Anyone else here on beta blockers? What are your side effects?

[AshevilleGuy]

I'm recently on Atenalol for blood pressure and tachycardia. This is the first prescription med I have ever been on. It's really helping the tachy, which I inherited from my father, but I am sleepy now ALL the time! Because of the tachy, I can't take any sort of caffeine to offset.

Anyone on this med or similar?? What are your side effects?

[MonkeyFunk]

1. never had that one...

but I gave up on the others I was on. I don't trust 'em.

I think we know very very little about heart disease at the moment. I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I went on Atkins for a month, and had my all my tests done again and the doc was amazed at the improvement.

I'm not saying it's for everyone, but for some of us, carbs are a helluva lot worse than dietary fat.

My dad has ultra low cholesterol and eats bacon and eggs every day. My mom has super-high cholesterol and has been on a low fat diet since the 70s.

I had a stent put in a few years ago, and now the research is showing that stents suck.

A lot more research needs to be done.


edit: Today, I take one aspirin and a niacin pill every day, and I'm trying to quit smoking.

[ThingsGottaChange]

2. I've been on Atenolol for a hundred years

It can make you have less energy but, I think that goes away after a while. Or you could do like me and have severe anxiety for 50 years. That'll keep ya from falling asleep! Seriously, you should get used to it pretty quick. I've never had any side effects from it. Do you take it in the am or pm?

[AshevilleGuy]

8. I take 25 mg when I get up.

That is, when I stagger to the living room and sit for two hours fighting going back to bed, before I can even shower of dress. All I want then is to sleep even more. I started two months ago, but it's just getting worse. Doctor said it would do this.

I've never been a morning person anyay.

[Radio_Lady]

14. I take 100 mg. at night. It helps put me to sleep.

I'm also supposed to take 100 mg. in the morning, too, but I can only tolerate 50 mg. Sometimes, I just don't even take the morning dose.

I've taken it for years without much success. Blood pressure is still borderline high.

[DemoTex]

3. I am an airline pilot on long-term-disability because of atenolol lethargy.

I am on 50mg/day of atenolol, split in two 25mg doses to minimize the lethargy. Still, I take my morning atenolol (and diazide) and I have to take a nap by about 10am. I take a second nap mid-afternoon.

I was allergic to all other classes of B/P meds (alpha-blockers, ACE inhibitors, angio-tensin-2 inhibitors, calcium-channel blockers, etc). They all induced wicked bronchitis. Too much of that results in C.O.P.D. and other pulmonary ailments.

So the beta-blockers are my life-line. Atenolol and diazide keep my B/P rock-steady at 115/65 or so. Previously, I have seen 225/110.

PM me if you have any more questions on this.

Mac

[AshevilleGuy]

9. Wow. 50mg and I would stay in bed!

I also take Lotrel which is an ace inhibitor for the BP. It was 195/128 two months ago. It's a wonder I didn't have a stroke.

Hey, Greenville! I love to shop there at Saigon Market, and the Indian Grocery on Laurens Road!! Neat downtown!

[Radio_Lady]

15. Wow. I have been ramped up from original 25 mg. to 200 mg. daily!

I have to discuss it with my doctor. Maybe I should be doing something different.

[DemoTex]

27. 200 mg of atenolol!?

How do you get anything done? I have a hard time functioning on 50 mg/day.

[DemoTex]

28. Greenville is great, but so is Asheville.

I sure miss my mountain house in Transylvania county (35 miles from A-ville). I sold it a year ago last week. Big mistake! A week in the NC mountains was always worth 20 points off the old B/P.

[AshevilleGuy]

29. Near Lake Toxaway, no doubt!

I used to hike to waterfalls near there. That is one of several reasons I want the tachy to go away, so I can resume it. My doc says to go ahead and not worry about it, but he has never had an episode, either.

Do you see many roadblocks or sobriety checks in Greenville?? There are so many here it's unsafe to have alcohol on your breath and drive!! Seriously.

[DemoTex]

30. 5 miles from Lake Toxaway, as-the-crow-flies. 45 minutes by road.

My property abutted the Gorges State Park (east side). The hiking was wonderful. I had a waterfall on my property, too.

I've never seen a checkpoint in Greenville, but then I never stay out late and I NEVER have even as much as a glass of wine if I have to drive. Besides, alcohol exacerbates the undesirable side-effects of beta blockers.

[AshevilleGuy]

33. I believe that is what is making me so sleepy

I always have about four pints of beer at night and maybe a glass of wine with dinner. Before I started with the beta blockers I didn't even notice the effects of alcohol. Maybe that is why I feel hungover mornings.

I have hiked in Gorges too.

[SPKrazy]

4. I've taken inderal in the past

a very low dose to enhance the effects of anti anxiety meds

it slowed my heart down a lot. i could exercise and i'd be completely worn out and my pulse would only be around 100.

i also couldn't take allergy shots on beta blockers so i got off them as soon as my anxiety got better.

it was a strange time in my life and i don't want to be there again.

but it really did help, but very low doses as it slowed my heart so much.

like resting in the 50's pulse

[Lex]

5. Inderal here too

This beta blocker hasn't had as much sleepy side effect on me as I thought it might.

I've been exercising (walking) for 30 minutes or more per day and that really has been making me feel good. I sure bet my heart rate doesn't get as high as it might if I wasn't on Inderal. I have one of those exercise watch heart-rate monitors, I'll have to see what my HR is while exercising.

[DemoTex]

6. I'm interested in this, too.

Kick for more input.

[Suich]

7. I take 100mgs. Atenolol every morning for high blood pressure and have been

for 15-20 yrs. It's been so long ago, I don't remember if I had any problems when I started or not. No side effects now, though.

[AshevilleGuy]

10. 100mgs!!!! And no side effects!!

I'm wondering now if my sleepiness is psychosomatic. I am a very bad hyperchrondriac...

[ThingsGottaChange]

11. My dose is also 100 mg each morning

Maybe you can ask your doc if you can take it at bedtime? Otherwise, any sleepiness should go away soon. And after you've been on it forever, like some of us, you won't even remember what it was like when you started! :)

[AshevilleGuy]

12. He didn't say when to take it.

He is very laid back, which I like. So bedtime might be better?

[Radio_Lady]

16. Absolutely! Try it at night. Doctors should be pro-active, but if they aren't, YOU should be!

I lived in Hendersonville, NC in 1970. Actually, I worked in Hendersonville, but my home address was Flat Rock, NC.

[AshevilleGuy]

18. I never ever have trouble sleeping.

I could sleep 10 hours a night and still it's not enough. Getting up and staying awake is my problem. Taking it at night will help this? Flat Rock isn't far from here, as you know. The whole area is becoming a huge retirement center.

[Radio_Lady]

19. Well, maybe you're taking too much of it. Check with your doctor.

I took my husband back to Flat Rock in 1982 to consider possible retirement. He hated the place. Too many old people, he said.

Now he's 72 and I'm 67. We built a home in a multi-age, multi-racial housing development area in 1998. We are probably one of the oldest couples in this place. He won't even consider the "over 55" communities.

"Who wants to live with just old people?" he says. I guess I agree with him.

[grasswire]

13. 50 mg twice daily here

No side effects. I had no idea that a possible side effect was fatigue. I feel a helluva lot better on it, and if I forget a pill my ticker tells me even if I'm asleep. Last night I woke up with my heart racing, and so I counted my pills and sure enough, I had forgotten the evening dose.

Years ago I took low-dose inderal for tachycardia and I believe it was quite bad for me. Weight gain, mild depression, etc. I believe it affected me negatively at what was already a difficult time in my life.

Inderal and HCTZ for me these days. Hardly any tachycardia, BP at 120/82, and feel pretty good. And my total bill for both prescriptions per month is $23.

[AshevilleGuy]

17. Do you have "paroxysmal" tachycardia?

My episodes come out of the blue. All of a sudden my pulse rate is 160, and of course I panic making it worse. Then all of a sudden it goes back to normal. I get it maybe once a year. The doctors didn't think it important but they got all excited when they found my blood pressure was 195/128.

But it sucks, because you never know when it will happen. I like to hike, but what if a get an episode when I'm five miles from the car? Trails here are up and down as well, quite strenuous. The atenolol seems to be helping however.

[grasswire]

20. paroxysmal atrial tachycardia -- PAT

Some episodes are totally out of the blue, but some certain things I know will provoke an episode. Bending over and standing back up quite fast will bring on an attack. Fatigue, dehydration, caffeine -- all those are irritants.

I have learned that slow deep breathing can regulate most of the arrhythmia. Also, there's something called the "Valsalva's Maneuver" where you take a deep breath, hold it, and bear down. Last resort for self remedies is to put your face in a bowl of ice water. I've had to do that about half a dozen times over the years.

At this point I take the atenelol for blood pressure as much as for arrhthmia.

[AshevilleGuy]

24. Yes! - bending over and standing.

I avoid that or do it very slowly. No caffeine ever, and I drink Gatorade to avoid dehyrdation. I really do miss tea.

My father had the attacks as well. Once in a while he would pace the floor at night until they went away. Back then there was a pill he could take that would take as needed; they don't make them anymore. As I said the attacks are a nuisance, if nothing else. The atenolol seems to be helping right now.

Thanks for your help.

[grasswire]

25. yeah, make sure your potassium level is good

I eat a banana every day for that purpose, as well as a bottle of Gatorade daily. And do try the deep breathing, because it definitely works. Take a deep breath through your mouth, hold it for a moment, and then expel it slowly through your mouth. Repeat. Your heart rate will quickly slow down unless you are having a real tough episode.

[AshevilleGuy]

26. Wow. I do all those.

Have you ever had an episode of PAT while on Atenolol??? Because if this med isn't going to stop them I want off - the side effects are driving me crazy.

[grasswire]

32. no

But I'm really on the atenolol mostly for the BP effect. I can control my PAT through breathing now and haven't had an unstoppable attack in years.

[Radio_Lady]

21. Have you tried meditation when you feel your heart race? I have found that

relaxation, slowing my breathing as much as I can, closing my eyes, visualizing some beautiful vacation place, turning on soft music, rubbing the carotid artery on either side of my neck (not both sides, but can't remember why), sprinkling on lavender or coconut scent on my pulse points... these all help a great deal.

Usually, the episodes are preceded by anxious thoughts about world or personal problems. I have learned to subdue and even eliminate them.

Good luck with your struggle. We have a lot of company in this madcap world.

Radio Lady in Oregon

[marzipanni]

22. Have you heard of the DASH diet?

This website has a little eating profile form so you can see what number of servings of fruit, vegetables, dairy, grain, meat/fih/poultry, etc., they recommend-
http://www.dashforhealth.com/

This one from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has a lot of information about how to make healthy changes in your diet-
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/h_eating/h_eating.htm

[Dervill Crow]

39. When I did the DASH diet I got off all my meds and lost weight.

I don't know what possessed me to resume eating like a pig.

[Maineiac]

23. I tried the Beta blockers last spring

but they kept triggering asyhma attacks. So, I take a calcium channel blocker and a angiotensin receptor blockers. No real side effects.

[Redstone]

31. Took Tenormin many years ago for MVP. Said fuck it after a year, stopped and have

never regretted stopping.

Hey, you know what works for tachycardia? Run a sinkfull of cold water, and plop your face into the water.

I shit you not, it works every time.

Redstone

[AshevilleGuy]

34. That is what I have heard.

I will try it if I get another attack. I am hoping the beta blocker stops them, otherwise I don't want to continue with them. Thank you.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. I take Propanylol (generic Inderol)

for performance anxiety. I don't take it all the time...just when I'm in a high-pressure situation.

I really haven't noticed any side effects other than actually being able to focus when I'm nervous. I still get nervous; but it doesn't control me.

[tishaLA]

36. I m taking Altinelol now, 100 mg

and I don't have a problem with it. But I should tell you that I used to take 50 mg of Coreg, another beta blocker, and the one recommended for people with heart failure, for a few years before this, but I no longer have insurance and I can't afford the ~$250 per month for the prescription. Coreg was a bitch, but I kept telling my doctor to increase the dosage because it can substantially help in the "reverse remodeling" of a heart that has become enlarged because of cardiomyopathy. And, in my case, it worked, but it left me tired ALL the time. It was partly my fault because I insisted on increasing the dosage at every visit, but I wanted to get to the "target dosage."

Compared to Coreg, Altenilol is a vacation. My resting pulse is still quite low, as it should be on Beta Blockers--51--but I have less fatigue. And it has not played havoc with my hair either, or at least not as much. With Coreg, I felt like my hair was all going to fall out.

[hyphenate]

37. Atenolol

is pretty strong. I felt like I was slogging in water when I was on it. I could never catch my breath, and it was just too much for me.

They tried me on Lopressor as well, and that didn't even work for me.

The one that I've taken, and finally insisted they put me back on is propranolol--which is branded as Inderal or Innopran. It works much better for me, and does exactly what it's supposed to do, with little to no side effects.

You can look up nearly every single medication in existence at http://www.rxlist.com, which goes into great detail about the medine, what it's used for, side effects, contraindications, etc. It's invaluable for me, because it pretty thorough.

On edit: my "resting heartbeat" about 13 years ago was 100 to 120. With the Innopran (propranolol) it's about 72. And with a very small dose of Zestril (lisinopril), my BP the last six months is about 102/70, which is remarkable. But I've had hypertension since I was 18 and they never did anything about it until I was in my 30s.

I also had early heart disease: my first angioplasty was when I was only 42, and I had 2 heart attacks even after the angioplasty. All in 1999, and now 8 years without any problems, even with the diabetes (also diagnosed in 1999).

[Radio_Lady]

40. Hyphenate, your hyperlink doesn't work because of an excess comma...

However, DUers can try this:

http://www.rxlist.com

Your editing time may have run out. Thanks for this link.

I also use:

http://www.askapatient.com

[Dervill Crow]

38. I take Atenolol at night, so I don't really know if it makes me sleepy. (n/t)