Why do medications meant to lower my BP raise it instead?

Don't hesitate in getting a 2nd opinion

I am I'm seeing another local cardiologist to consult as well as a hypertension specialist at Vanderbilt it just takes a little while to get in.

Quick internet search:

- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100819112222.htm

- https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/the-facts-about-high-blood-pressure/resistant-hypertension--high-blood-pressure-thats-hard-to-treat

- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/blood-pressure/art-20045245

- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/on-the-rise-5-reasons-your-blood-pressure-medication-isnt-working

- https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/new-drug-may-help-people-uncontrolled-high-blood-pressure-rcna56036

- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/1-in-5-people-with-hypertension-take-drugs-that-increase-blood-pressure#Increasing-risk

- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/resistant-hypertension

I just remembered, prior to my kidney transplant I had stubborn BP, there are certain combinations of BP medications that work in tandem & are effective in dealing with stubborn BP. Basically the med combos work with the sympathetic nervous system, I did one combination of it ( if you like I can share it). Only thing the Dr has to calibrate right dosage or else you can get hypotension.

Thanks good URL's

I don't exactly have an answer for you but it is called a "paradoxical reaction" when you respond to medication the opposite way it is intended. There may be individual biological reasons for this that at this point can only be remedied by trying other meds to treat the same problem and hope that it works. Everyone's biology is different. I have found however that I have had poor, weird, and paradoxical reactions to medications because they were giving me medication for a condition that I did not have even though my symptoms fit. Is there a possibility that high blood pressure is secondary to another condition, or is itself a reaction from a different medication?

I would really like to know that combination that worked. I can lower my spiky resistant BP by 20-30 points just by doing alternate nostril breathing, which works with the sympathetic nervous system. I think that's the issue in my case.

I have just started to have issues with my BP after having Lad stents put in in July. I never had issues prior. I have been diagnosed with genetic heart disease and atypical without symptoms. But now, since this surgery I have a lot of issues. I am always dizzy some days more than others and now have chest pains that started just recently. I am on Plavix, a blood thinner for the stents and I was put on Losarten after my surgery but then taken off of it two weeks later because I reacted badly with intense leg and arm pains and weakness. . As of September I began having high blood pressure, (230/118) dizziness and chest pains. My cardiologist put me on metoprolol 25mg which did not bring the BP down and now has me back on the losartan 25mg additionally with the metoprolol but now my chest hurts all the time and so I cut the Losarten in half while still taking the full 25mg of metoprolol and my chest still hurts but my BP has gone down. I plan to talk to my cardiologist but she seems mystified so far. I have been told I should have a heart monitor to see why I'm so dizzy no matter what my BP is. I realize it's only been two months but it's a struggle to feel well and regain my previous active life. I do a lot of meditation and breathing which helps and also reading the posts of everyone on this support thread is helpful.

I think I would need tranquillizing in your situation - I'm sure my BP is up just reading about it. I was once sent to the ER because my pressure was 187/94 and emerged 13 hours later having had a lung x-ray, EKG and a number of other tests with no conclusion. I had an interesting conversation with the doctor who checked me out after I told him I didn't want to take the super BP med he prescribed. He actually agreed with me that these drugs are all problematic and when I asked what he would advise his mom in this situation, he said he thought it was possible I'd had this condition for a while, and that my body had more or less adjusted to it, with some exceptions. He suggested I do as much exercise as possible and that's what I did, swimming laps for an hour several times a week. This worked well for a while and then it crept up again. Beets to the rescue along with the swimming and that worked well until I got kidney stones and had to drop the beets. I started on losartan, which worked well for years. At one point a doctor with expertise in hormones was horrified when was in the 180s at an office visit (I of course have white-coat syndrome as well). She doubled the dose to 100mg. That hasn't worked well and I didn't feel well on it. Then I went to a gerontologist who said if a med isn't working well the best plan may not be to double it. So I cut it in half and feel a bit better. GP has now prescribed a 50mg losartan morning and evening, so back to 100mg.
Mine is genetic - my two other siblings had it too, and I took the losartan because my brother did very well on it. The diastolic and heart rate are always exemplary, and my previous two 24-hour monitors showed I didn't had it when I slept, which was thought to be a very good thing. I think anxiety and stress have a great deal to do with it. I can lower it from 20 to 30 points with a brief bout of alternate-nostril breathing, which tells me it's more likely to be a sympathetic/parasympathetic issue. Next up is a kidney specialist, since now I have low sodium as a new clue.
I always think Somebody Knows. Keep asking questions. There also seem to be some "emergency" treatments; I've seen both hot and cold showers recommended, but you would need to check out how they might affect your particular case.. It took me 16 years - going through many doctors at two different top-rated university medical centers to discover the cause of my chronic diarrhea. It was the first suggestion from a PA who was the gatekeeper for a GI specialist. It turned out to be excess bile from a gall bladder removal 26 years before the first symptoms arrived.

You need follow up with doctors and approval before you do anything ….. but in addition to everything they will say and do, what are you eating and drinking?
If you try eating a low salt diet of whole unprocessed foods that don’t have added salt (check ingredients), also without adding salt, and also for now also avoid caffeine and try to exercise if your doctor allows, it might help a little more than you would expect. You can do a few week experiment to see. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables and drink a lot of water. Can you ask your doctor and do this experiment? What are the results? Look up DASH diet if you are not sure where to start.