I had emergency abdominal surgery back in 2013 for a perforated abcess in my peritoneal cavity. Went septic and almost died. While recovering my BP was on average 190's/115 and had the RN's kinda freaked out. They put me on Coreg, Lisinopril, Metoprolol and a bunch of others but nothing brought my BP down. This went on for the better part of a week. Then about 2 days before discharge (I was in there for 10 days) they tried Amlodipine 5mg which worked amazingly well. I responded even better to 10mg so thats what I was on until about about a year ago. Mind you I took it religiously and all the while I had this consistent SOB and this fucking cough that never seemed to go away while on it but I never put 2 and 2 together. I was also on Pantoprazole 40mg/daily for GERD. I also have a hiatal hernia. A few members here pointed out that some people have odd side effects that don't fit into the norm when taking prescription meds so I decided to drop one and then the other and it was the Amlodipine that caused my SOB/cough. You have no idea how relieved and happier I am w/o that fucking cough. It took a while for me to convince my doc but when I no longer needed the inhaler he said, "well I'll be damned!". So I needed a replacement and multiple members here suggested Telmisartan so I gave that a shot. Again, my doc was like, Telmisartan? Started me on 40mg which worked but not as good as 80mg...and no cough or SOB!! Stoped taking the PPI as well and just watch what/when I eat so as to avoid as much reflux as possible.
I think the moral here is that everyone responds differently to medication. What works for me may not for you so you kind of need to be your own advocate and having a cooperative PCP who is willing to work with you.