Quote Originally Posted by Cobalt View Post
Care to expand more on the sides of Lisinopril? I know it's a person-to-person difference, but after battling with one HBP medicine, I'm going to be VERY picky about what I try next.

My doc gave me Bystolic last time - a beta blocker. If you want to be active at all, avoid it. It relaxes blood vessels, but caps your heart rate, I couldn't get my heart rate over 140 (I can get to 180-190 if I want). I felt like SHIT 24/7, tired and didn't want to (and couldn't do) anything.
Lisinopril is an angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitor (ACE inhibitor), it dilates blood vessels.
Micardis is an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) which prevents blood vessels from narrowing.

Lisinopril seems more popular compared to Micardis, but Micardis seemed to be less harsh in terms of sides.

I may have to look into it some more, both seem great, but if taking one makes me light headed/dizzy, its game over.
Yeah I started at hctz didn't do anything. Lisiniopril took me out of the gym, I could hardly stand up without passing out. I am naturally hypertensive. At that time I was usually 150-165/70-85. When I would sit I would drop down to 100/50-60. Then stand up and bp would jump and I'd have to grab on to something. I seriously had to stop doing a lot of the stuff I did, dr. Told me to try it out for a couple months and see if sides stopped. I told her I couldn't keep an erection and I was so afraid of falling head first into something I couldn't take that med anymore whatsoever. Did more research and found out its a little more of a severe sort of bp med. yeah it worked at lowering BP but NOT at functioning properly.

Jumped on micardis at 20 mg for the first bit. Zero sides. Had to take 40 mg to keep the BP down but then it managed my BP and I had no issues until the 40mg turned out to be a little to strong and I started getting dizzy spells again. Dropped back down to 20mg. Worked just fine. Only one thing you need to worry about is blood potassium levels. They could potentially be high and lead to cardiac arrhythmia. I didnt have any issues with my doses with elevated potassium values.

So I just try to warn folks if they can get something else that isn't nearly as harsh to try that out. I had to stop being active on lisinopril. Feel like micardis is a little lighter on the system for the active people. Been on micardis for 5 years. Only had an issue when the dose needed to be lowered. Also it's best to have it in the system for a few weeks to really know its working right and that it's in the system.

Hope that helps man, let me know if you need any other info or something.