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Bisoprolol - My experience

Posted , 4 users are following.

andrew5844
andrew5844

I'm a reasonably fit 73 year old man and here is my experience of Bisoprolol. In August 2015 I started having fits of what I define as arrhythmia. My pulse went into a '1 2 pause, 1 2 pause rhythm. It lasted for a couple of house and then stopped for no apparent reason. This happened on just 3 or 4 occasions. It resumed in 2016 in August and would fire up in the night. It got so bad that I went to A & E on several occasions. By November 2016 the arrhythmia would start up as soon as I got out of bed in the morning. I was also feeling unwell, with dizzy fits and on a few occasions getting some slight but sinister sensations inside my chest. I was given an Exercise ECG, an echo-cardiogram, a CT scan on a machine designed for coronary analysis, and an MRI scan on a specialist scanner in London to check for muscle failure of the heart. The result was my heart was signed off as mechanically sound and some minor calcification of the arteries was detected. The arrhythmia was put down to electrical malfunctions, with ablation an option. By now I felt as if I had a ticking time-bomb in my chest and from being active was now semi house-bound and feeling very fragile. My heart specialist then put me on Bisoprolol 2.5 mg and instantly the arrhythmia stopped. But the drug itself induced all manner of unpleasant heart palpitations and bouts of ectopic beats that lasted for an hour or so and had my heart heaving around in my chest. I then adjusted my medication to have 1.25mg Bisoprolol morning and night, as I was getting night palpitations and occasionally a racing heart. Night time became a dread for me.To cut a long story short, I've finally started to feel a lot better - in fact I have a sense of well-being I've not experienced for a long time. I've not needed to increase my Bisoprolol dosage, and this drug is really working for me. I hardly ever get an ectopic heartbeat, and the arrhythmia has never returned. The Bisoprolol has reduced my heart rate from over 80 to around 50-55 and my BP is, on average, 136/70. My heart was definitely heading into crisis before taking Bisoprolol, despite the testes indicating that mechanically all was well, and this drug has slowed my heart and given it respite, and enabled it to mend itself. Bisoprolol has really worked for me. And I think the lesson is that one has to give a drug like this a chance to work, and wait for ones body chemistry to adjust. I realise now that I also needed to moderate my lifestyle and stop trying to be as active as I was 30 years ago. 

1 like, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • ann82027
    ann82027 andrew5844

    Posted

    I,m on bisoprolol 1:25 mg which I take mid day. I,m 70 I have good days and bad days of pressure in my chest which alarm me because I think I,m going to have a heart attack. I don,t get the attacks of svt like I used to but get ectopics a lot.  My blood pressure is low 112 over 59. Pulse 60.  I get good dash’s and some bad like the past few days.
    • andrew5844
      andrew5844 ann82027

      Posted

      Thanks for responding to my post. Sorry you're having problems. Your dose of 1.25mg is quite small and if it wasn't for your low blood pressure your doctor might prescribe 1.25mg twice daily. It certainly works for me as I keep a more even concentration of Bisoprolol in my body. For a while I had heavy sensations in my chest, and also I had strange sensations in my heart, and a horrible weak sensation in my heart as well. Fortunately for me that's all subsided and I just very occasionally get an ectopic heartbeat. I find that if I don't eat for too longer periods I start to feel strange and my heart can get a bit lumpy. But I keep Lucozade handy, both tablets and drink, and it bucks me up in no time. I hope things improve for you.

    • ann82027
      ann82027 andrew5844

      Posted

      The heart specialist did say I could take one in the morning and one at night, I,m nervous about doing that because my heart and bp goes so low when I,m relaxing, I haven,t had an attack of svt since I was put on them in February, it doesn’t,t stop my erratic heartbeats though. This morning I woke at 6.45 and could already feel the fluttering, I carry on as normal with my life but I get strange feelings in my chest and dizziness sometimes.   I,m still waiting for an appointment to go to Papworth to look into an ablation and check for a fib, I don,t want an ablation because I read on here it isn,t always successful.  I will chase that up after Christmas.  Thanks for your response.
  • carol69305
    carol69305 andrew5844

    Posted

     glad i read your post, i am 66 and a busy full time carer to a 34 year old learning disabled Son, and have just started Bisoprolol for ectopic beats and some events which were queried P.A.F at hospital though nothing showed on monitor tapes or ecgs, except ectopic beats. Here is my quandary, one of the GPs at the surgery wants me to take this drug PLUS get support for my anxiety, another GP wants me to stop the drug and just get help for the anxiety. I am very afraid of the attacks returning, as i live alone with my Son and he is very vulnerable, with global developmental delays, so i am terrified of another heart event which  are quite violent,  and though the heart rate does slow down on its own eventually, it always means my poor Son 

    coming in the ambulance with me, and then being stuck in a place where there is nobody to take care of him really., all in all a most traumatic experience.  I do not know what t o do, the dose is small at 1.25, may be enough to stop an AF episode, and certainly calms the ectopics, but what if the whole thing is caused by anxiety?? confused about advice.  Carol

     

    • ann82027
      ann82027 carol69305

      Posted

      I suffer from anxiety and have had depression in my lifetime.  I do not know whether these heart things are connected to that or not,  I had several small attacks of my heart racing in the middle of the night whilst asleep so how can it be connected to anxiety.     In fact anxiety is in the subconscious mind and throughout my life nothing seems to control it.    I have been quite steady since February but get the ectopics, not all the time but random, no racing heart.

       

       

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