Lisinopril - What The Ent Doctor Told Me About It

  Posted by Guest - Lisinopril - What The Ent Doctor Told Me About It :
I want to pass along this information that I just had from my visit with the ENT Dr. (ear, nose and throat doctor). Hopefully this information will be valueable to others.

In case anyone here is wondering, I am lightheaded or my head feels wierd, almost like hungover so that when I turn my head left or right fast, the head feels wierd. I'm not sure if I would call it lightheadedness or if it's part that or part pressure and lightheadedness together, but it just feels really wierd with head movement. When I hold my head still it's better, and it's also fine when sleeping. There is no spinning.  It's just that alot of talking and head movement really wears on it. A good example if if I am standing there I feel fine, if I look left and right several times it wears on it and feels weird, or if I jump up and down 20 times that pounding makes my head worse.  I'm trying to think how to describe it, its like a hangover where head movement just makes it feel worse.  After I do stuff for a while like that (for example riding stationary bike where the head moves and pounds alot it seems to feel bad after it like it takes a day to recover because of the pounding I did on it.

Anyways by BP was fine, I was taking 10 mg lisinopril for over a year. I suddenly was really lightheaded one day, and created alot of mental fatigue. It came out of nowhere. I was really tired at night, the mental fatigue really wore on me, but I had been taking Lisinopril for over a year, so I figured that couldn't be the cause. After 8 straight days of this bad lightheadedness constantly, I stopped taking the Lisinopril and for the first time in 9 days it felt somewhat better that next morning (I would say 20% better, that can't be coincidence). I went to my doctor that morning and he said its not common for that to occur that way after a year of taking Lisinopril. (But I also know that often these MD doctors are not correct, there are many cases on people on the net reporting problems with Lisinopril after years of taking the drug, it's not always the first month or two).
The lightheaded problem got much better over the next week or two, but it still never went away completely, it still feels like I mentioned above and its been over 2 months now since I stopped taking Lisinopril. Its alot better then it was, at least I can function now where those first 8 days were terrible.

I went to an ENT doctor recently and he told me some interesting stuff about blood pressure drugs which I was really happy he talked to me about this. He said he personally would never take any of the BP drugs that end in "pril".  He said he has high BP also but there is no way he would take those drugs because of the terrible side effects they can have. He said the way they work they can have bad side effects so why even risk it even if its a small percent chance? He also said it doesn't have to be right away, it can build up over time and then effects can start happening. He told me there are alot safer blood pressure drugs out today and there are also generic versions of those, so why take any of the pril drugs where there are other cheap options without that risk?  He said years ago like in the 90s, the pril drugs were the only cheap option for treating high blood pressue, and today thats not the case.  The ENT doctor thought I might have minor BPPV, but said he didnt think it was an ear canal issue. I asked him how long can Lisinopril side effects last, and he said the bad cough side effect from Lisinopril can take well over a month, sometimes multiple months to get better once you stop taking Lisinopril, so he said it could last a while.

That was all I needed to hear when he told me that. If he would never risk taking that drug himself then I sure as heck won't either! He told me to go back to my doctor and discuss it with him, and tell him what he told me, and he said your doctor should be open minded to discussing that with you.  He said if he isn't open to discussing what he told me, then I should get a differerent doctor.  Those were his exact words.

Hopefully this information helps others, I feel like I wrote a book!

Guest Says:
You did write a book but its good to read. :^) I wondered about this also, I can see why they prescribe lisinopril or certain blood pressure pills because they are cheaper, but it also seems important to get the "least side effects" blood pressure pills. I've had side effects from medications and they can mess up your life, and dont just immediately go away if you stop taking them.

Guest Says:
Ok I'm back to give you an update on the lisinopril side effects story as I wrote the original above.

Its been well over a year now and I think I'm back to normal. it took a good 9 months before the light headed problems went away, and even then when I did stuff like jump rope in the gym, I couldnt do it because it would disrupt my head an make me light headed for a day or so (not as bad as before, but you definitely knew it). Now I feel like I can do that again with no issues, but its been MANY months. You couldn't pay me to touch that lisinopril again. I still have to go back to the doctor to talk about the blood pressure, but right now I'm just glad to be back at the gym with no light headed problems.

Guest Says:
cholesterol problems really suck, many get this as they get older

Ron Says:
Hi, good info you wrote there. I took lisinopril for about a year, but stopped it completely because of the terrible side effects. I thought I was gonna die. The first 2 months after stoppping were the worst. Light headed, palpitations, anxiety, you name it. Now it’s been 14
Months since I stopped.. and have begun to feel a crawl / static sensation in my scalp and lightheaded again.. very unsteady.. a lot of light bothers me.. feels like my ears are plugged..I been doing blood work every 3 / 5 months to see if anything is wrong, but all comes up negative.. now I’m thinking about a MRI of my head. Wondering if this could still be Linisopril effects.. ? Even after 13 months of quitting? Have you ever experienced anything similar? Most doctors tell me that it’s all in my head.. that I should see a menta health specialist.. they defend this drug so much. Any advise, i’ll Appreciate it.

Guest Says:
From what I read online it sounds like some people get the ear ringing sensation problems from lisinopril drugs also, I had some of that off and on briefly at times, which I'm guessing is kind of like the "ear plugged" effect you mentioned. The ear ringing went away, I'm glad I stopped taking that lisinopril drug but now wish I had stopped sooner. I seemed to have effects for a year after stopping, not sure I ever recovered 100% but its mostly seems normal now.

Guest Says:
I wrote the original article. The lightheaded issue that remained after I stopped taking lisinopril seems to have finally gone away. It took about 2 years. The last 6 months have been probably 90+% normal but I would occasionally do something like quickly turn in my chair or spin in a chair to look at monitor, and it would "disrupt" me .... that chair spinning I was conscious not to do but that first year if I did that I would be lightheaded for a day or two, then it was more like 1 day ... as if it was slowly going away over time. Nothing quick thats for sure, but it seems to have returned to normal.

That first 6 to 9 months after stopping it was really noticeable driving on bumpy roads, I would feel every little "bump" because of the head shaking that occurs, I remember reaching the point where that didnt happen anymore and I was thinking this is slowly getting better just over a long time.

I wont ever take those pril drugs again, no way.

Guest Says:
What really sucks is almost all medication has some type of side effects, and some are bothered and some arent. Just like statins, many people have all kinds of pains or injuries when on statins, especially if you are exercising when on them (and of course you can just not exercise, but is that actually better to just sit around?)