Hennypenny71

[Parya]

Hello everyone I am new in here and diagnosed with afib a few months ago and after recent echo lvsd as well my heartbeat is high so my bisoprolol keeps getting increased it is now 10mg my nose keeps running and my throat is sore and hard to clear is this common does anyone know please?

[Thomas45]

Welcome to this forum. I see that previously you have posted in the British Heart Foundation forum. I hope that someone on this forum will have had the experience of it that you have had. I only took 2.5,mg of Bisoprolol for 11 weeks, before it gave me problems, and I was weaned off it. There are other beta blockers which may not give you the same problems as you are now having.

[Parya in reply to Thomas45]

Thank you for replying Thomas Tricia and Vonnegut yes I did try the bhf too, since I have been diagnosed I have had so much confusion on what is meant to happen to treat my conditions, I haven't seen a cardiologist it's just that a and e doctor who originally saw me that ordered the echo and found out about the lvsd and increased the bisoprolol but no follow up except to say at some stage that I will be referred to the arythmia clinic luckily my going to my gp with a very swollen tummy last week the ecg he took showed 125 bpm and my pacer watch was showing 79! Apparently it's not catching all the beats, so he has increased meds again and water tabs, I am also on blood thinner anyway, I will probably have to carry on with these side effects too long a list to mention until my beats are in a better range the throat showed up on the more serious side effects for bisoprolol so I was just seeing if anyone else had had experience of it, seeing gp on Wednesday for another ecg and bloods so will get it looked at them, been put on fursemide 40 mg but not passing urine much more than normal, hopefully when all meds are tweaked and I am more stable I can get on with my life! I will definitely be asking to change the bisoprolol this is where these forums help so much with other people experiencing the same things and that there are alternatives instead of suffering in silence, the threads I have been reading have been invaluable and put things into context.

Thanks everyone

[pusillanimous in reply to Parya]

I know we are all different. I have feet that swell. .No heart failure or kidney problem. A potassium sparing diuretic was tried , I stopped that as it definitely reduced my urine output. Eventually furesemide was prescribed which sent my usual stable HR skywards. The feeling now with my GP and Cardio is that it's circulation related - I will never manage support stockings, so will see what happens with the worst foot and ankle which is just recovering after I injured and badly bruised my foot !

[Tricia239]

Hi, and welcome. I’m sorry but like Thomas, I can’t really help you. I was prescribed Bisoprolol when I was first diagnosed, which must be nearly 8 years ago, but I didn’t take it for long because it gave me dreadful, and vivid, dreams. As you are having such unpleasant side effects I would ask for an alternative. Good luck.

[Vonnegut]

How different we all are! The lowest dose of Bisoprolol, 1.25mg, was too much for me to take daily! If an echocardiogram shows your heart is structurally fine, as mine did, Flecainide might work for you as it has done for me. Hope you find what works for you without nasty side effects.

[ozziebob in reply to Vonnegut]

You wrote "If an echocardiogram shows your heart is structurally fine ... Flecainide might work"

But Parya has already written in her Post ...

"after recent echo lvsd", and as LVSD is the medical abbreviation for left ventricular systolic dysfunction, surely even mentioning flecainide as a potential solution is inappropriate?🤔 Or am I not understanding something? Just asking for some clarification of your Reply.

[Vonnegut in reply to ozziebob]

Sorry! I didn’t know that and had thought it was just a typo!

[Ppiman]

Hi and welcome! I am sure it's fair to say that side effects from most drugs do diminish over time, but where this doesn't happen, I would say that only a doctor can help. 10mg is a high dose of bisoprolol, although far from uncommon. It will slow the heart and lower the BP, both likely to bring changes that you will feel negatively, at least initially.

The difficulty with treating AF seem to me to be that the condition is not only hard to treat, but that the heart's sensitivity to AF varies over times, perhaps over weeks, even months, and no one knows what makes it vary in this way. This means that any drug being taken to help AF will - much of the time - be being taken when, essentially, there's nothing wrong with the heart, and a powerful drug will then be acting on a "normal" heart. That is likely when side effects will be most noticed. After all - why add in a drug to a "healthy" heart?

However, giving advice regarding AF is never easy since the background to each person's condition is likely to be somewhat different and to the point that they need to find out from trial and error, with their doctor's guidance, what suits them best. For most people, it seems from reading and experience, that bisoprolol helps, but clearly some here do find it not a good drug and find alternatives like nebivolol or diltiazem better.

Steve

[JOY2THEWORLD49]

hi

No BBs controlled my rapid heart rate.

then private H/Specialist put me on 1/2 dose DILTIAZEM. lowered it to

AM Diltiazem 120mg CD dropped within 2 hours from 156 now to 60s.

PM Bisoprolol 2.5mg for BP control.

Done

cherio JOY. 73. (NZ)

[Parya in reply to JOY2THEWORLD49]

That's interesting Joy this is a help because I will go along with this regime at the moment and see what happens and it is useful to have another drug to ask about, I see diltiazem is a channel blocker and works a bit differently so glad you are settled now a 60 bpm reading is great hopefully I will be heading in that direction one day!

[JOY2THEWORLD49 in reply to Parya]

Hi

I like you ended up with 10mg Bisoprolol but no dramatic downward drop.

At first at 120mg CD it dropped just under 100 to 84-94 butv within a year and I lost 3kg I dropped to 60s. Because of my Night Rate at 47avg bpm on 3 x 24hr monitors, I was glad that taking the Diltiazem early in morning 1 hour after my Thyroxin pills, it remains the same.

I was able to have the 2 operations (not for heart) that were necessary. Both Anaesthetists warned me OVER 100 bpm we will not do this operation. So timim=ng was great December Diltiazem Dec 21. 1st op 4 March 2022. The last very late October 2023 so hopefully no more operations.

But they did my Ca Thyroidectomy regardless of Heart Rate in Feb 2020. On Metoprolol I was 185bpm Day.

cherio JOY

[BaileyC57 in reply to Parya]

I got really dizzy on Diltiazem, but that is just me!

[Dodie117]

My cardiologist prescribed nebivolol in stead and so far no side effects

[Cavalierrubie]

I think lots of us are unable to tolerate Bisoprolol because of nasty side effects. I am unable to take it regularly as it lowers my blood pressure too much. I take it as a PIP and it works for me. I would see your GP and get a review. 10 mgs. seems a very high dose initially. There are lots of alternative drugs, so don't suffer in silence, or be fobbed off. Our aim is for a good quality of life and can take some time to find with trial and error of certain drugs. When I was first diagnosed my anxiety went through the roof as it was a great shock. This exasperated my AF., so if you are over anxious it could increase your HR. AF is a treatable condition and not terminal, albeit scary at times, but there are many of us and some have had it for many, many years. I wish you well on this journey, and assure you that all will be well and you will smile again.

[BaileyC57]

I had to try many beta blockers until I found the right one for me! They all have so many side effects but for me I now take Nebivolol 5mg, but I started out with 2.5 mg! Had to increase it to 5mg a day!