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Pragmatist
Pragmatist

Pills, pills, and more pills
Tue Aug 09 2005

I'm a walking pharmacy.

The last sample pills for blood pressure control may be keeping my blood pressure down, but the side effects are not worth it! My doctor's on vacation, so his Physicians Assistant checked me over. She gave me samples of Avapro (R), generic name irbesartan, 150 mg. This stuff is brand new on the market and probably not listed in the latest PDR.

Last night it started with a headache. Which kept getting worse. Then body aches. I took some Tylenol, which didn't help. Finally around 3:30am, I took a Klonopin, played a few games of solitaire while the Klonopin got started working. I was asleep by 4:00.

I was having dreams of great pain. My head felt like it was splitting, and I was moaning in pain, hoping my doctor was around. So, the dream was reality. I had a massive headache clear down to my toes!

Muscle pain is one of the side effects of b/p meds.

I woke up sometime for a potty-call, then right back to bed. Finally woke up at 11:30 with the pain. I have some Vicodin, but I took two extra-strength Tylenol, which finally eased the pain, but I've been sort of "out of it" all day. The headache started again around 5:00pm, but another Tylenol forestalled the worst of it. I don't want to take the Vicodin unless nothing else works.

If I'm feeling anywhere near normal tomorrow, I'm going to take a list of all the meds I'm on to my local pharmacist. Could there be some drug interactions, or is the b/p med solely at fault for the side effects?

I really need to keep the blood pressure under control, but so far, the cost isn't worth it. Does anyone know of any naturopathic remedies? I'm giving up on pharmacological remedies.

************
Sacramento County has had several reported cases of West Nile virus, so last night aerial spraying started. There was a small article in the Metro section yesterday, and suggested that residents in the spray area should stay indoors and close all windows at 8:00 pm. But no mention of how long to stay closed up.

About 10:00pm (last night), I called the Bee and asked. Until midnight. But that wasn't mentioned in the article. A point I made to the man I talked to at the Bee.

OK, big spread, big headline in TODAY'S paper, front page, about the spraying, and specified the time (8:00pm-midnight) for staying indoors and keeping windows closed.

Isn't that backward reporting?

Well, I'm feeling cranky, so I guess I'll go read book 5 of Harry Potter.

Shalom

11 Comments
  • From:
    Calantha (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Aug 10 2005
    I always get cranky when I'm in pain. It's just no fun. Really not good reporting to not say how long to stay indoors! Idiotic.

    I hope you find out something that helps you with your meds today. In this day and age, there just is no reason to be in pain.

    Lots of love,
    Anne
  • From:
    Allimom (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Aug 10 2005
    Do you find that if you drink more water when you have headaches, they are less severe and/or disappear faster?

    I'm lucky in that my BP meds have no side effects I'm aware of, or that manifest in me. I wish I were so lucky in one of my other meds, which leaves a very metallic taste in my mouth and gives the same odor to my skin. Not nice. Fortunately I have some good mint-melon scented lotion that covers it up!
    Alli
  • From:
    CovertOps (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Aug 10 2005
    Oh my poor dear Chaya! I am so sorry to read that you are in such pain and discomfort! I will pray for your speedy recovery.

    As for naturopathic blood pressure medication, there is a type of leaf that my parents chew raw to bring their blood pressure down. It comes from India and the plants thrive in Malaysia too. I could find out more but I would strongly recommend you ask your physician about it as soon as I get the name for you. Medicine isn't something that is "one size fits all", so I don't want any unpleasant reactions or side effects.

    I love you. You care for me so much. No-one has ever worried about me much before. Jake and Coach think it is a great laugh when I manage to drink a lot of hard liquor and hold it down. I did not puke last Friday and Jake said I was a good girl. I do know the score about alcoholism and will make every effort not to get addicted. I am smart and strong and will restrict my drinking to 3 times a month at the very most. And I will keep my alcohol consumption down to 5 units a day on my drinking days. Is that okay with you, my friend?

    Thank you again for caring.

    Lots of Love,
    E.L.
  • From:
    Dreamerbooks2003 (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Aug 10 2005
    Good idea to check with pharmacy, but they should already be checking for possible interactions

    I have been waking up with headache for the past week. I assumed in my case it is allergies.
    Hope you get some answers and some relief soon

    I am reading HP book 5 also.
    It is kind of fun... not as good as I had expected though..
  • From:
    Waterfall (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Aug 10 2005
    I don't blame u I would to I was on niasin or something called that sorry not a good speller and it was makeing me real red and very hot swelling and the kicker at night when I went to sleep my body inside swelled and I had trub. breathing infact stoped breathing for a min. someone on line told me to look up something and I did and my simtimes mached it word for word and my Dr. when I call the first time for help before I read this thing said stay on it just lower it hubby was like no no don't and when we read that thing it said it was analergic reatioion that kills so I stoped taking it and told my Dr. why with a copy of the info on that reation and she said ok u don't have to take it but she still wanted me on it but no way it almost killed me once and they said to stay on it would bring serten death so I understand your fear hugs water.
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Aug 10 2005
    Hope you get to feeling better soon and get to the bottom of the problem. My Dr. has given me a month to get my bp down or she's slapping me on meds (at least she thinks she is, lol.

    Take Care,
    Love Ya
  • From:
    ImNotLisa (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Aug 10 2005
    I hate new prescriptions with a passion; you never know how you're going to relate to them until after they are well and good in your system. R had one once that gave him every side effect on the list except for the 'sensation of uterus falling out', and I suspect that the pills were doing their best to work around it and come up with some new devilment for him. The 'feelings of persecution' was my particular favorite. Ugh.

    Feel better soon, I hope.
  • From:
    Waterfall (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Aug 11 2005
    I did and she told me there was nothing else that would bring up my good clest. she said my other clest was almost text book perfect though so thats a good thing so I just told her I would not ever use it again and i would do without .hugs water.
  • From:
    Allimom (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Aug 11 2005
    The first one came through as a private, so both comments are there for my viewing one way or the other, logged in or not!
    Alli
  • From:
    FishCreekBride (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Aug 22 2005
    My grandfather used to take garlic pills to keep his blood pressure down. I'm not sure if it worked but he read it in a book some where. One of they guys I used to work with told me you should mix 2 cups of cranberry juice, 2 cups of white grape juice and 2 cups of apple juice with 1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar. Drink one cup per day to keep your cholesterol down. I'd still be scared to use those home remedies without checking my BP and cholesterol to make sure they are really staying down. Headaches are not fun. Hopefully you are feeling better now.
  • From:
    Sweetsummerbreeze (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Sep 08 2005
    You druggy...LOL.. In all seriousness I hope you start to feel better. The last time I had a headache like you have described was back in 2000 about 7 months after I had Michael. I had the flu and nothing would make my headache go away. I had it for I believe two days. Not fun at all.

    Anyway take care
    Sending you lots of hugs and love from the last frontier,
    Cyndi