Candesartan for headaches

[heapsreal]

Ongoing chronic headaches thathave been unresponsive to all the usual preventative meds. My dr suggest i try candesartan for my bp instead of olmesartan as studies show it helps migraines. 6 days in and yesterday after work i didnt need any sort of headache meds. Im actually suprised i lasted all 4 of my work days. So far candesartan seems positive and is control bp abit better.
Cheers

 

[Wayne]

So far candesartan seems positive and is control bp abit better.

Hi @heapsreal -- Whenever I run across a drug I haven't heard of before, I do an online search on the drug and tinnitus (you guessed it, I have troublesome tinnitus). Here's what I found (snippet below). -- BTW, I controlled my chronic headaches for years by doing coffee enemas. My headaches are about 90% improved since those decades of chronic pain.

Candesartan and Tinnitus
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote,

I saw your list of ototoxic drugs on the American Tinnitus Association website. Since I take 8 mg of Atacand daily and have moderate to severe tinnitus I was wondering if there is a non-ototoxic medication comparable to Atacand. The medication works well to control my blood pressure, but my tinnitus seems to be getting worse. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.​

​

Candesartan (Atacand) can cause tinnitus in some people—somewhere between 0.5 and 1% according to the PDR and CPS—although the real figures will be higher since not all side effects are reported by any means.
All the Angiotensin-2 receptor blockers, which includes all the “sartan” drugs such as Candesartan, are listed as causing tinnitus...

 

[heapsreal]

Hi @heapsreal -- Whenever I run across a drug I haven't heard of before, I do an online search on the drug and tinnitus (you guessed it, I have troublesome tinnitus). Here's what I found (snippet below). -- BTW, I controlled my chronic headaches for years by doing coffee enemas. My headaches are about 90% improved since those decades of chronic pain.

Candesartan and Tinnitus
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

A man wrote,

I saw your list of ototoxic drugs on the American Tinnitus Association website. Since I take 8 mg of Atacand daily and have moderate to severe tinnitus I was wondering if there is a non-ototoxic medication comparable to Atacand. The medication works well to control my blood pressure, but my tinnitus seems to be getting worse. Any comments will be greatly appreciated.​

​

Candesartan (Atacand) can cause tinnitus in some people—somewhere between 0.5 and 1% according to the PDR and CPS—although the real figures will be higher since not all side effects are reported by any means.
All the Angiotensin-2 receptor blockers, which includes all the “sartan” drugs such as Candesartan, are listed as causing tinnitus...

No tinnitus yet for me . It seems a few of the sartan drugs have specific effects besides lowering bp. I read one that also lowers cholesterol and another that improves insulin sensitivity and arent combination drugs.
I always look through any med im prescribed to see how it works but cant find anything specific to candesartan and how it works for migraines/headache prevention.
Struth, tinnitus with a migraine, you'd just want to be ko'd.

 

[kangaSue]

Here's an interesting hypothesis on the origin of migraines - that they can occur from heightened sympathetic tone resulting in progressive central microvascular constriction, and vasodilatory neutraceuticals can promote microvascular dilation to reduce the effect of headaches.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7468811/

 

[Judee]

I had a work friend who used to get bad migraines until they switched her bp medication. Glad it worked well for you too.

 

[kewia]

I got it prescribed today from my GP.

I took it and thought I would die. Heavy neck & head inflammation, high heart rate. It wonders me because it is an anti-inflammatory.

 

[BrightCandle]

I used Candesartan for about a year. It definitely reduced the severity of my headaches from 6/10 to 3-4/10 but it also increased my vertigo from 2/10 to about 5/10 so it was a bit of a problem. What got me off it initially was Joshua Liesk's protocol, that seems to resolve the bulk of my headaches and is still doing so 15 months later. I haven't used Candesartan for quite a while although I keep the repeat active with my GP incase I need to restart.

The other drug they gave me was Electrophan and that was really effective, that would clear a migraine after the second dose pretty quickly. However you can only use it 6 days a month and the headaches would be back the next day so it was only a way to get 6 half days free of the pain a month.

 

[heapsreal]

I got it prescribed today from my GP.

I took it and thought I would die. Heavy neck & head inflammation, high heart rate. It wonders me because it is an anti-inflammatory.

I will say it took a few months for headaches to lesson. My BP is very irregular and goes up when I have a headache which isn't surprising.
I've also been put on a low dose of Amlodipine to get BP down. I wonder if it's apart of the autonomic dysfunction many of us have. My BP has been as high as 180/100 probably with a headache and as low as 115/70 within the same week or even a few days apart. My GP has said he doesn't usually see blood pressures vary that much. I do have white coat syndrome so when he takes it, it's usually really high. He gives up taking it and goes of what I take. I usually do a 5 day am and pm reading for him every so often.

I do believe there's a connection with my shingles which is on my head and my headaches and BP. I didn't need BP meds until I had my first shingles outbreak. Struth, that 6 yrs ago now.

 

[kewia]

I do have white coat syndrome

Well, I probably too. But I didn't think it's the white coat. Rather it is the real world with all the noises and visual sensations and also the talk with foreign people.
You are at high stress when talking to foreign people.

 

[heapsreal]

Well, I probably too. But I didn't think it's the white coat. Rather it is the real world with all the noises and visual sensations and also the talk with foreign people.
You are at high stress when talking to foreign people.

Very true. Why I take my own BP regularly for 5 days and get an average and show the dr. When he takes my BP he always says I don't know why I bother it's through the roof and he knows its not accurate. But I keep an eye on it which he knows.