I get terrible migraines and sometimes I think they're a combination of migraine and cluster-type headaches. Sometimes, a headache will last two or three weeks before it finally goes away. I've had them all my life, so they're nothing new. I used to pop Advil for the pain and that kept pain down to a low roar. Didn't go completely away, but the Advil helped.
Somewhere along the last couple of years, I developed an allergy to certain meds: lisinopril HCZT (my blood pressure med), aspirin, Excedrin, Bufferin, Advil, Motrin, etc. Pretty much everything but Tylenol (which does absolutely nothing for the pain, anyway). Oh, and Halls Lozenges, too....found that out back around the beginning of the year when I tried to suck on one for that cold I had.
What happens is that, several hours after taking the med, my lip starts to swell. Badly. To the point where you would swear there was a grape inside my lip. Sometimes it's my lower lip, sometimes it's my upper lip. Sometimes it's the side of my mouth. Sometimes it's my tongue and the inside of my cheek. One night it seemed like my throat was closing; that was scary. Another time, it affected pretty much the entire left side of my face, up to my left eye. It swells and then the swelling subsides and go away. Takes about a day for it to run its course.
I've seen an allergist and all he said was, "Stop taking the meds that are causing the problem". Well, that's easier said than done, especially when the list seems to be getting longer all the time (Halls Lozenges? Who knew?). My family doctor took me off the lisinopril, an ACE-inhibitor and put me on Bystolic, a beta-blocker. And I've been doing well. The Bystolic has been working well to keep my BP under control.
Well, I've had a headache now for two weeks. Not bad, but the pain comes and goes. The only thing I can take is Tylenol, which, like I said, is like taking candy....it does nothing. Yesterday, though, I was so frustrated that I took three Tylenol around 6:30 in the morning. And by 1:00 yesterday afternoon, the right side of my mouth was swelling up like a yeast roll. By around 7:00 or so last night, the swelling had subsided and things seemed to be OK. But evidently, I can no longer take Tylenol either. (We've started to keep Benedryl on hand all the time as that helps with the swelling; as soon as I notice any swelling, I pop a Benedryl. Makes me sleepy as heck, but it does work to reduce the swelling.)
And now? I'm wondering if my BP isn't getting too low. That happened before when I was on a beta-blocker. It got so low that I started getting bad headaches and if I stood up after my walking, everything went black and I couldn't see anything. It was only momentarily, but it happened. And dizziness, almost to the point of fainting. That was with Toprol and, as soon as the doctor took me off the Toprol and I started in with the lisinopril, it all went away. My BP returned to normal (about 120/76 with the lisinopril, which is good for me) and life went on. We tried taking me completely off BP meds and that didn't work. Evidently, part of my BP issues is genetic. I walk a lot and I try to watch my weight to help with my BP issues, and while it does help, genetics also plays a big part...and there's nothing I can do about that. Everybody in my family has HBP. Everybody. I don't need much, not a high dosage. Right now I'm taking 15 mg of Bystolic, which really isn't much at all. I also know that side effects of Bystolic include headaches and dizziness. Until about two weeks ago, though, everything was fine.
I do have a doctor appt. I was just wondering if anybody else has experienced this? And if so, what did you do to help yourself?
Somewhere along the last couple of years, I developed an allergy to certain meds: lisinopril HCZT (my blood pressure med), aspirin, Excedrin, Bufferin, Advil, Motrin, etc. Pretty much everything but Tylenol (which does absolutely nothing for the pain, anyway). Oh, and Halls Lozenges, too....found that out back around the beginning of the year when I tried to suck on one for that cold I had.
What happens is that, several hours after taking the med, my lip starts to swell. Badly. To the point where you would swear there was a grape inside my lip. Sometimes it's my lower lip, sometimes it's my upper lip. Sometimes it's the side of my mouth. Sometimes it's my tongue and the inside of my cheek. One night it seemed like my throat was closing; that was scary. Another time, it affected pretty much the entire left side of my face, up to my left eye. It swells and then the swelling subsides and go away. Takes about a day for it to run its course.
I've seen an allergist and all he said was, "Stop taking the meds that are causing the problem". Well, that's easier said than done, especially when the list seems to be getting longer all the time (Halls Lozenges? Who knew?). My family doctor took me off the lisinopril, an ACE-inhibitor and put me on Bystolic, a beta-blocker. And I've been doing well. The Bystolic has been working well to keep my BP under control.
Well, I've had a headache now for two weeks. Not bad, but the pain comes and goes. The only thing I can take is Tylenol, which, like I said, is like taking candy....it does nothing. Yesterday, though, I was so frustrated that I took three Tylenol around 6:30 in the morning. And by 1:00 yesterday afternoon, the right side of my mouth was swelling up like a yeast roll. By around 7:00 or so last night, the swelling had subsided and things seemed to be OK. But evidently, I can no longer take Tylenol either. (We've started to keep Benedryl on hand all the time as that helps with the swelling; as soon as I notice any swelling, I pop a Benedryl. Makes me sleepy as heck, but it does work to reduce the swelling.)
And now? I'm wondering if my BP isn't getting too low. That happened before when I was on a beta-blocker. It got so low that I started getting bad headaches and if I stood up after my walking, everything went black and I couldn't see anything. It was only momentarily, but it happened. And dizziness, almost to the point of fainting. That was with Toprol and, as soon as the doctor took me off the Toprol and I started in with the lisinopril, it all went away. My BP returned to normal (about 120/76 with the lisinopril, which is good for me) and life went on. We tried taking me completely off BP meds and that didn't work. Evidently, part of my BP issues is genetic. I walk a lot and I try to watch my weight to help with my BP issues, and while it does help, genetics also plays a big part...and there's nothing I can do about that. Everybody in my family has HBP. Everybody. I don't need much, not a high dosage. Right now I'm taking 15 mg of Bystolic, which really isn't much at all. I also know that side effects of Bystolic include headaches and dizziness. Until about two weeks ago, though, everything was fine.
I do have a doctor appt. I was just wondering if anybody else has experienced this? And if so, what did you do to help yourself?