Tony, Luella, anyone?! Please help me to help my husband after the VA discontinued his high blood pressure med, nifedipine extended release 60mg, and tried to replace it with amlodipine 5mg. Both are calcium channel blockers, but the amlodipine caused a sharp spike in blood pressure, from a usual 132/78 with nifedipine, to a whopping 192/111! Also, he suffered a pounding headache, dizziness, and vivid nightmares. I'm thinking amlodipine has something besides calcium channel blockers in it, and sure enough, I compared its chemical composition on rxlist.com, and it is NOT the same composition as nifedipine. It may have something to do with the extended release, because nifedipine had bad side effects with short term release, too.

I only gave Wayne two dosages of amlodipine, and we both decided it was NOT the drug for him! He tried to get his primary care physician to change his scriipt back to nifedipine, but the VA has permanently discontinued its availability. We were stuck with amlodipine, or nothing. "No thanks, VA doctors and pharmacists, and I hope you end up in a similar situation some day....but I highly doubt you take what you prescribe....right??"

So now Wayne is suffering from withdrawal from the calcium channels being blocked...whatever that means...and his blood pressure is still spiking around 190/100. I have gotten it lowered for a couple of hours by giving him apple cider vinegar (Braggs), Rescue Remedy, magnesium complex capsules, topically applied magnesium oil, 400mg of CoQ10, potassium gluconate capsules, and lavender essential oil on his temples and around his nostrils....hey...I will try ANYthing! It got the pressure down to about 152/82... hooray!...but it was only short-lived, and I can't keep up with the routine all day and all night. Do you know of anything that will really lower the pressure FAST and with some longevity?? The headache and throbbing vessels in his scalp are driving him crazy, and I've tried homeopathics for migraines...but no relief. I'm sure those symptoms are from the blood pressure spikes.

Wayne has had 9 heart attacks, 2 bypass surgeries with a total of 6 bypasses, two stents, and the BIG KAHUNA - his aorta dissected 3 years ago - as in John Ritter's demise - and it is purely a miracle...or MANY miracles...by God that he is still alive. He has survived suffocation in a cotton gin chaff bin, 2 plane crashes, being blown up on an oil rig, multiple auto accidents, capture by the Vietnamese where he was buried up to his shoulders for 3 days, knife wounds, bullet wounds, asphyxiation with media contrast (iodine) injection, and many, many flatlines in ER's due to idiots in charge. He has had numerous near death experiences and has visited heaven AND hell, so there is no newness to cheating death at this point. He IS a SURVIVOR, by all means, and this is just another chapter in his Book of Survival, but I can't just watch him suffer any longer. It's killin' me, too...

Sorry for the long details...I just wanted to give you a little history along with the plea for help. Please tell me anything and everything you can think of to whip this withdrawal and to hopefully get his heart back in good operation. I appreciate you and thank you for having this forum available for all of us! God bless you ALL!

Molly in Texas