BENICAR HCT Reviews (HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE: OLMESARTAN MEDOXOMIL)Average Rating: 2.7 (127 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare BENICAR HCT with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on BENICAR HCT: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR BENICAR HCT | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | hight blood pressure | extreme dizziness and nausea when bending over and then standing up. Felt like things were spinning and not level. usually lasts about 5 minutes. also when i turn my head fast felt dizzy. | F | 57 | 2 months 20 mg 1X day | 3/11/2010 | 5 | hypertension | After trying 4 other medications for hypertension all of which gave me persistent side effects ranging from dizziness to a chronic sore throat and cough, my doctor FINALLY switch my medication to Benicar HCT. It worked immediately to bring down my blood pressure with a relatively low dosage (20-12.5mg) and I had absolutely no side effects from the first dose. | Now my prescription plan has been switched to another provider and Benicar HCT is not on the approved list. I am now being force to try another medication for hypertension Diovan HCT before my doctor will complete the approval process for the Benicar. To buy the Benicar HCT without a prescription plan the cost would be over $250 for a 90 day supply that I used to get for a co pay of less than $50. I'm disgusted with my doctor for not pushing the approval process and taking the easy way out and just recommending one of the other medications. This after taking Benicar HCT with excellent results for over 5 years. | F | 61 | 5 years 20-12.5 mg 1X day | 3/10/2010 | 5 | Blood Pressure | No major side effects except frequent urination. | I was taking Benicar for one year with minor side effects. My insurance company changed their formulary, charging me more, so I requested my doctor change meds. I first tried Lisinopril, it gave me severe headaches, so dizzy I could hardly stand in the mornings, and a general bad feeling. I switched to Diovan, after 2 weeks my blood pressure shot up to 235/175 and was jumping all over the place, I had severe headaches, dizziness, and flu like symptoms. It was very scary!! I still had some Benicar left so I switched back. The following day my blood pressure was 117/72 and stayed within a few points of that, all headaches, dizziness, and bad feelings went away. I will stay with Benicar and pay the extra costs. | M | 65 | 1 years 40-25 1X day | 3/5/2010 | 2 | HTN | Severe muscle spasms. Cramping in my ear and weird little muscles. If I stretched my legs at night would generate a cramp. Joint pains, rash, itching. Fatigue and sleep problems. Forgetfulness. Cough, urinary problems seem to be enhanced. | It does control my blood pressure but at what price? Totally unable to lose weight. My absolute biggest problem is the incapacitating muscle cramps. Stood up from a chair the other day and one leg went into a total cramp. There is no worse pain in the world. Severe hip pain when walking. Now it has stopped and moved to my arms. Can't pick up a cup of coffee. All of my lab comes back 'normal.' I don't feel normal. Something is very wrong. I feel like a hypochrondriac and I am normally a very up-beat person. | F | 59 | 3 years 40 mg 1X day | 2/23/2010 | 4 | High Blood Pressure | An intense urge to urinate at the most twice per day. Occassional extreme dizziness aggravated by the sun and upon standing up. | I was on benicar by itself about two years ago, it worked for about a week, I missed three days, went back on and it did not work any more. Stayed off for two years, doctor recommended benicar hct and I've been on it almost a year. Aside from the previously mentioned side affects it has brought my bp from 200/97 to 120/76. I have not experienced any of the lethargy described by others, nor the depressive episodes. I did however keep my bp in check with exercise, but now, because of a busy lifestyle have not been able to exercise. Keep this in mind prior to taking any meds for bp, an active lifestyle is beneficial especially aerobic. | M | 41 | 1 years | 1/27/2010 | 5 | No seriously or lasting side effects. | This medication has drastically reduced my BP. When I was first diagnosed with high BP about a year ago my BP was around 160/90. I started out with Lisinopril and it didn't work and it gave me a dry cough. Now my BP averages around 115/65. some days are higher but overall it is much much lower than when I was diagnosed a year ago. | M | 34 | 1 years | 1/18/2010 | 3 | High Blood Pressure | Felt like I was going to faint. Urination 20 times a day (usually). Depression, lack of interest in things I used to be interested in. This medicine is way over-priced. Goes up every month. Needed Lopressor prescription, in addition to Benicar Hct, to get my BP down to normal levels. My prescription drug plan with WellCare Inc has eliminated it from their covered drugs in their PDP Plans. | M | 62 | 5 years | 1/17/2010 | 5 | High BP | Benicar HCT 40/12.5. Possibly a slight cough, although my doctor says it isn't due to this medication. I've had the cough with other BP meds as well, and it started when I started taking them. Could be acid reflux but I don't have all the symptoms for that. | After taking Benicar HCT for about a year I dropped the HCT and now take only Benicar. I prefer not taking medications and the reason for the diuretic was to deal with water retention. That was presumably caused by too much sodium (salt). I cut way back on salt and that helped so I tried dropping the HCT. My BP did go up a little as a result. Overall, I've had virtually no side effects with Benicar HCT or Benicar without HCT, except the possibility of a slight cough. Again, not sure the Benicar is causing the cough. Main problem is that there is no generic and my co-pay is pretty high. | M | 68 | 16 months | 1/14/2010 | 2 | hbp - started at 40 ... | pressures was 180s/90s - now still that high daily... ranging from 160s/85-95...but with five side effects; dizzy, nausua yet always hungry, extreme dry mouth, sleepless nights, leg cramps, blurry vision - making life unliveable... in bed most the time... | No impressed, with hbp I took occasional naps...now I am in bed 90% of the time, with no reduction in pressures. No money to go to dr. no confidence with this med. | F | 65 | 25 days | 12/20/2009 | 1 | HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE | I TOOK BENICAR HTC FOR 5 DAYS THE FIRST NIGHT I COULD NOT STOP GOING TO THE BATHROOM,THEN I STARTED GETTING SHORTNESS IN BREATH, TIGHTNESS IN MY CHEST AND BACK, HEART RACING, MUSCLE CRAMPS IN MY LEGS, FEELING WEAK. WENT TO DOCTORS OFFICE HE RAN BLOOD TEST, AND EKG THINKING I WAS HAVING A HEART ATTACK. RESULTS CAME BACK NEGATIVE. TOLD TO STOP TAKING MEDICATION. AFTER MISSING 3 DAYS OF WORK AND MEDS WORKED THERE WAY OUT OF MY SYSTEM I FELT FINE. | M | 40 | 5 days | 11/27/2009 | 1 | High Blood Pressure | I have been taking Benicar for a while and did not realize that my symptoms were due to this until reading the other customer comments. I was beginning to think that I was either close to death or insane. Extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, neck stiffness, choking, leg and toe cramping, dizziness, confused, depressed, lack of interest, heart pulpitations and didn't feel like I could walk across the room without running out of breath. If my daughter had not told me to research the side affects of this medicine, I would have never known. Scary | F | 58 | 6 months | 11/2/2009 | 5 | High blood pressure | I was initially tired, had strange feelings in my muscles at times. But after a about 6 weeks that went away and I have felt great. | The doctor tried me on two other medicines that did almost nothing for my blood pressure and I felt absolutely awful most of the time. Would give this a solid 5. | F | 62 | 5 months | 10/20/2009 | 1 | High Blood Pressure | Heart palpatations, anxiety, paranoia, sleep disturbance caused by bad dreams, overall behavior change, achiness, loss of enthusiasm. | This is my second try with this medication and I wish I had remembered the side effects I experienced the first time before I took more samples from my doctor. Discontinuing as of today and awaiting a call from my physician to discuss side effects and switch to another med........... | F | 47 | 10 days | 10/5/2009 | 3 | high blood pressure | Palpatations, severe muscle cramps and weakness, frequency to urinate, pain in middle of thoracic region. | Well, it does wonders with my blood pressure, but every time I take it, my legs start hurting very badly. Palpatations of my heart are frequent. Tiredness!! | F | 47 | 3 times | 9/21/2009 | 1 | HBP | Never had to take ANY meds before this. Doc said "try it" (March 2009). Lowered BP but with the cost fatigue,blurred vision,heavy eyelids,general overall aches. EXPERIENCED EXCRUCIATING FULL LEG CRAMPING!! | Relatively certain this med contributed to, or caused lumbar spinal nerve and disc complications I experienced near paralysis to lower extremities for past 4 1/2 months including right foot drop, the side on which I experienced the most severe cramps. Symptoms presented only after taking Benicar HCT 20/5. Stopped taking Benicar HCT 20/5 after 45 days. Doc said "no way" med had any link with my subsequent physical condition. Have slowly recovered with aid of PT. Believe my body flushing this poison out of my system as I am regaining functions without the suggested fusion spine surgery. MONITOR YOURSELF CAREFULLY ON THIS DRUG !!! | M | 56 | 45 days | 9/18/2009 | 4 | Stage 4 high Blood Pressure | It is premature to rate this drug but I wanted to note that this drug was chosen to quickly drop my blood pressure from a dangerous level. I was started at the 40 mg/25 HCT and I hope it is effective. I read through the symptoms and what I see to expect, is muscle cramps. Take not that no one mentioned a potassium supplement with the HCT as you usually need potassium. Also the age of some folks and slowing down will also make you feel tired. The drug seems to have good results in lowering pressure and it seems the side effects of feeling lousy are common. I hope it works for me. My BP was 220/122 when I began. So it is a bit challenging to imagine what should happen taking this spill beginning at maximum dose. | F | 55 | 5 days | 8/23/2009 | 1 | high blood pressure | severe muscle pain, no stamina, weakness, tiredness, sleepiness! Just plain lousy. | have had high BP readings for years. My physician had me on several different meds, but I kept complaining that they made me "dopey". So he'd try another. I started with Vasaretic many yrs ago, and it dropped my BP very good, then after a blood test, he took me off! Then it was this merry go round of different companies, trying to find something I could "tolerate". I thougt Benicar was the answer. But kept complaining about extreme tireness/weakness etc. So I had a mucsle biopsy done and the lab said "polymyositis". Ya sure. I have been on meds for that for a year now! But I still feel crappy. I am going to show this site to my doctor - soon! Have I been stupid or what! the year 2004 I had my really bad, first wiped out/sleepy event. Now I know I am not alone! | F | 74 | 5 years | 8/15/2009 | 2 | High Blood Pressure | So here I was at the ER for the first time of my life with a frightening tachycardia. This followed a set of unpleasant episodes (palpitations, arythmia and what appears as angina-like symptoms - tight chest, etc). Never had this before. These symptoms had been building-up for a few months. I consider myself at 53 in rather good health and fit: No more than 1 sick day in past 20 years, doing various sports, etc. My cholesterol is a steady 150 total. So I suspected my only medication: Benicar/HCT, 20mg/10, for more than a year. I stopped this, took palliatives such as Hawthorn, CoQ10 and Eucommia, as previous other medications had also annoying side effects. Within 3 weeks the most serious symptoms disappeared. But it took several months for the remaining angina-like symptoms to slowly abate but not completely. So not sure if these are medication-related, yet. | I do not buy the "Herxheimer" syndrom explanation that someone on this forum suggested: tests indicated no sign of infection at all. As the Benicar-enthusiasts of the MP protocol recognize themselves, Benicar hits a lot of receptors beyond what HBP requires. It is clear that long time exposure to these drugs modify your bio-chemical balance in a durable way. Now looking at less disruptive ways to maintain a lower BP. | M | 52 | 18 months | 8/9/2009 | 3 | High BP | I'm not too sure, but it certainly doesn't have the super depressive mental component that the ACE inhibitors have had for me. A little sour stomach sometimes after the first hour of taking it. | Lowered numbers from 150s over 100s, to low 130s over low 80s. Not too bad. I tried about 10 different drugs to lower BP over the last three years. This one seems to be the least oppressive in terms of side effects. I don't recommend it, but on the other hand, none of these poisons called "medicines" are anything but compromises. | M | 60 | 60 days | 6/2/2009 | 1 | High Blood Pressure | Chest and Back Pain--it is a grabbing pain if I turn a certain way. Been taking since mid March. I was put on Exforge in December and did the same thing to the point my Dr. set up 3 heart tests--including a heart cath--my heart is fine. | In my research for Exforge, I found information that this type of pain can be a side effect for people w'Fibromyalgia which I have had since 1993. As of tomorrow 5/18/09, I will be off BenicarHCT. I believe these 2 meds are beta blockers. | F | 71 | 60 days | 5/17/2009 |