My doctor prescribed one of those newer-generation medications for a case of slightly high blood pressure I’ve had for as long as I can remember.

I’m sure you’ve seen the ads for these new medicines in magazines like Golf Digest and on TV.  They come with a long laundry list of possible side effects, like:

“Possible side effects include migraines, dizziness, loss of appetite, sudden bleeding from the mouth and rectum and possession by the Prince of Darkness…”

Things like this make me wonder if the original malady was really so bad in the first place.

I HATE prescription medicine.  I always have and I always will.  You hear about these inspiring stories of people who get rid of all kinds of medications by making better life decisions like diet and exercise, and it galls me to no end that no matter what good decisions I make, I’m moving in the wrong direction medicine-wise.

So in one doctor’s visit, the sphygmomanometer read 132/84 when the nurse took it, and then it was 147/90 when my doctor did the same thing a few minutes later.

My doctor told me that he himself takes blood pressure medicine and that the one he prescribes is one of the cleanest ones out there, meaning that there were more side effects reported with the placebos in test groups.

I suppose things could be worse.  At least I don’t have a problem with cholesterol.  I reluctantly agreed to try it.

A couple of days later, I picked up 30 150 mg tablets of Irbesartan at CVS.  (It’s a good thing I’m not a doctor-how they commit all these medicines to memory is beyond me).

After reading the information that was stapled to the pharmacy bag, what started as some uncertainties evolved into downright concerns.  The descriptions of who shouldn’t take this medicine and why made me wonder how the FDA defines “safe”.

I didn’t start taking it right away, but when I did, it started to feel like I was coming down with a cold.  This is unusual because for one thing, it’s Summer, and I’ve survived at least the past three Winters (with three kids coming home from school with every malady under the Sun) without a single sniffle.

This was weird, though.  There was no fever, no chills or dizziness and no achy joints.  Just a laryngitis-like sore throat and cough.  It wasn’t in my lungs, so I still kept running.  In fact, I ran the Cigna 5k in Manchester on August 8th and I exceeded my expectations.

As I took the medication, things got worse.  I was having trouble sleeping and it was affecting other parts of my life.  NOT okay.  After five days, I decided enough was enough and stopped.

Today was a follow-up appointment at the doctors office.  I told him the whole story and he didn’t argue with me or play down what I was trying to describe.  I was expecting a more dogmatic, medicine-oriented response, but what I got instead was:

“What are you already doing to keep your blood pressure down?”

“Well, tomorrow is day 629 of consecutive running days.”

“WHAT???”

I know I mentioned this at my last visit about 2 months ago.  Maybe he missed the number.

“Yeah, 19 miles last Sunday, and shorter runs throughout the week…  I’m getting ready for the New Hampshire Marathon and Reach the Beach is coming  up…”

This time, he took my blood pressure and it was about 136/80.  “Tell you what”, he said, “Let’s keep what we’re doing now and we’ll revisit things again in 4 months.”

I suppose I could wait until all the symptoms go away and try another experiment to make sure the medicine was the culprit, but this last week really kind of sucked and I’m not about to repeat the experience.

After this whole episode, I have less faith than ever in this new generation of prescription drugs.