I had a mitral valve repair and 2 bypass 2 and half years ago. One of the medication is 2.5mg bisoprolol once a day. Before my operation I played tennis twice a week for 1 and half hours a game. As I recovered I was encouraged by the medical staff to get back playing which I have done.
Reading the comments on this forum am I defeating the purpose of this drug as my heart rate is fighting to increase but bisoprolol is trying to slow it down!
Have I misunderstood the benefits of this medication?
Dear Doonedog
You have not really misunderstood the drug Bisoprolol but have its effect a little wrong. The drug is to help with your resting heart rate not the rate during exercise, which will rise as normal.
Hopefully then your heart rate will return to a normalised level when you finish your match.
I am really pleased for you that you are now at a level were you can return to a sport that you love. I am not medically trained but I can see nothing wrong with returning to exercise and learning to listen to your bodies needs, start slow after running it past your Dr/heart team first.
Take care and well done { new balls please ! }
I don't believe that this is correct. It is, as far as I am aware, the other way round, it will impact your Heart Rate more when exercising than at rest, acting as a 'de-limiter' at the higher levels, the effect at rest is more of a consequence of this.
When I was on 10mg (5mg twice daily), I found that I was 'running out of steam' when cycling/running, when it was reduced to 5mg (2.5mg twice daily), I really noticed the difference, I was able to push harder for longer, getting HR up to 160's.
I should of added, you are definitely not defeating the object by exercising, it is the best thing you can do, especially as you have been advised by your medical team to get back to playing.
Interesting, wonder why they give it to folk that never exercise then if it doesn’t do anything at rest? But again I only pass on what I have been told by my heart team and I am not medically trained.
I really hope that I have not been told or passed on wrong information and if I have I am sorry for that { makes a note to get the heart nurse to explain Bisoprolol again }
I think more people are prescribed it for High Blood Pressure as part of dual treatment, so the effect on HR is not the primary concern.
Oh and it does do something at rest, like I said, as a consequence of it's main purpose, it will slightly reduce resting HR.
Thank you for explaining, much appreciated
Hi I take 10mg once a day and go img for cardiac rehabilitation once a week after exercising my heart rate is still a lot lower than the rest of the group
Morning Doonedog,
I also wondered if Bisoprolol impacted your heart rate while excercising. I’m currently on 2.5mg dose and missed 2 days while waiting for my chemist to fulfil my prescription.
So, wrongly and possibly a tad wreckless, I put that theory to test. Attached you’ll see that I ran 5k, training for the Birmingham 10k for BHF, and the difference is massive.
This screen shot is from the myzone heart app, I get these readings off a belt that goes around my chest and was from Friday evening. The red indicates my calculated heart rate exceeding 90% where as the
Pt 2
This image is my heart rate after taking bisoprolol on Monday evening same distance, same pace. My heart rate always spikes at the start but then the meds keep it under control.
Dear Slimdaz
That is an amazing difference! I am shocked at your results. I used to run a lot and now can only manage 3 miles a day { yes I know that is good etc } but I dont find that the effects of the Bisoprolol hold me back but more the breathlessness that can come on if Im running or not.
Hoping that my upcoming Pacemaker fitting will help with that, but very interesting post thank you.
Take care
Ask if you can take it at night, as many people have changed to, then you won't be fighting the effects when exercising
The effect of BS is to reduce the uptake of adrenaline and noradrenaline by the heart in particular.I found that taking a 2.5mg dose made me feel like a zombie.
I found that it was difficult to achieve the same heart rate needed to do significant exercise.
There is an argument which says that if you can play tennis, you may not need a beta blocker.
It might be worth asking your cardiologist, but don't stop without reference to a doctor.
Thank you I will definitely ask him
My estimation is that for me it knocks off 20bpm during exercise (140 down to 120) and between 5 and 10 bpm (60 down to 50-55) at rest. I'm just on 1.25mg. At higher doses I get dizziness when standing up after resting for a while. Overall I would prefer not to be on it, but I recognise the benefits so have stuck with it.
Have you been informed what the benefits are?
I have now thanks. It just seemed as if you were working against the benefits, but I'm aware now. Many thanks to all who replied
I was told that Bisoprolol would strengthen my heart. It would appear to be a highly subjective assessment.
I had an AVR 7 months ago and have got back to jogging slowly. I always run with a chest strap & sports watch and initially restricted myself to the cardio zone. So would be a bit of a run, then a walk, then run & repeat until I got round my usual course. Did this and slowly built up, but couldn't quite achieve a run without hitting these self-imposed limits. After talking to the rehab team, I've increased these the limits further until I can now run the complete course and my times are improving pretty much on every run. Mentally, this has helped me get back closer to normal, but I noticed a couple of things I think are related. Firstly... Bisoprolol appears to have an impact when exercising. When I started to push myself, I found I got pains in my major muscles (left leg initially)... First time I thought it was a clot !!, so slightly worried! But found this seemed to be related to running and this has slowly improved, as I've improved. My theory is that the heart is being slowed/limited during exercise and this reduces the blood/oxygen to the leg muscles, leading to cramp. As I monitor my heart closely, I've noticed a reasonable difference in relationship to when I take Bisoprolol and going for a run. Leave it an hour or so after taking and my average BPM is measurably lower than if not taken or taken just as starting the run. I'd say around 10 BPM less, even if I'm running faster. Although this sounds great, my concern is on the resting side. I've noticed my resting heart rate is getting slower over time, which sounds great if I was an athlete, but as I've had heart issues and on Bisoprolol, it does worry me. It was in the 50's & low 60's months ago (I remember it was 70's in hospital), now it's around 44 average. (hitting 40 a couple of times during the night sometimes). Don't know how this compares to others? (btw. I'm on 3.5mg). Oh... And being able to hear your heart going slow & having eptopic beats also doesn't help either. LOL !
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