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Stopping Bp meds?

Andy12345

Expert
Messages
6,342
Location
Surrey
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Doctors
Hi
Ok so I've stopped taking statins, my thinking behind this, in 3 months I'm having cholesterol rechecked I've made huge changes to my lifestyle which must have lowered chol, plus I've read lots of bad things about them, I figure if it's still high or higher ill go back on them in July but for now I've stopped them, I was prescribed lisprinopril or something like that because when at the hospital day of diagnosis my Bp was 250/125 now I check it very regular and it's 120/70 give or take a few, sometimes 106/66 so I figured if I had a headache I would take a tablet when the headache goes away I stop the tablets, a week has gone by now and no change to Bp, I have a doc appointment where he says how brilliant I'm doing but we will keep the meds the same....why? Because he cares as much about me as I do about him, the metformin I take because I know I'm diabetic but if the day comes when my bg doesn't shoot up because I had a slIce of bread I can think about those, my wife is doing her nut, saying I'm crazy, I just don't see any sense in taking tablets I don't need, I'm IMHO being sensible, how can the doctor who hasn't got time to listen to me be expected to give me what I need, where as I who care about me has all the time in the world to research my issues, don't get me wrong I'm not anti tablet or suicidal I will continue to check my Bp everyday and if it creeps up I'll put myself back on them, any thoughts would be appreciated on this, unless anyone is going to say we are not doctors we can't tell you about whatever we are not qualified, if I wanted a qualified opinion I would book myself in for an appointment (2 weeks if im lucky) for a 10 minute slot with someone who I can hardly understand what they are saying who answers my questions by looking at he's watch, I would.....I mean no disrespect to my doctor who seems a nice man, does this not seem a sensible approach?

thanks


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What dose of Lisinopril are you on? If you're getting such good BP readings why not ask your GP to reduce the dose, rather than stop them altogether, to start with? You don't want to run the risk of your BP going too low by taking too high a dose..

I take 2.5 mg (micrograms? I can never remember!) of Lisinopril daily, mainly, these days, to keep the doctor happy. He says it protects my kidneys - which it certainly does, if you have high BP. Sadly, I seem to suffer from a bit of "white coat syndrome" and my BP is always higher with the GP than with the nurse.

If the GP ums and aahs about it you could always ask to use the practice's 24-hour BP monitor, which checks your BP every 30 minutes. You do lose some sleep, but it's much more accurate than a one-off test 'cos it gives the daily range. It's great fun; I did a half-hour of near-meditation when wearing it and dropped right down off the scale. That worried him more than the highs! :lol:

I pretty well agree with you on tablets; I won't take statins, and I'd prefer to be off the Lisinopril - maybe when I've lost more weight. Metformin I like; not only does it help with BGs but it gives a certain amount of protection against stroke and cardio-vascular disease, helps suppress the appetite, and is now believed to help prevent certain types of cancer. They're not taking those off me in a hurry!

And yes, I'm not qualified and can't advise you - but that's my opinion, for what it's worth. I'm a committed low-carber, and that is good for both BP and cholesterol/blood lipids, as well as BGs.

Viv 8)

edited once to clarify a point
 
I decided to stop taking my simvastatin early last year when a friend said he had read on the internet that statins caused aggravation for those with arthritis. I have arthritis in most of my joints, if I don't do anything silly then it don't hurt. The arthritis pain in my big toes is constant, and I wondered at the time if it could have been down to the statin. I must admit there was no improvement pain wise when I stopped taking them, but it is one less pill! My db nurse said in July last year that my cholesterol level was just below borderline so they wouldn't ask me to go back on statins, yet. I was on 20mg per day, they wanted me to boost that to 40 mg for no other reason than the government would rather pay the extra cost of getting everyone on statins rather than pay for hospital treatment if they didn't. If I really need to take a statin I probably will, but I would rather try doing things by diet than meds. Anyway, I recently gave up bananas and grapes and have now started to eat melon and grapefruit instead. You can't eat grapefruit if you take statins can you? Just one more point. I hated grapefruit years ago, I couldn't eat it without shovel fulls of sugar to sweeten them. Now, I love the taste just the way they are! No extra sweetness needed, is it me?
Lee.
 
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