NORVASC® (amlodipine besylate) is the most prescribed brand name high blood pressure medicine worldwide. According to the information available from the manufacturer, Phizer, Inc., the drug may cause the following side effects:
• headache
• swelling of legs or ankles
• tiredness, extreme sleepiness
• stomach pain, nausea
• dizziness
• flushing (hot or warm feeling in your face)
• arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat)
• heart palpitations (very fast heartbeat)
Phizer, Inc. characterizes these side effects as “mild to moderate” – terms that are so subjective as to be almost meaningless. Take a look at the comments from users of Norvasc at Askapatient.com and one will get a very different perspective on the occurrence and severity of these noted side effects. Even more troubling is the significant number of users who report side effects not mentioned in the patient literature supplied by the drug maker. Most notably, they are: mental confusion, depression, thoughts of suicide, nightmares, extreme leg/foot/joint pain, and loss of mobility, to name just a few.
One 46-year-old male user reports: “Hypertension never caused me pain. I will stop my medication. My foot hurts so much. A tourniquet around my ankle should prevent major blood loss as I lay my left foot on the railway track.”
A 44-year-old female says: “Extreme fatigue to the point where I can barely make it thru the day. Excruciating headache, muscle and joint pain, swollen ankles and feet, relentless nausea – topped off with massive depression. What is this stuff?????”
And, this entry, from a 70-year-old male: “Abdominal pain (cramps), confusion, diarrhea and constipation, fatigue, psychosis, suicidal, some dizziness, swelling of the legs or ankles, occasional fast and slow heartbeat, vivid and abnormal dreaming.”
At the time of this report, 248 people have left overall negative comments about the multiple side effects they experienced while taking Norvasc – only a small number of those could be reasonably characterized as either “mild” or “moderate.” To be fair, these 248 users represent only a miniscule percentage of the thousands worldwide who take the drug. It’s possible that these are some of the “rare cases” that Phizer alludes to in their literature. But, it is also possible that they are merely the tip of the iceberg of users, whose quality of life has been negatively impacted by this drug, yet no one ever hears about. Why? One possible reason is because many doctors are no better informed than their patient about the side effects of Norvasc.
The scenario goes something like this. After a week or two on the drug, the patient returns to the doctor with a complaint of feeling depressed or excruciating joint pain and asks if Norvasc could be responsible. The doctor consults the list of known side effects supplied by Phizer (see above) and, seeing no mention of depression or joint pain listed, the doctor discounts the possibility. He then recommends that the patient continue taking the medication and may even prescribe other drugs to treat the side effects…with the potential for more side effects…and more drugs…and round and round it goes.
Another look at the comments on Askapatient.com reveals a number of people who say they have encountered this very situation. One man, for example, said this: “On Norvasc 5 yrs. Don’t recommend to anyone! Complained for years. Dr didn’t believe norvasc causing problems. Not on any other meds. Finally insisted take me off…Stand your ground after all it’s your body & health at stake.”
That is, perhaps, the best advice of all. If you are presently taking Norvasc and suspect you are suffering side effects from that drug, talk to your doctor, but trust your instincts and stand your ground. It is, after all, your body and your health that is at stake.
Resources:
http://www.norvasc.com/high-blood-pressure-medicine/index.asp
http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19787&name;=NORVASC
