AboutMary E Scott, RPh, CGP Expertise I am a certified geriatric pharmacist with over 23 years experience as a long-term care consultant to nursing homes. I also do community-based consulting on an individual basis. My facility-based monthly newsletter on pharmacy topics is read by nurses in over 200 long-term care facilities in 5 states.
Experience I received a BS in Pharmacy in 1980 with post-graduate work in public health. I have had a Consultant Pharmacist license since 1984.
Organizations American Society of Consultant Pharmacists .I received certification in geriatric pharmacy in 1998.
Question My wife has high blood pressure. Recently Micardis was added to her treatment. Her first dose was 20mg. Two hours after taking the first pill, her blood pressure shot up to 190/104 and she became faint, chilled, and had trouble speaking. This has happened before when she has tried other, similar-acting hypertension medicines. My question is, why does this happen?
Answer Hi, David,
That is a very strange occurrence, and I checked the adverse reaction profile of Micardis, and it does state"hypertension" as a side-effect! Other drugs in that class (angiotensin II receptor blockers) do not have hypertension as a side-effect, such as valsartan (Diovan),candesartan(Atacand), and irbesartan(Avapro). These drugs all work on the body th e same way, so it doesn't make any sense to me why Micardis would do this. Sorry I couldn't be of any help. Mary
