I knew before the beta blocker was prescribed late April 2019 that I needed a new spectacles prescription (tri-focals, what fun - not) but had been putting it off. Now the blurry vision (mild but is my usual warning it's time for a new 'script) is at a 'can no longer be put off' point - but I'm not sure if the mild (but annoying now) blurring is my eyes or the beta blocker.
Should I wait a few more months to book a vision test? I know when I do go in I must tell the ophthalmologist about the beta blocker and he will advise, but it would be nice to hear from real people what/if their experience has been.
Written by
Sunnie2day
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
I have blurry eyes!! I don't take beta blockers, just got & always have had rotten eyesight. I would just book your test, they'll ask about medication at the appt. When was the last time you had a test?
Let us know if the ophthalmologist says there is a link. Meanwhile do we need to stay off the road when you’re driving!! 🤓 ps: are tri-focals the same as vari-focals?
- I don't drive much - no need, everything is either walkable or online orderable or husband-bad-passenger-and-therefore-insists-on-driving-'his'-car (I sold mine when I retired).
Tri-focals can be vari-focals - varifocals are the ones without the visible lines. I wear the ones with the visible lines. I tried the varifocals but even after a week I was still feeling dizziness and as though I might be 'about to be sick'. I've now given up on varifocals and go for the ones with lines (no price savings, sigh).
I was so young when I first went into 'multi-zone' glasses - 42 when the 'bi-focals' were prescribed, 46 when the tri-focals were prescribed and I can still hear myself arguing with the ophthalmologist 'But I'm only 46!'.
I sympathise, I stopped being able to see when I was bout 16 but refused to wear my glasses (vanity) manys the time Ive been cinema & not been able to see the film!! I'm not a lover of vari-focals either, my contacts work better for me. Wish I lived within walkable distances of anything, our town is bout 25-30 mins walk away, which is fine if you're feeling well, weather isnt too hot/cold/damp/windy, etc. The GP has always told us to overwinter in a warmer climate but won't put it on prescription!!
I tried contacts but I'm one of those 'Eew, there's a spec in my eye!' types
When we realised my heart was making me housebound we sold the too-big-for-us house that was perched on a series of steep hills and had narrow riser concrete stairs in-out front, back, and side - I couldn't even take a walk down the shops as the steps to get to the pavement were so steep - steeper even than the steep streets to get down the shops and let's not get me started on how awful getting back up those streets and steps were!
We downsized to a one bed/one bath (big mistake that, I should have held out for a second bedroom and bath or at least a water closet!) all on one level including getting out to the washing line and the shops. Honestly it was the best thing we've done (except the missing bed and bath ) - and LOL, is when my heart thing went into overdrive. I was out and about so much after the move I did too much and got myself in a right state, ended up in the new GP exam room hearing her say she thought I was in heart failure (I wasn't but I sure presented as though I might have been!).
In the end the move has been so good, including the need for, as the GP put it, better medical supervision (they found a few 'new' things, nothing major but what a wake-up call, wowsa!). I do miss that second bath though!
We live in a bungalow which has made life so much easier but it has a large garden though which is unfortunate. Only 1 bathroom but we do have the 2nd bedroom, I use it to hide the ironing that needs doing!🧺
We swapped our Victorian terrace 2up 2 down for a lovely modern 2 bed bungalow. It was not what my husband wanted 3 years ago but I insisted and it was very close to our daughter, although they get the benefit at the minute as we get all their parcels and look after their pussycat, last year my husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease so it was definitely for the best, God works in mysterious ways I believe. We're only 5 minutes from town, a supermarket and most things we need even the local hospital is just 10 mins and we do spend quite a bit of time there, I'm on Warfarin so frequent visits are the norm.
Taking the decision to 'downsize' was not difficult for us but I think it was a little harder for my husband who could have been the model for Victor Meldrew. And now of course he'll tell anyone who will listen it was all his idea.
I think you're right about mysterious ways (so sorry to hear of your husband's Parkinson's).
Im on bisporol b blocker I also take candesarten ace inhibitor
After evening dose of ace inhibitor notice slightly blurred but not sure it's beta blocker not bad enough hope you sought yours don't stop b blocker without Dr supervise
Thankyou Sunnie And Lezzers for brightening my morning. I felt as though I was eavesdropping in on a conspiratorial chin wag very entertaining. Apologies if it wasn’t meant to be!!
As an aside and putting my twopence worth in any blurring of vision should be checked out immediately just to be on the safe side. Take care. Zena x
Totally agree Zena, eyesight is very precious. Should always get blurry 👀 checked (unless it's alcohol induced!) Glad you enjoyed the banter, sometimes a little lightheartedness is needed xx
The more the merrier, Zena - and that's good advice re speaking to the medical team about the blurred vision. It's not bad, I can function and as I already needed a new vision prescription I'm not even sure the beta blocker is causing the mildly increased blurries - it could just be my eyes becoming more insistent I need that eye check.
Still, good advice, thank-you, and I'll ring the cardiac nurse first thing Monday morning, just-in-case.
I feel like as if I'm eavesdropping on a good old chin wag as well now Zena but it passes the time on a boring Sunday!! Love the bit about the Ironing, throw it in the bedroom and close the Door, I hate ironing. I do that regularly. Out of sight, out of mind. Do it when I've got too lol....😊😊
I'm fine with the ironing once I'm set up, I use my perching stool, but until recently I've not had the energy. Fortunately, friends from church have helped out and I've stopped being so fussy about what needs to be ironed, just the pillowcases, not the sheets and if my husband's tops come out the dryer okay they go into his cupboard folded they will end up crushed in any case as he pulls which one he wants out from the pile!
Aww that's good that your Friends help out with ironing. I used to be so fussy with it, not that I liked it then mind! Now I'm not so fussy with it at all. Saying that, I used to obsess about Housework etc but I don't anymore. As long as things are clean and tidy, I'm happy with that these days. Perhaps that comes with getting older as well. There's more to Life than cleaning!! So sorry to hear about your Husband as well. Parkinson's is an awful disease, my Cousin has it. Take Care x
You do not mention your age but you should really have your eyes checked every two years anyway. I’ve had varifocals for years and wouldn’t be without them. Beta blockers have not changed things
Hiya Cookie! I'm 62, have been trying to wear varifocals since 1988 or so - can't do it and think you folks who can are SO lucky I know I should have been in for an eye check last year (been two years since my last one but I'm supposed to go once a year), and am booking an appointment tomorrow.
NO change on bisopralol except hallucinations. My eye test is every 2 years but if I feel something's odd I can go every year. My latest was early cataracts which just mean I can't drive at night as headlights look like bursting stars but cataracts are not yet bad enough to operate. See your optician.
When I read the package insert on the first pack of Bisoprolol and saw the warning about sleep disturbance and hallucinations, I had to take a very deep breath. So far so good - no side effects but the mild blurred vision, I really don't think I could manage hallucinations!
Do you think the beta blockers contributed to the cataracts? And yes, definitely booking an appointment tomorrow.
No, definitely not anything to do with the cataracts. They saw signs of them a good 10 years ago. Ignore me and beta blockers. I have an auto immune disorder which means I react badly to practically every tablet but the bisopralol really were something else. I had 3 foot long, 8 inch wide black worms all over the walls and ceiling. Scared the hell out of me. I thought my sight had gone. Then I remembered an elderly lady friend who had been talking to her dogs that died 15 years before and my mother in law who had the TV talking to her, telling her to let a gang of youths into the house and had babies crying in her bedroom. LOL ( She was 96)
I didn't react too well LOL. It was after GP moved tablets to bedtime because of side effects. I would wake up seeing worms. They wouldn't go until I got out of bed and started walking around. I still now can't put the light out at night even though I no longer take beta blockers
Thank-you for your reply - interesting about switching back to the visible lines, and needing the single vision lenses in the evening. I have a pair of prescription reading glasses (single lenses) and in the evening if I'm working on something 'close-work' I need to put my reading glasses on to defeat the blurring. I didn't connect it to the beta blocker but I will now!
Forgot to say I always wear single vision for reading. Varifocals are fine for getting on with life but reading for pleasure requires single vision. I read a lot
Ah ok. I get slight visual disturbances at night with bedside lamp on. Sort of see my arm leaving outlines in layers if I move it up and down. I'm on Flecaine and Bisoprolol. Strange
I take Flecaine because I have occasional Paroxysmal Afib. As I never know when it's going to happen and there are no triggers I have to take Flec. I know some people take it as a pill in the pocket but here in France my cardiologist prefers me to take it everyday as a slow release capsule. It is an anti-arrithymic drug and the Bisoprolol slows the heart. I still get bouts of Afib but not as long lasting as when I was on Sotolol - but that's another story
This post has managed to do the impossible by making me think about the ironing!! I've now got a couple of weeks off work, so I've pulled out the rest of the ironing from where I'd hidden it in the wardrobe & it's joined the lot on the bed....I'm now gonna send it out to be ironed!! Feeling much better about it now I've made that decision!! Hope you managed to make your eye test appt Sunnie2day x
I think now is when I should confess I'm probably one of the very people on the planet who actually enjoys ironing. Shocking even to me
I did make the eye appointment, I go in Monday the 15th. I mentioned the Bisoprolol to the receptionist and she said she's made a note of it so the ophthalmologist sees it straight away but she also said other patients on higher doses report far more blurring than I am reporting - so now I'm almost certain my blurring vision (mildly annoying but it was before I started the beta blocker) is down to putting off the vision check. And btw, the receptionist scolded me for that procrastination. Nicely, but firmly.
ETA: I also spoke to the cardiac nurse who said the low dose I'm on probably isn't the reason for the blurring - and she scolded me for procrastinating about the eye appointment too!
Nothing more scarier than a receptionist!! (I used to be a doctors receptionist!). Interesting that your nurse said because you're on a low dose it won't be the cause of the blurring, does that mean higher dosage does cause it?? Very happy for you to atone for your procrastination by allowing you to do my ironing!!
My husband says I should 'hire out' to do ironing (Not something I'm considering, though)
Receptionists at the surgeries can be scary - they have to 'run interference' so I understand but sometimes they do go a bit overboard. Luckily the receptionists I've run into since our downsizing move have all been wonderful - helpful, patient, courteous, and quite efficient. The ophthalmologist's front office team are great (been seeing them for about ten years now) - the one I spoke to yesterday was careful not to 'make a diagnosis' or give too much information but she, like the cardiac nurse, did say most patients with blurred vision side effects are on higher doses and report other side effects as well. And then she gave me a mild ticking-off for waiting so long. sigh
The cardiac nurse was clear that higher doses will cause 'side-effects' in some patients including blurred vision but my dose is the lowest dose and doesn't usually cause any side effects unless the patient is, in her words, exceptionally sensitive. She said patients who do experience side effects usually have significant blurring+other things like sleep disturbance, and I'm reporting nothing like (I'm having the best night sleep ever since going on the beta blocker, wow!) And she made a point of saying I should have gone for that eye test on schedule, not put it off the way I did.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
- I don't drive much - no need, everything is either walkable or online orderable or husband-bad-passenger-and-therefore-insists-on-driving-'his'-car (I sold mine when I retired). 
Blurred Vision -meds? 
Head pain blurred vision
Bisoprolol cessation and exercising max heart rate / 1.25mg
Switch from bisoprolol 1.25mg to verpamil 120mg..chest pain 
