Q: I am a 50 years old male, and I want to know whether there is any side effects of taking the following medicines which i have been taking since the last 6 to 7 years: Dilzem-30 twice + Listril 2.5

A:Dilzem is not the name of the medicine but a brand name given to it by a manufacturer. The name of the medicine is Diltiazem. In clinical practice, plain diltiazem - the one you are taking - is no longer in vogue. We now prefer diltiazem in continuous release preparation such as Dilcontin Continus. In fact, in most advanced countries like Britain, plain diltiazem has been withdrawn from the market. In these countries only controlled release products that act 24-hours a day are prescribed. Instead of taking the plain 30 mg tablet twice a day, you should take one tablet of 60 mg continous-acting product such as Dilcontin Continus 60 mg once daily in the morning.
Listril is the brand name of a medicine called Lisinopril. Every thing else remaining equal, price should be an important factor while prescribing a brand, particularly when a medicine has to be taken for life. Unfortunately many prescribers do not keep this in mind. Lisoril brand is as good as any other brand and is economically priced among all similar brands. There are no problems in taking diltiazem continuous release preparation along with lisinopril over prolonged periods.
For your age (50 years) and height (160 cm), you are substantially over weight. Weight reduction to some where 75 kg along with permissible exercise (such as brisk walk for 45 minutes a day to cover 4.5 km) would give you lot of benefit, decrease your blood pressure, increase coronary blood flow, reduce the need to take more drugs and above all prevent the possibility of developing diabetes in future.