Jovialjim

Hello every one my name is James, I'm 45 year old and was very active. On the 13th December 2010 while watching TV, I had a brain Haemorrhage/Stroke; it left me with a 4/5 weakness (paralysed) down my right hand side. I did have a recent history of high blood pressure that was suppose to have been under control, but in the middle of 2010 something went wrong with my medication, I was very fit for my age, for example I trained for and completed the Forces March (5 Marathons in 5 days coming 21st out of 144) in the UK at the end of May 2010. In July 2010 while I was in Hospital for something else, they (two trainee doctors) decided to change my medication, telling me to stop taking the Water pill I was on, it was working well but after the 5 marathons clearly was not, and prescribed me Irbesartan. I did warn them that I was still recovering from 5 marathons, why would you prescribe Irbesartan to someone who runs marathons? What’s more disturbing for me is that three days after I stroked I was put back on a water pill my blood pressure which was still elevated dropped considerably, my blood pressure when I stroked was 216/146 taken by medic who was first to attend to me at home, when I was given the water pill back three days later, my blood pressure dropped to about 140/ 100. 5 weeks (end of August 2010) after being prescribed Irbesartan I returned to my Doctor to complain that the Iribesartan was not working as I had taken a BP reading and it was up at about 160/100, the doctor who saw me who new my situation checked my BP, and doubled the dose to 300mg, it seemed to work at the time. While I was in hospital after my stroke I asked the stroke consultant I was put under “what is causing my blood pressure to be so high” as I was always told, they did not know, he said “wait a minute”, off he went and was back in a couple of minutes and said it was salt/sodium, I said that was strange I don’t use salt, he said it’s not salt on your food it’s salt in your food! I had in 2010 also had tests to check for over active adrenal glands too, just in case. Over the next few weeks I removed sodium from my diet and monitored and recorded my blood pressure and low and behold my blood pressure returned to normal in fact really good for my age on the 11th Jan 2011 it was 111/83, OK I was on a water pill and the Irbesartan, it was the first time I had see normal readings for 5 years, but there’s more. Over the next few weeks it dropped even further and I was back at the doctors on the 13th Feb with BP of 95/70 and a light head! The doctor halved the Iribesartan to 150mg. There's more, over the next few weeks I returned to work a few hours a day, but the increased activity dropped my BP again, so I was off the Irbesartan completely. Today (30/03/2011) my BP was 117/83, which is pretty good for a 45-year-old westerner, but I’m still on a 2.5mg water pill. Over the few weeks after my Stroke, when my confusion started to clear, I started to look up info on Irbesartan what I found out is that Salt stops it working properly in fact counteracts against it, WHY was this very important information not on the packet the pills come in or on the information leaflet????????££££££££££ Anyone using this medication should be warned, its dangerous if your sodium intake is high, most peoples is high, as they do not know they are even getting it in just about everything they eat unless its just off a tree or fresh out of the ground! Oh yes, and just about everything that is pre prepared in a butcher's shop is smothered in sodium chloride preservative (not the same as salt, but just as dangerous). When I was first diagnosed with high BP I had tests, and was under a consultant and no one said anything about salt, I don’t drink, don’t smoke, I have low cholesterol and I was pretty fit, couldn't the Doctors have figured it out with an easy blood test? They figured it out after I stroked, just a bit late by then the damage was done! All they did was, for 6 years is try many different drugs on me, many of them not working at all, was salt the common anti Catalyst.????? I Feel I have been treated badly, and I put my health in the hands of doctors who are struggling to understand different life styles where PB is concerned, or did not follow through to find the route cause of the problem, it was cheaper and easier to just give me drugs. Over the years I had high blood pressure it would drop during the summer months while I was at my most active, training for cycling and long distance running. But within a few weeks of me stopping training my BP would raise straight back up to around 160/110 or higher even with medication, this would happen year after year. Then in Feb after my stroke it dawned on me, when I was training hard I was sweating salt out of my system, I know there is a natural drop in blood pressure due to exercise but this is usually short lived and would be back up after a couple of hours, I saw this happening while going to the gym in winter time. Today I am recovering very well, I have got my muscle control back some feeling and some hot /cold sensing. I have been out cycling again, started running again too, and I'm slowly building up my time at work, the brain injury centre are saying, its looking like I will get a full recovery, what ever that is, in about a year in that respect I have been a lucky one, what about all those who are not so lucky and those its going to happen to in the future, 4 months ago I was nearly a statistic, I bet the death certificate would have said non of the above, oh yes death by Brain haemorrhage, secondary, elevated blood pressure. The end.