Hello,
The cardiologist has swapped my medication from Verapamil to Bisoprolol, 2.5mg/day.
So far so good as far as side effects go 👍 but there is one thing.
I can't seem to get warm since the swap. The temperature here in the north east has dropped since our couple of days of summer but it's more than that, I'm wearing my winter layers.
I know Bisoprolol can cause cold feet, I'm just wondering if anyone else has trouble getting warm?
When I was first diagnosed with AF back in 2010 I was put on Bisoprolol 5mg and I often was so cold I went to bed with gloves, thick socks, a hot water bottle and an electric blanket. Eventually, my body adjusted and I had no more cold issues. What then emerged was bouts of incredible tiredness small in the beginning but worsening over time until I had to come off Bisop all together last August.
Thanks for replying.
I can relate to that, I was cold in bed last night even though I snuggled up to my husband for warmth, and had to put on socks and a cardigan without much improvement.
I'll have to see how it goes, it's early days so hopefully it won't last.
It's helpful to know someone else has had the same experience but I hope I don't get the tiredness. I've had plenty of that lately!
Thank you.
Hi
Yes I do but I've always suffered from cold feet. I put on sox - sorted.
Trouble is outside in heels - no sox.
Boots can hide sox.
At night regardless my h/rate is 47avg.
But my normal temperature is 36.5. As a student nurse taking my temperature I found I was low. I'm 75 now.
At night I start with easy to lose sox at night. That'sgreat when I need to lose them.
You could run your feet over those rollers to warm them. Wear sox.
cheri JOY. 75. (NZ)
I think after reading this I need more socks.Thank you Joy x
Hi
There are such sox as slipper sox and they have dotty things at the bottom so that one cannot slip and they keep you off the cold tiles or quarry tiles.
Keep warm you must.
Do you really have 12 dogs?
I now have JAZ my 6th main dog miniature scnmauzer. Lovely now 10.
I took my American breed LACEY to UK and she had 6 months quarantine. Terrible dear wee thing.
I breed her 3 times with a poodle pair of men breeders with their schnauzer success and then a Risepark owner mini schauzer he had two brothers. Such lovely line and took 3 back to NZ in 1998.
The best breed dog ever! Intelligent, very loyal, onedient and cuddly.
cheri JOY
😂I don't have 12 dogs 🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕. When I was finding a name I wanted Ilovedogs but it was taken, so I tried Ilovedogs1 and that was taken too. So I just added a two.
I get cold hands and feet plus a slow heart rate and a runny nose but all minor inconveniences
Hi
Just as well runny!
At Stroke time in 2019 my CT scan shows a cyst in my L. Sinus. I use Flixonase when necessary.
Cold feet but sox solve that. At an outing difficult as sox are not in vogue. It's a continual wriggling of toes!
cheri JOY
It certainly creates cold feet! The NHS website covers this quite well. It should wear off, it says, but my cold feet haven't warmed up since doubling my dose to 2.5mg a good while back.
Steve
Hi
Trouble it assists my essential tremor in left hand. Beta Blockers quiet brain to nerves aparently.
cheri JOY
I wish they'd quieten my ticker this morning with its palpitations, Joy!
Steve
Hi Steve
Are you stressing! That's. the only time that I got palpations. I was in 30s before stroke at 70 and AF.
Make sure that you have BP pill before morning e.g night time.
cheers JOY
Hi there, Joy - it's possible, but I don't feel like I am stressing. No, my cardiologist (who is an EP as well) told me that my atrium is misconducting and that causes the ectopics (i.e. felt as "palpitations") much as it causes my AF. I need both ablating, but he's going to try flecainide when he can (after an MRI and ultrasound to be sure it's safe to take it).
The palpitations are harder to live with than the AF in some ways, as they cause "chest ache" and such a bump in the throat!
Steven
I get chest ache and the bump in the throat too. Very wearing!
Hi
Yes, I can imagine.
And yes your heart needs to be checked out for cardioversios, ablations, and flex...
My ECHO although improved in last year's one (heart enlargement has reduced to normal), but I still have a severe dilated left atrium.
Bisoprolol, my Locum who has experienced AF will in 5 years of taking it will reduce this.
cheri jOY
Bisoprolol does bring its side effects, though. I have recently doubled my dose to 2.5mg and I am sure my blood pressure has gone down since, worse in the evenings. I already take a BP medicine called losartan, even though my BP used to be normal and was never raised. It protects the heart long-term, I was told. What a life this is, eh?
Steve
Hi
Looking up Losartan - it is NOT a beta Blocker. A different type of Blocker, Steve.
It is also BEING RECALLED because it has tiny particles in it which ight cause CANCER.
Used to help and protect the kidneys. Diabetics use it.
Do call your GP or talk to your Chemist about this drug. Also as it is loded with potassium I'd have your potassium level checked. And B12 whilst you at it.
cheri Joy
Hi Joy
It seems it was certain batches a few years ago that were contaminated and withdrawn. The drug itself is safe and a very commonly prescribed one, I think,
I’ll ask about the potassium. That’s a good point.
Steve
Hi
I think I took it in 2019 for 2 months. My BP was high specially systolic level above 145.
Checking my urine it had lots of protein in it so stopped it. I HAD THE STROKE within months of this.
In 2022 I was diagnosed with a soft systolic heart murmur.
cheri JOY
Did they discover the source of the clot that caused the stroke, Joy (or was it not embolic)?
Steve
Hi
Yes, embolic.
That is why I had a carotid arteries scan. This showed the shadow over my thyroid. Biopsy proved Papillary Cancer.
So Thyroid cancer caused the AF which caused the Left Frontal Lobe Stroke. I awoke with a splitting headache. I was not on any meds.
I have an appointment at 11.45 on 11 june for MRI without/with contrast to examine the putuitary gland.
cheri JOY
I remember bisoprolol used to cause the chest ache and it might still be at the root of it but I guess it’s the palpitations. They also cause me to have to take a deep breath at times, although that’s a bit psychological, I sometimes think. They’re at their worst as I write this. Thank goodness they wax and wane.
I get them daily and if I’ve slept poorly (as I usually do…) that makes them worse.
Steve
I sometimes need a deep breath, and I have the palpitations most of the time. But I remember you saying you have bigeminy and so do I, and I put a lot of it down to that.
I get a whole lot of ectopic beats, some bigeminy and AF every so often, much more this year than last. I was just reading about bigeminy itself and it does seem (if that's all a person has...) that it is not harmful and can be looked after by a GP and without specialist intervention, even. The fact you are now being treated suggests yours became symptomatic. AF is different in that it is potentially harmful as it is related in some not fully understood way to causing blood to pool in a part of the heart called the left atrial appendage - which can lead to the clot travelling and causing a stroke or other trouble. "Straightforward" bigeminy doesn't - from what I have read - carry any such risk.
Steve
I didn't say bigeminy is harmful and you're right, it isn't harmful if periodic, but if it's severe it causes problems. It can weaken the heart if severe and not brought under control, according to my cardiologist.
Chest ache, bump in the throat, needing the deep breath etc - nothing to write home about and minor discomforts in the scheme of things, but as no one else had mentioned them apart from you, and both you and I have bigeminy, I thought there might be a link. But thinking about it, there's lots of things could cause any of them for either of us.
The oesophagus in many people lies pressed against the heart, I have been told, and that is why the sensations from the heart can be felt in the throat area. That makes sense to me as when I was hooked up to a monitor once a gulp of tea made the nurse react as she saw a big ectopic (as she called it) on the ECG and then explained the cause.
By "harmful", I meant the chance of thrombus formation. As you say, any persistent arrhythmia might carry the risk of weakening the heart in some way although I seem to recall the evidence not being too clear. They are most unpleasant things to have to put up with and, for me, are not a minor thing at all, although I suspect stress is a large part of the feeling.
Steve
We seem to have a misunderstanding.I saiid minor in the scheme of things by which I meant not life threatening. I know how unpleasant they can be, they are very unpleasant for me too. However, I know these things don't on their own carry a risk so whilst they're pretty horrid they're just something I have to live with.
The oesophagus idea is interesting and sounds very plausible.
I did understand what you meant - sorry. My palpitations are far worse from early evening onwards for some reason and nothing I can do will lessen them.
The anatomy issue with the oesophagus is apparently one of the potential risks during an ablation as the heat from the catheter can transfer through the thin atrial wall and harm the oesophagus if it lies close.
Steve
Well i get them as well on bisoprolol was on 5 mg awful side effects then 2 .5 still bad then on 1.25 mg still have the odd palpitations and bump in the throat but the annoying one is severe tinnitus that makes me here every heart beat the joy of that
That's dreadful! 😢
Hard work sometimes
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