Healthy individual - hiking, biking, 60 years old, failed stress test, 4 stents and now cold feet

[michellefisherm]

Hi,

I am 60 years old, hike, bike a lot. I failed a stress test and then angio showed the 3 major arteries - Left Anterior Descending Artery, Left Circumflex Artery, and Right Coronary Artery had more than 90% blockage.

I got 4 stents in first week of January this year.

I am on

Metoprolol 50 mg twice a day, Atorvastatin 80 mg 1 a day, Aspirin 81 mg, Losartan 12.5 mg twice a day, and Prasugrel 10 mg 1 a day.

I am noticing two issues:

1. Feel little tingle in the heart and pain the shoulder/arm.

2. My feet are very cold and even hands very cold.

Is this normal?

Thank you

[Mart25]

Metoprolol is likely to be the explanation for your cold feet (and hands?). All beta blockers have this potential side effect. I think you will find this listed in the patient information leaflet that comes with the tablets. I suspect you have been put on a standard dose which may be more than is actually necessary for you. Everyone is different and will respond differently to the meds. I suggest you discuss with your cardiologist and see if it's possible to reduce the dose. But you may have to put up with it for a while so your heart can settle down after your stents. I had cold hands and feet with my initial treatment with bisoprolol (another beta blocker) following bypass surgery. I asked whether the dose could be reduced. Cardiologist agreed to halve the dose and all was well after that.

[Heythrop51]

Good morning. I think you need to count yourself extremely lucky to have avoided an event with thar degree of artersclerosis. Have you been checked for pre or actual diabetes as this can aggrevate things. As said the cold extremities are probably the beta blocker. You need to discuss with your GP/cardiologist but in the meantime wear socks and gloves.

[michellefisherm in reply to Heythrop51]

I am pre-diabetic... 5.7% A1C

[devonian186]

Cold extremities are very normal. Its still very early days, perhaps you are trying to do too much or perhaps it is your medication which frequently takes time to get right?

I would liken a lot of medication to roads. All of a sudden a single traffic light appears and you wonder why that was put up as traffic stops flowing freely and backs up at a junction. The 'cure' for that are more traffic lights which then causes road problems at another junction, so in goes another set of traffic lights, then a roundabout, then a staggered junction.

So what I am saying is there needs to be a review of meds to see how one interacts with another but this rarely happens so the knock on effect continues.

A chat with your GP or the cardiologist might help to remove some of the problems and get the 'traffic' flowing more readily. But it just might be you need to give it a little more time

[pasigal]

I probably have a similar pathology and physiology to you, down to the arteries affected and general level of fitness. I'm on bisoprolol -- my hands and especially feet get REALLY cold very easily. I would suggest wearing merino socks and making sure your shoes are warm and not too tight to allow good circulation. It's a side effect I can live with but not pleasant...

[MrsSuzuki]

I'm on bisoprolol too, a low dose, 1.25 mg. My hands and especially my feet are always cold 🥶.

Lily

[Hrty]

Another low dose Bisoprolol here, 1.25mg, and my feet are often cold. 🥶

[Chappychap]

As has been pointed out, cold hands/feet is a common side effect with beta blockers such as Metoprolol or Bisoprolol.

But don't assume that's the only explanation. Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) is a very common co-morbidity with heart disease and can also cause cold feet. Monitor other symptoms such as brittle toenails, hair loss on legs and feet, socks leaving persistent marks on your legs, etc. If these get worse over time then raise it with your doctor.

Good luck!

[michellefisherm]

Thank you everyone for sharing. Appreciate it

[CyclingTime]

Hi there, cold feet, hands and for me nose a lot of the time sometimes painfully so in the cold

I had a quad bypass 12 months ago this Thursday. I'm a cyclist and back to cycling but actually improved as I am going further and faster with more power. So good potential there ☺️

[michellefisherm in reply to CyclingTime]

Thanks for sharing..

[Jro49]

hi, I have past experience of Losartan, which if I remember I said in my only post. I have taken it for many years, never any issues, and suddenly my BP went haywire, massive highs and then very lows.

Various meds tried, including Losartan, no success, went with this for approx 2 yrs.

Eventually saw a cardiologist specialising in ‘difficult BP’, very thorough and gave me a slow release med Felodipine, been taking since October, seems the problem is s——d, don’t want to tempt fate by actually stating the word….

Feeling so much like my self again, to the point that I felt able to travel to NZ… visiting family and a brand new grandson. which is where I am now… I couldn’t have even contemplated travelling while trying to get BP back to normal.

I can’t really tell you any more about Losartan, and I think you always have to go with your own specialist, as I think they often do know best, so go safely.

[michellefisherm in reply to Jro49]

Thanks for sharing. I will discuss it with my Cardiologist

[Andy455]

14 months post HA here. I too was on Prasugrel, Bisoprolol and Aspirin. I suffered terribly with cold hamds and feet. I was advised to stop the Prasugrel 12 months after my HA and my cold hands and feet disappeared.

[michellefisherm in reply to Andy455]

Thank you