Anyone feel like their heart is restrained while taking blood pressure medicine?

I have taken several different BP meds over the years until the docs and I were satisfied that everything was OK. Every body is different – it is entirely possible that your doc will need to adjust or change meds.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR FATHER’S MEDS. Consult with your doctor. She needs to know. There are dozens, even hundreds of different BP meds and small change can make a difference.

When you say “started recently” – how recent? A week, a month, 3 months?

I have never experienced the issues you describe, but like I said, everyone is different.

Never, ever take anyone else’s medications. I know you know that. BP meds are always a try and try again method. Tell your doctor how you feel on them and she will change it. Don’t assume she will think you are a hypochondriac. It took me a long time to find the correct brand and dosage. Then when I got sick last fall, it changed again.

I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve never had to take BP meds; however, I have had many friends who did. The one thing that I’ve learned is that the doctor expects to give you a particular script & then they are prepared to adjust the usage until they find the best dosage for you. Sometimes it’s just a matter of adjusting the strength of the same med & sometimes it means that they will give you a different med altogether.

One thing I know for sure is that you should NOT just switch over to your dad’s BP meds as that could be fatal!!! I’d go back to your doctor & explain the situation to her. & ask her to adjust what she feels you need. As I said, adjusting is a normal part of prescribing BP meds; so, I don’t think she will be surprised. I have found with several of my doctors over the years that I sometimes have to be my own advocate. I know my body & what I’m feeling & the doctor knows the meds & how they should affect my body. We should be able to work together as a team to repair my problem. When I’ve had a doctor who doesn’t listen to me, I have NO problem looking for a doctor who will. You may not need to change doctors; but it could be an option if you feel your ideas are being dismissed by your current doctor.

Give this doctor a chance by communicating your hesitations with the current meds & I bet she will be a lot more cooperative than you’re expecting!!!

I wouldn’t take your dad’s meds!

I have always felt side-effects when taking BP medication, even recent kinds. I didn’t experience it as a different feeling in the chest, but depending on the medicine, drowsiness, reduced mental sharpness, and/or reduced mental energy and ability/interest to concentrate (the recent ones were better but still had effects).

I don’t know what your relationship with your doctor is like or how it would be to try another doctor, but I’d want a doctor that took what I said seriously and would work with me to find medications that had a positive set of effects.

I am on lisinopril. It oesn’t have that effect on my heart.

But I was on a beta blcoker for nine months following insertion of a stent. That helps lower BP, but it is mostly to slow the heart down. If that is wht your Dr. prescribed, that would explain your feeling restrianed.

You all can relax. My mom and dad have both taken each other’s meds, not because they just they randomly exchange them, but because when my dad started taking BP meds he was prescribed one, and it didn’t work, and then prescribed another, same drug class, and it worked. Years later my mom was prescribed the same as the one my dad was taking, and it didn’t work, and then she was written a script for the one he was first prescribed and it worked.

No one is DYING. It’s the same drug class, same warnings, same usage. I’ve had my parents drugs in my house for months, I never took a pill even though my BP was sometimes as high as 165/100, because I had never taken any BP pills before, I waited to go to the doctor, and wouldn’t just pop my parents’ drugs without consulting with a doctor first, but taking in the same drug class isn’t a huge deal. Except, like I said, his dose might be too high, and I’m not going to play with cutting pills that are so small. I haven’t looked at his dose. First, I’m going to talk to my doctor before I take anything different anyway.

@zenvelo I’m taking lisinopril also. It seems to work well at lowering my BP. It’s hard to know, because when I went to my doctor my BP was consistently high for weeks, but then went down to normal for weeks, then it’s just been up again, so I started taking the drug. My chest feels weird, but I have muscle troubles anyway, so sometimes my chest feels tight from lifting a lot of things, or exercise, which I’m experiencing now, but I feel like it’s also in my heart this time. It’s hard to know exactly.

The first night I took it I was incredibly spacey from it, but that seems to have subsided. It says on the insert that it can cause that. It’s bizarre to me that that side effect goes away.

@elbanditoroso Just under two weeks.

@zenvelo Did you develop a cough from the BP drug?

@JLeslie I did when on was on Lisinopril. They took me off of it.

@chyna You felt like your heart was restrained or you developed a cough?

I developed a cough.

I have not developed a cough.

I think it’s about 10% of people get a cough.