Good Morning! I'm hoping someone here can help me a little. I was on benazapril for hbp for quite a while, developed a slight dry scratchy cough my doctor described as benazepril cough. He changed me to valsartan last week and thats where the real fun began :-( 3 days on valsartan and I was having horrible side effects of dizziness, rapid heart rate, general feeling of crappiness, even slight shortness of breath with the slightest exertion None of which I experienced with the benazepril. Called the dr, he told me to stop the valsartan, don't take anything for 2 days and then back on the benazepril and see him next week. Yesterday morning I woke up from a deep sleep with a pain in my left arm, basically right about heart height, and a feeling like my chest was in a vise and someone kept turning it tighter. To the ER we went. They did 2 chest xrays, a pile of bloodwork, 2 ekg's and sent me home saying nothing was wrong and to see my doctor for a follow up and a stress test, come back if it gets worse. Nothing else was done, except give me a baby asprin. My bp was all over the place at the hospital, as was my heart rate. I also kept getting the tightness episodes. Of course I googled everything and kept coming up with angina. It has happened to me in the past, maybe twice in the last 10 years but it was once and done. I'm still getting dizzy and light headed, even walking from the living room to the kitchen makes me feel like I just ran a marathon. I've never experienced anything like this before.
So my question is? Can this be angina or something related to the valsartan? I go see my doctor in a week with them calling me in case of a cancellation. And I'm off work, which I can't really afford, because I can't run a machine when dizzy. I almost fell Monday, got so dizzy.
Thank you for your time and hoping for some answers soon