ACE Inhibitors/problems

[BarronOKirky]

Hey all, new user here.

Been type 1 now for about 7 years, in the last year my control hasn't been as good as it could have been, due to mixtures of university stress and getting kicked out for 2 weeks due to an administration error (which almost destroyed me) , family problems, threatened court action by my landlord.

Everything was starting to get back to normal, started to get my Blood Sugars back to normal and sorting my life out, went to my annual clinic mid November. Came back home from uni for the weekend and found a letter from my Doctor, after last clinic a "slight leak of protein from the kidneys" was found in urine and they want to put me on ACE inhibitors.

Anyone else have experience being on these, had any problems with this or what will happen in later life. Fingers crossed i'm not going to end up in the condition i was in after just i've dug myself out of it.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Will

 

[Northerner]

Hi Will, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about all the problems you have recently had to deal with, but good to hear that you are getting things back on track. ACE inhibitors are a fairly common medication for people with diabetes, and are principally used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), but also have a beneficial effect on the kidneys. You can recognise an ACE inhibitor because they end in -pril, e.g. ramipril.

Some people do experience some side-effects with them, the commonest being a tickly cough - if you experience this then you can be changed onto a different type of medication called an ARB. Whilst I didn't experience the cough, I did start having other side-effects (nausea, headaches) when I increased the dose of ramipril, so was changed onto an ARB called candesartan. Since I have been on this I have not experienced any side-effects.

Hopefully, the problems with your kidneys will only be temporary and due to the stressful situations you have been in and consequent poor control. I have been able to reduce the dose of candesarten over time and my kidneys (and blood pressure) are now fine.

These pages describe the two types of medication more fully:

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/ace-inhibitors

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Medicines/Medicinetypes/ARBs

 

[trophywench]

Hiya - I was on an ACE (purely preventative in my case, which I'm happy about) Lisinopril - although my BP had actually crept up slightly higher than the lower range they like us Ds to have - and got that cough after about 2 years, so changed to an ARB. I've never had any probs whatsoever with it. Never had to have the dose changed or anything.

Since I started the ARB they decided my one (Olmesartan) was too expensive so changed it to Losartan. No probs whasoever.

And keeping your BP in check is a really really GOOD thing to do to assist your kidneys - and for (or rather, against LOL) possible retinopathy.

I'm sure there may be other side effects that someone could have (every single drug ever made has them!) but so far, so good in my case. And I have to add you don't hear hardly anyone compain about ACE or ARB side effects, other than that pesky cough in either case. (Some of the heavier duty BP drugs yes, but not the 'first line of defence' ones that these are.)

Give em a fair trial and see how you get on.

 

[bennyg70]

Hiya mate,

I know exactly what its like going through uni life and all the trials and tribulations of living the style whilst trying to manage ( or not ) My diabetes.

I didnt actually encounter any problems when at uni - But more recently (7 years later) now i live a settled, thinner and healthier life... grrr. I too had a small leak of protein from my kidneys to my urine and have now been on Losartan (I believe this is an elternative to ramapril and the like) for about 2 months. My BP is a little higher than it should be also so these should help.

My understanding that with good control, good BP control and a healthy diet (Cutting the chinese's (High salt) out to name one my doctor told me) it can be stabilised or even reversed. Between the gp finding protein and the appointment with the specialist I believe the changes I made, Became even healthier, upped the exercise and got myself under control... There was a significant difference in the level of protein in the test - Im positive it was down to my changes and do believe myself in reversle.

I went through months of panic and worrying but my understanding is its certainly managable and can be stabalised for many many years. Ive even looked on the bright side and told my self it was the kick up the backside I needed to take control of it all, and Ive certainly done my best to do that.

Ps if you smoke - Please quit!!

Good luck & try not to stress.