Lisinopril and dizzy spells

I have taken Lisinopril 20mg once daily for only 3 weeks and I am having some of the same side effects. Memory loss and forgetting things is the main one, the 'grit in the eyes' and general feeling of being tired all the time. I'm glad I found these posts. It did lower my BP from 160 over 108 to 144 over 94. I take it after lunch, since I didn't want to drive while it takes hold. Guess i'm lucky I don't have the other side effects.

Spoke with my Doctor today and he said those were unusual side effects. I guess not from what i'm seeing here. He told me to stop taking Lisinopril and gave me samples of Hyzaar 50/12.5. I really hate taking drugs, since I have atypical reactions to them, but i'll give it a try. I'll do the research first.

Hope this helps others.

I was diagnosed with hbp in January 2008 (197/112), my Doctor prescribed Micardis to which I had few side effects limited only to 2 weeks of muscle and joint aches attributed to the HCT found in Micardis - once the aches subsided I had no noticeable effects to the Micardis and my bp dropped to under 130/80 but my insurance insisted that they would not cover the Micardis until I had been prescribed an ACE inhibitor so my Dr. prescribed Lisinopril and HCT as a water pill, within days of taking the Lisinopril I started having a dry, gagging cough that was aggravated by laying down making sleeping a serious problem.
I have found that drinking hot water is the only thing that will temporarily cut the tickle.
I have also noticed that I have been having dizzy spells and have started sweating profusely at the slightest exertion.
Still waiting BC/BS to authorize Micardis after 2 months or I will have to try another ACE inhibitor that may not have the same effects - any ACE inhibitors found to not cause these or similar symptoms would be greatly appreciated.

I am a 56 year old woman and my doctor started me on 10 mg Lisinopril in March. Within 24 hours of starting it I developed a very annoying cough. At my next doctors visit she told me my bp was not down enough and wanted to increase the dosage. When I asked her if the cough could be from the Lisinopril she gave me some samples of Benecar HCT. The only problem I had with that was muscle weakness and some palpitations that went away after a few days. When I got the prescription filled I found that my insurance didn't cover it and it was quite expensive so I called my doctor back and she wanted me to try the Lisinopril again at 20mg and see what happened. That very same night the cough came back with a vengeance, along with dizziness. I decided to try to tough it out but after ten days now the cough is so bad it's unbearable. It keeps me up at night and I cough till I gag and cry. On several occasions I have coughed until I vomited. I couldn't take it any more and stopped taking it two days ago. I called my doctor today and she told me to stop taking it and now we're going to try Norvasc.

I stopped taking lisinopril for a week now. It was my own decision. I've had it for only three weeks. I thought this was a miracle drug for me coz it really worked for me the very first day I took it and it was really easy on the pocket considering I don't have an insurance. My reading was in the 90+/70+. I was really happy w/ my BP for a while.

Currently, I am trying to observe my body if some of the symptoms I've had (which others have also mentioned here) are just my imagination/due to my paranoia or are really side effects of this drug. I've had mild dry cough especially at night (well I thought it was because of the dry air here in Vegas), nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, dizziness (especially if i stand up from a sitting or lying position which at one point almost made me faint), weakness/fatigue, pain in the shoulder, numbness in the left toes at first then on the day before i last took it, the numbness started creeping up into my left foot and calf. That last symptom really worried me the most coz I thought I was gonna have a stroke or something. When I checked my bp it was way too low 88/64! I thought my monitor was broke or something coz at first it's always making an error. I guess my BP was too abnormal for it.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on calling my doctor to report my symptoms, observations and probably share what I've read on this forum. I was on avapro before my doctor switched me to this one coz after my pregnancy, it doesn't seem to be working on me for a while. I guess I would suggest to him to put me back on avapro and will try to have a better/healthier lifestyle i.e., regular exercise, more fruits and vegetables, less sodium, more fluid intake, good sleeping pattern and better outlook in life for better stress management.

Btw, many thanks to this site and to all who posted their side effects. This somehow gave me some reassurance that I'm not going' crazy about what I've been feeling while taking this drug. Felt like I'm taking a 'killing me softly drug' after all.

I am 31, been taking this stuff for about 5 years now. I am always tired, sometimes dizzy spells hit me out of nowhere. I wake up at night with my heart racing and/or pounding. If I get up out of bed suddenly, I swear my heart is going to beat out of my chest. I have had bouts with PVC or my heart skipping beats and such. The least little thing I do I feel like I've ran a marathon, out of breath, heart racing and pounding. A few months after starting, I developed horrible acid reflux, so of course had to start taking Nexium. My hands sometimes slightly swell and get red and I also get the hot flashes like my bp suddenly spikes on me, but i'll take it and it'll be normal. Im going to the doctor and get off this medicine. I also always feel weird, or like i'm just not all here. I feel like an idoit its taken me this long to figure it all out. I feel like i've lost 5 years of my life to feeling horrible.

I have been on Lisinopril for 2 months and I'm a diabetic. I was put in the hospital for dizzy spells, they did all types of tests and could not find anything. I had to have help going to the bathroom and my meals prepared for me because I could do nothing. This medicine completely disabled me me!

I also have that irritating dry cough that comes out of nowhere.

Apart from the dizzy spells and almost passing out I have numbness & pain in my face, arm, and chest. I couldn't sit up for very long, I'd start feeling really weird, my stomach would go numb, trembling feeling in there, it would spread upward to my chest and I would get nauseated, then I had to lay down.

All these new problems are beginning to get me depressed.

I suggested the Lisinopril to my doctor if this could be the problem, he said no.

All these problems never started until I started taking this new drug and after reading many other posts on this forum and seeing that we have the same symptoms that this drug is not safe to use - AS OF TODAY NO MORE LISINOPRIL FOR ME!

Since I started taking Lisinopril 10mg, I have a dry cough and my blood sugar reading have increased considerably. Does this blood pressure medicine affect diabetes? I have has two severe dizzy spells , one prior to starting on Lisinopril that concerns me and was given Meclizine for the dizzy times. After having the dizziness I spent two-three days being lathargic and unable to do anything with weird feelings in my head.

Thanks, D. Stealey.

I have been taking lisinopril for just over a year now in combination with the generic form of ziac. Within the last week to week and a half, I have had terrible dizzy spells where I thought low blood sugar was the culprit. I have learned it low blood sugar isn't the case. I now have dizziness and extreme weekness where all i want to do is lay iin bed. Today is the first day I have not taken lisinopril. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced the extreme lethargic reaction but most importantly, how long does the side effect stay with you once stopping lisinopril intake?

My dad and sister both take Lisinopril. My sister has the dry cough that many of you taking this drug seem to have. My dad has been taking Lisinopril for a long time. He is very weak and tired most of the time and has had dizzy spells, or the feeling that he is going to faint. I never knew these things might be connected with the Lisinopril, until I read all the side effects on this site. My dad also had watery eyes, then his eyelids began to swell. His eyes got so bad that one eye was completely swollen shut and the other eye was partially closed. He was diagnosed with tumors behind his eyes and ended up having eye surgery on the eye that was completely shut. The tumor quickly grew back and his eye is swollen shut again. Another doctor (not the one who prescribed the Lisinopril) told my dad that it might be the drug causing the problems with his eyes. The doctor who prescribed Lisinopril never told my dad about the side effects, although he had known he was having problems with his eyes. When my dad told him what the other doctor said, he was taken off the Lisinopril, but within a couple of weeks, his blood pressure shot up to over 180 (It had been around 112 while he was taking the drug). Has anyone else experienced swelling or growths in the eyes?

Hi thank goodness i've found this website as i've been on lisiniprol for 4 months now and the side effects are awful, but because i'm taking it to help control of heart failure my DR says I must continue with it.
There are some days I can't move to get out of bed because of pains in my shoulders and down my arms to my finger tips and, because I have arthritis i was thinking it had got worse, but after reading messages here I now believe its a side effect of lisiniprol.
I also have dizzy spells and on one occasion I blacked out but my DR told me to hold on to something when rising to my feet. and keep exertion to a minimum.
I gave up smoking a few months ago and I still have a persistent cough and some days I feel very depressed. I will now go back to her with a print out of this page and see if she is willing to believe these are side effects from the lisiniprol.
As I suffer from low blood pressure normally the lisiniprol now has me down to as low as 85/48 some days and I feel crap anyway I don't think they're for me.

I have very dizzy spells and my head feels like it is stuffed with cotton. Is this the Lisinopril that I am taking? Thank you--Klinner