Upon my Cardiologists instruction, As of Thursday I stopped taking my Bisoprolol 5mg daily dose with immediate effect and now just taken 50mg twice daily of flecanide. Last night I felt like I had some side effects/withdrawl symptoms which included arms/muscle feeling a bit faint/weak and my heart a bit fluttery but nothing major. Again woke up this morning and when I got up to go to the toilet and heart felt a little fluttery but back in bed and it calmed down fine. Blood pressure monitor all fine 125/80 maybe slightly elevated blood pressure but no sign of AF detection.
Just wondering if any others had experienced side effects/withdrawl symptoms when coming off Bisoprolol and how long I should expect them to last.
Doctor said if AF comes on take a Bisoprolol but I’m reluctant to at this early stage as feel it may be counter productive to getting of that medication.
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tom0985
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hi Tom have you noticed that the paper in the packet is almost the same for most of these meds , my partner who was a nurse brought this to my attention
I’m currently weaning off bisop and took what I thought was my last 1/4 tab on Tuesday evening. Had to take another 1/4 yesterday as I was getting some tachy (97bpm) and it calmed it down. I’ve also got a bug though so it’s hard to tell what’s causing what.
Personally I would taper. It can’t hurt can it? I slowly took mine down a 1/4 tab every week and went without too many issues right down to a 1/4 and it’s only since yesterday that the tachy kicked in.
If you go into af then, for me, you should 100% take the bisop again like doc told you. You want to keep yourself out of af as much as possible and if an attack does come on then you want to get out of it as quickly as possible. Af begets af. Meaning the more you get it the more chance you’ve got of having more episodes in the future due to scarring of the heart. It’s a downward spiral so you want to get as little as possible for as long as possible.
Not too bad Tom thanks. Other than what I mentioned in message. Hopeful that I can just take 1/4 dose if/when I get a wobble and the periods in between taking will get bigger and bigger 🤞
Tom - I can only speak from my experience. My cardio just took me off them on the spot. The fear was greater than the reality. I had no problems at all.
We are all different but for me it was 100% fine just coming off them.
Bisoprolol is said to be a good betablocker for stopping as you've done as the blood levels it develops only fall away slowly, allowing the heart's beta-receptors to regain their former activity (having been blocked while under the influence of the drug). These receptors, typically, over-react to a lack of blockade from short-acting beta-blockers but not so much with longer-acting bisoprolol.
I would think some response would be felt, though, and more generally in the body, too, since there are beta-receptors in many places apart from the heart. I trust my doctor on these things everytime!
If you did suffer AF or tachycardia, I would definitely follow the advice and take a bisoprolol as a kind of "pill in the pocket", which is what I do. If you do this, you might find, as I do, that your heart rate is reduced for about 2 days from even a single dose, with it kicking in after about 40-60 minutes.
Hi Steve, thanks for the information that is really intresting and as you suggest makes a lot of sense. I ended up taking one at 5mg last night due to it starting again and it went within 15mins. What dose do you have?
I can't find the study I read on this and others I found this morning seem to suggest sudden stopping is a bad thing. It must depend upon what it's being used for, I would think, though.
I don't take bisoprolol regularly these days except when I get a racing heart, which happens some mornings and seems linked with eating or something (bending low, even?). Then I take either 1.25mg or 2.5mg depending how I feel, and maybe for 2-3 days only. My cardiologist wanted me to take 1,25mg regularly if my AF became more regular but, touch wood, it's still quite an unusual thing for me, the last one being in October.
my ep told me upon starting bisoprolol that they were taught low and slow to begin with , so upon cessation i would imagine the same principle in reverse , best to wean ,these chemicals are potent and alien to our bodies , so caution is my take on coming off , im presently trying to wean off bisop very slowly, all the while monitoring myself.
No problem coming off 1.25 of Biso but plenty side effects when I was on it for 2.5 years. I just stopped and thank goodness. Now just on Rivoraxaban for insurance.
Yes see my post from last week. I've just been through this. I'm ok now after two weeks but the first week was difficult. I ended up with bad palpitations and had to take a half dose of the bisoprolol.
Hi ruby. When exactly did you take the 1/2 dose of bisop? Which week? Has it been 2 weeks now and you say your fine? I’m weaning off bisop myself after being on for over a year and it’s rather tricky to say the least. My hr is all over the place at the minute and trying to do anything sets me off into low grade tachy. I’ve been “off” since Tuesday night but took 1/4 dose Friday as hr went up to 97 while resting.
Hi Elli, Thanks for your reply. The Dr told me just to stop taking it. I was on 2.5 mg for three months. Then stopped dead but had awful chest pains, giddiness and then a very high HR after 3 days. That's when I took the half dose as I felt like I was going into AF. Then took the half dose for another two days, then stopped completely last weekend and been ok since. I'm on a 14 day heart monitor so they need me off it as it masks the symptoms. So far so good. HR is a bit variable but no bad symptoms yet. Good luck.
It’s quite tricky trying to find the sweet spot between coming off completely and stopping yourself going in to af. It’s been a real tightrope for me, not sure how much to push it. Really don’t want to risk going in to AF but at the same time want to let my heart get used to being off the drugs 🤷♂️ Difficult!
Good to hear it’s going ok for you now though 👍 are you able to exert yourself without a sky high hr?
What’s your rhr and what does it go up to when you exert yourself? I.e walking or going up stairs? Mines currently sitting around 75 resting and can climb up to 115-120 when walking at the minute. Just about to go for a walk to see if any changes overnight as to be honest I seem to be improving day by day at the minute 😁👍🤞🤞
Thanks Tom 👍 not counting my chickens just yet 🐓 but do seem to be improving steadily each day. The best bit by far is getting your brain back! I feel like I can actually use it again which is brilliant. It’s honestly crazy how much the tablets take away from you mentally when you’ve been on them for so long and your body has “adapted” to them. You feel like that’s how you’ve always been after a while 👎
But once you come off it’s like waking up from a hazey dream! Bloody brilliant 😁👍 can now obliterate my mrs in a “discussion” again which is a good yardstick 🤣🤣
Hi I don't measure it that frequently. But when on the meds it was 65, which is great. Now my rHR is around 78 which I think is a bit high, but apparently is normal for my age. (I'm 62). How about you? You don't need to monitor it obsessively all the time. I'm on the Zio heart monitor at the moment so trusting that is collecting my data correctly and the Doctors will decide what to do. I also have a cheapish HR monitor watch but it only takes readings every 15 minutes or so, so I don't get the full picture. What do you use? Anything you'd recommend?
I use the Apple Watch 6. Superb bit of kit and wished I’d bought it sooner. Would have saved me a lot of time and frustration with the docs.
To be honest I try to leave as little as possible in the docs hands and take control of as much as possible myself. Want my future in my own hands as much as possible.
To be honest I hate that word obsessive. What is and isn’t obsessive is incredibly subjective so I think the word is obsolete to be honest. Some people will want to take control of their health more than others and neither is right or wrong. My watch is on my wrist permanently apart from 30 minutes a day charging. Shower and breakfast then it’s back on. It takes me 10 seconds to glance down at my wrist push a button and then get a reading so I look as and when I want or feel I need too. It’s more than usual at the minute as I’m coming off meds and very interested in how my heart rate is coping in certain situations. But in my view there’s nothing obsessive about it. I understand certain personality’s can become addicted too it and this may lead to anxiety but to me it’s never even been a second thought let alone a problem. More knowledge more power for me! 💪
I’m very tempted with the Apple Watch myself. Would you say series 6 is minimum us AF lot should get?
My heart rate is 42-50 range at moment shoe to 5mg Bisoprolol which I’ve had to go back on. I feel like this is too low and maybe a lower does of Biso would help
Can’t really comment on older versions of the Apple Watch to be honest as this is the first one I’ve owned. For me I would always go for the latest one as a starting point but then will only upgrade when the tech has leapt forward enough to warrant it. Not the type of person to upgrade every year just for the sake of it.
Does seem like a pretty low hr to be honest but everyone’s different. I think I mentioned to you before that i thought starting you on 5 mg bisop was possibly complete overkill. It may turn out that you need that much to keep your heart in check but I was started on min dose of 1.25 and then ended up on 2.5 as this was the magic dose for me. The difference of that half a tablet was stark for me. Twice the dose and twice the crap that comes with it for me personally. I would want to be on as small a dose as humanly possible in order to keep my af at bay. I think they should always start low and work their way up in my opinion. What’s to say that your heart doesn’t get used to that high dose and then struggles to come down to smaller dosage when you could have started on 1.25mg and had zero problems?
It’s a tightrope finding the magic dose but that’s how I would want to do it anyway 👍
Yeah that’s slightly better but even then it’s still very high in my opinion. Personally I would ask why I was on such a dose and why I can’t try the lowest and go from there but obviously it all depends on how you feel and it’s your decision at the end of the day. Just remember that it’s your heart and health so don’t just blindly except what docs say. Work with them obviously but you can question anything you don’t feel is right 👍
Doctor has come back to be today and prescribed 1.25mg a day of Bisoprolol and to increase to 2.5mg A day if further episodes. That’s the lowest isn’t it? Which sounds like a good place to start now and build up of required…. I’ll get the correct Prescription early next week but currently have 5mg at home. Silly question…..but what method is best way for breaking up this tablet to the 1.25mg dose?
Oh that’s good news mate. Yeah as far as I’m aware 1.25 is the lowest. That’s what they started me on.
I used to cut them up with my mrs fabric cutting knife but Stanley blade will do just as good a job. Just make sure you hold the tablet either side of the blade or the tablet can go flying across the kitchen 🤣 I actually managed to smack my dog in the eye once 😂 he wasn’t impressed! Serves him right for being nosey though!
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