Lisinopril and fatigue

Wow it's amazing how at this time there is forty seven pages of people making this up! I really think the maker of this drug should be burned at the stake, I still have palpitations after taking this drug for about 8 months . I have been off of this drug for about 8 months now and feel way better then I did while taking it. I have started a diet and exercise plan and now my bp is normally 117 over 70 , I'd say thats pretty good for still being over weight (I have lost forty two pounds so far) I am not taking any meds right now because diet and exercise has worked so far for me . And I went through hell thinking I was dying while taking this med with the palpitations , chest pain , dizziness , fatigue , tingling in my hands and feet , burning sensation in my feet , and depression . Is anyone suing the maker of this drug ? I think we should all get together and get this off the market so nobody else has to go through this !

My whole life 120/70. Two months ago 160/103 wtf. I am on my second month of lisinopril. I am pretty sure it has caused me to be absent minded and grouchy. I was never these before. Worse yet for me is that I am a life long runner. I live to exercise so that I can enjoy the more fun things in life. beer wine and good food. ( I am 47 years old) I ran my first marathon 26.2 miles in January. I now have trouble running three miles with out getting fatigued, dizzy and winded. This sucks!!! any advice would be appreciated.

I'm 54, started taking lisinopril in jan 09. I took for about 3 months and noticed a decrease in libido. My pressure was pretty much in control, so I stopped taking it. I started again around 1st of Aug 09. Approx 3-4 weeks later, I began to experience severe pain in my left shoulder and arm. It began to move into my neck and back. I went in for an EKG to ensure I wasn't having a stroke. It was normal. I experience dizziness and headaches. I wake in the night and my 2 left fingers on the left hand are completely numb. The pain in my neck is now moving to the right side and some shoulder pain seems to be apparent. I noticed pain in other joints as well. I'm unable to work out at the gym as I usually do due to the pain my my left arm. I highly suspect these symptoms to be caused by lisinopril. I've been taking 20mg and was just switched to 20 mgm Hct. a week ago. X-Rays were taken of my neck and shoulder last week. Haven't' heard from the doctor as of yet. I was on Diovan before I lost my job and health benefits. As a vet, the VA put me on the Lisinopril. The Diovan worked fine for me, too expensive for us vets I guess. I am discontinuing the Lisinopril as of today 10/24/09. I feel like I imagine a ninety year old would feel with these aches and all. I havent' admitted it, but I believe I'm feeling mildly depressed as well. Let's see what a week of purging this from my system does. f. D.

I am taking 20-25mg of Lisinopril and have been for about 1 month. First, I have to say the stuff works - my blood pressure went down immediately. Recently I have noticed a dry bottom lip (neither water or chopstick helps) and I am drinking AT LEAST 12 glasses of water a day and still feel thirsty. Anyone have similar side effects?

I was prescribed Lisinopril last September due to hypertension level blood pressure that was at "emergent level" as determined in the ER. I had no other pre-heart attack symptoms other than headaches at night in sleep..

Prior to taking the RX I was doing 1 hr gym works outs 3-4 times per week, walk/jogging 3 times per wk 2-3 mi ea. NOW I'm lethargic and fighting to keep active. Joints are easily taxed and take several days to weeks to recover from what used to be routine.. Cough is dry and hits at night or day and leaves a general feeling of fatigue. Memory is impaired. Twitching muscles all over like little electrical impulses being shot off and extreme cramping of upper leg muscles when sitting down to stretch. Intermittent "heart flutters". Nothing I've every experienced before.

I'm heading in for followup now that I've read this forum. I had no idea of the severity of side effects. Here I thought I was being saved from eminent heart attack or stroke.

Raising two children and can afford to be lethargic or forgetful or worse.

Thank you all for your postings. You are indeed the life savers.

D.

headache, leg pain, sleep problems-waking up several times at night, constantly tired, depressed, excessive saliva, now no saliva, swelling
parotid gland, neck swelling. Fatigue is unbelievable! Can't seem to do everyday chores. Has anyone else had swelling of parotid glands?

It's 4:42 a.m. Can't sleep. Keep coughing when start to doze off then. Shortness of breath. Was cold now hot.. Started searching internet for side effects found this site. I am taking 40mg of this started only 4 days ago. coughing up the clear stuff. started today. runny nose. have the same spitting episodes. I may go to ER. Trying to make it through the night to call dr. in the morning. I am unemployed...can't afford ER. have to visit clinic. Very hot. I wish I had known about these side effects would never have taken this medicine.

I am 35 years old and I have high blood pressure. I am taking Inderal and Lisinopril. I have been taking Lisinopril for about a year now. I have had a cough for almost a year now. Have had chest x-rays and ct scans that show nothing is wrong. I was taken off of Lisinopril and put on Diavan but my feet and ankles were swelling so I went back to Lisinopril .
I still have cough, dizziness, light headed, hot flashes, fatigue, weakness and chest pain. I cannot go to the grocery without everyone staring at me coughing and the people at work are getting annoyed with it. I cough to the point where I vomit. My doctor has sent me to a specialist for acid reflux and has even went as far as telling me I have sinus or allergy problems. I will be going back to the doctor next so I will be suggesting being taken off of this drug and put on something else. Thank you to everyone on here. Everyone thinks that I am crazy because I am only 35 and I have all of these symptoms but no one knows what is wrong with me.

I have been taking 20 mg. for two weeks and I have developed a dry cough, pain in the middle of my shoulder blades and my left arm. I tried to cut my grass and felt like I was going to die. I am 48 year old male with BP of 140/90. Lisinopril has lowered my BP as low as 90/60 so I cut the dosage in half. Now I feel like my throat has been ripped out and I'm hurting all over. I will never take Lisinopril again. I was on Benicar, but it was expensive and didn't really work. I am going to start exercising more and try the health food stores.

I have to agree with the July 11th comments. This medication should not be on the market. I was on Toprol XL for years and experienced side effects from that. Then my doctor recently changed my medication and put me on Lisinopril. Within days I started to experience dizziness, fatigue, muscle weakness, insomnia, racing heart ( these attacks would last for 30-45 minutes following muscle weakness ), weight gain, and oh my goodness the COUGH. That would start shortly after laying down and I would go on coughing for 2 hours. Between the cough and the insomnia what was the point of sleeping. I have been to the doctor twice complaining of the symptoms and they look at me like I am nuts. The worst part is the racing heart episodes which make me feel like I am having a heart attack. The amazing thing is, after all the tests that have been performed since I started this medication, I am a very healthy person. So why is it the doctors I have seen,who have run all these tests, at the cost of my medical insurance, never thought that maybe it is the side effects of this medication. WHY don't doctors listen more and WHY don't they take the time to inform themselves of these medications before prescribing them. They need to LISTEN more to their patients, after all
we know our bodies better than they do. My blood pressure is 104-63 with a heart rate of 110. I am 53 yrs old and my blood pressure should be between 129-142. Don't you think there should be a red flag some where?
This is where my trust factor is zero. I think the more medication doctors can prescribe the sicker it makes us. I can't speak for all doctors but I have seen 4 doctors and not one of them seemed to be looking out for my best interest. DON'T START THIS MEDICATION. Apparently there have not been enough case studies on Lisinopril. Oh by the way did you know that taking this medication increases your chance of a stroke by 60%. One more side effect. Thank you for this web site.

This is a good forum and I am thankful I came across it. I had hardly ever taken medicine (other than cold/flu medications) in my life. I am a 36-year old male and in pretty good shape. My wife and I had been under considerable stress in recent years after our baby son passed away. Plus, we are both teachers so the everyday nature of our jobs can be stressful. I had frequently gotten a sensation of chest tightness and it was very uncomfortable. My blood pressure was elevated at times (130/80 or 140/90 range). One time it shot up to 153/93 and that scared me.

The doctor ran an EKG on me. Everything normal. Then, I wore a 24-hour Holter monitor. Again, my results were fine. He then prescribed me 10mg of lisinopril. After I started the drug, the chest tightness seemed to worsen. I always have this squirmy feeling inside, like body parts are moving around in my chest area. It is hard to describe but it kind of feels like parts are pulsating or are inflamed at times. Weird. I would wake up at night and start feeling nervous without thinking about my situation. The tension would just come on quickly. Other symptoms are dizzyiness, anxiousness, headaches and fatigue. One of the other forum writers said he or she felt tired all the time. Same here. All I want to do is lay around when I know I could be doing something constructive. I push myself to get up but it is difficult. Lastly, this drug also definitely affects sexual performance.

Now, I have quit the drug after taking it for 2 weeks. The final tipping point was when I was doing a morning walk/partial jog yesterday. I jogged the second half and when I slowed down to walk, I immediately got dizzy and had blurred vision. I managed to get to the front of my house and fainted. I remember making a grunting sound as I fell flat on my face in the yard. Luckily, I landed on the grass. I got up slowly, walked into the house and laid on the carpet. I felt very fatigued all day. Granted, I had only drank water before I went out and my blood sugar was probably low so that played a role. But I also think the lisinopril has screwed with my system and might have caused this since I have never had that happened before.

In hindsight, I suspect I have a problem with anxiety and that was the culprit for my problems before I took the lisinopril. As far as the chest tightness and anxiety is concerned, I will do my best to manage my anxiety with natural remedies (the herb Valerian works okay) and commit myself to better diet and exercise.

Does anybody know how long it takes for lisinopril to completely exit my system? I drink a lot of water. In my case, I took it for approximately 14 days.

I have been on lisinopril for over 3 years - 5 mg/day. I am a 52 year old female in great shape and exercise daily. For over a year now I have had muscle aches, muscle weakness, heart palpitations, foggy brain feeling, insomnia, fatigue, some tingling in extremities. I also sometimes get these spells where all these symptoms come on at once. It's very strange. Been to numerous doctors including, PCP, 2 neurologists and a rheumatologist and after many tests they all come up with nothing. After reading posts at this site I think it may be the Lisinopril and with my PCP's permission stopped taking it 11 days ago. My blood pressure is fine - I am monitoring it daily. My symptoms still remain. Does anyone know how long these symptoms may continue? I am grateful for any additional information you could provide.

So I just read through a few of these and have to admit a similar story. I am 26 years old and have hereditary high blood pressure due to polycystic kidneys. My doctor put me on 20mg at first. I have always been an avid exerciser and after about 3 months on the drug I was in the pool swimming laps and my arms completely cramped up and started spamming, had no control whatsoever. My best friend's dad is a neurologist and his mouth about hit the floor when I told him how many mg of lisinopril my doctor had prescribed. He immediately cut my dosage in half. My symptoms have still progressed and I am officially stopping taking it because I have had heart flutters and palpitations that would scare any normal human being into thinking they're dying. I also have the shortness of breath, dizziness, numbness and tingling in all of my limbs, odd pains I have never had before in the most random places such as my forearms, calves, abdomen, and I feel like I have arthritis! NONE of this EVER bothered me before I started taking this medication and it has taken me months to actually come to the realization that these are not signs of aging or fatigue. I'm a healthy 26 year old female who exercises on average 5 days a week with low-fat high fiber diet. Point of my story: this drug claims to be the best on the market, but something tells me the doctor's push is coming from pharmaceutical endorsements!!!! Beware of the poison.

59 year old female. A history of hypertension started on Lisinopril in April of 2009..I am so GLAD I found this site! I have developed a severe chronic cough. This cough keeps me up at night ( and everyone else in the home)
Severe soreness in every joint in every part of my body. I can not sleep, serious fatigue, I have had mental confusion, short term memory loss I NEVER had the mental confusion or memory loss. I went to my Dr. 2xs he put me on antibiotics, told me I possibly had aspirated mucous in my lungs or had "silent reflux" no matter what I have taked or done none of the above symptoms lessened. Therefore, I started to do my own research and wound up here on this site. I am going to my doctor tomorrow informing him of the side effects ( which I would have thought he knew) and asked to be put on another medication for my hypertension. My question I have that there does not seem to be a easy answer is how long will it take to reverse all these symptoms? Truthfully I put all these symptoms in to the "just getting older" category. Thank You so much for sharing

I have only been on 20mg of Lisinopril for 3 days now and am having constant headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and very lightheaded.. I never got the headache even when my BP was up, much less any of these other symptoms. My DR. advised that if they don't go away after the 3rd day to stop taking the drug and take naproxen till I can get in to see her. Which will be this week! I refuse to take this drug with ALL of its side effects. NO OTHER DRUG I HAVE EVER TAKEN had EVER GIVEN ME THIS MUCH PROBLEMS WITH THE SIDE EFFECTS! Also, since taking this drug, I have cried more over stupid things than I can remember.

Hello folks.I am a 63 year old male and began taking 10 mg.of Lisinopril 2 years ago. Eight months ago it was increased to 40 mg.a day.I experienced incredible fatigue(sleeping 18 to 20 hours a day),depression,I became severely anemic and was hospitalized for 3 days and given 3 units of whole blood.I became hypothyroidic and had rib cage pain.My legs and knee joints hurt so badly that I was almost unable to walk.I couldn't sleep through a night without waking up gasping for breath.My mental processes became extremely foggy and I was unable to concentrate.This is hard to believe but I sometimes was too tired to watch television.Although I am sure that not all people experience these symptoms,be advised that it can happen.I am now off of Lisinopril and have recovered my health.This horrible "medication" needs to be looked at more deeply by the FDA.

I've been on Lisinopril 20mg for a week now. I have been having the hoarseness, leg cramps, tired (no energy), getting no sleep, and cough. But what worries me most is my blood pressure has dropped to what I think is TO LOW, (example: 87/60, 90/58, 96/66 89/68. I called my dr. 2 days ago and explained my concerns. They told me to cut my 20mg pill in half and we will decide what to do at my next appt. which is in a few days. Even after cutting the pill in half, my bp is still running 96/67, 98/66. Should I demand to be taken off the Lisinopril and be put on a different medication?

I began taking lisinopril 8 years ago(age 26) when diagnosed with aortic insufficiency. I was in excellent health physically and mentally at the time and my heart condition was and still is very minimal. This drug has literally broken down my body and I have developed chronic conditions. The minor side effects were the fatigue, dizziness, and lethargic feeling. As time went on I developed stomach issues, insomnia, skin conditions, memory loss, mood imbalance, and low platelet production. I never questioned or linked any of this with something that was considered by doctors a safe drug. After much confusion and weariness it literally dawned on me! I stopped the drug with agreement from my cardiologist, and for the first time in many, many years I am coming back to life. As the days go by and the aftermath of this drug leave my system for good, I amazed as each of my health problems disappears. I am sleeping the whole night, thinking more lucidly, and enjoying a calm stomach. I take my health seriously and I sincerely advise anyone to avoid the slow death of lisinopril.

I am a 31 year old male, in decent shape (play basketball, volleyball, workout at least 3 times a week) but I have a family history of high blood pressure and have had it myself as long as I've been tested. Went to cardiologist as a check up on my slightly enlarged heart, long story short, ended up on Metoprolol (25mg) beginning of 2008 and have been fine but no real help with bp. Then was put Lisinopril (5mg) a few months ago and my blood pressure was great at last checkup. However during that time I had a couple of weeks where I was very dizzy, that sort of feeling your brain is taking a second to keep up with your head as you get up, along with a fogginess and what seemed like sinus issues but I chalked it up to weaning off of a small dosage of Zoloft I had taken for over a year. I also developed "the cough" everyone refers to, but since it is winter in New England I chalked it up to dry heat, even though it was a choking cough unlike any I've ever had before. Also during that time I seemed to completely lose my sex drive, again figuring it was just something to do with the Zoloft or general anxiety. Then in the past week I started getting a constant headache, having really interrupted sleep, very foggy and out of it, tired, dehydrated, constipation, nausea, all things that I would normally associate with allergies or some kind of sinus/flu, but yet I couldn't really pinpoint anything that would be causing it.

Then I finally started looking up things about the meds I was taking and came upon this site, and guess what? Everything and every way I was feeling was described in hundreds and hundreds of posts on this site. I don't think my side affects were quite as strong as some have experienced (for instance the cough is very infrequent, like twice a day) but I have only begun my journey with Lisinopril. So despite the warnings, I decided to stop taking it a few nights ago, and almost instantly I began feeling better the next day and since then.

I have since called my cardiologist and he has recommended I switch to Diovan, basically saying that based just on the cough symptom alone, he wants me off of Lisinopril as this is a known side affect. Now I am left debating whether or not I want to continue down this path of trying different combinations of pills to poison my body in order to lower my bp. It seems like others have noted marked differences between taking Diovan and Lisinopril, where the Diovan has been much more tolerable than Lisinopril (with a great decrease in any side-affects) but I'm 31 and although I know it will be very difficult to reduce my bp on my own (believe me, I've tried) maybe I'm too young to start with the "last resort" of these toxins. Just reading about the possibility that Lisinopril was robbing my body of zinc or other minerals, so that my immune system is greatly weakened, likely being the cause for most of the symptoms, is enough to ward me off of pills altogether. It's a sad statement on the state of health care in America when I am left to basically make such an important decision on my own, because I can't trust that my doctors aren't just working in the interest of the drug companies to boost their income. I don't want to have to choose between a silent killer and a horrible existence filled with "side-affects".

In the end, based on some of the reports on here, I think starting on 40mg of Diovan will be fine, but I will certainly be VERY wary of anything unusual and immediately find other options.

I take the Lisonopril and HCTZ and within a few days, I started experiencing dizziness (bad case of Vertigo), fatigue. My doctor took me off. It has been a week now, and I am still suffering from the side effects. Crappy I tell ya! I won't take that stuff anymore. God will just have to take me, because I am done. A co-worker told me her doctor prescribed it, but her grandmother said take Ordorless Garlic tablets. That was a year ago. No more High BP. I am trying that. Won't hurt.

Is anyone experiencing confusion, trouble thinking, trouble concentrating, decreased cognitive function, mental sluggishness, trouble solving problems or situations which require logical thinking and sequencing, and memory loss? Would love to hear from anyone experiencing any these symptoms and if so, how long were you on the drug.
Thanks!

I've been on it for about 2 months, the first month nothing really happened...but the last month its just been getting worse and worse. Light headed, sweaty hands, cold feet, tinglinging in the fingers, heart palpitations, etc...the worst are the heart palps, and light headedness (I feel like I might pass out right now!). I stopped taking it today, my last pill was yesterday morning, so hopefully the side effects will subside today or tomorrow.

for those who went off the drug, how long did it take for the side affects to disappear?

My experience with Lisinopril has been awful. Severe headaches, Bad chest pains to where I thought I was having a heart attack, Severe depression. Didn't even want to get dressed and face my day. Shortness of breath and fatigue. The headaches were the worse. Felt like my eyes were going to burst out of my head. I couldn't think straight. The fatigue was so bad I found myself falling asleep while driving. I took myself off this medicine one day and I feel like a new person.

Hi, I am a 67 year old male and I am glad I found these testimonies. I have been taking Lisinopril 5mg for over a year now and after reading all this you bet I'll stop taking it right away. My symptoms are pretty much the same as all of yours. Last night I had the worst episode, I started feeling a sharp and pounding headache which made me cry, along with memory loss, nausea, and my pressure was way up high. I really wasn't aware that this medication can make so much harm to your health, no wonder I felt so sick ever since I've been taking it. My symptoms are bloated belly, fatigue,weight gain, nauseas, hartburn, throat irritation, headaches, tiredness, sleeping problems, reflux and pressure in my chest. I hope all of this stops once I've discontinued this venom. This week I'll be seeing my primary doctor and we'll see what else she'll prescribe me,but I'll be sure to check it out first in the internet before I start taking it.

I was on 10 mg of Lisinopril for 2 weeks. After quitting, major side effects of the drug gradually subsided (including ringing of the ears, headache, sleeplessness, nausea, fatigue, general flu-like symptoms, panic and anxiety). I'm now 2.5 weeks off the med and was feeling fine but suddenly had a flare up of sleepless night followed by 2 days of nausea, dizziness, irritability and depression. This spell came just after I played an aggressive soccer game. Does vigorous exercise trigger recurring spells?
Has this happened to anyone? How long should I expect symptoms?

I'm 57, female and have been taking Lisinopril since July. The cough appeared quickly, then the fatigue. Now I am experiencing the joint pain mainly in my fingers, shoulders, knees and toes. Occasionally I get shortness of breath and the fluttery heart palpitations . My blood pressure is way down though and I've been feeling more light headedness lately. I'm going for a follow up with the doctor and will discuss these symptoms with him and see what he says. My dosage is 12.5mg.

i got a bad sinus infection for the past month after starting lisinopril, on many meds for this, i switched from avapro to lisinopril as i wanted to join the walgreens plan for cheaper drugs, the doc put me on lisinopril instead after i sent him the walgreens list of available drugs that they use, the avapro was not on the list,, ive been to my ent and allergy doc for this sinuse thing that is well over a month now and getting better, but i have spent more $ for drugs to combat this infection that r not on the walgreens list over $300 spent out of pocket but with a discount for switching to the lisinopril from the avapro that ive been on for about a yr,, it was not worth it,, BUT my cardio doctor thinks it ws just a coincidence that i got the sinus infection about the same week that i started lisinopril, he asked me to tell my ent and allergy doc about this, the ent thinks i shld go back to the avapro if ii feel that it may have started the infection with the little cough, i have not talked to my allergy doc about it yet, has anyone felt they got these symptoms with lisinopril????? i am still taking it all thru this sinus thing, MRI and 2 inhalers and antibiotics, narcotic cough med, sinus wash and musilex r doing ok and on the mend, i have no other symptoms and on the 5 mg , what do u all think? and anyone else have a sinus thing going on when starting the lisinopril??? D.

I've been on Lisinopril-HCTZ 10-12.5 for 8 months now. I hate it. So far I've experienced:

- dry cough
- headaches
- chest pains (under my left rib cage area. Its a sudden sharp pain that lasts maybe 2 seconds, then its gone. It'll do that a few times a day)
- stuffy nose (doctor told me it was allergies. Put me on allergy medication, have been on it for 2 months, and it hasn't helped)
- trouble breathing
- rashes
- fatigue (doctor assured me it would go away after a few weeks, but it hasn't)
- dizziness
- no menstrual cycle (this medication has stopped my periods all together)

I've had it with this crap. My primary doctor wasn't the one who put me on it. I haven't been able to see my primary doctor because I don't have insurance and couldn't afford it. I've been going to a community clinic. I'm willing to pay to see my primary doctor than continue going there. At least I'll know I'll be taken seriously.

Started at 10 mg/day, then doubled to 20 and finally 40mg lisinopril with 25mg HCTZ..

After being upped to 40mg I started getting a itchy lump in my throat that lead to an amazing amount of cloudy white mucus. This would usually occur later in the day and especially when I tried to lay down to sleep. Lungs feel fine, no wheezing, rumble or pain. Nostrils sometimes clog a little but not enough to explain where all the mucus was coming from. Throat doesn't really hurt except when I used a lot of generic sore throat spray.

Doctor mentioned the possibility of acid reflux or a seasonal allergy and give me generic Claritin which didn't help a bit. I'm 56 and can't say I've ever had a seasonal allergy in my life but he said they can develop at anytime so I was hoping he was right. When the weather turned cold and the symptoms remained I even thought I was allergic to something in my home, new drywall, fiberglass, mold something.

After considering the possibility of a reaction to lisinopril or terbinafine I started googling to find posts that described my reaction to a tee.

Besides the cough/mucous I've had a pounding heart, anxiety, fear of dying not knowing what was wrong etc.

Lisinopril seemed to bring my pressure down at the one month point so my Doctor doubled it to bring it down another 15 points. Three weeks later instead of going down it went back up so he doubled again and added the water pill. Today when I went to the Doctor it was still up and I told him about my web research. He agree it was not working for me anyway and I suppose he believed my suspicions about the side effects, at least for me.

He asked me "You're self pay aren't you?" as if just because I had to pay for the stuff myself I'd rather take the $4.00/month crap rather than pay for what I need. If you're self pay you even get 20% off if you pay within 30 days. I bet if I'd walked in there with insurance I'd have erg's, mri's, all that overpriced stuff.

Anyway he put me on Bystolic (30 days free samples :)) which I think I could detect a bit more confidence in his voice that it would actually work. I mean I'd much rather pay $4/month for generics if it worked and didn't make me feel like crap but I'll gladly pay the over inflated $50/month price for something that actually works without making me feel so much worse.

I was put on Lisinopril and got a rash condition on my arms. I now get shortness of breath, light headedness, joint and muscle pain, and fatigue. Should I be taken off of the Lisinopril?

Gil
I just wrote an entry concerning a potential problem of fatigue and tiredness which may be related to the ingestion of 20mg. of lisinopril on
a daily basis. I suggested the possibility that another BP Rx--Inderol might be better for some patients; of course, each person needs to check with his or her own physician to choose the right BP medication--often a matter of trial and error. I've been taking the lisinopril for almost three years; I started out with 10mg., then more, then 40mg./day. After retiring, my doctor and I found that I could get the same effect with half as much lisinopril; it took a few months after retiring. So now I'm taking 20mg. of lisinopril/day.
In the past 3 months or so, I've been experiencing a lot of tiredness and the need to sleep much more than is usual for me. I think it may be the lisinopril, and I've made and appointment with my doctor to discuss
a different medication. Everyone should check with his or her own physician before changing medications or taking new ones.
I neglected to mention that lisinopril is an ACE Inhibitor while Inderol is a Beta Blocker. Also, lisinopril is sometimes prescribed with hydrocholorothiazide. Hydrocholorothiazide is a diuretic. My physician first prescribed the combination of lisinopril and hydrocholorothiazide. However, in checking out this Rx on the internet, I noted that if one had an allergy to sulfa, it would be best not to take the hydrocholorothiazide since this diuretic is connected with sulfa in its formulation. My physician then prescribed only lisinopril and not the lisinopril/hydrocholorothiazide combination.
Again, each person needs to check with his or her physician to make sure they are getting the proper prescribed medication. It is also my belief that it's a good idea to read the literature provided by the pharmacy about any medication and also check the new Rx on the internet so one can know about the possible side effects and also any allergies(connected with the new Rx) one might already know about and have, as was the case with my taking hydrocholorothiazide.

I have been taking 20mg of Lisinopril and 5mg of Amlodipine for more than 5 years.The only physical complaint that I can directly attribute to these drugs would probably be the dry cough in the back of my throat. Other symptoms such as general fatigue and insomnia could possibly be attributed but I don't know for sure. Recently I visited my doctor and asked him what would be the perfect number for both systolic and diastolic pressure for someone of my age . This question proved unbelievably difficult for him. After much prevarication we somehow agreed between us that systolic between 140/145 and diastolic between 80/85 would be good numbers.I then told him that I had stopped taking the Amlodipine for over a month. Also during this period I had taken blood pressure readings twice a day and apart from a couple of spikes I was satisfied that my numbers were acceptable. He then said that unless my BP monitor was calibrated once or twice a year then I could not rely on my readings as they could easily be 5 - 10% out. Is this correct do BP monitors have to be calibrated to be accurate? Since I thought my BP readings were acceptable my intention was to lower my intake of Lisinopril and eventually stop using it altogether. My hope was that exercise, diet, supplements etc. could replace the snake venom circulating in my body but I am no longer convinced that this is a realistic aim.

OMG -I'm 47 and I've been on for 6 months now and I've had a hunch for a few weeks but never thought I'd find this!! I was on Hydrochlorothiazide for 1 wk-had cramps in my toes so Dr. immediately took me off even though I said I felt great-but peed a lot!- He said this would be better for me..... EVERYTHING I've been feeling is the same as you.......I've just not been able to put my finger on it - I just felt "different", I thought it was me and I was getting "old" with a nagging tinkling cough, at the worst time "bed time"...ruins any sex life! I had fatigue, problems concentrating, headaches- back of my head, blurred vision- my eyes would kinda fog over- scared me to death so had tests but all was ok), I've been getting that "bummed out feeling" & didn't feel like doing anything but I've always loved Summer and Fall - going to the beach, riding motorcycles, swimming, my garden and to be outside, but now I kind of force myself to do. Then just this past week I've been feeling sick and nauseated, with an acid reflux vomit feeling and I've just had enough.......There are way tooo many coincidences here....... I have to get off of this stuff!!

Hi I am 45 an been taking 5mg Lisinopril daily for the last 5 years, I am also a very active racing cyclist. Over the last 12 months I have seen my performances drop by 50% and I am so tired all the time, I also feel short of breath, been to docs he ran all the normal tests, nothing showed up, also,I now get terrible headache above my right eye whenever try any exercise. Watch out for grapefruit, it must react with the meds, my throat swelled up almost closed, horrible experience, I now ger blurred vision and muscle weakness. Not on, I have taken myself off the meds to see if things get back to normal, I will be able to monitor the situation based on my cycling performance results and will report back.

HELLO EVERYONE....IM SITTING AT WORK AND JUST DECIDED TO RESEARCH THIS DRUG LISINOPRIL...BECAUSE I AM REALLY BORED....WHEN I GOOGLED THE NAME I CAME ACROSS THIS SITE.....OMYGOSH...I THOUGHT I WAS GOING CRAZY...I HAVE BEEN TAKING Lisinopril FOR ABOUT 6 MONTHS NOW....I ALWAYS READ THE INSERTS THAT COME WITH THE MEDICATION BUT I NEVER SEEN THE SIDE EFFECTS THAT WE ARE HAVING ON THE INSERT...I SING IN THE CHURCH CHOIR AN I ALWAYS WONDERED WHY MY VOICE WOULD BE SO HORRIBLE AND MESSED UP..I AM SO HAPPY I GOOGLED THIS DRUG...DOSE ANYONE KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES BEFORE YOUR BODY GOES BACK TO NORMAL AFTER STOPPING THE DRUG....

I have been on Lisinopril for about 10 months. I have really not felt well the whole time and have developed some side effects that i have gotten use to and just lived with and couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I had fatigue, problems concentrating, headaches, chest pain, blurred vision, body aches and overall didn't feel like doing anything. I also noticed a small rash on my stomach/chest when i would get out of the shower but figured it must have been soap or something. I even tried not using soap and it would still be there. Friends and family started telling me I never feel good etc. So about 3 weeks ago I got really sick with diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, chest pains etc. Kept thinking i had a virus or something. A few times i was so sick I layed on the floor wondering what is wrong with me. Finally got into my doctor today and he also said it was a virus. A few people said they thought i was my blood pressure pills including my chiropractor. The doctor ran a sleu of tests today and i should get the results tomorrow. I have also had itching all over my body and a vaginal infection so i thought that would not go away. From reading all of this I realize everything is a reaction to the medication and I did not take a dose tonight but 2 benadryl instead. I always noticed throughout this that i always felt better towards the evening of course because that was when my medication was due. I will not be taking anymore of this and I am not happy that so many people are being given this everyday without any knowledge. Thank goodness people are responding and telling their stories so we don't think we are going crazy and hopefully feel better and maybe save a life!

I think some of the severe symptoms reported here are just that.. severe, and as advised on the drug information insert they can happen, and should be reported to your doctor. We are led to believe our doctors will stop the meds and try something else. If they are not willing to do that, or try to convince us it's all in our heads then... we should stop the meds ourselves and find another dr. These side effects are real, and scary. I've stopped cholesterol meds for that reason. I don't need a dr. to tell me to stop... I know my body, and how I feel and know when something isn't right.

I've been on Lisinopril for two weeks now. I was initially on the diuretic Hydrochlorothiazide, but had so much arrhythmia that I thought my heart would jump out of my throat. The dr. discontinued that after less than a week, and put me on Lisinopril. I am a bit dizzy sometimes, and do have a mild cough, but I had the cough before the meds so I can't really blame it on that. However, for all those with the problem of coughing and headaches... I read at drugs.com that you should take this medication with a full glass of water, and drink lots of water throughout the day. This tip was not in the drug handout and I thought that odd. Something so easy, and yet left out. Luckily, I drink water at my desk all day at work. This weekend while home I didn't drink water and had a horrible headache the entire time. I never connected it until I read that you should drink lots of water. Back to work today and drinking water and my headache is gone. It's worth a try, it might help. My husband is on Lisinopril/HCTZ combo, has been for at least 3-4 years with no adverse side effects.

We are all different, medication effects all of us in different ways. I hope I never experience the kinds of side effects I'm reading about here. If so, I'll be off the drug in short order. My dr. told me there are loads of other medications we can try. While there are side effects to everything we take, mild is ok but no one should put up with life altering and/or life threatening side effects like what I am reading here.

HI, I am a 56 year old woman with elevated BP. I was put on Lisinopril/Hctz about a year ago. I am not exactly sure when the cough started, since I am an asthmatic and have trouble with coughing already, but this cough is different and much worse than my asthma coughing. I like many others on here cough in the night and mornings until I vomit, cough up fluids, gag and can't breath. The cough was so bad on Friday I broke the blood vessels in my face, the coughing spell lasted for 30 minutes. It was just yesterday that I looked at the Warning for this medication as I picked up my refill on Friday. There on the warning was dry cough. So I looked on this site and there was my answer...most of you described exactly my symptoms....I feel so much better now that I think I know what has caused it, since my doctor was chalking it up to the asthma. I have emailed him with my new info, and hope that he will change my medication ASAP. I also have researched cronic fatigue sys....because I am always tired and unable to get anything done.....I was never like this before. Good luck to the rest of you, thanks for sharing or I would never know that this medication could cause all my problems.
DL

Do any of you take Lisinopril by itself without a diuretic like HCTZ (hydrocortothiazide)? I got dehydrated 2 days ago & doctor has cut my HCTZ in half-- I felt light-headed, dizzy, pounding heartbeat like I was having a panic attack. I've been on this lisinopril/hctz combo for 3 months. I don't have any of the adverse allergic reactions (rash, itchiness, swelling) at all; nor do I have the cough thing at all. But weakness, chest-pounding heart, dizziness, fatigue all coming now daily. I wonder if our problem is the HCTZ, so is anybody on lisinopril WITHOUT HCTZ?

I am 26 years old and have been taking 20mg of lisinopril for over a year now and have just gotten the side effects the last 3 weeks! I now have fatigue, light headed, dizziness, fever, and dark urine! Does anybody know whats going on or have the same symptoms! Please reply!

Doctor just changed my prescription from Atenolol to Lisinopril. After 2nd, 3rd day of taking it, I developed the cough in the middle of the night. He said that this was one of the side effects, so, I wasn't too concerned. But then, after another couple of days, started feeling the dizziness, nausea, lack of appetite, and the FATIGUE! Decided to call him after taking 6 of those pills, to tell him about my concerns. He said to stop taking it. Prescribed Diovan now. Still feel like I've been run over by a truck, but
SO happy to have found this web site. I hate that so many others have been affected by all of these symptoms, and, affected for so long. Just made me feel somewhat better that I was not the only one feeling this same way. I thought I was losing it.

I took Diovan HCT for years without any side effects. We must do mail order with our health insurance and the providers website said that Lisinopril was an alternative to the Diovan that was available as a generic and therefore a lower cost. I spoke with my Dr. about it and she advised me of the "cough" and said it wasn't exactly the same but since I wanted to save as much money on scripts as I could I tried the Lisinopril. I took it for a couple of months and noticed being more fatigued and weak. Finally I got to the point where I was feeling like I was hungover 24x7 and started looking to see if there was any side effects from this different med I was taking and saw all the symptoms I was having from fatigue to palpitations to nausea to muscle weakness and cough. I went back to the Dr. and got back on Diovan and everything is much better now. My wife was on this medicine too for a while and she noticed the same thing but didn't put it together with the medicine. There should be some kind of advisory with this stuff or it should be taken off the market.

Here is a follow up- I have been off of the Lisinopril now for about 6 days. I am slowly feeling better and getting energy back. I still have some residual muscle burning, bouts of fatigue, bouts of depression. The shortness of breath is getting better also.
The irregular heartbeat is almost gone and the cough is now only occasional.
I have been taking vitamins such as vitamin c, multivitamin and drinking lots of water.
My memory and loss of words is getting better also.
I am forcing myself to exercise and lose weight. This med almost killed me.
I just pray that I don't have any permanent damage.
Also significant is the symptoms got worse when they were manufactured bu IVAX.

Well, my first posting didn't take for some reason. I have been taking L. for about 5 weeks. I had thought that I had developed a full allergy and had begun suffering from early menopause until I read these other entries. The hacking gagging cough and clear mucus from lungs?throat . The fatigue is constant and the depression is to tears about twice a week for no known reason. I didn't have these symptoms when I was on Benicar. Guess what I'm switching back to.?!!

I am actually crying as I had no idea what was wrong with me. I have been on Lisionopril now for about 5 years at 40 mg/day.
During those five years I have been fatigued, suffered with GERD, dry cough. Of course my doc said to lose weight.
Last month I went on a diet and all hell broke loose. I lost 25 lbs and I don't know if the weight loss released all of those Lisionopril toxins or what but here goes:
Fatique, weakness, arm and leg muscle pain, absolutely no sex drive, rib cage pain, back pain, perceived shortness of breath. Heart palpitations, dry cough with mucus. I have a lump in my throat. It got so bad I went to the ER , they drew labs and my BP was elevated. They added labetalol to the lisinopril. I came across this site and I called my doctor and I told him that I wasn't taking lisinopril anymore. I feel as if I am having a slow death. I cant function, I cant work, I am panicky and nervous.
He said to monitor my pressure with 2x/day with the Labetalol.

I was on the maximum dose and I wonder how long will it take for this poison to leave my body. I can't believe what this medicine is made from. I am more than willing to lose weight and do anything to stop taking these poisons. I would love to hear your experiences. I need all the support that I can get.

I just don't understand the sudden exacerbation of all of the symptoms unless it is the weight loss. But my BP never went down even with the weight loss.

I have been taking 20mg of Lisinopril and 5mg of Felodipine for about a year now, and I am experiencing excruciating joint pain. The back of my knees ache even while sitting and the bottom of my right foot keeps me from walking freely because it hurts so much. My wrists and fingers hurt too. I am overweight, so I just figured it was due to excess weight, but reading these posts made me realize that this is not normal. I am in pain all day long. I feel like I'm going crazy because I can't just get up and go- I struggle to do anything. I did not want to see my doctor because I've switched medicines before- used to take 50mg of atenolol but fatigue was horrible, so doc gave me hydrochlorothiazide and it gave me a terrible rash on my face. I thought I was done switching meds- does anyone know what is a good bp medicine? I'm tired of being tired and in pain.

About 1 1/2 years ago my allergist recommended I switch BPM from Lisinopril to Atacand because of congestion problems associated with Lisinopril. I made the switch and had no problems with Atacand other than my co-pay was considerably higher. Because of this I asked my family practice MD to switch me back to Lisinopril because I remembered it worked okay. However this time - a couple of days after the first dose of Lisinopril I developed flu-like symptoms (aching, congestion, fatigue). I thought I was coming down with the flu AGAIN. After about three days I started having chest pain, a headache that wouldn't go away, blurred vision, dizziness, shortness of breath, very shaky, weakness, couldn't sleep. I thought I was on the verge of a heart attack at times. The fatigue and weakness worsened. I often felt that I couldn't get off the couch or out of bed. My legs felt like weights. It wasn't until I checked out the side effects on this website and read the comments of other users of the drug that I realized what was most likely happening. Needless to say, I called my doctor and asked to be switched back to Atacand. I'm more than willing to pay the extra $'s to feel better.

I have been on Lisinopril 20mg.for 4 years now. At first I just noticed fatigue and a lack of motivation to do things. A year later, I started having chest pain, fast pulse up to 130/min. and activity intolerance especially after meals. I went to my Dr. and he put me on a beta blocker to lower my pulse. At first it worked and I felt slightly better. Now I have all these symptoms again together plus I have gained 22 pounds from the activity intolerance and the beta blockers. I went to my Dr. this week and told him I am going off the Lisinopril with or with out his help. He reluctantly agreed and lowered my dose.It is very important to wean off this med and not stop taking it suddenly.I am weaning off the beta blockers too. He has given me HCTZ to assist to lower my B/P while I wean and to help lose weight which I am motivated to do. Wish me luck!

I'm a 38 yr old male and have only been on this med for 2 days and I've experienced extreme tiredness/fatigue and a pains in my neck.I thought it was just my body's way of getting use to the medication but after reading all the side effects,I will be getting off of this medication.I use to take lopressor and did not have any side effects...I'm going back to that.I'm glad I found this site...thanks to everyone who posted!

I'm 23 and i've been taking 20 mg a day of lisinopril for a month now. before that i was on 10 mg of altace and had no side effects at all. since taking the lisinopril i've noticed my legs feeling no cramped but like that half asleep feeling at night. also my sex drive has decreased dramatically and i've found it difficult to get an erection. if anyone has had the same problems please let me know. any information would be very appreciated.