Scared...

I basically have been having a weird problem for the last couple of days and went to the hospital earlier this morning for it... My tongue was slightly swollen up, nearly to the point to when I'd go to lay down to sleep, I would feel like I'm being smothered, mostly when I'd lie on my back. Well, the doctor examined me and saw that I was taking Lisinopril W/HCTZ for high blood pressure, and basically told me to stop taking it. He said that there's one side effect/allergic reaction that can show up suddenly after months or years of treatment, and it's swelling of the tongue (angioedema). So I've pretty much got to get with my dr tomorrow (got an appointment) and discuss my options. Plus I've lost probably close to 2 days of sleep because of this and hope that this gets better this afternoon with the ceasing of this medicine. As for my blood pressure, the doctor said to just take HCTZ to keep it down until I get to my doctor.

I can tell you now that I'm so glad that I went to the ER cause if I had let this continue.. I would have had some serious complications later on....and I don't know how long it takes for that condition to get worse, but it had been going on for a couple of days now...And I'm also glad I didn't take the medicine this morning either LOL Anyhow thanks for listening to me rant and any positive thought would be welcome

Wow that's scary. It's a good thing you asked about it before it got worse. I hope your doc can give you something else for your high blood pressure.

That is scary! Sending lots of healing vibes your way!

Thanks everyone. When I got home, I took a claritin and bawled into a pillow. Something was telling me to get to a doctor and I'm so glad I listened to it...

Well that's a very good doctor to know so much about this medication!! I'm gonna have to call my mom to find out what she is taking as I know the doc keeps changing her BP meds.

I hope the swelling of your tongue goes down fairly quickly and you can get an alternative BP medication.

Oh my dad takes Lisinopril so I want to get in touch with him and make sure he watches out for the same thing.

I take that too... thanks for the warning!

I take Lisinopril also! I'll definitely be on guard Hope everything works out ok!

Oh my gosh, it's a good thing you went to the ER.

Thanks for the warning, too. My husband takes that stuff. I'm going to make sure he knows to watch out for it.

Well that sounds like the day from hell!! I hope it gets better for you!!!

I hope you fee betetr.

Thanks again. No problem for the warnings. I don't want anybody else to go through this, so keep an eye out for any unusual problems.

Just wanted to add something real quick. I saw my doctor this morning, and she examined my neck and throat. She wasn't sure if the drug even caused the reaction, but she's keeping me off of it just in case. Well, she decided to swab my throat anyway seeing how I've got swollen glands. Turns out I've got strep on top of this. Those glands have been in my neck for months so there is no telling how long I've had this. Scary considering I have RA and I guess that means my immune system isn't what it used to be.

How awful!! I hope you feel better soon!

Blood pressure meds can be tricky. My dad, my sister, and I all seem to have all sorts of reactions to medications. My dad went through 7 different medications before he got one that he didn't have reactions to, my sister went through 3. (It seems that they got mine right on the first try, though, so I was lucky.)

Thanks a bunch, and thank you for the gift!