Out of breath
Posted , 9 users are following.
Do others find that Bisoprolol affects your breathing?
1 like, 19 replies
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Notes on Out of breath
bob52204 LuckyPenny1
Posted
I had a feeling as if my brain is not sending signals to my lungs to breathe while I was on Bisoprolol.
For example, when you don't take Beta blockers, breathing is perfectly normal (automatic) while resting, walking, talking, and you never even think about it.
On Beta blockers, I would for example watch Tv, my heart rate was slow and it would seem as if my lungs aren't breathing at all , as if they are sleeping (or forgot to breathe at all), and as if they take 1 breath each 15 seconds, instead of taking a breath each few seconds (normal breathing).
Also, over time, I had more and more problems while walking, lungs wouldn't want to breathe (as if they are sleeping all the time) plus I felt as if my lungs were smaller on BBs than before and that I am getting much lower amounts of air in each breath.
From a medical point of view: Beta blockers do negatively affect lungs and bronchi. So, majority of people have some breathing problems and people with asthma shouldn't be taking BBs.
On the other hand, breathing rate is connected with a heart rate. And since a heart rate is way lower on Beta blockers (than before taking them), our body will need less oxygen since a heart is pumping really slow.
Some people won't feel the difference, for others it will be a strange and unpleasant feeling.
Further, Beta blockers do cross your brain-blood barrier and they affect a central nervous system which affects breathing and heart rate. So, they are again slowing down the heart rate, breathing rate and slowing down the whole organism.
A lot of people had breathing problems on BBs, but a good news is: if you stop taking them one day and switch to some other drug, your breathing will become normal again.
Docs will usually say that your breathing problems shouldn't be from BBs and that BBs don't cause such huge side effects (docs usually think that BBs is drug with mild side effects).
If you need to take BBs, you can try some other Beta blocker, like Atenolol, Nebivolol and similar, even though majority of BBs will cause the same side effects.
In my case, troubles with breathing was my no1 reason why I had quit BBs. Other horrible side effects were: feeling that you have a flu on majority of days, being tired all day, too low HR and BP, inability to walk too much or do any activity etc.
But again, some people have zero side effects and feel perfectly normal on Beta blockers.
Ivanoff bob52204
Posted
Excellent write up bob, Bradycardia with a heart rate of 48/50 bpm means everything is in slow motion a sort of real time with no get up and go!! and the biggest scare is sleep apnea - I usually wake up at around 03-30am gasping for air and with my body completely covered in perspiration, last time it happened my wife, seeing I was in so much difficulty telephoned the emergency service - a paramedic arrived, took obs and immediately administered oxygen and called for an ambulance back up to take me to hospital...."end diagnosis"...medication... the culprit being Bisoprolol.....the dosage was checked but I am still taking the same dosage......I just hope it doesn't happen again.
billhopefull Ivanoff
Posted
I suffered similar problems and my cardiac consultant put me on a 24 hour monitor from which he detected "pauses" in my heart beats (apnoea). and as a result of which he installed a pacemaker.
Now no more such frightening experiences ( since 3 +years)
jane32307 LuckyPenny1
Posted
zoe46451 LuckyPenny1
Posted
Hi I was on only 1.25 mg of this nasty drug, I have now come straight off, as advised by my gp- totally think I'm going crazy, waking up short of breath with numb limbs and like a panic as if something laying on my chest- been to er twice!! ... really scary stuff.
I thought I was having panic attacks - I do suffer from reflux but take meds for this, I don't know about you but suffer from actual pain in my chest when I breathe in, hopefully these withdrawal symptoms will go away very soon and I've seen the worst of it!
i totally dread going to bed because of waking up feeling like I've a racing heart and breathless .
i was put on them for high blood reassure which has fallen a lot so hopefully won't need them- just wondered how long theses withdrawal symptoms last?
bob52204 zoe46451
Posted
Hi
1,25 is not a small dose.
It is the slowest dose of a drug, but it is still very strong compared to people who are not taking it.
So, quitting 1,25 Mg is also a tough job.
About quitting, if you were taking lower doses, it will be easier than for people on higher doses, plus it will be easier if you have been taking it for a month or two, compared to a year, or 5-10 years.
So, how long have you been taking it?
About a withdrawal, try to look at some other threads on this forum, there was a lot of talk about a withdrawal.
Quitting cold turkey is very dangerous, and you can get a heart atack, sadly.
About a withdrawal, some people are fine after a few days, some don't have any problems neither while taking a drug nor when quitting it, while some have a withdrawal problems for 2-3-6 Months, and some can't handle horrible effects of a withdrawal and they go back onto taking a drug.
Most often people have: rebound high blood pressure, rebound tachycardia and arrhytmias, pain in the chest, proplems with breathing, nausea, dizziness, headaches, depression, feeling numb etc.
The side effect which comes the last and lasts for longest when all othery symptoms are gone is anxiety, which can last for 1-12 Months after quitting a drug.
From people on forums, advices are: drink a lot of water during a withdrawal, take a Vitamin C, take magnesium (it helps with lowering high heart rate), sleep and rest a lot.
When you'll be better, try to do some slight walking and stretching, it will be better over time (don't do it during the worst first days when people can hardly get out of bed, and when you have a resting heart rate 90-100 all day long).
Also, for anxiety, a lot of docs will give you low doses of Valium or some antidepressant to survive through the toughest few weeks.
Also, my advice, maybe you should try to break that 1,25Mg dose into 5, 6 or 10 tiny pieces (those would be 0,12-0,25 Mg doses) and then wean off slowly with those tiny pieces (take them once a day or every 36 or 48 hours).
Take those tiny pieces and cut tinier and tinier pieces each week (let's say for 2-3-4 weeks) and that way you will wean off slowlier and when you'll finally quit, your body will be more ready than now and you will have milder problems.
But, if you think that you can manage a withdrawal this way (cold turkey), then continue and don't go back on tiny pieces of a drug.
Good luck, if you'll need more help, just ask
bob52204
Posted
Oh, and don't drink coffee now, don't drink alcohol, don't eat too much sugar food (sugar will raise your adrenaline and that will raise your heart rate and anxiety even more).
Avoid stress if possible.
About symptoms of a withdrawal, I forgot to write one more: I had huge abdomen pain, pain in lungs and all muscles in abdomen (a feeling as if you have been carrying a lot of weight on a previous day and now you are dead tired and all your muscles hurt. While I haven't been lifting any weight. It is happening because your muscles are getting back into life and now they are working with 100% again, while on Beta blockers they didn't work with 100% because Beta blockers were slowing down your heart and body and you were getting less oxygen and food into your organs and your all muscles will atrophy to some extent when you take Beta blockers).
So, if you will have some strange pain all over your body (especially in whole abdomen), a lot of people had the same problem, and it can last a few weeks.
Again, anxiety seems to last the longest in majority of people, since Beta blockers are interfering with chemicals and hormones in our central nervous system and it takes a few Months until CNS and brain get back into a normal state and until they re-learn all basic things again.
LuckyPenny1 zoe46451
Posted
Hi, Sorry you're having those horrible withdrawal symptoms. But, go back and see your GP if you're still not feeling right. Did your doctor wean you off Bisoprolol slowly or was it a sudden cut off?
zoe46451 LuckyPenny1
Posted
Hi thanks
I went to my gp and she advised that as it was only 1.25mg for a.short time i would be fine!! How wrong she was.....
I've been to a& e and was checked out but still feel,weird in chest, throat and aching_weak all over.and.get.a.weird throat once in bed which wakes me up breathless... Im off work at the min as have no.energy and all the otheer.symptoms and a low heart rate
I.guess o will just have.to.grin and bear it for now...
Thanks for.your reply🙂
billhopefull zoe46451
Posted
I suffered similar problems and my cardiac consultant put me on a 24 hour monitor from which he detected "pauses" in my heart beats (apnoea). and as a result of which he installed a pacemaker.
Now no more such frightening experiences ( since 3 +years)
copied from above in case you did not read it)
john55871 bob52204
Posted
Worrying that you're giving advice of your not a Health professional
ann82027 LuckyPenny1
Posted
sian85963 LuckyPenny1
Posted
It's interesting to read this thread, I had been taking 2.5mg of bisoprolol every morning, then it didn't seem to be working as well so was increased to 2.5mg at night also. For the last week I have felt like my lungs aren't filling up properly when I breathe, every breath i take seems shallow and unsatisfactory. When i checked my pulse it was 49-50 So ever since I have been taking half 1.25mg in the morning and in the evening. My pulse has gone up to around 60-65 but still got the sensation which is quite unpleasant and causing me to yawn often which is not good at work!! Hoping a few weeks of this reduced dose will work if not might have to go to doctors??
bob52204 sian85963
Posted
Slow breathing, not being able to breathe deeply, feeling as if your lungs are sleeping and similar is a side effect of Beta blockers.
When I was taking Bisoprolol, I used to have simialr problems. My doc has sent me to all tests regarding lungs, but my lungs were fine, of course.
When I have quit Bisoprolol, my breathing returned to normal again.
It seems that all these breathing problems are not actually related with lungs, but with a central nervous system (which regulates the pace and strength of our breathing), since Beta blockers are a central nervous system depressants to some extent, and they alter 100s of wanted and unwanted mechanisms in our brain.
Here is one article about random central nervous system side effects caused by Beta blockers:
"beta-Adrenoreceptor antagonists are liable to produce behavioural side-effects such as drowsiness, fatigue, lethargy, sleep disorders, nightmares, depressive moods, and hallucinations. These undesirable actions indicate that beta-blockers affect not only peripheral autonomic activity but also some central nervous mechanisms. In experimental animals beta-blockers have been found to reduce spontaneous motor activity, to counteract isolation-, lesion-, stimulation- and amphetamine-induced hyperactivity, and to produce slow-wave and paradoxical sleep disturbances. Furthermore, central effects such as tranquilizing influences are used for the treatment of conditions such as anxiety. Several different mechanisms of action could be responsible for these CNS effects: Centrally mediated specific actions on centrally located beta-adrenergic receptors, known to exist downstream from, and at the terminals of, 'vigilance-enhancing' central noradrenergic pathways. Centrally mediated specific actions on centrally located receptors of the non-adrenergic type; an affinity of some beta-blockers towards 5-HT-receptors is well documented. Centrally mediated non-specific actions on centrally located neurones, owing to the membrane-stabilizing effects of beta-blockers. Peripherally mediated actions whereby beta-blockers induce changes in the autonomic activity in the periphery, which are relayed to the CNS to induce changes in activity of a variety of central systems. It can be assumed that with any one of the beta-blockers all these mechanisms come into play, yet with varying degrees depending on characteristics of the drugs such as lipophilicity and hydrophilicity, the ratio of antagonist versus (partial) agonist properties, affinity to 'alien' receptor sites, strength of membrane-stabilizing activity, stereospecific affinity, and potency."
sian85963 bob52204
Posted
Thanks Bob that certainly all makes sense. I'm so fed up of this breathing thing I have actually cut my dose to 0.75mg night and day now. I have seen an improvement in my breathing and my blood pressure and pulse so far are steady. I have lost around 2 Stone in weight since I was ever First given the bisoprolol for high blood pressure so I'm wondering if I even need it anymore. In a few day I will go to .75 in the morning only and then try coming off completely whilst keeping a close eye on bp and Heart rate. Here's hoping I can get off this god awful drug! Haven't felt like myself in the last 5 years I've been taking It!
bob52204 sian85963
Posted
Beta blockers have a lot of side effects for a lot of us, but in some cases you have no option but to take Beta blockers.
What was the reason for you to start taking them?
For some diseases, you can quit Beta blockers.
For some diseases, you can switch to some other dug (high blood pressure, for example).
While for some diseases, you just have to take them no matter what.
If you are planning to quit them, please talk to your doc first.
Also, if you have been taking them for longer than a few Months, you have high chances to experience a withdrawal. Some people don't have problems with it, but some suffer for Months with horrible side effects.
So, what was your original disease and how long have you been taking them?
sian85963 bob52204
Posted
I was taken into hospital 1 day about 5 years ago with tachycardia. Whilst in hospital they diagnosed high blood pressure. Then I had another episode when on holiday and the consultant said I also was having ectopic heartbeats. He advised no caffeine and light exercise and to lose some weight. I think I also suffer with anxiety sometimes as well. I was taking the 2.5mg just in the morning for about 4 years then a few months ago I felt it wasn't working as well after a couple of episodes of palpitations so I started to take 1 at night as well as thus is when the palpitations were kicking in. Felt ok ish until 2 weeks ago when all of a sudden I felt I was struggling to take a satisfactory deep breath. Thats That's when i took my pulse and realised it was 48-50 which was a bit slow. I am now taking a quarter of a 2.5mg tablet day and night and my bp seems fine so far. Also my Heart rate has increased to around 60 at rest. I will keep a close eye on both but plan to visit the dr next week.
bob52204 sian85963
Posted
People often say here that they were taking only 1,25Mg, and even then it is not a tiny dose (it is the lowest dose, but it is still a strong drug).
So, you have been taking 2,5Mg for a few years and lately 5Mg daily.
That's quite a lot and it will take some time to wean off from such an amount.
Anyway, please talk to your doc and if you are really planning to wean off or lower the dose, don't listen to a doc who will usually tell you: lower the dose in half and quarters and you will be fine in 2 weeks.
Maybe you won't have any problems, but be prepared for some tachycardia, a lot of anxiety and similar for a few weeks (or months).
I hope you won't have any problems (liek some people), but you need to be prepared for everything, since a lot of people have a tough time with quitting this strong drug.