Posted by Ueli (212.28.158.222) on April 12, 2000 at 14:36:10:
In Reply to: Calan posted by Christine on April 12, 2000 at 07:04:16:
Christine,
I take 560 mg/day of standard release verapamil (160 mg at breakfast at 11:00, 240 mg at dinner at 19:30 and 160 mg before going to bed around 03:00). This seems to be the minimal effective dose for me: if I forget to take one dose, I'm sure to be hit the following night.
As Dave and Bob mentioned, it relaxes the smooth muscles, but not only those around the blood vessels but all others as
well. So the muscles around the intestines don't work as well as they should, hence the often observed constipation. A few dried plums or apricots per day help me much against this (Thanks for this tip, Hal).
The heart, though being a striped muscle like the skeletal ones, behaves like a smooth muscle, being autonomously controlled. That's why verapamil helps against certain heart diseases, the primary use it was developed for.
My blood pressure has always been at the lower ranges (125/75, apparently in other units if 90/70 is in the normal range) and there wasn't much change due to verap. On the other hand, my resting pulse rate has dropped from a rather high 90-100 to a more acceptable 70-75 since taking verapamil (Oh yeah, in this respect I'm with Winston Churchill: exercise is something for the sick, but if you are sick you can't do much exercise).
PFNAD's,
Ueli