Despite having read up on it, I don't fully understand calcium channel blockers for high BP and have a few questions.

Up until the last few years my BP has always been on the normal to low side. Unfortunately that’s no longer the case.

I’m currently on 10 mg. per day of Amlodipine Besylate as well as 40 mg. of Benazeprill.

So, what effect, if any, does dietary Calcium have on the situation. Or am I just totally misunderstanding the mechanism involved in taking a Calcium Channel blocker?

The main reason I ask is because the current water situation in the township where I currently live is that it’s extremely hard water containing huge amounts of Calcium.

I’ve also been a big milk drinker all of my adult life.

Would my BP likely improve if I I were ingesting less Calcium?

Or am I just interpreting the whole relationship of Calcium to high BP totally wrong.

Prior to moving here I’ve never lived in a hard water area and never had blood pressure problems. It wasn’t until after I had lived here for awhile that my high BP was discovered so naturally it has me wondering.

Medical jellies enlighten me please. Thanks.

PS. If you know anything about Benazepril, feel free to chime in about that as well.

When taken by itself it didn’t do much at all to lower my BP. Things didn’t improve until he added the Norvasc and dropped the amt. of Benazepril down.

When I asked why he didn’t just eliminate the Benazepril altogether he just said that it protects the heart (whatever that means). The most I’ve been able to glean from reading up on it is that the mechanism by which it lowers BP is unknown.

So, feel free to add any extra info that you know about it.