Want To Stop Lisinopril (Top voted first)

I've been on Lisinopril for almost 10 years. Started out taking 10 mg along with baby aspirin once a day. Im now on 20 mg once a day. Last year I got pancreatitis and am now diabetic due to my pancreas being inflamed. I believe it's from the Lisinopril and metabolism booster I was taking. I had another pancreas attack last Saturday but am feeling much better now. I'm not a drinker and there's nothing wrong with my gall bladder. I'm gonna try the mash diet but I'm scared going cold turkey on the Lisinopril, yet I don't want it hurting me anymore. What should I do?

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I take 10 mg of lisinopril every evening. For 5 years. My blood pressure wasn't scary high, but sometimes 140/80. Now I seem to have developed type 2 diabetes and am taking 500 mg of metformin twice daily. I've had a dry cough since shortly after starting the lisinopril. I religiously do liver and kidney function and all seems fine. Now suddenly my potassium is 5.8. Which I believe I managed to lower. I really want to un-med as much as possible and go the natural route. I am 61. Am consistently losing weight (80 lbs in a year and a half).

So over a 3 month time frame have added ginger tea once in the afternoon. A blackberry tea at mid morning. Cinnamon in my decaf coffee every morning. 1000mg chromium piclonate in the morning. 1000mg fish oil morning and evening, a quarter of a cup of organic aloe vera juice in water daily. 1200mg of turmeric twice daily. 1ml of prickly pear juice up to twice a day (it's great for headaches...poof. they're gone). My A1C is down to 6.0, and when I test (4 times daily) it's between 110 and 90. No extreme highs. No extreme lows. I gave up salt years ago (my dead husband was an in denial diabetic with high blood pressure...he thought 199/100 was normal - eventually ended up on dialysis and dying of a heart attack). So I've stuck with the diet I tailored for him. Very little if any fried foods, very few potatoes or anything white, balsamic vinegar is my best friend. Red meat once a week. Chicken maybe twice a week and a shellfish once a week. Tons of broccoli. Fresh baby spinach salads with tomatoes and a dressing I make with the balsamic vinegar. No processed foods. Very little stuff from cans. Very little milk, easy on the eggs. Little or no sugar. An ounce of deep dark chocolate 87% cacao a day. I'm in love with Greek yogurt and eat one in the morning. Nighttime snack may be 2 pieces of toast with butter, or another yogurt, or a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese or a couple of ounces of extra sharp cheddar cheese with unsalted crackers. I do not eat fast food and seldom eat out (when I do it's somewhere with fresh food freshly made).

I haven't felt this good in 40 years, my hair is healthy (below my waist) and my fingernails grow like crazy and have never been this healthy.

I seem to have a very old school doctor that keeps wanting to throw meds at me, quacks about wasting my money on herbs and supplements, so rather fear I'm on my own here. And changing doctors is not an option as it's a small community. Now he's trying to make me take a statin. My cholesterol is 310. My triglycerides are 248. In April, my cholesterol was 250 and triglycerides were 479. I credit that drop to the fish oil. And the hike in cholesterol to good old Thanksgiving. I've also added a chamomile, Valerian, lemon grass and hibiscus tea right before bed. I only drink filtered water or my aloe drinks, a cup of decaf, and my other teas.

I feel great. But want off of the lisinopril and the metformin. There just has to be a better way than just having more Rx thrown at me. Yes. I exercise. I do yoga breathing twice a day and meditate. I'm not depressed, my memory is sharp, and seem to have no problems with my reasoning processes.

Frankly I plan on living to 99 and driving my grown son insane.

Help?

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Hello, Cheri! How are you feeling?

Going off such a medication cold turkey isn't a good idea, because as listed by the FDA, it may cause dangerous elevations to your blood pressure and heart rate.

If you think it has been contributing to your problem, you should discuss it with your doctor, because there are other medications you can try, while instituting the DASH diet and trying to lower it naturally, to eventually get off blood pressure medications, if possible.

I tried Lisinopril myself several years ago and it made me miserable, so I had to switch to Atacand, which worked great and isn't known to cause as many side effects. It's a medication you could ask your doctor about.

Is there anything else I can help with?

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Re: Morgan (# 3)

Wow, you are an inspiration to me! I'm 51, been taking Lisinopril for around 4 years I think. I also take Nature Throid for a hashimotos thyroid. I want to go off Lisinopril. My A1C got to 6 last year and my doctor gave me 4 months to lower it and lose weight, and I did, so I did not have to go on Metformin, but I know it's right there staring at me, waiting for my score to get to 6.0 again. I have gained some of the weight back, so now I'm doubling down in what is usually the hardest time of the year for me to lose weight, at the beginning of the Fall/Holiday season, but I won't complain because this is the only way for me to stay off Metformin. I have to get it together. I'm hoping that with the weight loss I plan on having (!) that I will also be able to go off Lisinopril. It has done a great job in keeping my BP low, but I'm uncomfortable with the side effects I'm hearing about and the ARDS that the original poster talked about.

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Sorry bout that. I read what I wrote. It's not the mash diet. It's called dash diet. Dietary approaches to stop hypertension

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