Losartan and Brain Fog
Has anyone experience brain fog, the inability to think straight and fatigue on Losartan K?
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Heart & Blood Health Support Group.
Has anyone experience brain fog, the inability to think straight and fatigue on Losartan K?
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Heart & Blood Health Support Group.
I have no experience, and am not being treated for hypertension. I'm just thinking laterally about what you have posted, and what your symptoms could also mean. Sometimes we have two or more comorbidities with one masking the others. For example, a person might have heart failure or an arrhythmia, and while that is being pondered and controlled by one means or another, the cardiologist asks the patient to submit to a polysomnography, an overnight sleep lab to detect sleep apnea. Bingo! In my case, it was severe sleep apnea, and that caused my cranky heart to finally rebel with atrial fibrillation. So, my point is, would it be at all possible that some or most of your various symptomology is due to undiagnosed, or ...poorly treated...sleep apnea? Might be worth a talking point with your PCP.
I am scheduled for my sleep study early in March. Hopefully I can tolerate the hardware. Wish me luck!
It is most beneficial if you can sleep, even if just for four hours. Inside of four hours, you will cycle through all the stages of sleep, including REM, at least twice...ideally.
The tech, who must monitor all the rooms all night, awakened me about an hour after I fell asleep to re-attach one of the chest leads. I fell asleep again minutes later, thank goodness, and managed about five hours. It was long enough that he was able to diagnose me over about three hours, and then run a CPAP mask I was already wearing and he 'titrated' me to find what level of air volume was best to be delivered over time. In some cases, some labs, you will have to do this over two nights, maybe a week or more apart, but the idea is to titrate you if possible...and that would ideally be on the second night if that is the protocol.
You'll get leads on your chest, your back, your scalp, your arms, and on your legs. They need a whole bunch of information. They'll scrub your scalp in about six/eight places to clean it of oils, and then affix pads there. You're literally covered in wires and pads. Still, I was able to fall asleep after finding a comfortable position. The leg and arm leads are to detect periodic limb movement. Some people have 'restless leg syndrome', which at times does disrupt their sleep.
Thank you! I appreciate the detail. That was not given me. Only, "we'll stick a few wires on you to see how restless you are sleeping." Small town P.A.
Oh, I forgot, you'll have a video camera on the wall on all night to play back so that they can watch your face and your limbs, how often you toss and turn, etc. Any physical movement is part of an arousal response, any restriction of flow into your lungs based on what you need, or your 'demand', at the time (called an RERA (respiration effort related arousal) will be detected and checked for timeline. Once that is all coordinated, the record will clearly show what you did, how you reacted, and also the brain activity at the time. If done properly, a polysomnography is a very comprehensive and accurate diagnostic for your disordered sleep or your disordered breathing.
Also, if it turns out you need treatment, even for mild apnea, please consider going over to apneaboard.com forums and taking a look. There are some very knowledgeable gurus there who can help you to get the most out of your CPAP machine...IF...you end up with one out of necessity. Some need a lot of hand-holding until they finally get their prescription dialed-in enough that it works for them. The goal is not the hand-holding, it's getting the PAP machine to do what you need it to do for a restful sleep with very few arousals.
Yes! I definitely have foggy brain, poor memory, CLUMSINESS, distractability. Hard to know if it’s exclusively due to Losartin since I’m on other meds that could contribute. But I recently learned that Losartin can be hard on the kidneys. It is also risky to use in pts with severe CHF. I’m going to request a different antihypertensive rx because I have HFpEF and I’m not taking any chances w my kidneys. I’m hoping if I change to a different med, it will ease my brain fog. I’ll update on that. Oh, I started doing (easy!) crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles to keep my brain active. Not sure yet on that one. 🤞