Bisoprol and it's effects on most patients.

A good success story for your wife then.

On the subject of pulse rates my pulse rate went up to 140 range for 3 months. (3 years ago)

I was on sotalol at the time.

My cardiac consultant put me on digoxin which brought the rate down very quickly and so far resting pulse rate is 60/70 (Wont drop below 60 as I have had pacemaker fitted since October 2013.

Digoxin reaches its peak 6 hours after taking it. So I take it at 07:00 am. Sometimes I nap for 10 mins at 13-14.00 but as I also take bisop it might be a combination effect.

Bisop also helps to control pulse but digoxin seems to have worked for me.

Best of luck

I too wish you Well, I was prescribed 5 mg tablets I had Erectile disfunction as my only side effect so I too purchased a blood pressure monitor and recorded my blood pressure daily I was able to reduce the dose to 1.25 mg but the erectile disfunction was still present so I stopped taking it after 4 days my pulse rate went from a steady 60-70 to over 90 so I started back on the Bisoperol, so have to take Viagra but so far that is the only side effect I have had

Hi guys,

My Cardiologist got back to me yesterday and has suggested that I reduce my wife's 2.5mgs.dosage of Bisoprol to just 1.25mgs and see if that works and brings down her blood pressure and pulse rate, also I am going to give it to my wife with the evening meal as opposed to with breakfast so that any ill effect should mainly, hopefully pass by the morning after a nights sleep.

If it does not work he suggests going back to our GP to add another blood pressure pill as opposed to Bisoprol.

Will let you the outcome of our trial and error tests.

I was started on Bisoprol in June 2012 when 77 after having my aortic valve replaced and going into AF. I was also prescribed Amidodarone , Warfarin, Losartan, a statin and Tamsulosin for my prostate. Prior to surgery I had been taking Losartan and Verapamil and only some constipation as a side effect.

Under the new drugs I was light headed for a few minutes on standing up and had to hold onto things just to walk from the living room to the kitchen. I was developing a tremor and could hardly walk in a straight line and developed floaters in my eyes. My hip muscles and joints were painful as were my knee joints.

I felt tired and felt sleepy for much of the day and was unsure if that was an after effect of surgery.

At night I was restless with disturbed sleep and would get up two or three times and walk around the house or use the computer for a while.

I had a successful cardioversion in the September and was told that I could stop the Bisoprol. I also against advice stopped the statin and in about a month the muscle pain went but not the joint pain. The daytime tiredness went and my sleep improved.

The surgical team said that after three months back in Sinus Rhythm I could stop Warfarin and Amiodarone but the cardiology team did not want me to stop warfarin and I then put that down as the cause of my joint pain. I stopped the Tamsulosin last May after having laser surgery to deal with my BPH.

I stopped warfarin in September and went back to aspirin and my joint pain went in a about three weeks.

In November I had a colonoscopy and went back into AF. I was told it was the result of dehydration because of the powerful laxative or to the sedation given or stimulation of the vagus nerve by the probe.

I was again prescribed Bisoprol and warfarin within a few days I began to have hot flushes and sweat profusely after just a short walk, light headedness returned and increased and is now a permanent feature when standing and walking. The hip and knee joint pain returned. I was told that I would get a cardioversion after being on warfarin for eight or nine weeks.

After six weeks I had another out patient appointment and found that the cardioversion had not been arranged and that I must go back on amiodarone before having it. Since starting amiodarane the disturbed sleep has worsened and I'm lucky if I get four hours a night in snatches the reason for writing this at 3.40 am. .

Further to reducing my wife's Bisoprol from 2.5mgs to 1.25mgs and taking it with the evening meal instead of with breakfast.

After 3 day's has resulted in only slight giddiness during the night when getting up and no others side effect. which is great.

Her blood pressure has gone back down, but her pulse rate remains around 90 as opposed to 60 with 2.5 mgs of Bisoprol which caused all the side effects that most people are experiencing.

I initially took Bisoprol at night after my earlier experiences with it but it made little difference to light headedness in the day. I now take it in the morning and my BP med Losartan at night. That seems to do nothing for my BP which is still high in the morning as it always has been.

I have to assume that most of the problem is down to my atrial fibrillation.

It would appear that all these different drugs have different effects from one person to another which is understandable bearing in mind all the other problems that some people have with their health and different ages.

unfortunately our Nurologists/ Doctors tend to give the same drugs to nearly all patients regardless of weather they have Cancer, a Stroke or a Heart attack going by other patients reports on this site.

There is no answer other than requesting a different drug from your GP until you find one that works for you.

Derek, your experiences are very similar to mine insofar as the medications and treatment given to you for your AF.

Following the first cardioversion I remained in sinus for 6 months and I was taken off bisoporol and warfarin after 3 months. Stopping the bisoporol was it appears a mistake as it is meant to help maintain sinus. After the second cardioversion I remained in sinus less than 24 hours. Again I was advised to stop the bisop straight away.

My GP told me Amiodorone is a poison and so it proved. I was "lucky" to have the chance to use Dronedorone in its place which is less poisonous and my AF went into paroxysmal mode rather than persistent mode but NICE then went back on its recommendation as some patients suffered serious organ failure. It is still the first choice med in the US though and also in some countries in Europe.

Since I have had my Pacemaker installed my AF has improved as it is set at 60 and therefore the instances of my pulse dropping are zero wheras before it would fluctuate in the range 48-59 quite often.

Hopefully your cardioversion will be successful but if so you need to take a "supporting med." to help maintain it.

I can relate to your "problems" when on Amiodorone including the vision problems and aches.

Apologies - pressed the wrong button...

As Maxine says all medications are "general" solutions rather than "individually specific"

Hopefully in the future they will be ( but I don't know how they will be funded)

As I have written before it took me may years to arrive at a medication solution that has served me well for the last 2 years and the PM has only improved on that.

It may take Derek sometime to work out the best combination of meds including amounts and timings. You should ask the chemist to advise you of the "half life" of each and set up your own plan.

Of course Amiodorone stays in the body for 6 months after you stop taking it I think

On that cheerful note----best of luck

If you Google The Strange History of Amiodarone it makes frightening reading.as does the similar

The strange life of amiodarone.

I first heard of amiodarone about 18 years ago. I saw a friend approach me and thought that he had had a terrible accident to his face and neck as it had large purple patches on it similar to birthmarks. He had recently had a pacemaker fitted and had been put on amiodarone for life and this was his side effect. He stopped taking it and over time his skin recovered.

A quote:

If Satan were going to develop an antiarrhythmic drug, he would make one that suppressed arrhythmias very well (so people would want to use it,) had none of the typical side effects, but that had a host of atypical, relatively subtle, but ultimately dangerous side effects that doctors were likely to overlook. He might not be satisfied with amiodarone, but would likely consider it a pretty good first approximation.

I mentioned that the AF started after my colonoscopy but did not enlarge on it.

They were doing the colonoscopy and I was slightly sedated but felt ok watching it on the screen. On the other screen I see my BP dropping to 40/29 and heart rate 30. I think are they going to do something about this? They suddenly panic

Discharge notes say:

“Gellofusion was administered and .1ml of atropine given. Anaesthetist was called who then administered 1L of Hartman’s solution, an extra 3 mls of atropine and 20 mg of Boscopon .

Patient much improved and monitored in his room for rest of day”

It was done in a private hospital as an NHS patient. In an NHS hospital I would probably have been on a trolley in the corridor.

Heart rate went up in the room and by mid-afternoon after being on a drip and having tea and toast and lots of water my BP was 123/67 which made them happy. Their reasons for the big drop, dehydration after yesterday’s laxative ( was drinking a glass of water every hour and had two cans of Baxter’s consommé and large amounts of jelly. Or the sedative or that the probe stimulated vagal nerves during the procedure. I certainly did not feel that pleasure.

I did not realise until much later that I had gone into AF. Evidently one can have a cardioversion in the first three days without having weeks on warfarin.

Don't know if this will be of use to anyone, but my cardiologist has recommended NEBIVOLOL as an alternative to Bisoprolol, it supposedly has less side effects.

The other thing that I found works, until I started getting migraine, is BEETROOT juice - 250ml per day.

I can't bear taking any more anti-hypertensive stuff though, so I probably won't use Nebivolol unless things get REALLY REALLY VERY VERY bad.

My health has deteriorated each time I've tried a new anti-hypertensive medication. I'm now housebound but I was ok before I started down this pharmaceutical road.

It's ironic that I've qualified for DLA since using the medication (for what was, with hindsight, a slightly raised bp - nothing like it is now).

My health (not inc my bp) hasn't fully returned to 'normal' since stopping the meds.

I still have, to some degree, fatigue, muscle pains, dizziness, tinnitus etc etc etc.

I wish I'd never used the prescribed drugs.

Exercise! Watch your diet! Try and avoid the meds if possible!

Look up renal denervation as a BP treatment. I twice tried to get on trials for it but was told that my BP is not consistently high enough.

Rox Flow Coupler is possibly an even better option as it is reversible but probably not yet being done at enough hospitals.

I tried beetroot juice but could not stand the earthy taste and smell and having red urine and poo:-)

Agree with the diet and exercise regime as it also gives a plcebo effect (in my case)

Also found beetroot juice to help but my digestive system can only take 3 servings a week otherwise I spend too long in the loo

Not come across "nebivolvol" but unlikely to forget the name now.