do I need to take bisoprolol

[Moreton1]

I was taken off a small dosage 1.25 mg in November due to a slow heart rate. I had another echo scan and was advised I was doing well and was told to stay off them. I had a telephone consultation with my specialist and have been advised to start taking the small dose again for prognostic benefits. I feel fine now and have started at the gym, if I start taking the small dose will it go against what I am doing in the gym? Also when I was taking bisoprolol it really effected my sleep patterns so am reluctant to start taking it again?

[CDreamer]

My own experience - Bisoprolol made me very ill so I cannot see why, if you feel well, you would want to take something that could cause disruption “for prognosis reasons”? Prognosis is an opinion based on what the doctor thinks may happen in the future. It’s a very unusual word to use in this context. Prophylactic might be used for risk of something of serious happening but prognosis? I think that needs further explanation and expansion from your doctors as to their thinking. If after a full explanation that sounds reasonable to you then you can make the decision.

You have a right to refuse any treatment.

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People on here can give their opinions on what you should be doing based on their own experience, but no one on here has detailed knowledge of your medical circumstances and for that reason you should address your concerns to your prescribing physician. And certainly no-one on here should be advocating for you not to take prescribed medication without first consulting with a health professional, since that is against forum rules.

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Dear Moreton1

A warm welcome to you and your first post,

As you have already guessed no-one is willing to back you up on stopping your medication on here and rightly so, its a conversation that you need to have with your GP or Cardiologist .

I really can understand your frustrations of taking medication that has side effects detrimental to your currant lifestyle and I hope you get the answers you need.

Take care

[Hrty]

I'm pretty sure I'm having similar issues with 1.25mg Bisoprolol (slow HR and feeling whacked). I've already started the ball rolling to start discussions about going forward or not with this but won't be stopping until get medical ok to do so. I'd want more detailed discussion bearing in mind what it was like before with these.

[Sally_Scott]

Bisoprolol made me feel very ill so I took myself off and went back onto flecanide which I’m ok on. Talk to your cardiologist and tell him how it makes u feel and perhaps he will suggest another med if u need it. Good luck.

[Silvertail]

I'm not trying to influence you or anyone, in any way, but telling my experience. I am on Bisoprolol 10 mg. and have been for many years. It made me a bit dizzy and unwell at first, but I got used to it. I asked my cardiologist about it and he said he advises patients to push through until they get past the initial stage. (I take it at night - and others in the morning - for obvious reasons.) As my CM is stable I asked if I could stop my meds. He said we should not, because if we go backwards again, the meds often don't work as well. So, I am guided by my cardiologists and continue to take them, albeit it reluctantly. (My cardiologists are at one of the best tertiary heart/lung/research hospitals in the Southern hemisphere so I am guided by them.)

[TeresaMay]

I say, always go on medical advice. However I recall when I had been admitted to hospital on maybe an unrelated problem, the medics changed the level of this drug 3 times in 24 hours. The consultant's comment was "what do they think they are playing at?"😀

[Maderia]

I am on the small dose of bisoprolol too and I don’t like it much as it has lots of side effects with me but I would not come off it without my consultants agreement. Often it is given to lower heart rate so that your heart doesn’t have to work too hard. There must be a reason why your consultant wants you to go back on it so you should consult him as to why. Who told you to come off it in the first place. Your consultant should be the only person you consult with over your drugs.

[Eagle69]

hi

I was on 1.25mg bisoprolol until last Tuesday when, after a while of HR dipping to low 30’s for 30/45 min periods, I spoke to 111 and GP and they advised to stop straight away. I didn’t have any side effects on being on bisoprolol that I know of.

I’m not sure it’s made much difference if I’m honest as I’m still having periods of my HR going into the 30’s. Not sure how long it takes to flush out of your system? My resting HR has always been low (mid 40’s).

I’m in for a stress echo in 10 days and then a 24 hour ECG soon after so would assume I’ll know more after those tests.

As everyone else has said, I’d always discuss with your GP and cardiologist before changing your meds. Personally I’ll be instigating these conversations as time goes on because the less meds I’m on the better. But I wouldn’t take myself off anything without their say so.

Cheers

[LindyMc]

I was told that bisoprolol was entirely voluntary only taken when necessary. I am still on it and with plenty of side effects but necessary for controlling arrhythmias unfortunately.

[Familyk]

Good morning and welcome. I'm taking 2.5 bisoprolol and initially felt dreadful. 4 weeks on and I'm feeling a lot better. It obviously takes time to settle.

Please don't stop taking your medication. I know exactly how your feeling but you need clarification first from your heart team.

Good luck x

[Engineer46]

Moreton1

Welcome to the forum!

We know almost nothing about you so any observations from our own experience may not be relevant to your own health needs.

Having said that, here are some general points on your first post.

Sleep pattern disturbances can often be addressed by taking the medication at a different time of the day. Ask your GP to advise.

1.25mg per day of Bisoprolol is the smallest dose and many in this forum ( but by no means all) experience no side effects, myself included.

The NHS reports no adverse effects from the long term use of Bisoprolol.

There are some cardiovascular conditions for which Bisoprolol may be recommended for prognostic benefits (to reduce the risk of premature death) even when the patient is asymptomatic. See, for example, this technical paper - but be prepared for a lot of medical terminology!

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

If you have one of the conditions mentioned in the paper, perhaps you should take the advice of your specialist, see how you get on at the gym and take things from there.

Medication is always a balance between side effects and benefits, and open discussion between you and your GP and consultants is the best approach.

Best wishes,

Paul

[Mart25]

I guess it's to be expected that you will get lots of sympathetic comments from people who have had problems with bisoprolol. I take 1.25mg a day (which is the lowest dose you can get) and my experience is good. Indeed I have encouraged my cardiologist to keep me on it. It limits/eliminates the ectopic beats I used to have. It slows my heart rate just a bit (perhaps 5 bpm lower) and it lowers my blood pressure a bit. These are all good things from my viewpoint because I've had a bypass operation and my heart needs a bit of help. It doesn't affect my sleep or make me tired. As others have said, we don't know your medical history or any detail so we cannot advise you, but I thought I'd add a positive message about bisoprolol! If you decide to restart, just be aware that your target heart rate in the gym will be lower - you will not be able to drive your heart rate up too high because the bisoprolol will limit things.

[Taz70]

Hi, I was on 1.25mg of bisoprolol for a couple of months to help control ectopic beats, palpitations etc and irregular HR. This was increased to 2.5mg once they discovered i had mild left ventricular hypertrophy(lvh) to ease the workload on my heart. It made me feel dizzy, fatigued with a low HR of 30. They cardiologist requested I stop taking it straight away as I was suffering with bradycardia and he wanted to see what my true RHR was but said I may need a pacemaker depending on the outcome. Since being off bisoprolol my HR still sits around 40 sometimes and still symptomatic so obviously it's something else. I'm now fitted with a implant loop recorder to try and find out the reason behind it all. As others have mentioned you have to listen to your cardiologist and go with what they request to try and find out why, what or reasons behind any medical issues. Believe me I'm still having good and bad days even yesterday but I hope they will find out soon what needs to be done so follow your doctors advice and hopefully you will know more soon. Good luck Taz.