convinced that I was becoming psychotic! That night, I layed in bed deciding that I was going to stop the medications since I believed they were causing these psychotic thoughts. But I also made up my mind, if the thoughts continued, I was going to have myself committed rather than wait until I hurt someone. Stopping the medication meant gradually cutting back on the dosage that I was taking. I cut the Atenol in half and only took half and it worked. The next day I felt better. But gradually the fatigue would come back, just not the psychotic thoughts. To make a long story short, I kept reducing my meds until I was only taking about 80 mg of the Diovan.

There has been concern that I am heading for Kidney failure so I was sent to a Urologist. He is concerned over my high blood pressure and decided to put me on Diovan HCT 320/45 mg. I figured he didn't grasp my concern about that being too much medication. Oh, the HCT I was on then taken off and now put on because I have been experiencing significant swelling of the ankles, feet and legs.

My doctor visit was June 2, 2009 and today is July17, 2009. I have been experiencing many moments of extreme dizziness. My wife and I were in a store when I bent over to pick something up and near fell. I stood up and a few minutes later, I was conscious of myself staggering from dizziness. Last weekend, we went to a store and I didn't feel right as we head inside. We got in and the store got very bright, colors seemed to lighten and it felt like I was passing out. It was like I was standing on a cliff waiting to fall off. The brightness did not go away but I also never passed out. Also, I had been having lots of headaches since going back to this heavy amount of Diovan. Currently, the last couple of days, I am having trouble focusing. It is as if my eyes are good but my head is somehow effecting my eyesight. Yesterday, I kept having these moments where it was like I was being hit in the head. I kept seeing stars. Oh, did I mention I am only 52 years old? Too young in my opinion to be chalking this up to old age.

My next appointment is August 24th. I am hoping I can make it to that appointment. I think this is too much medication and I am afraid if I don't get it cut back soon, it will kill me.

I am not against Diovan but I do think there is a point where one can be prescribed too high a dosage. And I am at that point. Oh and my blood pressure in my opinion isn't that great for all of this medication. I am concerned that something is causing the high blood pressure and rather than OD'ing me on medications, the doctors should be helping me determine why my blood pressure is so high. Also, I am now on this kick to see whether I can lower my blood pressure through certain foods and diet. Where is doctor Oz when you need him?

Hi. My original post is July 29, 2008. I have read a few testimonials about elevated blood sugar levels with Diovan. I'm wondering if anyone who experienced a high resting sugar reading approaching diabetes saw that figure drop when they went off of Diovan.
My blood sugar was previously normal but has risen to a pre-diabetic state despite the fact I am losing weight.
As for the pain in my back and legs, I am controlling that with Naproxen as the alternative drug the doctor prescribed did not work. The pain is under control and I am able to work out so I can lose enough weight to be able to discontinue the Diovan. But I am now very concerned about the posts related to Diabetes. Would appreciate any input on this. Thanks.

I have been taking Diovan for about 6 months now. My BP is normal, Diabetes in check.. Gained 30 lbs. NOT GOOD! I also have a rare Kidney disease. I experience dizziness at times. I have had the same PCP for the past 20 years. You'd think that he would know what drugs to prescribe! Now what?

I started taking Diovan about 9 years ago. At the time my doctor prescribed it because the medicine I had been on (Lotensin) was causing me to hack and cough (which was keeping me up all night long).

I started out at 80mg & then 3 years ago my bp began creeping up. I was then prescribed a 80mg dosage with 12.5 diurectic. I am now taking one 160mg/12.5 & one 80mg/12.5 pill each day.

Since I have been on Diovan I have experienced significant, yet unexplained weight gain (approximately 150 lbs), drastic hair loss, insomnia, itchy skin and more recently, brittle teeth (2 of which have broken off).

Over the years I have been blamed by the doctors for not taking control of my weight. Yet with swimming 4-5 days a week, walking & using an elliptical machine, and changing my diet (and eliminating processed/bleached food) I could only get down to 220lbs.

At this point, I do not know where to turn for advice. The doctors use more meds to mask the side effects of other meds & I have yet to find one that doesn't play into that mindset.