gastroparesis, Lipitor & Benicar

Last Wednesday, I went to my PA and discovered that my cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure are all sky high. So, I got prescriptions for atorvastatin and olmesartan. Interesting changes occurred:

For some time, I have been having premature satiety, bloating, and also bowel movements of undesirable consistency (back and forth between constipation and diarrhea). Although I don't think the symptoms were quite strong enough to constitute gastroparesis, with my weight, age, and family history, I was wondering if I was experiencing some pre-diabetic problems.

Then, after taking the prescriptions for a few days, my bowel movements became well-formed and easily voided and I seem to be able to eat more now at one sitting and don't experience as much GI discomfort.

So, is gastroparesis treatable with statins and ARBs? I did a search on Google and in CINAHL Plus, and I couldn't find anything. In PubMed, I found two very sketchy sources:

Understanding the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of antihypertensive drugs will be of clinical importance in diabetic patients with advanced nephropathy (glomerular filtration rate of less than 30 ml/min) and/or other complications, such as impaired gastric motility or gastroparesis, and will thereby lead to a more rational management of hypertension in those patients. (1992)
...

Eight patients with postprandial hypotension and orthostatic hypotension were treated with the somatostatin analogue SMS-201-995. Low doses of this drug (0.2-0.4 microgram/kg) raised the blood pressure... Treatment was followed by abdominal cramps and nausea in two patients with gastroparesis diabeticorum...

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous27/1/11 13:00

    Niacine has a pro-neurologic effect as well as an effect of lowering cholesterol an lowering blood pressure.It can do this by using up tryptofane (tryptofane is also needed for serotonine-metatonine) When niacine is too low HDL can get low. HDL is also low in metabolic syndrome.
    The medicines you describe may influence this system as well.
    Our family has a history of hereditairy high LDL-low HDL cholesterol and gastroparesis with livercirrosis without drinking alcohol.
    Could it be you have an enzyme/vitamine deficiency by which you get relatively low HDL and high LDL and high blood pressure? It could even be metabolic.

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