Beta blocker/Bisoprolol withdrawal and breathlessness
Posted , 116 users are following.
Hi. I am 43 yrs old and have been on beta blockers (initially metoprolol and then bisoprolol) for svt the last ten years. I had an ablation which went wrong and I ended up on higher doses of beta blocker after that (8yrs ago). They added in flecainide a year ago as they wanted to drop my bisoprolol down becacause I was still having daily runs and my BP was a bit on the low side. I have managed to drop the dose down to 1.25 bd over the last few months. Then 4 weeks ago, I started to have awful episodes of ?different kind of arrhythmia where i would feel very faint and shaky and it would last for a few minutes. Because they then wondered if I was having a ventricular arrhythmia, they stopped the flecainide and halved my bisprolol. However a week ago I had a couple of prolonged svt episodes so they stopped my beta blocker altogether and started me onto something new dronaderone (like amiodarone with less side effects). I was relieved at the thought of finally being off the beta blocker once and for all but all week I have steadily been feeling worse and worse. I know that there is likely to be a withdrawl period but it's been a week now and I can honestly say that I'm more breathless today than I've ever been. Even just sitting at rest. I can't talk or eat without stopping for breath all the time and I have never felt so unwell in all my life. I am aware that I can get marked postural tachycardia and if I so much as walk slowly to another room my rate climbs from 75 to 120 in seconds. Has anyone else experienced such marked side effects after stopping bisoprolol or another beta blocker? I would really appreciate any thoughts. R
5 likes, 426 replies
rk18565 rachel1511
Posted
I was trying to post toBob. .but let me tell you I was on metoprolol for over 10yrs. was told to stop it at the e.r. so I did 4 weeks ago. it's been horrible since. I do appreciate this forum. I'm really hoping it's still going because it has helped me realize the symptoms are from what the medicine did to our insides.
hal63587 rachel1511
Posted
Hello Rachel,
Yes, these are the expected withdrawal symptoms due to cessation of beta BLockers. The current expectation would be three to seven days you may experience these type of symptoms but in known cases they could last longer gradually become less severe over time. The key to stopping to these or lesson symptoms is to titrate off very slowly over a period of months. slowly cut down to a minimum dose daily then, every other day and so on until you feel comfortable stopping. As someone who has been on Beta Blockers for a decade and had the pleasure of an ablation for the same presentation as yourself with some success. I found it near impossible to get off them. My experience was Identical to yours. I went from walking 2.5 miles per day to not climbing the stairs without a heart rate of (120) BPM but, From my knowledge I understand given time this will pass. Others, do return to using them due to the withdrawal symptoms. This is very common but, you should possibly see a Pulmonologist in regard to the persistent shortness of breath or certainly speak with your Family Physician. In one case I reviewed the patient had several attempts to stop this medication and was successful on the third attempt. experiencing less withdrawal symptom on each attempt. I personally experienced, headaches, flu like symptoms, runs of tachycardia (especially during sleep) mild anxiety, loss of appetite. Most importantly, if your are not sure, always consult a medical expert, MD, and be persistent in your approach. You probably do have a Cardiologist E.P. Studies Consultant, this would be the person I would want to see regarding these symptoms. Be patient, and avoid any type of stimulants caffeine especially. Good Luck.
maxine32453 rachel1511
Posted
hello, is anyone still active on this forum? i plan on stopping Bisoprolol soon. as i do not want to rely on this medication forever.
i am on 5mg. 2.5 morning and 2.5 night.
i have inappropriate sinus tachycardia but its not too severe.
before i started Bisoprolol in January my resting heart rate was between 90-101. whilst on Bisoprolol my Resting HR is 80. a couple of weeks ago i stopped taking it (weaning off over a couple weeks)
my heart rate has never been so high! i thought i was going to die and couldn't stop shaking with fear.
am i going to have to stay on this forever? i feel hopeless and don't know what to do 😦
Tom90594 maxine32453
Posted
Hi Maxine your story is all too familiar and you'll see from this forum that everyone here has gone through or is going through the same withdrawal symptoms as you are. Believe me it will pass. You don't say how long you have been on the Biso? The longer you have been on the drug may affect how long the withdrawal symptoms will last. high heart rate, shaking, fear, anxiety etc. are all symptoms of coming off beta blockers. My best advice is to try to calm down. Feeling anxious, fearful etc. will make the symptoms worse. You need to let your body adjust to no more Biso. This will take time but it will eventually adjust. Could take months though. My experience was I decided to deal with the withdrawal myself and gradually it became better over time. Its a tough journey though and you'll have some really bad days...but it will get better and you'll have to just give it time. If you are really worried maybe see your doctor and ask for some medical advice as to how to deal with the symptoms you are experiencing.
Tom
tjsims rachel1511
Posted
Hi I'm so sorry to read your post.
I'm 2 years post taking this awful drug and still suffering with anxiety and weird heart rates
Alian rachel1511
Posted
Hello a line across a tablet has nothing to do with the mixing of the ingredients! A chemical compound is fully mixed, or it is not a compound! Your pharmacist is talking nonsense if they are suggesting otherwise.
Swimcito rachel1511
Edited
Man, finding this thread has been great. It has helped me so much.
I began taking Bisoprolol 5 mg, 3 years ago, because of anxiety and panic attacks. My BP would often rise out of anxiety... Aniways.
I was told i needed to "lose weight" (about 30 kg overweight), and was given Bisoprolol 5 mg. I used it for about 1 month before i was having really bad chest pain. So i reduced it to 2.5 mg.
I was fine for about 2 years. I would have the occasional head spin every now and then when i stand up too fast, and felt that if i was all day sitting and then started walking, i'd had lower bp and heart "raced a bit" to compensate, but nothing too serious.
Then pandemic hit and smart working... and oh boy ...
After about 4 months of pandemic i started feeling when i was working, lightheaded (so i thought maybe position was so it was not returning blood from legs) but then after a while i was having hands a bit swollen.
I went to cardiologist and did 2 tests, ECG, and Holter 24 h. And we agreed to lower dose to 1.25 mg.
Felt bad the first week (heart racing), then felt great for a bit, then started feeling bad again, without the swollen.
I think bit by bit i was loosing "potency" and "cardiac output?" (Maybe because now i am extremely sedentary). I cutted bisoprolol in half as 1.25 mg was already the lowest.
First try the withdrawal was too harsh. Retook it, then again retryed but this time cut the pill in 75% instead of 50%.
Was fine, then repeat ...
Then i went to 50% of 1.25mg.
Then i went to 25% the pill was tiny, but somehow i still was getting the effects, specially in the morning 2 hours after taking the pill. I was hesitant to completely take it off as it was i presumed the biggest step of all.
Then on August 19th i think. I took it completely off...
First 2 weeks i had a bit of tachycardia. But after a little while things have improved.
When the rejection started from 2.5 mg to 1.25, i would get winded from even wiping my ass... some days i would feel perfect and i think thats the biggest trap of this pill, that it somehow gives you a false sence that you will be able to overcome it. Lets face it, there are some people that tolerate this and some others that just plain don't. Do not try to convince yourself that you will somehow adapt to it. Listen to your body, if you are getting episodes of feeling bad because of it, you should not, and thats not a life.
Aniways i took it off, and now i can wipe my ass... lol... in a serious note, stairs and all have been better. The only thing i still get winded is after walking for long periods. But i think that its bull that it stays on your system for 2-3 days.
I sometimes feel as if was still taking the pill. My heart is all the time around 80 (before pill was around 80, sometimes 70)
I also feel that the best exercise is anaerobic, whenever i have sex, i feel great the next day, with more energy. It was also the saviour when i was using the pill, the only thing is that i felt that i had to get aroused first, and get my heart pumping, then i would be able to do sex. If i started right away, i would feel winded.
In any case hang in tight.
For those of you who have taken it off the pill, did you feel similar symptons even after ?, im at around 2 months now, and still have low bp sometimes, and after ive walk for long i start to get a bit dizzy (Also keep in mind that i used to take Coca Cola around the same time i was taking the pill, almost 1L daily, now i dont have that sugar intake, and feel sometimes the low BP could be also because of sugar)
Bud1677 rachel1511
Posted
Hi, i started metoprolol 50mg once daily when i got sick with covid. Because my blood pressure and heart rate went up when was so sick. I stayed on it for around 8 months. Then one day i had a reaction with sudden tiredness and super spike in blood pressure heart rate and started feeling light headed. I cut the 50mg in half, still light headed, then cut it again and the light headedness went away some, then my doctor said "just stop it all together", so i did. The light headedness came right back next day. Now I'm going on around 2 months of being completely off the BB now. After multiple ER visits and cardiologist visits and ENT visits I'm still light headed. If I'm sitting or standing, not light headed, but when up and walking i feel so light headed it has taken a huge toll on my daily life, I can't get my bearings! My doc said," just start my beta blocker back up in a low dose". But I'm praying i have the strength to wait it out. My blood pressure and heart rate are all good now with out the beta blocker! I just cant shake the light headedness every day, which i feel could be anxiety.
tyt Bud1677
Posted
is anyone still checking this thread?
I was put on carvedilol after covid for palpitations. I was on it for about 6 weeks. Cardiologist told me to stop because all of my heart test were fine. I've had a month of awful days. Had to quit work. The morning adrenal surges are what drive me crazy. Is this still withdrawals or could it actually be anxiety?
Tom90594 tyt
Posted
Hi there tyt its both. the beta blocker has created extra adrenaline receptors and because your are no longer taking the drug it will take some time for your body to re-adjust back to normal. You are prolonging the experience by getting worried about it. If your cardiologist says your heart test is fine then just think of that every time you get anxious. If you calm down your anxiety, then the withdrawal symptoms from the drug will start to calm down. The longer you worry about it, the longer the process will take. Don't get stressed over it, you are off the drug, your doc says your heart is ok....so just relax. Every time you feel anxious or feel an adrenal surge....don't panic, just let it pass and keep reminding yourself that A) what you are going through is normal when coming off of a beta blocker B) there is nothing wrong with your heart C) it will pass in time. Tom
tyt Tom90594
Posted
Thanks Tom. I needed a little encouragement. The doctors sure don't give me any. They think that I shouldn't be having withdrawals. I'm not working right now so I'm just taking it easy and trying to eat good and lots of water. Hopefully I'll feel better by Christmas!
Tom90594 tyt
Posted
One more piece of advice I can give you is to take a magnesium supplement. I found one in Tesco that has magnesium plus vit B6. Magnesium just on its own is also fine. Take it every day it will help ease the anxiety. According to some research I read, its estimated that ~50% of adults don't get enough from food, so a magnesium supplement is useful to take anyways. If you start to get a lot of diarrhea, then ease off the supplement and take every second day. Start with a daily supplement and if no diarrhea after a few weeks stick with the daily dose. I found it helped me calm down and I still take it every day. I sleep better, so probably I wasn't getting enough from my diet.
A second strategy is to cut out the carbs and the sugar. I found that useful but may not be necessary in your case.
One thing to watch out for with the withdrawal process is you can get to a point where you feel like your 100% over it and in fact you can be withdrawal symptom free for a few weeks and think "great...I'm there"; but then suddenly you can get a bad day and some of the old symptoms come back. Its important not to overanalyze when this happens, as it can knock you back into starting the anxiety process again. When the bad day happens, go back to the strategy and thought process that helped you through the initial withdrawal symptom phase in the first place. In my experience, these "bad days" happened, but once I learned to cope with them, they became less frequent until they eventually disappeared completely. For me, that whole process took about a year, and it was a gradual process of feeling better each day, so don't put a time limit on it, just let it take as long as it needs to take.
Lots of water is good, eat well etc, and also try to get some walks in. Bit of fresh air etc will help ease out the excess adrenaline and help the body calm down any residual anxiety.
tyt Tom90594
Posted
thank you so much.
radoslaw71900 rachel1511
Posted
Hi guys. i taking selective beta blocker bisoprolol 2.5 mg. i was prescribed by my GP for anxiety when my mother died. After 2 months i wanted to wheen of by taking half of tablet but i think it was to fast. My GP said then i need to take half the pill for two weeks. but i think its to fast. Im on this Bisoprolol for 5 months now. A week ago i wanted to try the same using half of the pill. The heart rate wasnt faster 70HR but the blood pressure at night( becouse i always check it on morning and night) was raised . normally i had like 125 to 85, but at that day on half that pill blood pressure was 140 to 99- thats low level hypertension but it was raised. i think if i wanted to wheen of i should buy a laboratory scale and wheen like this. 2.4 mg twoo weeks, then 2.3 mg another 2 weeks , then 2.2 mg weeks and so on. So what do you think?
frances73305 rachel1511
Posted
I'm so sorry you're feeling so rotten . Bisoprol has got so many nasty tricks up its sleeve. I only took 2.5 mg of it for 2 weeks and stopped over 3 days. Now I'm experiencing severe insomnia which I've never had before. Does anyone know how long this will last? I hope you get some advice about your breathlessness Rachel.