Dear Teri,
You are not alon, many patients need 3 or more antihypertensives, and things only tend to get worse as we age, in part due to increased stiffeness of the arteries. In terms of medication choices, it is interesting that you are on Verapamil (since you see an EP doc there has to be some
arrhythmia not disclosed in the text) and not on
amlodipine, which is a far stronger antihypertensive.
Benazepril is a good medication. Isordil usually is seen more as an antianginal for coronary artery disease; if both an antianginal and antihypertensive effect is needed, then a more reasonable choice would be an alpha-
beta blocker such as carvedilol.
If you end up with 4 medications at maximum doses, with compliance and still "no luck", then searching for causes for
resistant hypertension could be considered. But not till then, and also until other factors (see below) are addressed.
Other factors, such as excess weight, sedentarism, smoking, etc have to be addressed as well before medication increases.
Hope that helps
Dr Brenes-Salazar
Mayo Clinic Rochester