Diovan and drugs

I am a 38 year old female, not overweight but hbp runs on my dad's side of the family unfortunately! I was prescribed Diovan by my doctor who had a list of my allergies. So, i went to get it at walgreens and luckily they have my allergies also because this drug is a sulfa drug and I am highly allergic and they caught it before i took any. You would think my doctor would have done a better job as I could have gotten really sick. YOU NEED TO BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE WITH THESE DRUGS DOCTORS ARE PRESCRIBING, YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT! At that time my doctor then called in LISINOPRIL. I just got off of being on it for 10 months with horrible, horrible side effects.
If your doctor has prescribed LISINOPRIL for you, please look the drug up on this site before taking - WARNING! There are 1,800 entries from people who have/had debilitating symptoms. I have now chosen to be off of HBP meds for a while and monitor it 3 times a day and see if i still need to be on it. After what i have been through, i would rather run around the block 10 x's a night and change everything I eat and drink and lose weight before I would consider another pill!

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.

UPDATE to recent post on May 05 by adashjr:
I haven't taken my Diovan since horrible pain in my feet occurred on May 03. It is now May 18. My feet and knee feel AWESOME!!! the knee is back to it's pre-Diovan state of sporadic soreness but overall my lower joints haven't felt this good in a LONG LONG time. will admit I have no idea what my BP is having not taken DIOVAN for two+ weeks, but
will get back to gym and lose weight and lower my BP the old fashioned way. DIOVAN - GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!

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?

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

I have been on Diovan, 80 mg. for almost 3 weeks now. I was taken off of lisinopril due to a terrible cough which was getting worse by the day. My cough is almost gone now, but I have been having a real problem with flatulence since I started the Diovan. I also take Lipitor, and I think the combination of the two drugs may be the issue. Back to the doctor, I guess. I would like to be able to go out in public. I've tried Beano to no avail. But on the positive side, my blood pressure is fine now!

oh, great! (sarcasm)...i was switched to diovan after my previous meds (olmesartan medoxomil) sp?--it's known as benicar at the pharm--started causing a bad side-effect--some possible muscle damage, i was told. not sure how bad but i had some bloodwork done to check liver function b/c i mentioned to the doc that i have muscle cramps, body aches as though i ran a marathon...just a bit of soreness and tingling sensation on my extremeties when I lay on one particular side. these were tolerable side-effects compared with the constant coughing with lisinopril. goodness...if the high blood pressure doesn't kill you first, the numerous side effects from these drugs surely will! can anyone else here tell me more about diovan before i take this new poison masquerading as medicine? with the benicar, i did notice bloating and some wt gain--or, it's just harder to shed pounds. what other bp meds are out there that aren't ace inhibitors? i'm dreadful of drugs that cause hair-loss :P

anyway, to those that are on any meds....never miss your follow-up visits even if your medication is "working" for you. get a blood test just to make sure there aren't really any abnormal readings. best of all, if you have to keep switching and trying out meds to find the right one, do insist from your doc that they give you free samples first...like a months worth, as these arb's sure aren't cheap.