AboutDomenic Sica Expertise All aspects of hypertension as well as any consideration in drug therapy for the management
of hypertension.
Experience Heavily published in the area of drug therapy in hypertension and renal disease. Primary management physician for a large multi-state referral practice for diagnosis and management of complex hypertension
Organizations Multiple including the American Society of Hypertension, International Society of Hypertension, American Society of Nephrology, American Heart Association, American College of Clinical Pharmacology amongst others.
Publications Over 250 publications (see PubMed)
Education/Credentials Board certified in internal medicine, nephrology, clinical pharmacology, and hypertension
Awards and Honors Multiple awards as clinical and/or teacher of the year.
Question QUESTION: Thank you for answering my question which is: my doctor wants me to try benicar because I suffer from side effects of medication quite easily and he says side effects from this drug are almost non existent. My blood pressure is being controlled by a beta blocker at 50MG but this drug makes me very tired and is constipating. He gave me samples of Benicar at 20MG but I took it yesterday and at one point in the mid afternoon my blood pressure was 109/54! Otherwise I felt ok but a little tired, which passed. I looked at askapatient.com and some people are saying that benicar is used as an immune suppressant for an autoimmune disease and can cause lupus or damage to the immune system. I don't want to take a risk like this. What do you think about this drug? has it been around enough to be considered ACTUALLY safe or is it too soon to tell? The drug I am taking has been around a long time and to my knowledge is hasn't killed anyone or caused any serious health problems. I'd rather be tired than dead. I appreciate your opinion regarding benicar and if there is some reading material you can suggest I will be most grateful.
ANSWER: There is no data that I know of where Benicar is used as a immunosuppressant. What "people" are saying is way off base. This is a remarkable safe compound with a number of years of experience relative to its use for lowering blood pressure. E-mail me back if you need specific reading information; however, if you could tell me what aspect of it you want to read about it would be helpful. The issue of how best to treat your blood pressure is a separate one pending your clearing up the issues relating to this medicine whether you continue taking it or not.
I understand that Benicar is used in significantly higher numbers in this protocol than the mere 20MG/day I am taking, but I'm wondering what effect this med will have on my immune system, if any. I would like specific reading information on this drug; I'm taking it now for a few days and my blood pressure seems (I take it 3X daily) about 110/65 (a little lower at night). Exercise and diet have controlled my hypertension but without medication I have numbers like 140-145 over 85-90 with spikes that are higher so I clearly need some medication. Thank you for any information you can offer.
ANSWER: The Marshall Protocol is not something I was aware of it. I would never recommend those kind of doses with this medication and the company manufacturing this has never advocated the use of Benicar in such a way. At usual doses it is an effective blood pressure lowering compound. There are six other drugs marketing in the United States that work identically and this class of drugs has been in use since 1995. As to additional literature are you looking for something that states how the medication lowers blood pressure a good source to start is Wikipedia. If you want an immunologic discussion relative to the doses used for hypertension there is nothing out there unfortunately.
Regards,
Domenic Sica, M.D.
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QUESTION: I'm quoting your answer prior to the one above: "E-mail me back if you need specific reading information; however, if you could tell me what aspect of it you want to read about it would be helpful." I'm a well educated person with a postgraduate degree from an ivy league university; telling me to go to Wikipedia is like advising me to find literature in the funny papers. The people involved in the Marshal Protocol appear to be health professionals (doctors); they report that Benicar has no additional effect on blood pressure above 40MG dose. The "source" Wikipedia states: "Olmesartan may possess high affinity for the Vitamin D Receptor, based on molecular modeling studies[3], but these results have not been duplicated in clinical trials. Because of the role of the Vitamin D receptor in innate immunity[4], this would indicate that olmesartan has immune modulatory properties. This theory is currently the premise underlying the Marshall Protocol, which uses olmesartan to impose a chemical blockade on 1,25 Vitamin D as part of a treatment of sarcoidosis and other diseases. The Marshall Protocol asserts that, assuming the etiology of these diseases is based on infection by cell-wall-deficient bacteria, restoring proper Vitamin D ratios via olmesartan dosing, combined with pulsed antibiotic dosing, would result in a cure." This agent obviously does things other than affect blood pressure. Trusting the FDA is a fool's philosophy, one must be proactive or one can suffer serious health problems (or DEATH) as a result of the "wonder drugs" the FDA allows into the population due to the pressure of the huge drug manufacturers. We're not ALL idiots. I expected some serious information with clinical trials, not referral to a source of "information" that's built by the general population. Thanks anyway.
Answer The intent here was not to insult you and I apologize as to how offended you were by my response. Surely, you must appreciate that I do not know either the school that a person has attended or the degree they have or sometimes the full intent of a particular question. I do not have any source I can refer you to that would validate the Marshall protocol or its hypothesis one way or the other would be the best answer I can give and not run the risk of offending you further.
