Cycling UK Forum

Started on a blood pressure medication recently, and this is the fifth over the years because the others didn't agree with me at all.
The one's I'm on now seem wonderful.
Work fine, make me relaxed, give me a good night's sleep, don't give me any side effects, and all I seem to find is all good about them ..................... and for the first time in my life, I understand how people become reliant and addicted to prescribed medication.

I have 28 days of his stuff at one a day, and going to have the sixth dose this evening.
In a week or three, I'll be chatting to the doc, and if he told me that I should have two tablets a day, I wouldn't complain.

Is this a slippery slope that some people go down?
Never personally appreciated this issue ever before, and it's made me think.

Addiction is a loaded term and covers several different effects: tolerance, withdrawal, physical dependence, psychological dependence, and a wide range of cultural stereotypes. People may use the same word and mean very different things.

You're on a new treatment and you've told us that it's working well. I wouldn't worry in the least about this. I would keep a diary and discuss any concerns with my GP.

I hope that it continues as well as it has started.

Jonathan

Mick F wrote: ↑22 Feb 2022, 4:14pmWork fine, make me relaxed, give me a good night's sleep, don't give me any side effects, and all I seem to find is all good about them

OK as long as the benefit doesn't wear off. Are there any side effects that take time to materialise?

axel_knutt wrote: ↑22 Feb 2022, 4:25pm

Mick F wrote: ↑22 Feb 2022, 4:14pmWork fine, make me relaxed, give me a good night's sleep, don't give me any side effects, and all I seem to find is all good about them

OK as long as the benefit doesn't wear off. Are there any side effects that take time to materialise?

Dunno.
All is sweetness and light so far, and I don't doubt it'll continue.

All the other ones, gave me horrendous side effects, but these make me feel fine.
Absolute revelation to me.

axel_knutt wrote: ↑22 Feb 2022, 4:25pmAre there any side effects that take time to materialise?

From other threads this is about doxazosin. NHS Advice, including side effects:
https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/doxazosin/

It's smart to be aware of side effects. Some may take time to occur.

Jonathan

Just been in the kitchen prepping our evening meal ..................... and thinking about my thread.

Not discussing my personal medication at all.

I'm saying that the meds I'm on now have given me an insight to how people can be dependent on medication. Never appreciated this issue before.

Now, I understand.

You don't ever want to get Parkinson's disease........

No, of course not.
If you have a disease, you need a medication.

I don't actually need meds, just been prescribed them to help, but what they do is rather nice.

Mick F wrote: ↑22 Feb 2022, 6:37pm No, of course not.
If you have a disease, you need a medication.

I don't actually need meds, just been prescribed them to help, but what they do is rather nice.

How do you see what you have as being different from what most people with chronic diseases have?

Thanks

Jonathan

The one's I'm on now seem wonderful.

That's Great News Mick - long may it remain so.

Before I take any prescription medication I go through every aspect I can think if with whoever is prescribing it (and they are normally surprised by this); side effects, duration of use, half life and delay on effect, stopping (i.e. can you just stop or do you have to gradually reduce dose), do they cure condition or just reduce symptoms, etc. etc.

Last 3 drugs medics have wanted to prescribe I've refused based on their answers to my questions about the drugs (and I suspect I was right given I mentioned one to a specialist physio and he was "not complimentary" about the effects it would have).

Ian

Mick F wrote: ↑22 Feb 2022, 6:37pm No, of course not.
If you have a disease, you need a medication.

I don't actually need meds, just been prescribed them to help, but what they do is rather nice.

Mick
I'm glad they're working well for you,but how do you figure out you don't need them when high blood pressure can be a killer.

Not discussing my high BP on this thread.

I'm saying - badly perhaps? - that if one of the side effects of a medication is an addiction or at least a liking, it's an issue that I have never fully understood before.

Mick F wrote: ↑23 Feb 2022, 8:42am Not discussing my high BP on this thread.

I'm saying - badly perhaps? - that if one of the side effects of a medication is an addiction or at least a liking, it's an issue that I have never fully understood before.

Ah,I see.
If the addicted medication isn't doing the patient any good then it's a bad addiction,but if being without the addicted medication means the illness isn't cured or the symptoms are far worse then the addiction is a necessity for a better quality of life.

There's all sorts of addictions. And then there's habits. Addiction might suggest you can't stop.
But on the other hand, if a given medication is working for you, has few, if any, side effects and you come to depend on it to make your life a little better, then what would be the point in stopping taking it? You're not addicted, but rather, you are in the habit of taking it.