Off beta blockers update

[Matt40]

Hello there all - I know we’ve all got things going on as well as the rigours of daily living but I just wanted to let anyone who is interested about my coming off of the beta blocker Atenolol following what I hope is a successful ablation (although I still have hemidiaphragm damage). I hoping what I’m about to update you with is normal....

So I cut my Atenolol in half a week ago and as my EP stated I was on the the lowest possible dose of 25mg and he doubted it was doing very much - but it was making me feel pretty awful. So last Sat I took only 12.5ish mg and did the same for the following week until yesterday. Then today, nothing stopped it completely. So - this morning I walked the dog as normal before work (luckily I work from home) and when I got back my HR was 120 bpm and I felt fine - had one largish ectopic which made me think uh oh but that was all. Started work and HR calmed to around 99-95 bpm and has stayed there all day like that apart from now as I sit in the hammock in the garden watching my two sons play cricket it’s at around 75ish bpm. Interestingly - and I know it’s very early days i’ve not had as many ectopics or blips and bumps today as I do when I’m taking the beta blockers, I don’t feel tired, my eyesight isn’t as blurry, don’t have a back ache or a head ache which I have done for the last two years and I can’t feel my heart beat which I almost certainly do when i’m on the BB’s. I guess the high heart rate will settle with time hopefully? but I’m told by my EP that the heart can, in some cases, be permanently elevated following ablation but who knows. Hope all is well

Matt40

[Hidden]

Hi Matt, I also went down to a very low dose of beta blocker, Metoprolol, and then tapered off of it. I had a few days of skittishness, with my HR going up to 120, though not for long, but then it did all settle down. I felt instantly better overall once I was off the Toprol. More energy, better mood, etc., so that short period of adjustment and discomfort was well worth it to be finished taking it.

You may have read elsewhere here about Dr. Steven Sinatra's work in Metabolic Cardiology and the micronutrients he recommends for nourishing the heart - magnesium, CoQ10, D-Ribose, L-Carnitine. I've been taking them, though not much Carnitine, for several months and I have noticed my heart feeling stronger.

My heart rate elevates only rarely, with the last time being a few months ago, during an episode, when I was teaching and it was a physically stressful situation.

[Ceelos81 in reply to Hidden]

I’m on metoprolol 25mg twice a day. I still feel ectopics through out the day. My resting heart rate around the 80’s. And when I walk or move around I can feel it go up to maybe 100-120

[ss017]

My heart rate also went up after weaning off of Propranolol

[healme]

Good to hear your experience. I long for the day that I can stop taking beta blockers and all of the other meds. I sometimes feel the treatment is worse than the problem.

[Matt40 in reply to healme]

Hello Healme - I think you’re right. I tried once before after my first ablation and 10 days after went back into AF so back on the beta blockers.....it’s a tough ride. As I’m only 42 and with a fairly demanding job and young family I really want to be as able as poss and not have to feel like a zombie all the time. I had some mild fluttery feeling last night just before I went to bed and this morning woke up feeling absolutely shattered with some ectopics straight away. Hopefully this will all be temporary.

Matt

[healme in reply to Matt40]

At least you are being treated and taken seriously my GP put everything down to the menopause before I had a stroke 2 years ago which was caused by AF. That's why I keep taking the pills regardless of the side effects. I hope you eventually get back to full health.

[Faraday954]

Thanks for sharing your experience, gives me hope! I’ve felt pretty good on beta blockers over all in the last year I’ve been taking them except for the ectopics which are much more frequent. Hope the rest of your week is great

[Hidden]

Hi Matt,

I does take a while for your heart to adjust to having the breaks taken off.

Give it a couple of weeks and I'm sure your HR will be lower, a couple of months and you will be back to normal

[Matt40 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Mikee - I’m really feeling it today

[Hidden in reply to Matt40]

I'm not surprised, it's soooo hot

Don't be afraid to take a beta blocker if you feel you need it, just look after number 1

[56-er]

I have been telling my Cardiologist, that every time I take my Beta blocker ( Metoprolol) within 1/2 hr I have severe arrhythmia. He just smiles and says that "you are the only one". So without his blessings I started to wean-off this medication. Now for over two weeks I have been totally off Beta Blockers, I feel like a new man. I had ablation in 2015 and been told that I will have to take this med for the rest of my life.

[Matt40 in reply to 56-er]

Hi 56-er did you have any heart reactions to coming of the meds? Palps, fast NSR, that kind of thing?

[56-er]

First couple days I had episodes of flutter etc...Now it's pretty well settled down. I have regular heart rate and occasional missing beat, but much better than with Beta Blocker.