Blood pressure medication becoming less effective??

Blood pressure rises steadily as we get older. DH takes about 4 or 5 different drugs for his blood pressure. He sees thedoctor regularly and all his medication is always being tweeked.

I have only been taking bp medication for just about a year.

I do realise that it does get higher as you get older.

My issue was my bp readings were fine for 5 months on the medication so I stopped checking it at home. I was doing it every day and getting a bit obsessive about it

In the intervening 8 months since May it has risen to 160/100 despite me taking the exact same medication - which was working fine for the first five months.

I don't understand why it has done this. Nothing else has changed other than I have cut down my wine intake since January. I only have a drink on Saturday now. Previously, I was sharing a bottle of wine most nights with my DH

I was put on 10mg of the same drug as you Pink Cosmos before christmas i had attend an appt at outpatients early November (rhumetology) and my BP was high.
Was advised to see my GP. i saw GP and I had to do a Blood Pressure Monitering form for two weeks.
Everytime over the past two years i have done these BP Monitering Forms and im always told im Borderline, to go on meds.
My GP rang and told me im Borderline again after filling in the latest form and as ive now just turned 70 he advised me to go on them.
He wanted me to do Readings again for 5 days and submit them to him after two weeks.
He will decide if im to stay on them .
I dont really know whats going on now
As i appear to have AF by the monitor,which i have never had before and my readings are high and higher than they have ever been and im on Blood Pressure meds.
I was put on Statins at same time.
And i just dont feel as well as i did before all these medications started.
I have now got to the age of 70 and now on pills, guess ive been lucky so far.
Im now waiting for my GP to call after reading my Blood Pressure Form
I will also tell him about these Statins.
I also suffer white coat syndrom
I had yo have a Cystopathy 18 months ago
My Blood Pressure was taken twice seperately and very high.
I was told i need to try and calm down, nurse sat and chatted to me
The clinician doing the procedure gave me a chance to calm down, i eventually went in a lot later than i was supposed too.

Thank you for your response Northernsoulnana.

I find all of this quite scary as I have never had any health issues before. It is a terrible cycle of worrying about your high blood pressure which makes you stressed and increases your blood pressure.

When I first went on the BP medication I had all of the other checks (heart etc.) and everything was fine. I started going for a walk every morning and lost a bit of weight. I am 14st3lb and 5'3" so I am overweight. I cut down on the drinking.

In May last year I seemed to be doing fine on the medication and my blood pressure was acceptable to my doctor. My initial enthusiasm for walking fizzled out and some of the drinking crept in again. I assume I put a bit of weight back on. However, I didn't expect my BP to go so high

I am scheduled to have the colonoscopy on 10 March now so I need to get my bp sorted by then.

I have terrible white coat syndrome. The nurse taking my bp at the hospital didn't help. She told me my bp was really high and that I was at risk or a stroke or heart attach. Just the thing to calm me down !!!

I am monitoring my bp at home now I am on the higher dose. It is fluctuating quite a bit at the moment. Ok in the morning but higher at night.

I have to see the nurse in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I will have my medication sorted by then. If it is still high, I think I will ask my doctor if he can give me something on the day of the colonoscopy to ensure my bp is acceptable.

Wishing you well Northernsoulnana. I guess we have both been lucky so far.

My husband also has 'terrible white coat syndrome'. I don't know why he cant relax - he is married to a nurse he should be used to them. He has been treated for hypertension for the last 40 + years which the medication under what feels like constant adjustment and monitoring since he has become older. I don't know what to suggest. we are both fed up with it. Better than the alternative. I was given all my instructions yesterday should he 'peg it'. He has written it all out on the front of the file. That's good to know.

I hate having the 'white coat syndrome'. I can't seem to control it.

I have always been a bit stressed about hospitals and doctors. This has been made worse following a relatively minor operation I had ten years ago when I ended up in intensive care. Apparently, they could not get me to breath on my own when they tried to bring me round.

I never got to the bottom of this, despite writing to the hospital, asking my GP etc.

I don't smoke and have no issues with my chest or breathing.

I suspect they may have given me too much anaesthetic or rushed too bring me round.

I have had general anaesthetic three times previously with no issues.

It has been a worry to me every since. There is no note on my files about this.

I hope you don't mind me asking, how old is your husband Samsaral. He must have been quite young when he started on the medication.

I am 68.

I have taken medication for high blood pressure for over 30 years. Gradually, the dose is increased or another medication is added as they work together to give a better outcome. Currently on lercanipidine, losartan and indapamide. BP is pretty steady now.

Nannytopsy - do you have any side effects.

I was fine on 10mg of lercanidipine but I have been taking 20mg since Tuesday. I feel OK so far apart from a bit of headache but I had that before. I think it's a head cold.

I don't mind what I take if I don't have terrible side effects. I was on amlodipine originally. It gave me swollen ankles and bad headaches. The doctor changed it to lercanidipine which has been much better

DH was in his early thirties and it wash a shock because he was a keen sportsman. This was found during a routine cholesterol check which was 13!! He has a thing called familial hypercholesteremia. His father had heart attacks in his 50s and died at 62. Every since DH has had white coat syndrome and a fear of early death. He is 80 in June and fit as a fiddle (one that moans a lot about having to take his BP). I hope your meds settle down.

Thanks Samsaral. My dad dropped dead whilst waiting for a heart valve replacement. He never had a heart attack but had angina for a few years prior. My mum had no blood pressure or heart issues. She died from dementia - which is worse in a lot of ways.

According to Google, 'Approximately two out of three (roughly 66%) people over 65 in the UK take medication for high blood pressure'.

I suppose it is better than the alternative. My DH has perfect blood pressure!

Pink Cosmos I don’t have any side effects from the lercanipidine. The indapamide is a diuretic which causes me issues. I keep Tena in business.

I've been on 10mg of Lercanidipine and 10mg of Lisinopril for years and my BP was just confirmed as excellent again. I take the Lisinopril at night before bed and the Lercanidipine after waking, so they best cover the early hours, when there is greatest risk of strokes. Good luck to you @PinkCosmos

That's happened to my husband too. He was surprised but forewarned is forearmed so he happily takes a higher dose of medication even though he'll avoid OTC medicines like the plague.

I take my BP for a week every so often, 3 readings each time and divide by 3 for an average. I keep a record of the readings with dates and times. My GP is happy with this method and so has the hospital when I've had colonoscopies or sigmoidoscopies scheduled. I seem to have developed white coat syndrome in recent years, never a problem before. Obviously they take my BP at the procedure but allow for WCS too.

I'm on Ramipril, and have just had the dosage upped. Does anyone else take this for BP?

As others have said, blood pressure increases with age and high readings can run in families, even if you are normal weight, reasonably fit and don't drink much. WCS is a warning because sudden rises in blood pressure are not healthy.

I started off with two blood pressure drugs which were increased to three a few years ago.

I think it's quite common to be on more than one type of medication. I take Amlodopine, Olmesartan and one for water retention starting with letter 'B'. No side effects.

White coat syndrome and fear of the procedure is making your BP high. It’s hardly surprising. Im the same so quite understand. I would be looking at ways to bring your BP down without meds. Weight plays a big part too - so if you are carrying a few extra pounds, losing them will help.
I went to the GP a couple of years ago with a really bad chest infection and having climbed 2 flights of stairs by BP was through the roof. It threw him into panic mode and I told him why it was high but he said if its not down by the time you get home, you must come back! I also had to send in daily readings.
It dod come back down to normal - and no meds. - so they’re not always right.

I too have white coat syndrome, so even on Ramipril its always high.But before my heart valve op i was on 10mg, now down to 2.5mg,which isnt controlling it enough.(I suggested they try up it to 5mg to see if it gets a handle on it, but what do i know?, so the doc hasnt tried that!) I think we do have the familial thing too, as ive several medical problems which seem to run in the family.I have never been refused any medical procedures because of the high bp though- they just make note of it& keep a special eye on it during procedures/ops.

I remember when I did my four year training for homeopathy (I’m retired now), a medical consultant pointed out to us how volatile bp is, it’s literally always changing, and if you follow it closely expecting it to always be similar, it can increase the whole stressful situation. It sounds to me that there’s a lot of anxiety surrounding the whole thing for you and it’s almost like you need to drop the subject for a while and forget all about it. I realise you’ve got the colonoscopy coming up but maybe you need to wait again, for this. If you are overweight, it doesn’t really matter what meds you take, as they may not help. Likewise if you’re very anxious, they may not help either. If it was me, I’d cancel the appt, make a concerted effort to lose weight, stop checking my bp and try to relax. As in the previous reply, the doctors don’t always know everything and don’t always know the ins and outs of the way your own particular body functions. Hope this helps a bit.

Thank you Stillness. much appreciated

I've been on medication for hypertension for 50 years, and yes it's been changed over the decades. For you Catlover I would say watch out for the annoying cough which Ramipril invariably brings. I had to come off that one after a month because the cough kept me awake at night and it's known to do that. For you PinkCosmos I understand completely what it's like to turn up for a procedure and find your bp has spiked. Can I suggest that you do some mindful breathing after the first reading . Breathe in through your nose for count of four, hold the breath for a count of two, release the breather through an open mouth for a count of 6 and then hold again for a count of two. Repeat this four or five times and then take the bp reading again and it's very likely to have reduced. Currently I'm taking candesrtan, doxazosin, sustained release propanalol. I don't want all these tablets but see no way out. Good luck to you all.

I agree with holden age you reduce it every time you do the slow breathing. I do it before and at any medical thing as I have white coat. ( bless the nurse hid around the corner as she thought it would help by me not seeing her white coat 😀 but it doesn't work like that it's internal thing)
And as I drive I do the slow breath whenever I'm waiting at lights. Or when the tv ads are on 😀

Pinkcosmos- OMG what you revealed about your father(my deepest sympathies) has just brought it home to me how close i must have come to that happening! I had a heart specialist who kept saying he would have to replace my valve "in a couple of years" but had not got around to it- when i collapsed (twice within space of minutes) so was whisked to hosp- long story short was found i hadnt had a heart attack but needed the valve replacing urgently.Was told unsafe to go home till i had it done.They also found an aortic aneurism Which i still have as could not be dealt with at same time unfortunatly after all, but valve replaced sucessfully, all under a different specialist,in a different hospital.The way the previous one spoke (he was a proffessor too) he made it seem like it wasnt that important yet- he just would 'keep an eye on it'- I aim to ask more questions in future,especially about this aneurism as i feel like a ticking time bomb at the moment. The proffessor had never even mentioned that i had it,so i presume it had gone unoticed.I was put on statins in hosp but i had side effects, now my gp says i can try plant sterols, but to watch my diet too.