Amlodipine and anxiety after 3years?

Treatment and medication
1

Hi,

I just like to ask and also share my story with Amlodipine. I am 44 years old and 3years ago i was prescribed with Amlodipine and Ramipril both 10mg right away in the hospital due to high bp. My bp at that time was 190/110, but this include my white coat effect. Bp with meds lowered to 130/80. Also i was overweight and under lot of stress.

As many of you explained shortly after i also started having many side effects, headaches, migraines, blurry vision, oedema, tiredness, fatigue, stomachache, loss of hair and so on, some of them lessened, but never disappeared.

In 2021 i developed new side effects, every afternoon around 4pm i felt very cold and i started shaking, trembling. This sometimes persist for 30min to 2hours. During these my bp temporarily spikes to 150/100 to 170/100. Then go back to normal, usually it helps to go under duvet and breath slowly there and everything calms down.

I have decided to loose some weight so i started exercise and strict diet i lost 40lb in 4months, my bp after was 90/60 to 110/70. So i call my gp and she lowered my amlo to 5mg.

Shaking gets slightly better and cold feeling too. But not completely gone. Blood tests came back negative they didn’t find anything.

A month later i started to having anxiety and panic attacks during these afternoon cold feelings and shakings, i called my gp and she prescribed propranolol for anxiety.

I decided to cut amlo to 2.5mg my bp was under control and i still use ramipril in the evening. Things started to get better, i felt more energetic and anxiety and shaking and other side effects disappeared for a week. But then all came back again.

So i decided to stop amlo completely, after 3years from 10mg to 5mg for a month, from 5mg to 2.5mg for two weeks. Now this is my 9 days off of amlo my bp is under control, except when i get my afternoon anxiety it temporarily spikes up.

My anxiety and panic attacks now doesn’t come daily anymore and lessened, propranolol i have not used that much it doesnt help much with anxiety.

My question is, did anyone here developed after awhile (not right away) those anxiety and panic attacks , cold hands, tremors also sadness and depression? Also when you stopped amlo is there withdrawal side effects and when these dissapear?

I started to feel scared, my gp doesnt believe me its caused by amlo and says its anxiety, i dont know what to do, because its 9days since i stopped amlo and anxiety and else are still not completely gone. Will they ever dissapear?

2

Hi Rob 55013
I thought I would write a quick reply to your question about anxiety/panic attacks, cold hands, tremors, sadness & depression. I took 5mg Amlodipine for almost 5 weeks at the end of Jan/early Feb 2021. I started to suffer all of those symptoms and others within 2/3 weeks of taking my first tablet. Once I stopped it took around 4/6 weeks for some symptoms to reduce but the ones that you mention, plus foggy head, inability to concentrate, loss of energy and enthusiasm, gastric pain and pounding heart continued. I’m now on Day 66 since stopping taking this drug and this has been the first full day symptom free. I’ve had confidence to drive, energy to garden plus the ability to think about what to do throughout the day, as well as think of making plans to actually see friends & family. With regard to my recovery, I do bear in mind there is always the possibility of yet more bad times. However, experience tells me those times become fewer and last for much shorter periods of time.I’m hoping I’ve turned the corner I’m sorry if this time scale disappoints you and I sincerely hope your recovery is much faster.

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Hi Angela33813,

Thank You for Your response, it was very helpful and a bit relief as well to know that someone else was going through the same as me and i don’t feel that much scared as I was, because GP still think it’s all symptoms caused by anxiety and amlo is not responsible for any of this. There are few updates since my last post, i have seen my gp once again and this time personally and she once again confirmed it’s a severe health anxiety, but what caused to be triggered? Why now from nowhere? I stopped questioning as this would get me nowhere with a GP… Anyway since i stopped Amlo 22 days ago now, a few things changed, my tremors subsided and so does my cold hands and feet, anxiety and depression like feelings are getting better and its not that bad as it was before, but on the other hand some new symptoms started showing up like tinnitus which is now for over week and i developed temporary muscle tension in the left hand, once again they all are symptoms of anxiety, this include feeling like something is stuck in my throat just in afternoons, again all are related to anxiety… I don’t know much about anxiety symptoms never had them before amlo, but it seems they are time programmed somehow? Thyroid test came clear… It’s just 3 weeks since i stopped Amlo and it may take couple of more weeks to clear out my system completely, hopefully soon all gets better and i will try to update the situation in a few weeks. Once again Thank You Angela and I Wish You all the best.

4

Hi Rob 55013
I’m pleased i could help, if only in a small way.
Like you I never suffered anxiety before Amolidipine but it’s been affecting me big time for several weeks now. Most of my physical side effects have gone thank goodness apart from occasional headaches. However I’m still struggling with tears, sadness, feelings of worthlessness, also tense throat/something stuck which we’re told are anxiety symptoms. I’ve never needed antidepressants but a couple off days ago i came close to asking my GP to help in that direction. I avoided that with difficulty and I’m trying the natural route with Rescue Remedy products. No idea if it will work but I don’t want further side effects/addiction with antidepressants. Ive had a full set of heart checks plus endoscopy for gastric pain. All results were fine. Cardiologist even told me I don’t need BP medication!!! But no admission that Amolidipine caused my problems in the first place.
Forgot to say Ive also developed tinnitus!!!
Hope this helps as I feel we need reassurance that it’s not yourself who suffers these awful feelings. I don’t want to disappoint you but I’m now at day 80 since stopping Amolidipine and although I’m so much better I still feel I have a way to go to be anywhere near the old me.
Good luck with your recovery. I know we’ve made the right decision yo stop taking this horrible medication.

5

Hi Angela,

That’s a fantastic news, all your results came clear, that’s a huge relief for you 100% and physical symptoms are gone that’s even better, no more bp meds for you… great, great, great! So many great news. Day 80 without amlo, i wish i had that many days behind me as well, so far day 26 for me…

Seems to me that we are on the same boat with all those side effects, i know how you feel, because i feel exactly same way and i am not just saying that to make you feel better, because i am really going through all of them myself, tears, crying, sadness, anxiety, depression all connected with those anxiety other symptoms like tinnitus, headaches, throat sense and so on, today i was going through one of those “episodes”. I felt horrible i have to hide from my kids, because i don’t want them to see me like this and i can feel that it does have impact on my wife too and i feel bad and guilty when she sees me like this…

I was offered with medication for this anxiety and i took them once and i felt worse than before, yes they slow down heart rate, bp and physical symptoms during the anxiety, but next day i felt sick, nauseated, extremely fatigue and more anxious then i was before, so i don’t use them any more.

I am trying to go natural way, which are currently “hit and miss” tryouts. I started to go herbal way, i was using adreset, magnesium, b-complex vitamins, vit. d3, iron and newly tried ashwagandha and 5-htp for night. These are the results:

What does not worked or make it worst for me was beetroot extract supplements or juice, felt from it was like i was back on amlo with same bad symptoms. Then Ubiquinol or also called CoQ10 i felt huge tension headaches from it and extreme fatigue, then ignatia amara that did nothing at all. Ashwagandha caused nausea and more depression and tears then before. Adreset worked fine for 3days gives me energy, but after three days of use i didn’t feel well, stomachache, headache a nervousness with nausea as well.

Best working from all of these natural remedies for me is Solgar’s 5-HTP, i take one before i go to sleep and it helps me with good all night undisrupted sleep and i am feeling actually fine in the morning. (it helps with melatonin for good sleep and seratonin for good mood in the brain).

Then the rest of the vitamins like b-complex, c, d3, magnesium, iron are important for anxiety and stress relief as these gets depleted by stress and anxiety. Also big yes to magnesium glycinate as it calms me down too.

But after all, this anxiety still finds its way to interrupt my life, deep and slow breathing helps quickly, "Mundane concentration techniques helps too when the anxiety trying to catch me while i am doing something, then walking, gentle exercise are fine, no extreme exercise as it will actually make my anxiety worst. Tried cognitive behaviour therapy, practically pushing myself to fight with anxiety triggers, fears and so on, these are pretty much hardcore practices in some way for me and to stand against all of them is not easy for me, but i have created ladder so i have to do them step by step.

I do believe that amlo have changed something in neuro related part of the brain, also somehow some body mechanisms changed its behaviour, therefore there are tremors, muscle tension and many other dysfunctions and so on even long after i stopped taking amlo. Damage done on both sides physical and psychological. Amlodipine started in 80’s and it is now almost 40 years old medication…

Now question is are some of them damages permanent or will they ever completely disappear? Body and organism are superior and it does its best to heal itself as much as it can. But as i read here from others experiences with amlodipine, some people even after a year still struggling with returning side effects. Some people have created permanent joint problems and so on. How can such a small pill cause so much damage in some people for such a prolonged time? Some countries banned Amlodipine, because its side effects oversized the potential of lowering bp. There are many different bp meds, but there is always some bad side of it.

Angela I hope your tears and all that bad psychological side of the “after effect” from amlo will disappear soon too as it did with other physical symptoms, stay strong and let’s see changes in the first 100 days since amlo was stopped. Wish You all the best and Thank You.

6

Edit:

Just to addition to my previous post, result of Solgar 5-htp after testing it for a few weeks, at first it seems to help with mood and better sleep 1xpill before bed, but week later it keep wakes me up around 4am with panic and elevated heart rate, i wasn’t sure that this was caused by this so i tried to take one more at 4am to get back to sleep which it did helps, but then during the day i developed weird heavy feeling and anxiety, panic and tears which was repeated in the next days when i took 5-htp in the same time and amount. Soon as i stopped with 5-htp these feelings and waking disappeared. It might be just me, but its better let others know about this. It looks like i am getting unlucky with natural supplements…

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Hi Angela,

How are you? I hope you well, you should be already passing your 100 days off of Amlodipine now, i hope all is now back to normal or at least better than it was couple of weeks ago.

I am on my first 50 days off of Amlodipine and just when i was thinking all is getting better and anxiety is finally gone, i just had another “anxiety comeback”. My tinnitus is still annoys me everyday, especially in the evenings, sadness and tiredness is getting slowly better, occasional headaches…otherwise other side effects completely subsided which is good.

I would say (in my own experience after 3years of use of amlodipine) to all those who will read this, that first 4 weeks are the most difficult ones regarding to withdrawal side effects of Amlodipine (which was done under GP supervision and while i am on another bp controlling medication) , (also i didn’t go cold turkey on amlodipine after 3 years use, i slowly weaned off from 10mg to 7.5mg then 5mg and then 2.5mg under frequent home bp checks, which took me almost 2 months) , i was scared, anxious, depressed and stressed from what is gonna happen, because all side effects which i was going through it all looks like this can’t be caused by amlodipine withdrawal, i was keep thinking there must be something else to be wrong with me and so on, but after 4weeks most of the side effects dissapeared and from week 4 onwards things started to seems better, by the week 6 anxiety and depression changed as well, it was not anymore severe and less frequent. However tinnitus is still there and sometimes headaches as well, but nothing major. I am now on week 7 and i would say that things seems better than they ever was during the amlodipine use for 3 years and its withdrawal time. I am hoping that in another 50 days things gets back to normal and that would be my total of 100 days off of amlodipine.

In the mean time i am trying to stay active, walking on a beach, some easy diy around house, family, kids it all helps me with anxiety, depression and stress, which is not yet completely gone, but is at least less frequent. Healthy diet, no salt, no fat, no red meat, no sugar, no smoking, no news, less stress and trying to be happy even from small things in my life.

Regarding my experiments with natural remedies which was an expensive waste of money, another recent tested product: melatonin 2.5mg for sleeping and another bad experience: i felt drowsy, nauseated, anxious whole day although sleeping was undisturbed, but with vivid dreams, its not worthy, so it’s a another “no”. Now i own full box of natural remedies which are useless or makes me feel worst than i was without it. Once again Magnesium Glycinate and B complex with iron are only ones working for me. The best and most working treatment for me for all side effects from amlodipine is time…

My GP is now on holidays till’ November and there is another GP instead, which i feel is even more “robotic”, if you know what i mean, tried to put me back on Amlodipine hell, since i explained my afternoon bp spikes are caused by anxiety leftovers caused originally by amlodipine, but then shortly after i get another “fantastic bonus” offer for antidepresants once again, which i once again refused, because i don’t like the way they make me feel next day…groggy, fatigue, headaches, nausea and so on, it almost makes me feel like i would be back where i was 6months ago, hidden under heavy duvet, shaking and in the dark… so it’s a “no-no” to antidepresants.

Sometimes i feel all this, is like an neverending story, now i do understand when people on this forum describing their stories with Amlodipine and then they suddenly disappear and stop updating or answering questions how they feel after couple of months of withdrawal from amlodipine, they just don’t want any remains or leftovers from these Amlodipine withdrawal memories after they recovered and they stay well off this amlodipine forum site…

Anyway i hope Angela you are ok now and if so, i have something to look forward myself in another 50 days as well. Let’s see how things change after summer…

Angela, Wish You All the best and mainly good health.

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Hi Rob
Thank you for thinking of me and how I’m feeling now. I think you’re right people who have written on this forum in the past seem to drift away without giving an update on how they did/are doing with their recovery. I’m happy to learn that so many of the horrible side effect are/or have gone for you. You must look on that as fantastic progress and keep it all in mind as you continue towards a full recovery. I kept a daily log of all the things I felt or did and used it to reassure myself as time went by. I would look back and note how much worse I was feeling 2 or 3 weeks previously and it helped me keep positive.

So I’m pleased to say that having just passed the 100 day mark off Amlodopine I’m feeling so very much better. I still seem to lack energy to a certain degree but that could be age related, I was 73 in April. All the physical aches and pains have gone as well as the gastritis pain. The emotional tears, fear of doom & gloom plus suicidal thoughts took longer to ease but did become less intense and less frequent. My last tearful, anxious, fearful day was on 2.6.2021 and until yesterday 20.6.2021 I thought I was over it but no . . . . I woke up feeling sad and spent a lot of time crying, upset and anxious. However, I’m reassured that there was almost a 3 week gap between episodes and during that time I was my normal, happy, relaxed self. Today 21.6.2021 I’m feeling fine again.

One of my original problems when I called my GP in Jan 2021 was because of shoulder/neck/head aches and I still have this. I have discussed this with my GP again today and she thinks it’s caused by a trapped nerve so I will be having physio for that in the next few weeks. I’m lucky to have private health insurance which will provide this. Question here is why was I given blood pressure medication for this ??? However, as it was the head GP of my surgery I finally managed to speak with today, I left her in no doubt over the cause of my health misery over recent months. I told her that I discovered Amlodopine is in the same “family group” as Diltiazem which I was prescribed in April 2020 and which had the same devastating health effects on me. I also said that in Jan 2021 I was told by a member of her GP team that what he was prescribing me (that being Amlodopine) was "in a completely different family group to anything I had previously taken) WRONG !!! Stupidly I believed him but never, EVER again will I take medication without a bit of personal research first. Anyhow I feel better for having got that off my chest and to the senior GP of the surgery. No idea if it will make any difference but she said she will put an allergy note on my records so “hopefully” this won’t happen again. Too right it won’t happen again as I will be doing my own research before popping anything they recommend into my mouth.

So grumble over. Like you I wasted money on alternative medication in the form of Rescue Remedy spray, night time capsules as well as pastilles. Not sure if they would have worked but gave me strange woozy feelings after the night time capsules and no help from the pastilles. Not too sure about the spray. I bought them all in desperation as I just didn’t seem to be improving. As you have said as time goes on you begin to doubt all that you are feeling is caused by withdrawal from Amlodopine but I can assure you in my case that was true. It’s obviously different for everyone but on reading many posts on this forum, others have taken just as long as you and I - so hang on in there. There is light at the end of that very long tunnel and you are hopefully over the half way mark.

Following all the cardio tests it was found I do not have a blood pressure problem so I didn’t need to find an alternative medication. I’m still taking 10mg Omeprazole daily to deal with the gastritis problem but told GP today I want to wean off that. She gave me a plan for that over the next few weeks and by then I will be off all medication. Whoopee.The gastritis was also caused by the medication and I needed an endoscopy to discover why I was having such pain in my upper stomach/back.

I note you are still getting headaches and although I am also as a result of the trapped nerve, I had a different type of headache with the withdrawal symptoms. That headache was like a tightness around the base of my skull and pain in the back of my head. Also I still have tinnitus but not all the time and not really annoying now unless I actually listen for it.

I think you are doing all the right things in keeping active, enjoying your kids and working hard at staying positive. I think you’ve made a wise decision not to take the anti-depressants. I’ve never take them but they seem to lead us on yet another slippery slope of misery with horrible side effects.I’ve been having telephone counselling to help with my anxiety. I feel it has helped but the Counsellor seems to want to go back beyond what has happened to me in the last months, perhaps to look for an underlying cause of the anxiety/depression. I keep reminding her that I never had anxiety until the last year and that it was all because of the side effects of firstly Diltiazem and then Amlodopine.In the recent months when the anxiety/sadness/fear of doom and gloom hit me, I would grab my coat and almost crash out of the house to walk along the lanes and into the woods near home.My partner who has been absolutely wonderful in supporting me, felt quite hurt initially as he thought he had upset me, but once I was calm I told him that if I didn’t do it that way, stopped to explain how I was feeling or perhaps ask him if he wanted to come, I would never go out. Often while on the paths through the woods I would be in tears and mentally talking to myself to work through all the trash that was going on in my brain. Our first trip after the easing of lockdown was to a local garden which was looking lovely in the spring sunshine but I spent the whole 40 mins there in tears with absolutely no idea why. I’m only telling you this in the hope it might be of help to you if you are having similar feelings.If so, please rest assured it does go away. Be strong.

I wish you all the best over the coming days/weeks. I hope you continue to see improvements and if certain symptoms do return I think you will realise the gap between each event and severity will lessen. Please let me know how you get on and I hope I’ve helped give you the strength to carry on. Very best wishes and good health.
Angela

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Hi Angela,

Thank You for your response and of course it is helping me and to all in need to read your experiences and feelings and all that which was related to this amlodipine hell and it’s withdrawal, which changed our lives and somehow a little bit as well lives of our families, kids and partners, but it also helps to others who may end up here in same situation and looking for assurance, information and experience with this medication side effects and it’s withdrawal, its a big relief for people to find out that there somebody with same issues and it feels like you can breath a little bit easier after reading ours or someone elses stories and that’s from my own experience.

Angela I am glad you are getting better and everything is going in the right direction for both of us. Regarding those headaches that you have which you said is like a band tighten around a skull and go as well to the back of the head, they called them “tension headaches” and i have them too, but not that often anymore. I was informed at least in my case, these are related to my anxiety as well. Shattering teeth is sometimes part of this headaches too.

Yes Angela, i was going and still do going (but less now) through similar runs from house sitting in the car for two-three hours, long 5-7 miles walks on the beach, crying (or i used to hyperventilated under duvet for hours) and questioning my life and what to do and what and why is this happening to me which makes me feel like someone is choking me from behind and this will elevate into my health anxiety shortly after and then i start continuously checking and controlling myself, heart rate, blood pressure and so on and i feel like crazy when this happen to me. I used to fall to a sleep with my blood pressure machine still connected to my hand. My brain is unable to concentrate on anything else during these unexpected attacks. Its a horrible debilitating feeling, also recently i was also advised to apply for disability payments as i am unable to concentrate on my work anymore (IT coding and programming) also due to my unexpected high blood pressure spikes caused by anxiety and fatigue due to a depression i am unable to get back to my old profession as a mechanic. I also developed GAD, social anxiety and agarophobia as well and all it happened this year, 2.5 years after amlodipine use. I do fight them all, whenever they happening to me i pushing myself through this. Trying to take all these “punches” as they come, this includes my son with diabetes and my daughter’s heavy depressions or my wife with back issues… and so on… Being stuck in the house for 16 months doesn’t help us mentally either. My auntie passed away in January after 3 days fighting with Covid in hospital. She never left the house during lockdown, but still covid virus was faster to find her than the vaccination… Anyway so many people now going through the same or even worst, there is only one way and that is to look forward and dealing with everything step by step, especially for my wife, children and family i do not give up, because of them, without my family i would probably think differently.

I used to write my daily log/diary too, but i stopped and i rather taking a long walks with my oldest daughter while she is dealing with her own depression as well, we talk about how we see each other changes with depression and anxiety, she always assures me about my changes and i assure her with her changes with depressions and anxieties.

I will definitely keep updating my situation with amlodipine withdrawal situation in here, so that others may find our experience useful for them. I will get back here in couple of weeks.

Angela, have a nice summer and all the best with your recovery.

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Hello Angela i suffered from some the same things. im on 8 weeks of no amlodioine and just now coming off brain fog .. and a odd headache to follow. ive also had Gastric issues which have started to calm down. but, when i first t
got off i was at the ER every other day for chest pain bc i thought i was having a heart attack. Ive even experinced weird pouring sensations im my head as well palpatitions too. and I also, had panic attacks which i never had before until i started taking amlodipine on a regular basis. my progress is coming but it is slowly i just pray i get back to 100 soon.

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Hi Rob & Guyn
I’m wondering how you are both getting on now, particularly you Rob as we were on similar journeys but sadly you were a few weeks behind me. I hope you are making progress towards feeling so much better and the withdrawal effects are easing.
Rob, I felt so sad reading your posts, especially where you detailed how you have been feeling week by week. It has been a truly horrific time. I suffered so many of those symptoms but I do not have children, a wife or employment to worry about, although I had reduced contact with my daughter and young grandchildren which was so emotionally painful.
I’m no longer counting the days since I stopped taking Amlodipine and I’ve stopped writing a daily log. In fact over the last 10/14 days I have often forgotten all about the traumatic time from March to end of June. All the horrible withdrawal effects have stopped. No more aches & pains, no brain fog or loss of concentration, no thumping heart or gastric pain, so I hope you believe me if I say, you will get to a similar point, it’s just a matter of time.
My energy level is back to what it was and I’m hoping to care for my 7 & 10 year old grandchildren once a week during the summer holidays, as well as have them stay overnight in a couple of weeks. Something I was sure I would never ever do again. I’ve had the confidence to drive alone
and surprised myself as I didn’t give it a second thought, just got in the car and went to the garden centre.
I hope & pray you will get to the same point and just get on with life as before. Perhaps Rob, once you are in an improved emotional state your daughter will be able to handle her depression better. I’m certain she is so very worried about her Dad.Our kids should never see us like it, especially as you are so much younger than me. I was able to hide a lot from my daughter, but she has since said that she knew I was really unwell just be our telephone conversations. Also once you are feeling stronger, you will be able to help your daughter get through her problems and life will slowly improve for your whole family.
I wish you both a good recovery. Just remember to be certain about anything a GP might prescribe for you in the future. I’ve gone through this twice now, simply because my GP didn’t read my notes correctly and because I was stupid enough to believe him when he said Amlodopine was “in a completely different family group to anything I had taken before”. In 2020 I took diltazem which is a calcium channel blocker just like Amlodopine and which gave me identical side effects. So beware and do your own research.
Good luck to you both.

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Thank you for your well wishes . its good to read someone who has made all the way through. I still have a lil brain fog, forgetfulness, amd weird sensations in my head that come and go. Despite what i just named. I am so blessed to be making the progress im making im now on week 10. bp is stable and heart rate is good. i have an appointment with neuro next week. prayerful it will all lift soon. take care .

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Hi Angela,

Thank You for writing to me and asking me how am I doing, it always makes me feel great to talk to somebody who was/is in the same “boat” and understand this amlodipine withdrawal “hell” we are going through. I would love to say that all is gone or better, but that would be a lie. Last two weeks i had a few very bad days, it felt like i am going backwards with all those returning debilitating side effects, felt absolutely horrible, anxiety changed to depression and somehow it feels worst then anxiety, those dark moods eating me alive and draining my already limited energy.

Angela, i have to tell you, that i was unable to continue like this and i accepted from my GP antidepressants, a mild antidepressants they call them SSRI (seratonin inhibitors) and they are called Sertraline and i have them under name Lustral 50 mg which is branded and known in UK and are made by well known Pfizer company. I heard unbranded Sertraline may cause much more side effects during the starting process which may take 4-8 weeks before body and system get adjusted. Starting side effects of this medication are mostly nausea, headaches, elevated anxiety and depression and many more… I am on my 5th. day taking them and i am taking them divided to 12.5 mg (each pill divided to 4 pieces) which is helping me to avoid and lower starting side effects, before i adjust to a proper dosage.

It’s too early to say if they work, but so far when i take them in the morning, about an hour later i feel very calm and confident like a old myself for a few hours, but then in the evening i am not ok, anxiety hits me, feeling cold, tired, sleeping is not great, don’t eat much, but like i said, these are all part of starting process of these antidepressants, before they build up enough “good mood” neuro transmitters in my brain. Practically i am back to March situations… Hopefully soon when i adjust to proper dosage and give it to it a few weeks i’ll be back to myself as i was before. I know that i have picked another fight, but i didn’t have any more strength to fight all this by myself, especially with everything what is happening around me now. Also from next month i have to see a therapist as well, never in my life needed one…

I did re-started to write my diary, which will help me now with my daily results and mood changes caused by this new medication. My daughter is trying her best to get better and i can see that it is getting better, she love to paint and draw and she is returned back to it after a year long pause, so that is a good sign. Otherwise we are trying to walk everyday, whenever we can.

Yes, i did write my long story with amlodipine, which might help to somebody in future, reassurance and advice is always a relief, at least for me it was and still it is.

I know Angela how you feel regarding your daughter or grandchildren, i know how hard it is to not see kids or family members for awhile, to trying to forget 2020-2021 will take some time for all of us… Children do see and feel this pain on me when they looking at me and i am doing my best to mask it and hide it all of this from rest of my kids, but they still feel something is not right, for that reason i decided to start with antidepressants to speed up this healing process.

You have been on Amlodipine for 5 weeks and it took you around 4 months to clear your system from all of the withdrawal side effects, i have been on amlodipine for almost 3 years and i do not know, if there is a permanent damage or not, but because it is started to affecting everything around me, especially now 70 days later (i still counting days) and any stressful situation “put me on my knees” and that is not normal for me, i have to to at least try this, if they don’t work (antidepressants) , then i will go back to a waiting game and wait… Also here on this website is the forum called Sertraline and people are describing how they deal with it and how it works for them, it is very helpful.

That is a fantastic news Angela, finally all your symptoms and side effects cleared and you are back, of course i would do the same and i would stop with diary and counting days with all these remains of bad times. You must be very happy, to finally to be with your grandchildren and enjoying the summertime together, I am pretty sure, that they will be happy to see you too after such a long time. Please do enjoy the summer and everything good around you, wish you all the best, i will try to update my situation whenever i can in here, but if i don’t see you in here, i don’t blame you and i understand that you are ok and you stay away from bad memories.

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Hey Rob & Angela I’m new to the forum. I was prescribe Amlodipine for high blood pressure. I took 2 doses of 5mg 2 different days. It took me about 4 hrs in to chunk this medicine. The brain fog is extremely horrible memory loss is significant and I have been off for 3 days now I have had some very bad thoughts on this stuff. I don’t want to be around my family which is not me. I pray everyday that I return back to my old self. Thank you all who replies back to the forum. God Bless

15

Hi Breachman,

I would suggest to talk to your GP about your possible options to change amlo for something else. There are many other bp meds option with less side effects. All symptoms you just described are starting side effects of this medication and they should disappear within a few weeks, if they don’t, it means that you might be too sensitive or allergic to amlo, i know they are horrible… i was going through them myself.

If you are interested to know more, here is my whole 3 years experience with them:

Do talk to your GP first and explain him how you feel and that you don’t feel well after amlodipine. Amlodipine stay in your system for about 12 days technically, you use 5 mg only twice, so it might be shorter than that. Do not worry your body is not adjusted yet after two doses, so you shouldn’t be going through long withdrawal side effects or anything like that. I wish you all the best and fast recovery.

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Hi Angela and Everyone,

Hope you are well and enjoying your summer and having a good time. Myself, i started to feel better, there is no more side effects and after almost three weeks on antidepressants, medication started working and my anxieties and depression getting better and i am enjoying time with my kids and family after long time.

I hope soon everything gets better to that level, that all my meds will disappear from my life. My blood pressure is under control and i feel much more positive and energetic.

Once again, after 84days off amlodipine, i would say all withdrawal side effects subsided and with help of antidepressant, my anxieties and depressions getting better too. From now on i will be much more careful before i take any pill and i will pay attention to a side effects much more carefully.

Wish You all the best and have a great summer.

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That’s such good news Rob. Hope you continue your progress towards a full recovery. So sad that both of us have taken so long to get over the terrible effects of taking this drug. I doubt I’ll be checking in on this forum much from now, but I wish you well for the future and hope any future postings by you are positive. Best wishes.

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Hi Angela,

I would like to Thank You for all your support during those horrible times that we both had to go through with. Today is my 90 days off of amlodipine and i feel much more better now and I also continue with my antidepressant treatment which is helping me a lot.
I wish You all the best in your life and good health. :folded_hands:

Thank You.

Rob.

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Good luck and the best of health Rob. We’ve finally reached that light at the end of the tunnel. Look after yourself and your family. Very best wishes.

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