I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the doctors surgery a couple of years ago and was put on losartan 20mg a day...because my high blood pressure i know is anxiety related as i have suffered since my early 20's with fast heart rate and ectopic beats... i also asked for beta blockers and was put on propranolol 10mg per day..around a year later my thyroid went hyper and they changed my propranolol to Bisoprolol 10mg per day..after around 6 months my thyroid has settled down and my blood pressure was too low so my Doctor stopped the Losartan completely and left me on just the Bisoprolol.
My objective is to try get off the long term taking of bisoprolol altogether..so with my doctors knowledge of what i want to do i have managed to drop my Bisoprolol at the moment to 2.5mg a day from 10mg a day with no real difference in me...however i have tried to not take the Bisoprolol for odd one off days and on the day i didnt take any my heart rate was fast and pounding in bed trying to sleep and i was suffering with lots of palpitations so had to get out of bed and take the 2.5mg bisoprolol to which my heart calmed down and allowed my to go to sleep after about 30 mins..
My question is can anyone advise the best way to come off 2.5mg Bisoprolol per day which i take for anxiety related heart problems(Fast heart rate and ectopic beats)i dont care if it takes me 6 months to come of them...has anyone tried to withdraw there betablockers over a long period of time with a success at the end and not have the horrible withdrawal symptoms along the way.
Thank you for the reply...it wasnt nice when i didnt take one just for one day i was shocked how fast my heart was going and how many palpitations i had...they only stopped cause i gave in and took a 2.5mg tablet..i am supposed to go back to the GP in 4 weeks to tell him how i went on with the 2.5mg a day so guess i'll have to speak to him about dropping the dose further...i do like finding out from other people though who have gone through this because the doctors sometimes dont seem to know how i would react...thanks chris
Would you recommend that i can half the 2.5mg tablet than half the 1.25mg to see how i go?
After years of medication your body gets used to it wether you need it or not.
Your original issues are still present, a lot can improve with life changes.Talk to your GP and accept his advice as they have experience of what’s generally best.
I am against going on any medication and the main problems I have is acceptance .
Yes, I would agree not to change doses without discussing it first with the prescribers. Watching GP and others juggle my meds for a pretty long time (and now pretty stable) i can see they use all the data pretty carefully. If you change doses or cut your own in half, this dose variability can effect their judgements.
I, personally, have been on daily Bisoprolol - 5mg before and stopped. I stopped by tapering it down thus - first, I tapered down to 2.5mg for a week, from that I went down to 1.2/5mg for another one week, after then I was taking same & skipping a day..... Here is the challenge: the days I skipped were hell of times in the nights as I would battle with palpitations till the following day. All I did was enduring it as I kept skipping more days until I stopped. It wasn't really easy but as I endured this implications of stopping, it eventually left me and I became free.Why don't you try that? Best of luck.
Yes that sounds like something I would want to do..I seem fine taking the 2.5mg so when I speak to the doc I will ask him if I can reduce to 1.25mg then probably cut these in half and try to taper down...surely my body should be able to adjust if I do this over a long time...also weirdly the more I reduce the dosage of biso the less palpitations I seem to get until the particular day I didn't take a tablet at all then got loads of palpitations...do you now not take any biso at all?
Our Guidelines here do say not to recommend stopping medications, without discussing with Healthcare Professional first. I’m guessing this covers reducing them, too.
Have you tried taking 1.25mg at night and 1.25mg in the morning? Later on (after discussing with GP) you could try dropping one of the doses. That would get you down to 1.25mg/day, which many of us here with AF are taking to gently limit heart rate. Some of us take it in the morning and some at night, depending on personal preference (how our symptoms respond).
Thanks Paul...that sounds like a really great idea and i will mention that one to the doctor..i'm not bothered how long it takes but by the sounds of others on here i'm in for the long haul to try to come off betablockers 😀
Hello I am totally confused with Bisoprolol. I know cardiologists try to get you onto the max dose you can tolerate, which I believe is 10mg for most people. Now I have been on 10mg which was lowering my night time HR down to 33 BPM which cardiologist thought was a little to low, so reduced to 7.5mg which I tolerate fine. (reduced from 10mg to 7.5mg in one go )
What is confusing is why was I on 10mg and a lot of people are on 5mg, 2.5mg or even 1.25mg ? it appears to be the dose is prescribed as to the Heart Related issue that you as an individual has.
So advice on what to do is totally irrelevant if you don't know the reason why you have been prescribed the dose you are on !! I hope that makes some sense.
I was initially put on 3.75mg Bisoprolol after my heart attack, but suffered serious issues including having an impending feeling of doom... horrible! My GP held the view that I shouldn't be feeling like this and his opinion was that the dose should be increased. We almost had an argument about it, after which I was passed onto the Clinical Pharmacist at the practice. Thankfully, like your GP, she was willing to listen to me and the dose was reduced to 2.5mg and then 1.25mg over the course of a couple of months. I remain on 1.25mg with no issues other than a small effect on my hill walking activities. I have heard of people taking half a 1.25mg pill each day. Looking at those that I am prescribed, it would be easy to cut them in half.
indeed, there isn't a score line on my 1.25mg tablets. However, I wouldn't be worried about chopping a pill roughly in half. Okay the two halves might not be quite equal, but if you had 0.6mg one day and 0.65mg the next I can't see it making much difference. I'm sure our bodies don't absorb medications precisely the same day after day.
Hi, I woukd suggest you try to speak to your GP. They are the best people to work with you in setting up a plan of gradually reducing the bisoprolol safely..I have used it for 3 years and have been very lucky with no side effects. I know everyone is different though. Please don't think I'm lecturing you, but I really think its quite dangerous to stop and start this kind of medication. At least you were honest in telling us though!!
Thanks...yes i'm just after other peoples experience with coming off bisoprolol over a long period of time and how they went on and felt through the process of withdrawing from these tablets 🙂
My GP told me just to stop Bisoprolol 2.5mg,I was ill with pounding heart,BP shot up and I could hardly move without being dizzy,feeling sick,their answer to me was people stop 2.5 all the time with no problems .I did write a complaint and got nowhere.I didn't feel listened to so I would definitely recommend a slow withdrawal. A lot of health professionals seem to think it is a very small dose but it can have a major effect on your heart and we are all different. Good luck and I hope you stay well
hi. I’d be interested to see how you get on. With the doctors advice I tried to reduce from 10mg to 7.5mg but my heart rate shot right up. I just assumed that I needed the bisoprolol and never thought it was withdrawal from them as I didn’t know there was such a thing. I was given them after 2 episodes of atrial flutter after a mitral valve replacement and was told that AF was common just after surgery because of the way they do the surgery. If I don’t need them I’d like to come off them and it’ll be interesting to see how you get on. AND before anyone says that I need to speak to my GP first, I do know that. Thanks and good luck.
Hi...thank you for your reply and in my case when i visited the doctor i was on 10mg of bisoprolol and this was reduced to 5mg for around 2-3 weeks which i didnt feel any difference at all from doing this.. apart from my palpitations that i was getting while on this lower dose medication seem to calm down...so under the doctor i got this then reduced to 2.5mg which i have been on this now around 2 weeks and cat tell the difference on the lower dose apart from again my palpitations have decreased on the lower dose..i'm going to wait for 4 weeks now and go back and ask if i can go onto 1.25mg tablets and taper down that way..it did try to not take them at all for 1 day but my heart rate increased and i felt very anxious so i took it..i will be doing this as slowly as i can as that seems to work best for most people i did read of someone in a post taking nearly 6 months to fully come off them but she said it was the best way to go for her..good luck to you too if you try to reduce your tablets..😊
hi. Thank you for replying, I really do appreciate it. I think I’m going to speak to my gp about reducing them. I’m very tired all of the time but I don’t know if this is due to my heart condition or the bisoprolol. It’ll be a process of elimination really and as I can’t remove my heart condition then I’ll see if the doc will agree to reducing the bisoprolol. 😂
Well, I was at first put on 7.5mg by hospital, it took my hr down SO low I was shocked. Went to the hospital clinic and dr was like 😳 reduced it to 2.5!! Even this dose was causing me problems, so reduced to 1.25mg. Again, causing hr problem so took it every other day, apparently Consultant said it couldn’t be working, so did as told and taking it again every morning and it gives me bradycardia all the time 😤 Changing meds Tuesday and have to stop it, what’ll happen 🤷🏼♀️ hoping the new medication will take over. I won’t change until everyone is back to work and I’ll be able to phone drs if not. Lady holiday weekend I could get no help from anyone 😳
stopped the Bisoprolol and flecainide as now on the Dronedarone, can’t take those with it. Still getting bradycardia at night and a little in the day when sitting, the Dronedarone can do that too 😳
When I first started Dronedarone I had an episode of AF but it didn’t last as long 🤞🏻
Not had 🤞🏻 another episode 🤞🏻
Had to cut Apixaban in half making 2.5 mg x 2 per day as the Dronedarone can increase its effect 😳 I’m sick of not being told about effects of drugs when your in front of a consultant, especially as I’m paying him 😡
Apparently it interferes with liver😡
Sick of the medical profession
My doctor is advising me...i am asking here about other peoples experience with withdrawal of Bisoprolol.
This line is in my post... 'so with my doctors knowledge of what i want to do'....try reading before you make statements....idiot
It certainly did ....now feel free to go 'Stick on a point' in someone else's post or maybe do a bit of mind reading..you seem to know peoples thoughts 🙄
Hi - like others have suggested, I’d talk to your GP about the possibility of moving to a 1.25mg daily dose, see how you go, and take it from there… 🙂👍🙏
I too was on 10 mg Bisoprolol for a few years (along with Ramipril), I lost excess weight and reduced the dosages by half with no significant increase in my heart numbers.
I now take no medication after this reduction and my rates are on the higher side but still ‘healthy’, I do feel more energised as a result.
My story is one of cardiac arrest, however, and changing my lifestyle positively, not necessarily appropriate or in line with your circumstances and diagnosis.
I strongly urge you to keep the benefits of medical supervision and consultation as a priority. Tempting as it is to strive for a ‘drug free’ life, the longer term costs might prove to be too great.
Thank you and very good advice...my doctor does not seem any bit concerned of me trying to drop my Bisoprolol and all the heart tests i have had have come back normal..i was originally given betablockers for anxiety.
However, I had no noticeable issues from stopping my reduced dosage after having lost 2 stone in weight.
Maybe challenge the doctor’s choice of drug for anxiety- perhaps bisoprolol is a recognised treatment? Or maybe he/she is treating the symptoms not the cause?
Maybe though the symptoms warrant bisoprolol?
Perhaps a referral to a specialist would be helpful?
I’m not sure my GP is suitably expert in either field to prescribe without specialist consultation and my experience suggests not!
It’s worth noting that your blood pressure and heart rates fluctuate significantly depending on many factors and influences. What is perceived as low in one individual can be construed high in another!
If your numbers are consistently high, if you can, try to get your own device and use it when you’re relaxed at home, record the numbers after averaging three readings several minutes apart. Aim for the same rough time of day.
I do mine, mid evening whilst unwinding watching tv - remember to breathe too!
Yes my blood pressure is fine at home..not so good in the surgery as i have white coat syndrome and i will certainly be asking the doctor about other anti anxiety medication.
I was on 1.25mg following my nstemi last November. Stuck it out for 4 months but felt lousy, washed out and with a resting heart rate dropping into the low 30s spoke with my Cardio Dr about it. He stopped the dose, immediately an with no weaning. Whilst unpleasant it wasn't too bad. I did have a few "flutters" and HR bounced around for a bit but after a couple of weeks felt much better and now have loads more oomph. Personally, I think me and beta blockers dont mix as I had similar issues with atenolol many years ago. Even at low doses I have issues. Best of luck with this and keep talking to the GP.
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