Brief Answer:
You may be having medication side effects coupled with insufficient fluids

Detailed Answer:
Good morning. I am a neurologist from the OHIO area and would like to suggest the following things for your consideration.

First of all, we are in the midst of a change of seasons which always brings with it an increase in colds, flus, viral illnesses, sore throats, and other respiratory ailments. As well (and as you've correctly pointed out....allergies can be at their height now with harvest season LITERALLY IN THE AIR!). Therefore, the symptom of lightheadedness in and of itself is not something that would come as a XXXXXXX to me as a physician to hear from someone if any of the above would have happened to them.

Add to that the fact that you are on a blood pressure lowering medication (which by the way- sounds very aggressive to me at 27 years of age). Are you sure you have really tried controlling your blood pressure using more conservative means such as dieting/exercise, reducing cholesterol, elminating smoking, and making sure you have a healthy diet before having to take something like lisinopril? Do you have a very intense family history of hypertension or do you have something unusual such as only 1 kidney or some form of congenital collagen vascular disease which causes juvenile hypertension?

Certainly, this consultation is not for your hypertension but I just really would like to know that you have tried every other means possible to get that pressure down before going to medication. If there've been any changes in your medication dosage in the past week or 2 then, certainly that would be the most likely culprit for your symptom of lightheadedness. If not, then, are you eating and drinking all the nutrition and fluids that you should be ingesting (especially if you are doing any type of heavy physical labor, working out in the heat, et.?).

When taking a blood pressure lowering medication and especially if the BP is being well controlled in a young person I am always cautious to counsel such patients that they should consider INCREASING THEIR fluid intakes from the usual recommendation of 64-80 fluid ounces of WATER daily to as much as 128-160 fluid ounces daily. That would be the additional cushion necessary againt there being any additional blood pressure lowering that would occur in conjunction with the medication such as not eating according to need or doing more physical labor above and beyond the usual regimen that could explain your symptoms.

If allergies are particularly getting in your way then, the sheer release of histamine into your system by pulmonary MAST CELLS which degranulate in response to allergens and other triggering antigens may be enough to be lowering your pressure. Are you taking over the counter antihistamines and/or prescription medications for allergies? The combination of these medications with the lisinopril can also cause problems.

I can't say whether you have diabetes or not unless you get formally tested. If you find that in fact, you are diabetic and that you are running chronically in a hyperglycemic (elevated sugar levels) state then, certainly this could also be another contributing cause to your symptom.

My best advice is to look very hard at the medications you are taking. Look at whether or not there is any way you could control your blood pressure using conservative means instead of having to use prescription drugs and get your bloodwork done to see whether or not you are converting over to a diabetic condition based on your family history. Again, lifestyle changes here could be hugely important to you and if you follow good habits you may be able to avoid becoming diabetic.

Increase your ingestion of fluids if that sounds like an appropriate thing that could be causing problems as well as improving your nutritional habits and schedule. Reduce the use of allergy medications by talking with your allergist and checking into allergy shots that you could possibly receive in order to desensitize you to certain offending factors if you know what they are. This will go a long way to help reduce your misery in the future just with allergies not to mention being able to avoid all the piles of medications (most of which are marginally effective but cause all sorts havoc with your system and interact with other medications) for the rest of your life.

I hope these suggestions satisfactorily address your question and give some additional information you can discuss with your doctor for how to attack this problem. If so, may I ask your favor of a HIGH STAR RATING with some written feedback?

Also, if there are no other comments, may I ask you not forget to CLOSE THE QUERY on your end so the question can be transacted and archived for further reference by colleagues as necessary?

You are invited to direct more comments or inquiries to me in the future by going to my web address at:

bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi

I would be honored to answer you quickly and comprehensively.

Please keep me informed as to the outcome of your situation.

The query has required a total of 18 minutes of physician specific time to read, research, and compile a return envoy to the patient.

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