Blood Pressure Medication

[Poppy]

I may have to have medication for high blood pressure. I am taking Plaquenil and have read that some blood pressure medication could interact with it. Do any of you know if there is one that won't interact with Plaquenil?

Thanks.

[lane]

I take atenolol, hydrochlorothiazide and losartin for HBP and have no problems from plaquenil.

[irish]

When the doctor gets ready to order a BP med you can ask him and he should be able to look up on his ipod(or5 what ever he has) for the app that checks drugs for interactions, etc. I haven't met a doctor yet that doesn't carry this on his person so that he can check drugs and look up other issues. You can even go on drugs.com and they have a section where you put in the drug to check for interactions with other drugs. It will list all the drugs that interact with plaquenil. Good luck. Irish

[grammad97]

Hello poppy.
My physician put me on lisinopril for my BP. I take it at bedtime to minimize any side effects plus according to my pharmacy no interactions with plaquenil.
If your doctor doesn't check ask pharmacy before you pick it up.

[Poppy]

Thanks for your comments. I will be asking GP to check of course but I just like to inform myself on medications,  he got something wrong in the past and I just want to make sure.

Thanks again.

[katie1111]

If possible, use the same pharmacy for all your meds.  When you get a new med, the computer will search for interactions with other drugs.

Katie

[Poppy]

Thanks Katie I use the pharmacy at the Health Centre. Problem is a new company has recently taken over and things are not running well at the moment, but I'm sure they will eventually get it right.  I make sure I check and double check everything.

[irish]

I will add that in spite of getting all our meds at the same pharmacy a mistake can, and ast some time, will probably happen. It always behooves us to check our meds when we get them. I have had the wrong meds in a bottle a couple of times.

Computers make errors and so do humans. It is part of our every lasting task of following through in our medical care. The staff and doctors, pharmacists always double and triple check things but human and computer error are always a possibility. O Joy!!! Our lives are never easy. Iriwshy

[meow]

I take Valsartan HCL in the mornings, and I take my Plaquenil at night. No problems.

[litliwlowa]

I'm on Avapro at night (without HCTZ), and clonidine. Plaquenil thus far (nearly 2 years now) has not been an issue with either bp med.

I take my plaquenil in the morning and evening with food. Generally take my bp meds within an hour after plaquenil

[Poppy]

I was wondering if anyone has experienced high blood pressure and rapid heartbeat after starting Plaquenil?

I have only been taking it for 12 wks.  and initially felt fine but at the beginning of March I began to feel "not quite right".  10 days ago I was having lunch with a friend when I suddenly felt unwell, light headed and rapid heartbeat,
my husband took me to our GP office where they did an ECG and said I was tachycardic. He called an ambulance and I taken to local hospital where they did another ECG which although extremely rapid was normal. Anyway the outcome is that I'm going to have a heart monitor fitted for 5 days. My blood pressure has been very high so I read the leaflet with the Plaquenil this morning and one of the side effects listed was High BP and rapid  heartbeat. I have app. with GP this afternoon an wondered what you thought about this.

[irish]

You could most certainly hit upon the problem. There are side effects from every drug but not for everyone. It could be that you are one of the unlucky ones who suffers from the high blood pressure, etc. You might ask your doc if you could stop your plaque nil and see if the problem decreases. It might be the easy and cheaper answer to this problem.

You have to realize that if the high BP continues that you would need medical attention regardless of the cause of the high BP. Good luck with this issues and keep us updated. Irish

[Poppy]

Thanks Irish. I saw GP this afternoon and he wasn't too happy to take me off Plaquenil until I saw my rheumy which is not 'till the end of the month. He has prescribed Ramipril to lower blood pressure as he said it wasn't safe to leave it untreated.

[irish]

I'm glad you got something for the blood pressure so you don't have to worry about something serious happening. Time will tell with the plaquenil won't it. Most of the time hypertension occurs slowly and doctors are able to monitor it rising by the BP at your appointments. The fact that yours occurred with such wild symptoms is something that needs investigation. Good luck. Irish

[Poppy]

To be fair Irish I have been borderline for some time and had what we call 'white coat' syndrome,  which means it was alway high when in the Dr. Office but could be perfectly normal at home. Sometimes it could be all over the place, high 1 day normal next, but I hadn't experienced the rapid heartbeat before. So who knows.

Thank you all for your input.