I became imbalanced with confusion headaches, early December 07, and started taking Micardis (Telimisartan), for high blood pressure late December 07.
The imbalance symptoms pre-dated the micardis, however, it may be co-incidence, but my symptoms definitely became worse after starting Micardis.
To my GP’s horror, I have stopped Micardis for a few weeks, and balance (and confusion headache) symptoms have somewhat improved. The confusion headaches in particular have become much better.
Both my GP and my Neurologist tell me that Telimisartan cannot possibly have this effect. I want to believe them, but the proof is in the pudding.
I am going to restart the Micardis to see what happens. My blood pressure is significantly elevated. It was 177 / 105 yesterday.
Hi Dogby, I havent heard of this drug sorry>
I have heard of confusional head aches though, its just another variant , mostly seen in childrren but can carry on into adulthood.
jen
How weird. When I saw that phrase “confusion headaches” I didn’t know what it was either. But I thought of you, Jen. I guess I knew you would know what that was.
Hi Dogby, I havent heard of this drug sorry>
I have heard of confusional head aches though, its just another variant , mostly seen in childrren but can carry on into adulthood.
jen
— End quote
What I describe as confusion headache is a period of time - minutes to hours, when I cannot think - it literally “hurts” to think. Thats the best that I describe it. Jen ,Is that what you experience ?
Hi Dogby, yes absolutely, and I’m In a severe brain fog for the rest of the day, you know not quite all there.
I think it’s what some of us feel on this board, but it varies for every one.
I spend every day in a heavy fog daydream.
So hard to explain, I’m just coming to terms with the fact I’ve had this most of my life,but its just got really bad over 15 years, I thought EVERYONE lived like this.
No joke!!! I wonder what it feels like to be NORMAL.
So sad.
Dogby I absolutely think we all find a drug that will work for us,
It’s just a matter of trial and error.
This symbol is me to a tee, most days :shock: jen
Hi Dogby, I was only diagnosed in August 2007, so its been slow trial of drugs, so far I’ve tried
endep(elavil)
verapamil 320mg day now, back down to 240mg a day now
zoloft 50mg a day now.
neurontin 200mg at night .
Next week I’m trying topamax.
I won’t be taking the full 25 mg a day, I’ll be cutting those little tabs in tiny bits and starting slowly.
I’m very frightened but I’ve got to try something else as nothing has given enough relief so I can lead a normal life.
(Very rarely) if I can’t stand it anymore I take a tiny slice off a xanax pill and just take it easy for the day, but I don’t take it often, as addiction is likely.
I’ve had some awesome advice form some beautiful people here Dogby, and I hope you start to try some meds that others have tried regardless of what you might read, there is some horror story’s that could put us off, but every one is an individual on this board and I’m sure what doesn’t work for one person, could really help someone else.
It’s hard when you find a drug screws with you more than the illness, it is a living nightmare, but if we don’t try them we’ll never know!
I’m so sorry your suffering so much. :?
Warm regards jen.
I used to take Xanax after a period of extreme anxiety and panic attacks some years ago. My doctors were very keen to get me off it, because as you mention, it is addictive, and the more you take, the less it works.
However as you say …
"if I can’t stand it anymore "
I understand how it feels to not stand it.
My panic attacks returned with vengence at the onset of my balance disorder. I was close to loosing it. It was not a very good few weeks.
I wish I had seen your post earlier but I have been dealing with a major flood situation in the city I live in. What you say about stopping your meds I can understand, I had a doc put me on a med that wasn’t supposed to conflict with the meds I take but it did, and like you I quit. By the way, we both should have contacted our docs first. :lol:
The only way to truly diagnose for MAV is to rule everything else out first through your doctors, then try treating the symptoms as if they were migraine. Some doctors may want to try ruling out the migraines first. If things start to get better, then it was an accurate diagnoses. If not try different meds, or keep looking.
It is odd that you mention things got worse after trying a high blood pressure med. I am not familar with the med you discuss, so I don’t know what family it is in. The doctor who diagnosed me didn’t want me on any type of dieretic (water pills) for some reason. Since they are usually the first family of medication doctors try to reduce blood pressure I wonder if that might be the problem??? There are a couple of families of high blood pressure medications that are used for migraine prevention. I think that they are beta blockers, and channel C blockers. You might want to talk to your doctor about trying one of these.
There are a few families of medications that work as migraine preventatives. There are a few anti depressents that work, and the family I take belongs to the anti-seizure group. The only problem is that different doctors use only certain families of meds and won’t try others. Its gets frustrating but sometimes you have to go doctor shopping until you find one that will work with you.