Cold turkey bisoprolol withdrawal

[Parya]

Hello all having a really bad time, was put on bisoprolol last June after developing afib, starting dose 5mg didn't bring down heart rate so increased to 6.25 no good then 7.5 then 10mg last October, developed severe breathing problems, asked for dose to be split to 5mg twice a day then found about an hour after morning dose throat tightening and cough then settled for a few hours then second dose same thing one hour after taking it but symptoms lasted till early hours felt it was an allergy so took antihistamine which helped a bit. Went to gpon Friday and he said I had to stop digoxin that day and take bisoprolol for Saturday on Sunday then stop completely and start taking dilitazem on Monday, feeling terrible shaking with the adrenaline rushes and hr gone up to 110 which the gp was ok with on Wed when I saw him my problem is when I stand up to do anything my HR goes to 130 and goes down when I sit down again, awful palpitations I finally got him to refer me privately to a cardiologist which I am seeing in a week I have never seen a cardiologist at my wits end seeing gp again on Monday any advice or experiences would be very much appreciated thanks

[Wolfwinter1]

Hi Sorry the hear your having this, I am similar as I started having heart palpitations and my Heart rate was going up and up, it carried on for 12 hours, but we went to the hospital and they said my heart thinks I was walking up a steep hill, when I was sat on the sofa. So they diagnoses AFib and put me on Bisopropol and blood thinners. I am waiting for an echo in a week. But now if I stand up to walk across the room my heart rate goes up if I sit down it's ok. My ankles have now started swelling badly and I am fed up. I am 71 and really scared about the next few months. It came out of the blue for me. Really hope you get better soon.

[Parya in reply to Wolfwinter1]

Bisoprolol digoxin and edoxaban was just starting to work my getting my HR down to 80 but unfortunately the high bisoprolol dose of 10mg was too much for me and I developed the breathing problems so had to come off everything you are early days at the moment and things will settle down and if you read the supportive posts on here you will see this is a journey and it will get right in the end we have all been totally scared on diagnosis so after your echo you can have further discussions on the way to move forward keep positive if you can.

[Wolfwinter1 in reply to Parya]

Thank you Parya I am currently having severe discomfort in my legs and swollen feet not sure if the tablets, will speak to someone next week, as you feel you have been given a diagnosis of Afib and abandoned to sort it out. This site has been very helpful and thank you.

[Scroll]

got taken off bisoprolol when I developed atrial tachycardia, heart would got to 140 for hours, had been on a twice a day dosage after my heart attack.

Got swapped to Sotalol, which worked but took about 12 weeks for me for everything to settle, had it increased again in October, all pretty stable again for now.

[Parya in reply to Scroll]

Glad you have settled I am expecting a long bumpy ride coming off 10mg of bisoprolol suddenly!

[Jedi14]

When my cardiologist started me on Bisoprolol, it was only 1.25mg daily. He said to try it and see and that it would take 2-3 months before I saw any real effects.

He was absolutely correct, my BP and HR are both well controlled and I never had to use my GTN spray again.

[Parya in reply to Jedi14]

Thanks for replying I have never had asthma in my life this has been brought on by 10mg of bisoprolol over 6 months apparently it can do that been off a week now and asthma gone it's just suddenly going into withdrawal it's awful my HR was just getting under control with the bisoprolol and digoxin for hf then this terrible reaction now need to start all over again, so glad a low dose helped you wish it had done for me!

[Munners1975]

never cold turkey. Ever. Buy some digital scales that weigh in mg.

Wean off 1mg each month. When you get to 3mg reduce by 0.5mg each month until you get to 1mg.

Then at 1mg reduce by 0.25mg each week.

It’s time consuming but safe and this eliminates any heart bounce.

Then comes the big task. Ignore your heart rate. Trust your body. And get walking.

[Parya in reply to Munners1975]

It was the gp who took me off immediately as such a bad asthma reaction could not breathe had it for 3 months so it was too dangerous to continue even at smaller doses so right off it and on to dilitazem but feeling so ill luckily enough paying to see a cardiologist in a week so hoping for some stability thank you for replying.

[SuddenShock]

Hi Parya, when I was first diagnosed following an angiogram I felt scared and anxious. I am much better now thanks to this group and talking to a fully qualified cardiac nurse on the BHF helpline. They could not fix my problems in an instant but were available within minutes and were a massive help explaining things. You can get to the nurses on the BHF information and support web page or directly through this link: bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

I hope this helps