Yeah, it's frustrating when medical professionals don't differentiate between patients who are trying to stay healthy and those who've given up and plan to finish their lives watching TV and exercising only the Cheetos and coke lifting muscles. I've had both types of doctors.
I took amlodipine around 25 years ago for severe headaches -- for some folks with migraines, calcium channel blockers and beta blockers can help. The only side effects I remember were low energy, dizziness and depression. At the time I wasn't exercising and had gained about 50 lbs, so I probably wouldn't have noticed any minor swelling. I did later develop some swelling of my feet and ankles but if I'm recalling correctly I'd discontinued the amlodipine by then.
Since then I've lost 50 lbs, partly exercise, partly diet. Now I have a beta blocker for occasional severe headaches but don't take it daily. My BP and cholesterol seem good. I do experience some low energy from the beta blocker but it passes within a day. Supposedly we get accustomed to it with daily usage. I'd rather not find out.
Strokes are pretty terrifying no matter what the age or cause. When I was younger and worked for a tissue bank harvesting tissue and organs from donor cadavers, my first donor with the team was a woman in her early 20s who dropped dead from a massive cerebral stroke while at an air show with her family. No previous history of medical problems. It was one of those experiences that left me feeling a little less invulnerable despite my youthful arrogance. Later my mom had many TIAs and her older half-brother had major strokes and heart problems. Both ended up with dementia in their late 70s.
After a bike ride this weekend a friend and I were chattering about our encounters with mortality via cancer -- his, skin; mine, thyroid -- both relatively easily treatable. But once that C word is in mind, it's hard to shake the thought. It's made us both more determined to enjoy our time and make the most of what we have. Another friend tried to change the subject, apparently uncomfortable with it and trying to seem reassuring. But I think she misunderstood our point -- that we've found our own ways of coping, which includes acknowledging the thing rather than ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist.