I have always thought that a good course of action for prescribing blood pressure meds was this: angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors like Lisinopril. After which you try strong diuretics like Lasix. If those don’t work, you can try clonidine for CNS depression of cardiovascular system, or you can offer a beta blocker like Lopressor which works to slow the heart and decrease cardiac output hence pressure on arterial walls and vessels. Beta blockers are contraindicated in asthmatic patients (like myself, who hadn’t had an asthma attack since I was a kid until I confidently feeling I no longer had asthma, decided it was safe to go w/ a beta blocker, but *oh no!*). So, I guess I am saying that before I would move beyond slowing the heart or knocking the CNS a bit back, those 2 being the outer limits of what is a first approach (and I’m not talking about slight hypertension, I am talking severe long-term medically dangerous hypertension that is difficult to control and not responding to diet/lifestyle modifications), the very last thing on my list is a calcium channel blocker, because it works by forcing vessels to dilate, the danger being someone who has had constricted vessels for a long time or heart conditions in general will more likely have plaque build up, blood clots, and etc. The calcium channel blocker, in my opinion, is dangerous b/c w/out the proper pre-tests, it can set someone who is pre-disposed to stroke, heart attack, or cardiac arrest due to past heart complications on a collision course with plagues that were previously lodged in places other than, say, your brain, lungs, leg arteries, and in or around the heart. Well, I finally had to go that route after unsuccessful treatment w/ everything *but* the betablocker. and clonidine only works for a short time. My diastolic pressure is the most "out there" at >100 nearly every time I test and sometimes much higher. My heart gets next to nothing in of rest between beats (and my pulse if very high at 120 +/- 10 pts at rest. That’s why the betablocker was a good choice for me (too bad about the asthma). I haven’t had any of the tests completed yet, and I can’t really afford them right now, but I get horrible headaches and my vessels throb throughout my body. It’s terrible and not an a symptomatic case in the least! Plus my biological died of stroke in her 50s, and I’m in my 30s. Any calcium channel blocker horror stories?
Not true that "I have made up my mind." Obviously, I have taken the advice of my doctor and filled the prescription and started on it. I am ready to do just about anything that will help. Right now, my bp is my enemy, not my medication; still, I have been skeptical, which is why I asked the question. My blood pressure is slowly coming down, and my bood doesn’t feel like a mercury guage. I am happy to read all you had to say, but wish it weren’t so nastily toned toward me, personally.

coz i keep hearing that it’s not good for young people to take blood pressure reducing drugs, is it just something that people keep mumbelling about, or is it based on facts,
& what exactly about Angiotensin-converting Enzyme Inhibitors coz i read in wikipedia they’r used to treat heart failure (my heart is working fine)