Could Losartan be causing my extreme fatigue? AIBU to ask GP for a change of blood pressure medication?

[AprillyJill]

Have you had extreme fatigue as a Losartan side effect? Did you find an alternative blood pressure medication without this problem?

I was switched from Ramipril to Losartan a few months ago due to Ramipril's cough side effect.

Because of other things happening around the same time I can't be 100% sure of when I started to have very extreme fatigue but its certainly been a problem for at least 3 months.

I'm absolutely flattened most days and barely able to do the domestic and family basics. I don't feel ill or depressed and
iron, thyroid etc blood tests didn’t reveal any obvious cause. Starting HRT might have helped a little bit.

I don’t want to live like a sloth!

Definitely worth asking for an alternative. You may have to insist though as I found my GP was very "just live with it" about my symptoms which included an inability to walk more than 100 yards without a rest. It was only when I said that I would not take anything then that he agreed to change it.

My understanding is that side effects with all blood pressure meds are very common and everyone reacts differently. In the end it took ages to find one without some sort of unacceptable side effect eg hugely swollen ankles. The fifth one, Candesartan has never given me any issues and appears to be working.

Thank you so much, that is massively helpful. I think this is the 4th I've had (first was one only prescribed in pregnancy and didn’t need bp meds again until years later).

I will prepare myself to say I can't live like this - I have family care responsibilities that I'm barely coping with - if they don't want to switch it I'll have to take a break from Losartan to find out if it's the culprit.

I don't know about your specific drug but it is definitely worth asking. I found out that my meds were causing a low level but permanent cough. The GP changed it and that sorted the problem

Sorry you are feeling so awful like pp it took quite a while trying to find meds that didn’t completely floor me, Bisoprolol works reasonably well for me but I can’t go above 2.5mg otherwise I pass out & the fatigue is off the scale unfortunately I think you have to work your way through the options until you find the one that’s most bearable, I also played around with what time of the day/evening I took it.
Good luck with finding one that you can tolerate more easily.

I take 5mg Bisoprolol for Atrial Fibrillation, same drug as for hypertension. I was on 2.5 but had to increase due to episodes of fast Afib. I was floored with the increased dose, absolutely knackered, but I knew it was helping the Afib so stuck with it. After about a month or so I think my system just got used to it, now I'm back to normal self and racing around, well kind of ha ha!

There is one side effect that I don't know if you had, I gained weight which was never an issue for me. But I battled to get rid of the blubber and have to be very strict now. I think the Bisop must slow down metabolism or something.

Is your BP stable?
I was absolutely exhausted and put it down to age and just life but now my BP is normal I feel amazing.

@elperil glad you are feeling so much better, I take it due to dilated cardiomyopathy my blood pressure has always been quite low & anything higher than 2.5mg just makes it stupidly low/passing out/constant dizziness my cardiologist has been really patient & was ok about me trying various options she accepted that this is the best I can tolerate, wishing you continued good health.

Posted too soon I didn’t have any weight a couple of other people I know who are taking it did, suppose like many medication we all react differently.

@dontcallmelen Thank you for the kind wishes, and the same to you. We battle on and make the most of the good days. It could be worse!

Thank you all for being so helpful and encouraging. I dont think the Losartan is controlling as well as Ramipril did but I'd rather try a different one than up the dose.

I know good bp is very important but I can't function like this! 🙂