getting off prescription drugs

[catski]

Now that I know all about the dangers of prescription drugs, and can see that my husband's health and vitality has declined since he started taking them four years ago, I want to get my husband off prescription drugs for high blood pressure. What should I do?

[Flycaster305]

I have a hunch your post will get lots of attention!  I'm not a health professional so please take what I am saying with that caveat in mind.  
The first thing I would do: decide if you really want to accept the risk of taking someone else off of drugs that have life-saving potential.  There are dangers, certainly, when prescription drugs are administered, but often the benefits far exceed the risks taken.  Many blood pressure drugs have very few negative side effects.  What drugs are you referring to?   Also, are you sure that the drugs have affected your husband's health and vitality or have diseases associated with high blood pressure been the cause?  Is there a particular side effect that is troublesome?  Have you discussed the risky process of drug withdrawal with a medical doctor?  Finally, what source material are you using to determine that prescription drugs are so dangerous?  
One of my family members is dealing with the guilt of taking a loved one off of heart medications, something she read on the internet was her motivation.  After her husband's passing she is dealing with some guilt issues, rightly or wrongly.
Please, give this matter lots of thought using good science, not hearsay.    

[Cleveland Clinic]

As a physician I would not recommend that you stop his medicaitons.  One exception to that is that if he has not yet tried to control his blood pressure with diet and exercise (look up the DASH diet online) at which point he could try this with the assisstance of his primary care physician.  Abruptly stopping the blood pressure meds may lead to dangerously high blood pressure that can lead to complications such heart attack or stroke.  Talk to you PCP before doing anything with his meds.    

[Healthyself2]

Uncontrolled BP is one of the leading causes of kidney failure among many other health problems.  It is very important to control BP.  If it can't be controlled with diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, you must use medication.

A little known fact is that uncontrolled BP is as big a root cause of coronary artery disease as lipid imbalances.  If you have CAD, it's very important to control both lipids and BP.

That said, there are at least 60 different BP meds.  Some work well for some people, others don't.

The cheapest are beta blockers and diuretics because they are off patent.   I personally wouldn't take a diuretic because I don't think that it's a good idea to eliminate water from your system.  I had severe side effects from a beta blocker, so I tried other meds.

What I did years ago was discuss different BP meds with my doctor and try them until I found a good solution with minimum side effects.  I ended up on a combination of Altace and Norvasc which has worked well for me for sevaral years.

[julian480]

My mom has had high blood pressure and has been rushed to the hospital 3 times in 2 weeks . She is experiencing episodes of high BP on a daily basis . It starts out with her face and neck turning beat red , she gets really hot and has to step out side . this last for about 2 to 5 minutes once she gets air or steps outside she feels better . ( Cold in Ohio ) In the past 3 months she has been diganosed with high cholesterol , High blood pressure , slight increase of enyzemes in paincrease and a thyroid problem  . She has lower back pain also has pain in her right hip when she sleeps this by the way occurs at night also when she is sleeping . She feels exhausted after her BP spikes . Once in the ER they send her home because they stablize the BP her DR. has no clue to what this might be ? If any one has experienced this I would greatly appreciate any input. She is on cholesteral and BP Medication . She is 56 and at first they were saying Menopause ?she currently is not on any hormones . I think this is much more than menopause ! Please help !