Remember now, that Zantac is an over the counter medication, it is not addictive and it really works good, I hope you received the additional note to drink plenty of water during the day, it keeps the acid down and your stomach will love it a lot more. God Bless, keep me up to date, Lacey

Thanks for the additional information, @lugal. You have been treated to 5 different types of hypertension medications -- beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, thiazide diuretics, ACE inhibitors, and Angiotensin II receptor antagonists. There have been 3 different drugs in this last group plus another (the ACE inhibitor) that alleviate blood vessel constriction caused by kidney-produced hormones. The 2 beta blockers are often chosen to lower heart contractions and relax blood vessels, as do calcium channel blockers.

If that's what your medical team had in mind, 7 of your 8 blood pressure meds were aimed at relaxing your blood vessels so blood passes through more readily at lower pressure. Your other med, the diuretic, aimed to cut down on sodium retained by your kidney, causing fluid retention in tissues and squeezing blood vessels from the outside. So all 8 meds might have been aimed at relaxing your blood vesssels.

In contrast, I have been treated to 12 different drugs in 8 different types of hypertension medications and am now on a fixed program of one diuretic (a special one), one beta blocker, and one ACE inhibitor. My only intestinal distress comes from large evening meals loaded with starches and sugars, especially from eating late -- easy symptoms to overcome. How I got to this formula may be instructive.

I started with an internal medicine doctor who fancied himself the equal of a cardiologist. Two of his colleagues later took me in different directions, casting around for medications to harness my symptoms, but not looking for the underlying cause of my problem. They said my hypertension was "essential," which means they had no idea what was causing it or how to find its cause.

In 2003, my new HMO started on the same cardiology track, which proved fruitless. Then a new HMO policy sent hypertensives like me to Nephrology for diagnosis and treatment, because most blood pressure problems originate with the kidneys and the adrenal glands on their surface. My first nephrologist -- an aging veteran -- followed the standard blunder-buss strategy -- one drug after another -- searching for symptom relief. I asked him to help me get a second opinion, and he kindly referred me to another nephrologist.

My second nephrologist said from the beginning that she would focus on finding the cause of my hypertension and engage an endocrinologist in the effort. They examined every hormone imaginable and found that I have an inherited kidney deficiency called Liddle Syndrome. In brief, I had been treated for years for "essential" hypertension that caused depleted potassium -- I even took huge potassium supplements for a couple of years. In the end, the diagnosis was the opposite: hypertension caused BY depleted potassium which my kidneys were unable to reclaim. My central medication is now a potassium-sparing diuretic, which I support with foods that are high in potassium like prune juice, raisins, and coconut water (bananas are only moderate potassium supplements and offer too much sugar, starch, and fat).

I can't say that my experiences contain any answers for you, but I hope they will provoke questions that you might pose to your medical team. Keep us posted so we can refine our thoughts in hope of helping you find the solution you want!
Martin