I was perscribed 1.25mg Bisoprolol fumarate due to possible AF and raised blood pressure. My blood pressure at the surgery was 150/91 with heart rate of 80. I have been taking Bisoprolol fumarate for 7 days.
I purchased my own blood pressure monitor, made by Omron. Unfortunately I didn't buy the monitor till after I started the medication. I had very bad, disabling headaches the first two days which is settled just to some headaches but not so disabling.
My resting heart rate is in the 43 to 63 range for the last 4 days and my blood pressure has been down to 97/57 and as high as 128/74. I don't have so much energy and stamina as I had before the tablets.
Would the medication work as quickly as 4 days or was it white coat syndrome. What would be the effect if I stopped the tablets after only 7 days so I can check the effect on my heart rate and blood pressure.
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carer999
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Firstly we are not able to advise you to start or stop any of your medications. Anyhow it would be unwise to without the OK from your doctor. Like most of us, your BP probably measured higher in the surgery....white coat syndrome as you say.
Your bisoprolol dose is very low but I can say from experience that the effects would certainly be felt in 4 days . I notice the effect within half an hour. Your blood pressure range is not dissimilar to mine and perfectly normal , with the diastolic fig of 57 just slightly low, but your heart rate of 43 is very low. I would check this out with your GP.
I'm afraid that bisoprolol does slow down the whole system and many do feel unusually tired . It is said that you will get used to this in time and shouldn't feel so bad. ( It didn't work like that for me though...!) Do make sure you keep well hydrated.
Thanks for your comments. I appreciate you cannot advise on stopping and starting but wondered if anyone had stopped so soon after starting and what had been the effect.
Staying well hydrated is extremely Important for not only your heart but your kidneys as well. Lack of hydration can cause your blood pressure to fall too low for starters.
I have been prescribed BP medications some 4 years ago, after they caught me at 190/120 (my drivers licence had to be approved again because I was 65 at the time). I told the MD that my BP is usually at the level of 140/90 and that I have no issues with it, but she would not listen. Well, I bought the pills and never took one single of it. Having a small BP monitor at home, I measure BP regularly and am surprised by how large oscillations in BP there are during the day... Which value is the representative one, to bring the decision to prescribe medications?! The one measured under the "white coat syndrome"? No, not at all.
The main thing that matters, is how you feel. During the time, my peak value has somewhat increased, to the level of 150/100, and it is where I feel best, because all my tissues get enough blood supply. When we age, the BP MUST go somewhat up, in the course to maintain the blood flow-rate at the necessary level. MDs usually call high BP the "silent killer", and they are wrong. The silent killer is artificially induced low BP, like in your case, where you obviously do not function well. If I was you, I would experiment with the dose, in an attempt to find the right one (MDs do not have exact and precise formula, according to which they calculate the dosage), so avoiding going to the GP again. Of course, if it will make you feel better and more safe, do it under an agreement with the GP. I hope, you feel better soon!
Bisoprolol works very quickly, 1.25mg of Bisoprolol put me to sleep in 40 minutes for 4 or 5 hours. When I woke up I was in pain in seems and upper chest and felt terrible. My max HR was 117 ish and i could only run 100 yards before exhaustion A week earlier I could run 6.4 miles in 50 mins!
I only took 8 tablets , each with the same result. I went to my GP and she was worried about my low resting heart rate , which was on the 40s when it has been 70 previously, so she swapped me to 25 mg atenolol another beta blocker. This was much better but still bad for tiredness and exercise so I stopped that after 14 days, and my GP suggested I may not tolerate beta blockers and moved me to verapamil, a calcium channel blocker instead. I had no side effects with this and was on it for 20 months until my AFIB progressed.
Bisoprolol is not bad , just bad for me. Some people are happy on it. However I was not. There are lots of beta blockers, and other forms of rate control. Dont stop on something that causes problems, try sommething else until you find something that works without issues, or at WORST, the one that is the least bad.
No - it will be the Bisoprolol, many people struggle with the affects and it will lower BP and HR so wise of you to monitor yourself. Record the results for your GP and make an appointment to discuss your experience.
As for stopping - some people on the forum reported that they struggled stopping. The fact that such a low dose has had such an effect could indicate that you are sensitive to medication so go carefully. It’s not advisable to just stop taking the meds without advice and guidance from your doctors and Bisoprolol is sometimes a problematic drug to withdraw from.
Many drugs need to be titrated up and down over time - ie: very gradually and Bisoprolol is in that category.
Mine was high for me when I saw a cardiologist recently at 145/90. He said it was, without doubt, white collar syndrome. He said that taking blood pressure at home was best but even that wasn't always accurate since it varies according to your temperament at the time of taking (i.e. even the thought of taking it will cause it to increase).
He told me to take it three times, spaced a few minutes apart, first thing in the morning before activity. He said the best way was to be sitting comfortably at a dining table with feet on the floor and with the elbow of the left arm on the table. I did this before breakfast or a hot drink.
Lo and behold, it worked. It's been a while since I took it now, but the first time I did this my BP dropped over the three readings from about 145/85 right down to 115/66 and the same happened on several days. My pulse varies between about 48-128.
Hi, first of all and most importantly I think you need to get a confirmed diagnosis for the "possible" AF from a cardiologist or EP (electrophysiologist) or at the very least an ECG at your doctors (although if you have paroxysmal AF it may be difficult to pick up and you may need a 24 hour Holter monitor to confirm AF). If you do have AF this might mean that you need an anticoagulant depending on your ChadsVasc score.
Your blood pressure in the surgery of 150/91 is on the high side but any competent doctor should not have started you on blood pressure medication just because of one slightly high reading possibly due to white coat syndrome. You need some evidence to give to your doctor. If you take your resting BP 2 or 3 times a day for a week and then work out an average this will give you a much better idea of what your BP range is compared to a single reading taken by your doctor. (See Youtube videos re BP by Dr Sanjay Gupta). You can also work out your average resting heart rate at the same time from your Omron machine.
You can then go back to your doctors armed with this information. If a doctor had put me on BP medication due to one BP reading then I think I would consider changing doctors. However, the problem is that your doctor has put you on Bisoprolol not just because of your BP but also because of the possible AF. Bisoprolol will control your heart rate if in AF so it would not be a good idea to stop your Bisoprolol at this time until your AF status has been confirmed.
I was put on bisoprolol 2.5 mg in March this year and have experienced very low heart rate and pelvic and scrotum pain plus slowing me down with aching legs when walking , I am to speak to cardiologist about coming off them gradually, not a good medication for me but but suitable for others.
Hi I think you should speak to your doctor fairly soon, your readings are quite low. And you should be on an anticoagulant. Bisoprolol didn't do that to me! I've gradually had my dose increased to 15mg. But reading on here about tiredness, the 15mg might explain my crushing fatigue. I'm seeing my cardiologist soon, my BP and quivering heart rates are still sounding way too high for me, though my gp isn't bothered. He doesn't have to live with it!!!
If you don't feel right, or if you're worried that things aren't right, speak to your doctor.
I was put on 5 mg bisoprolol as a "starter dose" due to high blood pressure and a short, single episode of AF while hospitalized for sepsis. Within a couple of days, I had miserable side effects such as enormous swelling in my eye sockets, hands, and ankles. Felt like the Michelin Man! Apparently, receptors on my non-cardiac blood vessels are unusually sensitive to it which creates a host of side effects from tissue swelling.
In the hospital, my blood pressure suddenly plummeted 50 points within 1 hour when I learned that 3 out of 4 of my dogs-collected by Animal Control as an emergency measure- could return home with me (the 4th, a golden, had already been adopted.). Once home, my blood pressure dropped further, and is back to about 95/60, although it sometimes drops below 80. However, now every time I visit a doctor, it goes up 50 or more points. Hence, I have two BP cuffs at home and take blood pressure readings daily so my cardiologist later can view what's in the memory of those monitors. I'm still on bisoprolol, now at a very low dose similar to yours, but at least the cardiologist understands that the high blood pressure reading at the office is a transient anomaly. At my home, my blood pressure veers towards the low side. We have tried some alternative meds, but the side effects proved worse in my case.
Bisoprolol is one of those meds that can be dangerous to quit cold turkey. However, you are on a teeny tiny dose. If your cardiologist isn't willing to budge, you should seek a different cardiologist to more carefully assess your situation and perhaps switch meds and/or doses. While in the hospital, the two cardiologists attending me were dogmatic and disregarded my concerns, so upon discharge I found a different cardiologist who was willing to listen and address my particular problems.
I take bisoprolol and started off on the same dose.It does keep your heart rate down and with that you may feel tired as your body is getting blood at a slower rate, however you should be able to exert yourself a bit and your heart rate should pick up to cope with it, just might be a little slower than normal, that’s what I found with mine.
It works quick, I believe it has a 12 hour half life which means the effects of the pill should be over after 24hrs.
I too experienced headaches from it, I’m now on 2.5mg and on a list for an ablation, the headaches seemed to disappear on their own.
I’d say the other comments are good, keep your fluids up, my AF, SVT and ectopics seem to be triggered by heat, dehydration and exhaustion.
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