matador
03-15-2009, 09:20 AM
Just before Xmas I visited the docs and whilst there asked for my blood pressure to be taken. To my shock, it was really high (200/120) and she suggested extercise and cutting out salt which I did and it came down to around 160/100 bit better but still too high.
3 months later and I still hadn't been able to reduce it but had noticed that even when taking it at home I could feel my heart starting to pound as soon as I picked up the cuff.
As I knew she would want to put me on BP tablets I asked about going on anti anxiety medication for a while to see if that helped, as I'm not overweight etc etc and don't feel that I should have high bp. I also am a little anxious perhaps generally ... though it's probably become so background that I'm not even aware of it
Anyway .. she is trying me on 10mg of amitryptyline for a few weeks and early indications after a few days are fairly good with BP being around 145/95 which isn't too far off what I want it to be.
So that's the background .... But I do have a few questions
1) How safe is it to drink alcohol on this med ? I went out last night and had 3 glasses of wine and a couple of pints of beer and after falling asleep in front of TV I decided it was probably best not to take my meds as it says to avoid alcohol. This morning my BP went through the roof !!! Is it safe to drink say a couple of pints and take it would you say ? (given that I should probably watch my intake anyway as it seems to affect bp but don't want to miss out on a few beers every now and then)
2) I understand that for depression, this medication can take a couple of weeks or so to start to work ... is it the same for anxiety or does it work sooner ?
3 months later and I still hadn't been able to reduce it but had noticed that even when taking it at home I could feel my heart starting to pound as soon as I picked up the cuff.
As I knew she would want to put me on BP tablets I asked about going on anti anxiety medication for a while to see if that helped, as I'm not overweight etc etc and don't feel that I should have high bp. I also am a little anxious perhaps generally ... though it's probably become so background that I'm not even aware of it
Anyway .. she is trying me on 10mg of amitryptyline for a few weeks and early indications after a few days are fairly good with BP being around 145/95 which isn't too far off what I want it to be.
So that's the background .... But I do have a few questions
1) How safe is it to drink alcohol on this med ? I went out last night and had 3 glasses of wine and a couple of pints of beer and after falling asleep in front of TV I decided it was probably best not to take my meds as it says to avoid alcohol. This morning my BP went through the roof !!! Is it safe to drink say a couple of pints and take it would you say ? (given that I should probably watch my intake anyway as it seems to affect bp but don't want to miss out on a few beers every now and then)
2) I understand that for depression, this medication can take a couple of weeks or so to start to work ... is it the same for anxiety or does it work sooner ?