diltiazem

[hopefullyiam2]

I am currently on 30 mg of diltiazem 3x day and i was wondering  how effective is this dose at bring down your blood pressure.  and how much would it bring it down.  a rough estimate would be great.  for i am hoping to come off of this medicine.  thanks

[ireneo]

I'm going to guess it depends on the individual and what other changes need to be made. Weight may need to come down, increase exercise, reduce sodium in the diet.

I'm on Diltiazem 120, a slow release so I only take it once a day. Haven't seen much change in my BP. Maybe 5 pts. in my readings at home. But it does help a little with my arrhythmias, has stopped the chest pains and helps with my Raynauds.

As for the other things I mentioned - my weight is fine, I'm pretty active in my work as well as going to the gym and I learned to eat a low sodium diet when my Dad went into congestive heart failure. I don't live with him but I learned about CHF and how important low sodium is. Just thought it was a good idea to change my ways as well.

[hopefullyiam2]

thanks for the reply,  I am not over weight or anything and it seems salt intake has no affect on my bp.  I developed severe bp problems after i had my first baby in jan. 08 and i have went from taking 11 blood pressure pills a day to 3 a day now.  I have some type of tachycardia that when i stand up(i dont even have to move) and my heart rate has gone as high as 170.  it seems the only thing that helped my tach. was a b-blocker but i cant take them.  they make me like a zombie and cuts my breathing out.  I have lost 45 pounds since right after the birth of my baby.  the doctor said im not over weight but my cholesterol is 225.  so hopefully with the help of the lord i will be healed of all this.  thanks

[ireneo]

Has the doctor mentioned doing an EP study to check out why your heart rate jumps up so quickly?

You didn't mention how high your BP runs. I do hope you feel better soon. High BP is not good for the body.