For years, beta-blockers have been known to cause central nervous system (CNS) side effects, such as psychiatric conditions, bizarre and vivid dreams, sleep disturbances, delirium, psychosis, and visual hallucinations [1].22 May 2020
Following my initial PAF diagnosis is was prescribed metoprolol, I did not respond well, I was subsequently prescribed sotalol.
My response to sotalol was better though with the well documented side effects.
I am now 8 months post PVI RF ablation and recovered really well, no AF since procedure and beta blocker free for two months.
The vivid dreams continue, always been a good sleeper, my career required lots of travel so learned how to sleep standing up! The dreams are vivid and seem to always take me to previous events, never get bad dreams or nightmares!
Is this a coincidence with Covid lockdown, older age or ongoing longer-term ìmpacts of beta blockers?
In the scheme of things this is trivial!
Has anyone experienced similar?
Thanks and a continuing shout out for our Covid front line workers.
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Geoffa1
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Metoprolol made me depressed. I only used it intermittently on an as needed basis if i was in tachycardia - afib or otherwise. But it resulted in quite a sharp and swift drop in my mood. I think because it lowers dopamine.
Dreaming is also a very natural and essential part of the brain regeneration so you may find this article interesting which is part of a chapter from Matthew Walker book on Why we Sleep - I would highly recommend.
In a later part of Matthew Walker’s book on sleep he goes on to explain that whilst we dream - a fluid is released which washes the brain of debris and although this is still theoretical, it maybe that this function may be protective against Alzeimer’s and dementia.
Now because Beta-Blockers do have an affect on CNS it seems probable that that dreaming may indeed be enhanced by these drugs - but may this be such a bad thing?
We know so little about how our body’s function as a complex system.
As we age we seem to sleep in sections rather than a straight 6-8 hours which happened in youth so part of it is ageing. Moving through time zones also disturbs our circadian rhythms so that will also have an affect.
I have had periods of my life when I remember dreaming and other times when I don’t remember anything and this also seems to differ between people. Most of us dream but much of the time we seem to have amnesia so don’t remember - unless we are woken when dreaming, which often happens near our normal waking time or when woken by alarms.
Speaking for myself - I have found vivid dreaming very informative and I use the dreams that I remember to help process ‘stuff’. I haven’t completely thrown out the Jungian theories on dreaming but it is only a single piece of the jigsaw.
As psychologists, neuroscientists and psychiatrists collaborate we are starting to put together a few pieces of the puzzle.
Oh the dreams! Or in my case vivid dreams, nightmares and night terrors. I hadn't put it down to beta blockers as i have had vivid dreams since being six years old. However i never had them to the extent i do now, nightly and multiple.
So colourful too, i wake numerous times in the night from one dream only to fall asleep and embark on the next one. The loud screaming i have had this past year which result in me waking the household is a more recent development. I dont know what a good restful nights sleep feels like.
I have multiple, vivid dreams all night. I wake between each one , then fall asleep and dream again. I don't remember any of them and most of them have very little reality of past or present experiences. Most are enjoyable, so far, none have been at all unpleasant. They started when I started taking Bisoprolol. Sue
I have nightly dreams, usually they are quite bland and I don't remember them for long, but I've had some real horrors which I will never forget. A lot of my dreams involve soldiers (the enemy) on their way to get me. Also there's the very odd toilet dreams, which we've discussed in depth on here before.
Mine began long before I started taking beta blockers and I think that not sleeping so deeply, as we did when young, could be the cause.
Hallucinations are quite common for most people too.
I had vivid, colourful dreams in large quantity when I first started taking bisoprolol. It went on for months, and seemed a totally different experience from my normal dreams. They did gradually taper off, and now I have more normal dreams, both quantity and subject, than I was getting in that period. I've now doubled the dose of the bisoprolol, after my ablation, but it had no extra effect on the dreams.
So, maybe it's the change in level of the beta blocker, and the effect will fade away in a few months?
I can identify with this Geoffa1 on bisoprolol. I don't believe it's anything other than the medication, as the onset was very shortly after beginning to take this beta blocker. The dreams are vivid, making me remember their content more and although I wouldn't call them nightmares by any means they often have unpleasant elements which can waken me up and disturb my sleep. But bisoprolol has had an amazingly good effect on my ability to sit in meditation (which I've done regularly for years), so for me it's a trade-off, one bad side-effect for a really good one!
When I was taking metoprolol I had awful dreams when I could sleep. Had terrible side effects which made my palpitations much worse than they had ever been. Some of us just can't tolerate pharma meds well so I have gone the natural route. Feel so much better.
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