u/PuzzleheadedBobcat85

38/F, 5’2”, 135lbs at the gym several times a week lifting, my blood pressure is at least 140/100 upon waking. By evening I’m usually 160-170/105-115. I feel like crap, I’m always tired. I have just had a visit with a kidney hypertension doctor that suspects some kind of aldosterone issue, as my potassium is low and my aldosterone is high and spironolactone did help but I’m off for family planning reasons.

My primary doctor tried me on labetalol and nifedipine and I had a migraine that made me curl into a ball and my entire body was pulsing. It was an absolute hellish experience. Since then I’m terrified of both medications.

My hypertension doctor prescribed me amlodipine. He put me on 10 but told me to split it in half, I bought a pill splitter and quartered it because, again, terrified of new meds and I’m pretty sure it was the vasodilator that caused my problems. 15 minutes ago I finally decided to try 2.5mg of the amlo with my normal 100mg of metoprolol with fingers crossed. My anxiety is NOT helping 🫠

My questions are

Has anyone been on this combo and had success with little side effects?

Has anyone been healthy overall yet still suffered high blood pressure at a young age? How did you manage? Did you find the root of the issue or just medicate?

Has anyone actually had an aldosterone issue and had it fixed through surgery? I have many tests and scans coming up so this might be something I will be faced with.

I’ve seen a lot of people posting about positive reactions with saffron supplements but I just wanted to document my horrible experience.

For the record I am AuDHD female 38 y/o. I was having a very normal day with nothing else different to my routine.

I did a lot of research looking for a supplement to help my mood, blood pressure and whatever positive things to give me a life boost. I can’t take rx meds for mental health, they jack me up worse. So I fell onto saffron a few weeks ago.

I finally ordered and took my first dose today. Within 20 minutes my vision started getting weird. I’d be lookin gay my phone and realize parts of words I’m focusing on were blotted out like I looked at the sun. I started feeling anxious like a panic attack was coming on. I didn’t correlate it to the saffron yet.

Within 40 min I was getting peripheral movement in my vision. Like it was wavy, almost like being on lsd but just on the peripherals, absolutely bizarre. My anxiety was a full blown attack at this point. Within an hour I have a headache, I’m super overstimulated and freaking out and nauseous.

It’s been about 3 hours and I forced food and a shower. I still don’t feel great but my vision is normal and I’m no longer having a panic attack. But I don’t think I’ll ever touch that again 😭