Is The Pain In Both The Ears Caused Due To Withdrawal Of Losartan? Can I Start Amlodipine Besylate?

Posted on Sun, 1 Dec 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 1 Dec 2013 Answered on

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Hello I have been taking Losartan-HCTZ 50-12.5 1 tab a day for approx. 1 yr. 10 days ago i consulted w/ my Dr. because i felt it was effecting sexual performance. My Dr. replaced the medication with Amlodipine Besylate 10mg. 1 tab a day. For 10 days now I have not taken either medication. My BP has over the 10 days been on average 10-20 points high, today it's been 160/102. My question is today i've had pain in both ears like ear aches, should i have gradually decreased Losartan and now should I start the new medication Amlodipine Besylate? Thank you for your time. Mark

Answered by Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (53 minutes later)

Brief Answer: Not related to amlodipine Detailed Answer: Hello Thanks for the query You need not have tapered and stopped Losartan, shifting over to amlodipine was a good switch. However a better switch would have been to give a Amlodipine with HCTZ as the diastolic is also on the higher side. Please approach your doctor with this suggestion. If you haven't started the new drug, please start it now. The pain in the ear is not related to the drug, literature does say that high blood pressure can cause ringing of the ears but this is seen is only in patients with even higher blood pressure readings. Please approach an ENT specialist for the ear pain I hope I was of help, if you have any further queries please get back to me I wish you good health Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar