Hey guys so far i feel like am dialed in almost.
Only thing is I started to take telmisartan for water retention and it works quite good. But somehow I feel like my mood and libido is not on point when I take it.
I am not 100% sure if telmisartan is the reason. But which ARB works like telmisartan and has a good half Life if telmi is the reason.
Did anybody have similar experience with ARBs and switched to another and fixed it.
My telmisartan dose is 20 mg. It was just for water retention.
Nelson recommended amiloride. But I am not sure if my doctor prescribes a diuretic.
@Nelson Vergel could i take amiloride daily? I always hear diuretics are dangerous etc
telmisartan is not a diuretic. It may, as many of the ARB's have done, be combined in the same pill or tablet, with a diuretic. Usually in the US, that is done with hydrochlorothiazide a well know potassium sparing diuretic. All the ARB's work the same way, and alll are effective. Candisartan is probably the most potent, but for a variety of reasons having to do with insurance coverage etc is not the most prescribed. For a host of very technical reasons, most med's for lowering BP can cause the issues you describe, but the ARB's are known for being very clean in side effects, or adverse events, and generally don't drive low libido or low mood. Libido is a fickle thing. Many, many things, can drive it or eliminate it.
I am amending my post. Hydorcholorthyazide is NOT. a potassium sparing diuretic. Potassium sparing diuretics like spironolactone work by lowering the amount of aldosterone an adrenal hormone that tells the body how much salt to absorb. the more salt or sodium, the more water your body needs the higher your BP goes. These diuretics may block the effect of androgens they can cause gynecomastia. However, these drugs are NOT used as first line diuretics, and NOT in combination with ARB's like Telmisartan, Valsartan, Losartan, Candasartan, or others. Those diuretics, like hydrocholorthyazide, do not affect androgens to nearly the degree and pose small risk if any, of interfering with testosterone. These drugs do not work the same way, and at the same sites in the kidney, and are not going to pose the same interference with testosterone. Generally aldosterone, which IS potassium sparing, is used more in patients who have heart failure, and other disease and often in combination with other diuretics. Perhaps one of the docs from
Defy could comment, but it is unlikely that any of these diuretics would have a significant effect on someone supplemented testosterone levels. I wanted to also add, I am NOT a physician but have worked in medical pharmaceuticals for a long time. Generally speaking the ARB's are an absolutely fantastic class of drugs for treating hypertension, with or without diuretics. They can not only lower someone's high BP, but because of they way they work, and how they work, can promote the health of your organs, including brain, kidney, heart, etc. Even with limited effect on BP, I would take one along with an agent to get my BP under control if I needed a second med to do so. In the early 2000's many of the cardiologists were taking them, like aspirin, just for the organ protective effect at low doses.
I still drink over a gallon of water every day of my life.
