Lisinopril and insurance

I've been on Lisinopril-HCTZ 10-12.5 for 8 months now. I hate it. So far I've experienced:

- dry cough
- headaches
- chest pains (under my left rib cage area. Its a sudden sharp pain that lasts maybe 2 seconds, then its gone. It'll do that a few times a day)
- stuffy nose (doctor told me it was allergies. Put me on allergy medication, have been on it for 2 months, and it hasn't helped)
- trouble breathing
- rashes
- fatigue (doctor assured me it would go away after a few weeks, but it hasn't)
- dizziness
- no menstrual cycle (this medication has stopped my periods all together)

I've had it with this crap. My primary doctor wasn't the one who put me on it. I haven't been able to see my primary doctor because I don't have insurance and couldn't afford it. I've been going to a community clinic. I'm willing to pay to see my primary doctor than continue going there. At least I'll know I'll be taken seriously.

been on Lisinopril for several days as my old medication (Coreg) was too expensive since I am off my previous insurance program. This medication is the pits to say the least. I have been gasping for air and having a problem breathing. Also, i am having chest pain, palps and tightness. Had to go on the web to see about the side effects. I have been exhausted and almost too tired to check on the side effects. Glad I did. My husband had been on Lisinopril for over a year and his temper is out of control. He is very edgy to say the least. Since there are so many side effects involved with Lisinopril, the doctors need to be made aware. It appears the manufacturers of this drug are not educating the doctors concerning the side effects. If doctors won't listen, find one that will.

I have been taking BP med's for may years now, and too have been ordered by my Dr's. to change from time to time. After many years on the same drug, I was ordered by my Dr. to change to Zestril, 20mg daily. I had absolutely no problems with that drug at all, but after only about 3 years was forced to change because of insurance company ignorance. I was then placed on Lisinopril 20mg, and within only a few months I've begun to lose my hearing in my right ear. I have a constant hissing/ringing in my right ear, and have been tested for hearing and told I have a 90% hearing loss in that ear. After reading some of the postings here, and elsewhere, I have found that Tinnitus is a definite side effect. Not only upset about all this, but angry that I didn't investigate earlier. Please be careful with med's people. Please pay attention to any and all side effects...

Thank You

I am trying to find out if there are any law suits filed against the makers of this horrible medication. Does anyone know of any??

I stopped Lisinopril 40 mg Aug 28th after reading comments from from this site. My life has changed drastically -- I am "ME" again. I started in Feb 2006 at 10 mg and gradually increased to 40 mg in early 2007. I became increasingly tired to the point of severe exhaustion which started with a hoarness of voice and instantly all energy just drained from my body. I became depressed in a way I knew that medicine would not help. I had diarrhea that seemed to me was caused by a change in the GI medication that changed because my insurance would not cover the one I had been on for several years. My family became concerned about my confusion, loss of caring about just about anything and refusing to leave the house only when really necessary. I was tested etc. for so many times and all tests were normal.
I am still having some relapse into the above problems especially when I get really tired but I am tired because of overdoing. I am having so much fun living again.

I am a 35 year old female. Previous Dr. had been watching my BP for about 4 months and asking me to lose some weight - I am about 15 pounds overweight. Changed doctors due to insurance and new Dr. prescribed Lisinopril right away, 5 days ago. By the 4th day I was feeling tired, more than usual, and went to bed really early. Today, the 5th day, through out the day, I started feeling pressure on my chest, a need to breath deeply with some resistance, a weird sensation running from the heart across my chest toward my throat, anxiety thinking I was having symptoms of a heart attack. I feel slight pain running down my left arm. So, tonight before going to bed, thinking, do I have to tell someone what I am feeling? Should I go to the ER? I decided to look up side effects for this drug. And to my surprise I ran into this site. I am sooo glad to read that so many people are going through the same thing and have not had a heart attack. As I sit here, I have chest pain, and anxiety, and I was supposed to take the 5th pill tonight, but I am not going to. I will call my doctor 1st thing tomorrow and ask her to switch medications. Thank you for posting. This has helped me make a quick decision not to continue with this drug.

I have been on Lisinopril for approx 5 years, during a routine year end blood work-up, I have developed a problems with my creatine levels 1.48 and Glom Filt Rate, Est 37. My physician had me do a 24 hr urine for further testing but insisted that I no longer take the Lisinopril. Several of the tests have come in and he advised me that I have only 50% blood flow to my kidneys. It appears to me that the Lisinopril has caused some kidney damage. I also have a great deal of muscle pain, but do to my age (55 years) I thought it was jus a part of the aging process. What do you think?

Oh My Gosh - as I sit here with abdominal cramps typing my experience - I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I started taking Lisinopril in late April 2008. On May 2 I had severe abdominal cramps and massive vomiting for 8 hours. Finally got myself to ER after I sent my family on to our vacation (I joined 2 days later). The ER attributed it to food poisoning. Lo and behold, I had another "attack" on May 9th. Back to ER I went (my husband witnessed my attack and insisted I go). They took X-rays and MRI - found intestinal inflammation but didn't know why. My internest send me to gastro dr. Third attack hit on June 5th and gastro doctor sent me to major hospital ER. They, too, did MRI & blood work. Looked at gall bladder, pancreas, stomach, intestines, etc. They found intestinal inflammation. Gastro Dr. took more blood and did more test (CT, MRI, Colonoscopy, Endoscopy). He couldn't find anything so he sent me to rheumatologist. She did add'l blood work and genetic testing. She though I had an auto-immune disorder - like Mediterranean Familial Fever! Please...! But all her tests came back negative. She too had no answers, only treatment for symptoms - Colchicine and Prednisone. Yuk. After having my 8th debilitating attack yesterday (since May), I've had enough. I went to the Web and found this wonderful site - along with some others with helpful info. I don't have confirmation that the lisinopril is causing this - but it sure sounds like it. I am a 49 yr old female and I've had no "life changing" events in my life (except for this nastiness) and have been on no other meds. I find it interesting that out of all the doctors I've seen - and all knew of the lisinopril - that none suspected this as a side effect.

okay people...I have been on Lisinopril for 5 years now with every side effect
you can think of...rashes, lethargic, severe depression, weight gain, pain in legs, back, arms, neck.
I am also a diabetic w/ nephritis (protein in kidneys)
I used to take cozaar, but insurance doesn't pay for that so now I take 20 mg lisinopril.
I am going to ask my doctor to chg my meds...this is ridiculous.

I am 25 and in shape (115 lbs) and have high bp adn kidney damage. I take toprol-xl and norvasc. I also just switched from Cozaar to Lisinopril 2 or 3 weeks ago because my insurance does not cover Cozaar anymore. Ever since I switched I've had lower than normal blood pressure, dizziness, feeling faint and then 10 days ago I started having diarrhea everyday. I thought it was a stomach virus but it doesn't seem to go away. At first I was up every 2 hours at night, then last night it was every hour for 9 hours. Does lisinopril cause diarrhea like this?

I have taken Lisinopril 20mg once daily for only 3 weeks and I am having some of the same side effects. Memory loss and forgetting things is the main one, the 'grit in the eyes' and general feeling of being tired all the time. I'm glad I found these posts. It did lower my BP from 160 over 108 to 144 over 94. I take it after lunch, since I didn't want to drive while it takes hold. Guess i'm lucky I don't have the other side effects.

Spoke with my Doctor today and he said those were unusual side effects. I guess not from what i'm seeing here. He told me to stop taking Lisinopril and gave me samples of Hyzaar 50/12.5. I really hate taking drugs, since I have atypical reactions to them, but i'll give it a try. I'll do the research first.

Hope this helps others.

If you are taking this medicine, STOP! I took this medicine for about three months. I started to feel like I had a congestion. I cough lightly at first then into a hard cough which progressed into a hacking. My wife thought I was critically ill. I was spitting up clear congestion at work into my garbage can. This stuff is bad, I found this site and stopped taking the medicine. It took 3 week for the cough to subside. It’s been about 4 months, and I would say I am only about 98 percent back to where I started . About every 3 weeks I out of the blue start to slightly hack. I know one thing this is not a good medicine. When I started my BP was 138/109. My doctor told me to try this. Because of this medicine I could not do my job and my doctor never told me it was the medicine. When I told him he told me he didn’t think it was the medicine and prescribe some cold medicine

I took Diovan HCT for years without any side effects. We must do mail order with our health insurance and the providers website said that Lisinopril was an alternative to the Diovan that was available as a generic and therefore a lower cost. I spoke with my Dr. about it and she advised me of the "cough" and said it wasn't exactly the same but since I wanted to save as much money on scripts as I could I tried the Lisinopril. I took it for a couple of months and noticed being more fatigued and weak. Finally I got to the point where I was feeling like I was hungover 24x7 and started looking to see if there was any side effects from this different med I was taking and saw all the symptoms I was having from fatigue to palpitations to nausea to muscle weakness and cough. I went back to the Dr. and got back on Diovan and everything is much better now. My wife was on this medicine too for a while and she noticed the same thing but didn't put it together with the medicine. There should be some kind of advisory with this stuff or it should be taken off the market.

I have been on Micardis for years and have had no side effects at all. Ran in two marathons and worked out daily. Now I have been on Lisinopril-HCTZ 20 MG. and have not been able to work out without feeling dizzy, seating and cannot remember the last time I got a good nights sleep due to persistent coughing. The best moment was today finding this website and reading everyone elses comments. I plan to flush my remaining pills down the toilet and paying full price for Micardis since my insurance company will not pay.
This has to be thek worst pill available! If I knew today what I knew when this pill was first prescribed I would have never taken it. Hopefully it will not take long to get this out of my system and I can get my life back.

I don't seem to have any choice other than continue taking Lisinopril, its the only blood pressure med I can afford, but taking it and coughing until my ribs ache is getting old. Sore ribs, hacking cough, blurred vision and nightmares...hmnn...or a stroke. There's got to be another option. Garlic?

I was diagnosed with hbp in January 2008 (197/112), my Doctor prescribed Micardis to which I had few side effects limited only to 2 weeks of muscle and joint aches attributed to the HCT found in Micardis - once the aches subsided I had no noticeable effects to the Micardis and my bp dropped to under 130/80 but my insurance insisted that they would not cover the Micardis until I had been prescribed an ACE inhibitor so my Dr. prescribed Lisinopril and HCT as a water pill, within days of taking the Lisinopril I started having a dry, gagging cough that was aggravated by laying down making sleeping a serious problem.
I have found that drinking hot water is the only thing that will temporarily cut the tickle.
I have also noticed that I have been having dizzy spells and have started sweating profusely at the slightest exertion.
Still waiting BC/BS to authorize Micardis after 2 months or I will have to try another ACE inhibitor that may not have the same effects - any ACE inhibitors found to not cause these or similar symptoms would be greatly appreciated.

I am a 60 year old female. Had taken Hyzaar for several years, but due to high cost, insurance recommended Lisinopril (my doctor agreed). I started taking Lisinopril HCTZ 20/25mg on 5/11/08. After 5 days, I developed a cough that grew increasingly worse with lots of mucus. I coughed so hard there would be tears rolling down my face. The mucus would get stuck in my throat and I had to make horrible sounds to clear it. I carried a bottle of water every where. I saw my doctor on 5/27/08. He prescribed antibiotic for sinus infection and cough med. The meds did not help. I saw him again on 6/2 and 6/5 and he gave me a steroid that did not help. I started researching side effects of Lisinopril and decided to take myself off on 6/12 and start the Hyzaar again. In the meantime my doctor got me in to see an ENT on 6/17. He gave me a nose spray and something to dry up the mucus. I noticed the cough did not seem as bad the day I went to the ENT and it got progressively better. I did take the medication prescribed by the ENT, but felt that discontinuing the Lisinopril was probably why the cough and mucus got better. So, a "glutton for punishment", I started the Lisinopril again (wanted to make sure my problems were caused by the Lisinopril). After taking it for about 6 days, I have developed the cough and mucus again. No more Lisinopril for me. I started Hyzaar again on 7/6. It took about a week to a week and a half last time to get better.

I went over to Lisinopril when I transfered insurance carriers recently. The new carrier was going to charge the max allowed for using Altace and Lisinopril is way cheaper. So I went back to Lisinopril and have been on it for about a month. When I first tried it many months ago I had a sick gall bladder that has now been removed. The side effects at that time include a rash on my chin, burning urine and crotch area. Within two days of stopping, the symptoms were gone. Since I don't have the gall bladder problem I decide to try it again to save money (ha). After a week I notice my BP was increasing. I was taking 10 mg so I went up to 20 mg of Lisinopril and that didn't work - my BP kept going up! I keep talking more of the stuff and my BP keeps going up. This morning I took 40 mg and my PB was 200/90 and I suddenly thought it's the meds as there is no reason in the world that my BP should be going up crazily like this. Then I found this side and several folks mentioned their BP had gone UP. No more Lisinopril for me. I'm so glad I found this site! Thanks all for being independent thinkers and sharing your stories!

I am a 56 year old woman and my doctor started me on 10 mg Lisinopril in March. Within 24 hours of starting it I developed a very annoying cough. At my next doctors visit she told me my bp was not down enough and wanted to increase the dosage. When I asked her if the cough could be from the Lisinopril she gave me some samples of Benecar HCT. The only problem I had with that was muscle weakness and some palpitations that went away after a few days. When I got the prescription filled I found that my insurance didn't cover it and it was quite expensive so I called my doctor back and she wanted me to try the Lisinopril again at 20mg and see what happened. That very same night the cough came back with a vengeance, along with dizziness. I decided to try to tough it out but after ten days now the cough is so bad it's unbearable. It keeps me up at night and I cough till I gag and cry. On several occasions I have coughed until I vomited. I couldn't take it any more and stopped taking it two days ago. I called my doctor today and she told me to stop taking it and now we're going to try Norvasc.

I was placed on this drug by my PCP after a change in my insurance this year. I had been taking Avalide to control my BP but my new insurance said my co-pay for the medication would now cost me $200 for a 90-day supply, or $50 for a 30-day script. The customer service rep suggested my PCP put me on lisinopril, as it was a generic in the same class as Avalide. I started taking lisinopril in February 2008 and almost immediately developed a tickle in the back of my throat that worsened into a dry, hacking cough. I initially thought it was due to the dry air of furnace heat (Indiana resident) and started using a humidifier in my bedroom. My PCP prescribed me a codeine-based cough syrup to control the coughing, which wracked my body so hard I often was incontinent. The syrup helped -temporarily. For the past month, I've been wracked by chronic and severe dry coughing spells. The coughing was worse in the morning and would frequent awaken me from sleep at night. My PCP took me off the lisinopril today and appealed my insurance to place me back on Avalide. This has been the worst experience I've ever had with a prescribed medicine, although my BP reading yesterday was 120/76.

I have been on lisinopril for two years, in that time I became unable to do anything. I would eat, but it would not give me energy, so I would eat more. I gained over 100 lbs from this. Nothing tasted, for all I knew I could of been eating rubber. My head hurt in one spot on my head. I could not remember anything, even how to cook anything, I have cooked all my life. If you can not taste then it is hard to cook. I was told in Aug of last year that I was hypothyroid. Come to find out the body can not make your thyroid work well while taking Lisinopril. I thought good they found out what was wrong with me. . I had the stomach problems they started in the night, I felt like if I went to the bathroom that I was going to die. For a full year I delt with my stomach hurting, before I got really sick. I was so depressed, really depressed. I was taking Norvasc which was doing good for my blood pressure. Before this started my doctor told me to try this wonder drug, it would make everything perfect, it was cheap and my insurance would cover it. It was the start of a two year ordeal that I hope is over. The wonder drug was Lisinopril, the death pill is what I call it. I was in the ER blood pressure 170/110 pulse 130. My day of grace came when I ran out of Lisinopril and started taking HCTZ, a water pill. My blood pressure is perfect, 123/75. I can taste, I can remember, I can clean my house, I can take care of my kids and I am looking forward to getting back to work. I hate that this drug stole two years from me and my kids. It seems like there should be a lawsuit somewhere to repay us for all our pain and suffering.

I am 58 with mild hypertension. Started Lisinopril 10mgs and started to cough and feel like I was getting a cold within 48hours. 4 days later I was in the MD office with what I thought was an Asthma exacerbation. We treated it with Solumedrol dose pack and xeponex nebulizer treatments. Two days later I am in the ER unable to stop coughing. My MD was on call and realized that this was due to the Lisinopril!! This dry hacking cough also sometimes produces some phlegm but I am exhausted. This is miserable. It appears from what I have been reading that Lisinopril has the worst record of the ACE Inhibitors for this cough side effect. I am an RN and had no idea that this could be so bad. No more ACE inhibitors for me...they go on my "allergy" list. There are other allternatives and I think the Calcium Channel Blockers are a better alternative.
Maybe it is time for the FDA to re look at Lisinopril????

I developed hbp during pregnancy with my first child, after delivery the bp continued to stay up for about four months and then it went back down to a safe level. Six yrs later I became pregnant with my second child and my bp spiked again. Once again, after delivery, my bp went even higher. I tried a calcium channel blocker which gave me SEVERE headaches and then was put on a beta blocker. The beta blocker had no side effects but my bp was still out of control. My GP tried me on Lisinopril 10 mg in November 07. Since then I have had abdominal pain, loss of concentration, fatigue, leg and arm pain and numbness that is slowly worsening, dry, hacking cough, loss of sleep, strange thoughts of losing family members, etc....When I spoke to my GP about these new symptoms, I was told I have reflux, even though I never get heartburn and get this...POST PARTUM DEPRESSION! Oh, I am so sick of the "D" word. I never have thoughts of hurting myself or my kids, not to mention, I'm the happiest person I know. I'm really convinced now that these symptoms are all due to the Lisinopril b/c it all started around that time. The cough can be so embarrassing. I work in health care and will start hacking in the middle of an exam with a patient. It comes off as really unprofessional and it bothers me a lot. I see him next week and will discuss this with him. I am kind of discouraged b/c my bp is totally out of control w/o meds and this is the second one that has caused major side effects that has actually helped my b/p.

I am a reasonably healthy 57 year old male, 6' 1", 220 lbs. I started taking Lisinopril 10mg about 1 year old for HPB. My BP was all over the chart, but averaged at about 160/80. After being on Lisinopril for about 1 week, I noticed that my BP would be about 130/70 in the mornings, but jump back up to about 150/75 in the evenings. I have never achieved the 120/70 range that others talk about. It was also at this time that I developed the tickle and dry cough. I lose sleep by waking up coughing. The cough also comes on at any time, day or night. Sometimes I cough until I feel my head is going to explode. I never cough up anything. Always dry.

Over the last year, I have had other side effects that have come and gone and come back again. Among them have been itchy skin, numbness in fingers and toes, chest pains (EKG's and stress tests were fine), stomach pains, back pain, jaw pain, pounding heartbeat, racing heartbeat, loss of sex drive, erectile dysfunction, vivid dreams (when I sleep), feelings of dread and recurring thoughts of something happening to family members.

Since I do not have any prescription coverage in my insurance, I was happy to find a $4.00 drug, but now that the refills have run out, I think that I will ask the doctor for something else.

I was looking on the Internet to try to figure out which of my former BP meds the Lisinopril was to replace. I recently had to change insurance and my doc and I were looking for generics to replace what I was taking. One of the new drugs says Lisinopril - HCTZ 20/12.5mg one per day. So my side effect, having read all your posts, is fear of starting it!!! I'm thinking I will just keep an eye on my BP and wait until he returns after the first of the year. Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas. Molly

I am a 53 years old female diagnosed with diabetis for about 5 years, now. Currently, I take 1500 mg of metformin to treat the diabetis. A year ago this month, my bp went up to 164/88. That's when my doctor put me on 5 mg of lisnopril. The 5 mg dosage brought my bp down to about 140/84, it never went down to 120/80, even after using for one year. I can say that since I've been on this medication, I have been extremely fatigue. Several times I told my doctor about the tireness and that I thought it was due to the Lisinopril. She just sort of disregarded my complaint. She said that what I was feeling was due to menopause and the diabetis. About three weeks ago my bp went up to 171/88, so she decided that it was time to increase the dosage to 10 mg and to put me on hormone replacement therapy to reduce the fatigue. I told her that I didn't want the 10 mg of Lisinopril because I believed my fatigue was due to it. She insisted that it was best for me and that HRT would help.

Well, what I've done was decrease the dosage to about 2.5 mg on my own. And what I notice was that my energy level seems to be returning. I been feeling better and my goal is to start taking the 2.5 mg every other day until I can completely stop taking this stuff.

Today, I noticed that my arms felt a little heavy like and my heart seems to flutter a bit. I would like to hear from some of you that stopped taking Lisinopril, what were some of the symptoms that you experienced and for how long. I know that getting off a med can be dangerous, but staying on them can be just as dangerous, too.

Have been suffering from bad muscle cramps in the back of my calves, Cardiologist trying to find out why. I believe it is from the Lisinopril (40 mg a day). He has taken me off of Vytorin, that hasn't helped. pharmacist believes it is from the Lisinopril, my primary doctor doesn't think so but I am glad that I have my Cardio b/c he will try anything and believes in side affects that meds can cause, since reading all the other posts I can't wait to tell him and hope that is the answer. I miss walking and right now can't go a half mile without severe pain in my leg calves