I've been taking toprol xl 100 mgs. for blood pressure for 8 years. It has been keeping my bp in the range of 130/75 to 140/80. Recently I was sick with a very bad sinus infection and respiratory infection and my bp jumped to 170/100 then down to 166/80. My doctor added norvasc 5 mg. I've been taking it for 14 days. After one week my pb went down to 138/80. I am having some not so nice side effects from this medication. I have chronic sinusitis for 15 years and suffer several bad infections a year. No other health issues. I am a female, 5'2" tall and need to lose about 50 lbs. I am 62 years old. Is it at all possible that the infection caused by bp to escalate? In all the years I have been of toprol, I've only had one incident where my bp jumped to 160/90. I do not want to continue on the norvasc. Would it be possible for me to cut the dosage to 2.5 mg? I will discuss it with my doctor, but I know what he will tell me. No offense to any of the doctors, but sometimes doctors just don't listen when a patient tells them how bad their medication makes them feel. I'm terrified of taking an additional medication, especially a calcium channel blocker like norvasc. Please advise what other medication may be helpful besides norvasc. Thank you.