Amlodipine and pounding heartbeat

[terceira]

Hi, I have slightly raised blood pressure and have been put on 5mg amlodipine a day. I first took it last night at bedtime and woke at about 3am with a pounding heartbeat. Pulse rate was normal but I felt as though I was sort of vibrating or throbbing in bed and was having difficulty getting back to sleep because of it. I was also very thirsty and needed the loo and drank a couple of glasses of water. Checked the side effects on the NHS website and pounding heart was a common side effect. I eventually managed to get back to sleep. It's not pounding now, I just feel a bit tense in my chest, probably anxiety.

Did anyone else have this side effect and did it go away? I'm due to go away for 2 weeks (only to Isle of Wight) on Sunday and a bit worried but I suppose I can ring my surgery and/or stop taking it if it becomes intolerable.

I'd be wary of just stopping taking it. I'm on amlodipine and gone from 5mg to 10mg as it wasn't bringing my blood pressure down - it still isn't but that's another story.

I'd ring the surgery and see if they can change it or give you a prescription for another type that you can get filled in IOW if this doesn't go away.

Are you still checking your BP?

I haven't checked my BP for a few days as I think checking it all the time was stressing me out and making it higher. I am going to check it this morning.

I was told to take it in the morning because it is a diuretic. Might be worth checking with a pharmacist.

BP is 123/84 now.

When I was monitoring it for the surgery I was getting between 129 and 152 systolic (diastolic between 87 and 93) and then when I stopped sending the readings to them but still monitoring it was between 130 and 144 systolic with the diastolic between 92 and 96. That is across 2 different machines though, I used the machine the surgery lent me to send the readings to them and then on the last day the machine I bought from the internet arrived and over last weekend when I was just monitoring out of curiosity I alternated them and concluded that my BP is all over the place but I expect most people's is.

Thanks, I asked the nurse who prescribed about whether to take it morning or evening and she said it didn't matter as long as it was roughly the same time each day. I think I will try taking it much earlier tonight and then hopefully the throbbing will wear off before I need to go to sleep but if it doesn't moving it to morning is probably the next thing to try.

Mine is higher than that. I measure at same time every day for the week before I go to see them. So I don't get obsessed. I track it on an app.

How to measure blood pressure at
home
To get the most accurate results it is best to keep a blood pressure
diary over a week, with blood pressure readings taken twice a day.
Morning and evening are often convenient times to measure your
blood pressure. It is best to do this for the week before your next
renal clinic appointment.
Do not measure blood pressure in your arm if you have a functioning
dialysis fistula or graft.
Take your blood pressure after your medications, and after sitting
calmly for five minutes.
• Place the cuff on your upper arm. Relax your arm and rest your
hand on your knee, the arm of the chair or a nearby table.
• Press the button on the blood pressure machine to inflate the
cuff and sit calmly, without talking (talking can falsely raise the
reading).
• Note down the result.
• After one minute take a second blood pressure reading and note
that reading down as well.
Repeat this twice a day during the week before your renal clinic
appointment.
Do not be alarmed if you get an unexpected high reading; a one-
off high reading is usually nothing to worry about. Measure your
blood pressure again at another time. If it continues to be high then
discuss this at your clinic appointment.

That's from nhs website.

Taking BP meds at night is very out of date advice. It used to be because if you were going to get side effects (like dizziness) then you'd be safe as you'd be in bed. Now, GPs say take it in the morning as they would rather know if you're suffering with side effects.

Keep a note and speak to your GP if you're concerned. Amlodopine is given as a first port of call for BP issues as its the cheapest drug. There are plenty more to choose from, however, if it doesn't suit you.

It didn't suit me. I take Ramipril now.

There are so many different meds for BP I didn't like Amlodipine either.. ask to try a different one

Just to add that early hours of the morning is a typical time for a blood pressure surge. It used to happen to me at 5am. It soon went away once I settled with the meds. Any medication will take a while to settle in, but hopefully if you persevere with taking it in the AM it won't be enough to spoil your trip.

If you're really feeling concerned though, try and see / speak to the GP before you go.

Ah thanks, I wondered if it was the cheapest drug. I was briefly on Candesartan a couple of years ago, not for BP but to prevent migraines. It didn't work for that so I came off but IIRC I didn't have side effects from it, so if the Amlodipine doesn't work out I will ask about that next. My mum also has high BP and didn't get on with calcium channel blockers or ace inhibitors and is now on Losartan. My BP was fine 4 months ago so I think mum's genes are kicking in.

I feel your pain. I also appear to have Inherited my Mum's genes and we've both struggled to get our BP right. She's now on Irbesartan.

It's a bugger. I had hoped I'd gotten away with it for a few more years, but I feel like at least I was sensible in eventually being medicated for it. Took a few attempts to get the right dose, but got there eventually.

@RainbowZebraWarrior mine is from my mum too. I'm a little oveweight but essentially exercise, eat well etc.. All the stuff they tell you to do I do...

MIne has come down from scary high to high...but I think they need to change me from Amlodipine to something else as I don't want to up the dose much more...

Same. I lost weight and stopped smoking and drinking and it was still crazy high. Mines mostly OK now if I take it at home, but still high at the docs.

I'm on Ramipril 10mg and it seems to work for me, but they can do a combination of both ramipril and amlodipine I think (I'm not allowed to try amlodopine again I was one of the unlucky ones that ended up with cellulitis as a side effect)

I had a terrible time on Amlopidine, horrible drug that's banned in 22 countries. I could hear my heart beating so loudly it was pounding in my head and like you was up in the night constantly on the toilet. I'd been on it less than a week and the GP told me to just stop taking it. I felt so ill coming off the drug I had to take time off work sick, it was awful. I'd ask for another type of medication to start when you come off amlopidine, hopefully that will lessen the side effects. I'm on Ibersartin now with no side effects

I didn't get on with Amlodopine at all. It gave me awful nightmares.

I'm on lercanidipine which is a newer version ( thus more expensive) but has fewer side effects.

I've just switched to taking it at night as I was finding the dizziness in the morning was a problem. I just get up for the loo a couple of times in the night instead now! Not sure what is worse thh but I don't have that many options left.

Just to add to my rant about Amlopidine, not only were the side effects horrific but it also shot my BP up way way higher than it had ever been previously. When I found out how many countries had banned it and how common the side effects were I was really angry my GP had prescribed it. Didn't know it was because it's the cheapest drug, makes sense.