Lisinopril and laxitive

I was prescribed Lisinopril three days ago. The day after my first dose, I was having losse bowel movements, but thought nothing of it because some medications just take time for your body to adjust to.

The day after my second dose, I was still having the loose bowel movements and began to feel bloated and a little crampy while at work. My stomach began to swell a little. As the day went on, the bloating and pain became noticeably worse to where other people began to comment on how swollen my stomach was getting. I was also feeling an occasional on and off tightening low in my throat.

I called my doctor and left a phone consult (where they have 72 hours to get back to you). By the time I left work, my stomach size had gotten even larger to where I appeared to be about 4-5 months pregnant!

I went home and laid down for an hour and woke up in a lot of pain and called the nurse call center where they advised me to go to the emergency room to be checked out.
I suspected the Lisinopril since that was the only new thing I had done in the past couple of days, but the ER said they never heard of such a reaction and that Lisinopril was a very mild medication.

They took X-rays of my stomach and told me my intestines appeared to be full and that I was constipated. I asked how that is possible when you have had loose stools for two days, but they said I was and gave me a massive laxitive and sent me home. What a mistake! The laxitive did what a laxitive should do, but made nothing better, it only increased the cramping and pain.

The next day I went into work and had to leave early. The doctor called me back for my consult and said it sounded like it was possibly a rare side effect (intestinal swelling) of Lisinopril. A little searching on the net found that it can happen with any ACE inhibitor though. I was told to immediately discontinue use, go on a liquid diet for a couple of days to rest my stomach and DO NOT take any more of the laxitives the ER gave me because that would only aggravate the problem.

I should be feeling better in a couple of days and the doctor said I could attempt to try the Lisinopril again to be sure if it was that causing the reaction, but he didn't blame me when I said I'd rather not.

After the holiday I need to get in contact with my doctor to see what else they can prescribe for my blood pressure. Does anyone have any suggestions I can research and bring with me to that appointment of other medications that aren't ACE inhibitors or water pills (allergic to Sulfa and cannot take) that have worked well on their BP without so many scary side effects?