Q: I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure between 140 and 160. I started taking Lisinopril at 5 mg then 10 the 20. It didn’t seem to lower the BP. My doctor changed to Benicar 40mg. It also doesn’t seem to work. What could be causing me to not have results? It seems like I am getting stressed worrying about getting it down
A: Sometimes just a single drug is not effective in lowering blood pressure. You may need more than one medicine to get your high blood pressure into control. This is why some pills actually contain two medicines. Frequently the second drug is a diuretic. To read about blood pressures medicines go to this page on the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute site.
Don’t forget that life styles changes have a big impact on blood pressure. Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your body. Exercise helps lower stress
and helps you live longer.
(8 votes, average: 4.88 out of 5)
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Very informative and to the point. I’m learning things my doctor has never remotely mentioned.
I had the same reaction as you to Lisinopril. It was totally ineffective besides making me cough like crazy. I’m now on Diovan (320 mgs daily) an my BP is ~100/70.
I am sorry to post a somehow dissenting opinion, but depending on your age, 140 systolic doesn’t seem to be so high (you don’t mention the diastolic number which could be more significant and also the difference between the two). Regular physical exercise and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables could be very helpful, even more than the medication you were prescribed. I also recommend you to read the book “The Hypertension Hoax”, by Sherri Rogers M.D. and “Malignant Medical Myths”, by Joel Kauffman PHD, both are very informing on the hypertension subject.
Hi Emilio,
Thank you for posting the book refs – I got them from an earlier post of yours and found them extremely helpful and informative.
As a result of Dr Rogers’ advice, I am now completely off medication and feeling better that at any time since I started taking these horrible pills.
What is your diet like? The right foods will help lower bp so you do not need as much bp meds. It worked for me. No sweets, no white flour, no caffeine, no alcohol, no meat. Lots of salads,vegies, and salmon or fish.
However, what no doctor will tell you, or almost none, is that you don’t NEED drugs to lower blood pressure. Drugs are used because most Americans are too lazy and unwilling to make the changes to their lifestyle to reduce it without drugs, or as some refer to, naturally.
If you are not having success with drugs, or you just want to avoid them, try these things out:
1: Drop weight – it is a major factor in high blood pressure in many Americans due to we are almost all overweight or obese.
2: Eliminate ALL processed foods from your diet. This means you have to make everything from scratch. No more quick frozen pizzas, hamburger helpers, canned soups, etc. These products are full of junk that is very hard on your body.
3: Massively increase the amount of vegetables you eat. Fresh is best, but steamed isn’t bad. Avoid boiling, except in home made soups obviously, as you lose a ton of nutrients by doing so. Increase the amount of vegetables you eat by 200% to 400% for most American diets. Plus it helps you to get full faster with fewer calories so you can also lose weight or maintain weight easier.
4: Reduce simple carbs. There is nothing wrong with carbs, but a typical American diet has far, far too many in them. These easily convert to sugar in your blood stream increasing fat storage and has been linked to higher blood pressure in some people.
5: Here’s a real tough one for Americans. EXERCISE! Yep, good old fashioned, get off your couch and go for a walk, play tennis, ride a bike, go shoot some hoops, play a round of golf, or whatever will get your off your backside. 30 to 60 min a day is best. Typical American only walks something like 1 to 2 miles per day. Just about everyone else in the world walks a minimum of 4. Those stats might be slightly off as I didn’t go look them up again just for this posting.
I am taking 50mg Losartan Potassium tablets twice a day. Is it high dose for my present BP is 140/85.
I am also taking 75 mg of clopilet whch is blood thinning and 10 mg of cholostrol reduction tablets.