Blood Pressure Pill Making Me Fatter????

shel1103

So I've been doing some research on my blood pressure pill that I thought was helping me. Amlodipine (Norvasc). A side effect is weight gain. Last June I moved in with my sister to save money so I could buy my house. I stayed with her until December. Over that 6 month period, I gained 35 pounds, without a baby to show for it. I was put on BP pills in July and never actually put 2 and 2 together.

Has anyone else been on this pill?? Has anyone had anything similar happen? I'm in the middle of an experiment. I am stopping them for 2 weeks and I'm going to see what happens. I have never had so much trouble losing weight. I've been at this for over 2 months and haven't really lost anything... and I am now about 60 pounds overweight. GRRRRR!!!!!! Need some feedback.

charlena48

I know what you are talking about. I took a beta blocker for high BP for years and it made me gain weight. I now have my BP under control though diet.

Please be careful on stopping your medicine, it is dangerous. This is a medication you need to wean off of slowly. You should discuss this with your doctor.

sassylilmama

I am on the same med and notice no difference in my weight. Of course everyone is effected differently.

roachhaley

I'm not sure when it comes to BP medicine, but I know that for the most part medications that have a side effect of gaining weight actually just increase the appetite. So, if you can control the appetite, you should be able to control the weight. Again - not completely sure if that's the case with BP meds.

earl41

I was on the same medication and one of the side effects is water retention which could be a part of your weight gain. You should be weaned off this medication, start by cutting the pill in half and changing your diet. Get your blood pressure monitored weekly. With water retention you should probably drink more water, which seems to help. The more weight you lose, the sooner you'll get off of the medication. I wish you luck!!!

shel1103

I was definitely eating more while at my sister's house, however, I have been doing the logging thing and being extremely disciplined for about 2 months now and my weight has barely shown this. I took 2 months of my diary to my doctor and he doesn't understand it either. I have increased my exercise from none to 3 or 4 days a week and I am rarely over my daily calories.

I know I need to be careful. I will monitor my blood pressure. This BP med causes fluid retention and I think THAT is what a lot of my problem is. I could definitely be wrong.

shel1103

I was on the same medication and one of the side effects is water retention which could be a part of your weight gain. You should be weaned off this medication, start by cutting the pill in half and changing your diet. Get your blood pressure monitored weekly. With water retention you should probably drink more water, which seems to help. The more weight you lose, the sooner you'll get off of the medication. I wish you luck!!!

I drink about 3 or 4 24 oz bottles of water a day usually. By change my diet, what do you mean??

janf15

A couple of things -
perhaps adding a low sodium diet - or add a diuretic - look at other life style modifications ... bottom line - an online group can be helpful, but talk with your health care provider about this and let them make the modifications. An ongoing relationship with your health care provider is important when it comes to managing these issues.

It is always a bad idea to stop prescribed medications without the 'supervision' of a health care provider.

Linda_Darlene

I gained weight while I was on a beta blocker. But my weight did not come from the beta blocker. It came from the other changes in my life. I would NOT recommend that you just stop the medication cold turkey just to see if you lose weight! Bad move. If you want to try something different, GO TO YOUR DOCTOR. You obviously are on BP meds for a reason. Don't mess yourself up. Weight can be lost, but damage to your heart or etc is difficult to lose. This I know. I already have a heart condition. Don't give yourself one too.

NotThePest

I'm on a beta blocker but it's Atenolol. I never thought about it but it took me 3.5 years to lose weight once I began working out. I lost dress sizes but not weight until one day, I realized I had lost 35lbs. That happened between year 3 and 3.5 but I don't know when.

Since my objective was to get my type II diabetes under control and get off of as many meds as possible, I only connected the stubborn weight as coming from me having Metabolic Syndrome.

How much do you, if any, workout? I have been consistent in making sure I have at least six hours and it is mostly more of workout time. That number is what is best at keeping my glucose control under 6.0, I'm usually have an A1c of 5.6 (the percentage of glucose attached to a red blood cell). I was on four diabetic meds now I'm only on one and just through my persistence of working-out broke through the syndrome barrier. I'm going back to read the side effects of Atenolol.

mandimuscles

I have high BP as well, getting off those meds without weaning is really dangerous. You go through withdrawl symptoms and your BP could skyrocket. Yes, most BP meds make you gain weight. In some instances it's water retention so they put people also on a water pill, you may want to ask your dr about that. That's actually where I'd start all together is with the dr and work it out with them, doing it on your own when you've been on the pills isn't necessarily the best idea, yes, it may help you lose weight, but the point should be to be healthy which also means keeping your BP under control. Maybe there is another pill they could put you on? Something I have found is being strict with not adding salt, not eating a lot of prepackaged foods and working out almost daily and consistantly has helped me to stay off BP meds and have it managed, it's so far dropped about 10-15 points in a months time fame in doing so. Good luck!

StarvingDiva

I would not stop your BP medicine. I would get in contact with your doctor to find a different BP medicine that might not have the same adverse effect on it.

HMVOL7409

If you're 60lbs overweight as you've stated, fluid retention is not your main concern. You are not holding onto 20+ lbs of fluid; if you were you and your heart are in some trouble. Please discuss with your doctor before stopping any medication especially something like this. You could actually make it worse for you. Ask for a different medication; if you don't like his answers get a second opinion. Are you working out while on this?

verptwerp

I've been on Norvasc for 10 years because I'd gained weight & my blood pressure went up ...... nowadays am eating better & getting plent of exercise ..... have lost 40+ lbs so far ..... and the more I lose, the better my B/P gets ......

Be cautious about experimenting with yours meds ...... best of luck to you !

shel1103

If you're 60lbs overweight as you've stated, fluid retention is not your main concern. You are not holding onto 20+ lbs of fluid; if you were you and your heart are in some trouble. Please discuss with your doctor before stopping any medication especially something like this. You could actually make it worse for you. Ask for a different medication; if you don't like his answers get a second opinion. Are you working out while on this?

I was overweight to begin with... about 20-25 pounds when moving in with my sister. I definitely ate more, not a ton, but more. I am not blaming the entire weight gain on this pill. I take full responsibility in eating more and not working out. However, I am saying that this pill may be hindering my weight loss. Since moving out of my sister's house and into my own, I have been pretty good with my eating and exercise habits. I work out about 3-4 times a week and my diet is SOOOOOOOOO much better now than it was while living with my sister.

LisaEileen

I have done extensive research on this. I've been on bp pills for 4 years. I am desperate to get off all the pills I'm on. I hate taking pills. BP meds will hinder weight loss. It would have been nice to know this sooner. I started working out and counting calories in January. As you can see from my ticker, it's taken me 5 months to lose 17 pounds. It's been extremely frustrating. At one point I bought a heart rate monitor. I thought it was defective because no matter how hard I worked out, I couldn't get my HR over 120. In my research I found that bp meds also lower resting heart rate so it's really hard to get your HR up high enough to burn fat. It can be done, but it takes a LOT of work. It wasn't until I started doing Turbo Fire and PUSHING myself as hard as I could go, that I started losing. I understand your frustration. I posted another bp related topic yesterday. My doctor will not even discuss lowering my meds because my readings are always high in her office. I have brought my monitor into the office. She has used it on me and the readings are the same between their bp monitor and mine. She has looked through my memory and seen my low readings. I've told her I don't feel good a lot of the time. I'm very tired, dizzy and nauseous. When I feel like that I take my bp and it's really low. I know it's not the recommended thing to do, but I'm considering cutting my dose in half for awhile and see what happens. I'm sick of feeling like this. I hate medication!

NotThePest

I workout in the early a.m. 5:30/6:00 and take my beta blocker 2 hrs AFTER . I have forgotton and taken it before working out and my legs felt as if they were glued to the floor and my body was sluggish, very sluggish.

shel1103

I have done extensive research on this. I've been on bp pills for 4 years. I am desperate to get off all the pills I'm on. I hate taking pills. BP meds will hinder weight loss. It would have been nice to know this sooner. I started working out and counting calories in January. As you can see from my ticker, it's taken me 5 months to lose 17 pounds. It's been extremely frustrating. At one point I bought a heart rate monitor. I thought it was defective because no matter how hard I worked out, I couldn't get my HR over 120. In my research I found that bp meds also lower resting heart rate so it's really hard to get your HR up high enough to burn fat. It can be done, but it takes a LOT of work. It wasn't until I started doing Turbo Fire and PUSHING myself as hard as I could go, that I started losing. I understand your frustration. I posted another bp related topic yesterday. My doctor will not even discuss lowering my meds because my readings are always high in her office. I have brought my monitor into the office. She has used it on me and the readings are the same between their bp monitor and mine. She has looked through my memory and seen my low readings. I've told her I don't feel good a lot of the time. I'm very tired, dizzy and nauseous. When I feel like that I take my bp and it's really low. I know it's not the recommended thing to do, but I'm considering cutting my dose in half for awhile and see what happens. I'm sick of feeling like this. I hate medication!

I want to get off these pills too. My bp is always better when I'm not in the doctor's office as well. "White Coat Syndrome" Like I've said before, I am not totally blaming the pills for my rapid weight gain, but I do think they had some involvement. If I gained 15 or maybe 20, ok... I could definitely understand it, but to gain 35 in 6 months is a bit extreme. I dunno. I didn't just sit around and stuff my face full of junk every chance I got. It's so weird.

Anyway, thank you for at least semi-understanding where I'm coming from. I now take my pill before I go to sleep because it makes me feel like total crap. I was exhausted at work to the point of almost passing out at my desk. Not cool! If your doctor won't listen to you, then maybe you should try someone else who actually makes recommendations based on what works for both of you. Sometimes I think they just want to automatically push the pills on us without ever trying any other alternatives. I will go back to my doctor in a couple of weeks and I will see where I am with my weight at that point. If I continue to lose, then I will have him switch my pill to something that doesn't make me retain water.