Scared :(

Try to drop to 3/4 of a dose for a 1-2 weeks, then 1/2 for 1-2 weeks, then 1/4 for 1-2 weeks to avoid a strong withdrawal.

​Will be informing doctor of what I will be doing of course.He/She may not agree but it is what I need to do for my own state of mind.Bob,thanks for your concern and I will on occasions let you all know the outcome.Has been a long time since I have had painfree feet and ankles and hoping that, by giving up bisoprolol i may feel differently.Mind you,there are other drugs that may be causing bad feet but one step at a time.(no pun intended).

Ok, good luck

If you'll need a help during withdrawal, just ask people here.

If possible, I would advise you to cut those halfs into quarters for a last few doses, since going from 0,62Mg to 0 can be dangerous for some people (even though each of us is different).

Anyway, if you will experience resting heart rate 90-100 when you quit/lower the dose, or a rebound high blood pressure, dizziness, breathing problems, nausea, anxiety, please ask your doc for help, and people here to give their experience.

Good luck

Great advice to Ken !

Hi Ken... its my first time here as well.  Very informative and love hearing real peoples experiences and encouragement/advice /support etc.  I'm afraid to be tired all the time too once i start this drug.  I hope you talk to your dr about weaning off slowly from Bisoprolol...  sounds like the only way to do it safely.  Good luck

Hi Marcy, I hope your still on the forum and reading this. I was so scared and worried to start taking them too. On fact I walked about with them in my pocket for nearly a week before plucking up the courage to take it for the first time. I'm glad to say I've never looked back and apart from a few adjustments to the dosage and s bit of nasal congestion have had no problems.

The thing to remember is that ALL tablets and medication have some side effects of one type or another. The thing to remember is "most" side effects gradually calm down around five to ten days after starting the tablet.

I hope this gives you some comfort and support, remember you've founded a fantastic forum here full of fantastic genuine people with a wealth of first hand experience information and support!!.

Each of us is different. When I first started to take Beta blockers, I didn't have any effects (nor desired nor side effects) for the first 3-4 weeks.

It was like drinking water.

I felt exactly the same as before drugs (except that I had some tingling in my fingers and a few hot flushes for a few seconds per day in the first weeks).

After some time, when a drug has slowly build up in my body, I started to have breathing problems, low energy, strange heart rhytms, some anxiety problems, dizziness from time to time, inability to walk for too long or to do any normal activity etc.

So, from what I have read on this and similar forums, each of us is really different.

1. some don't have any side effects on Beta blockers

2. some have horrible problems

3. some people have side effects only in the beginning and later they subside

4. some people don't have problems in the beginning and the side effects become worse and worse over time as a drug builds up in your blood and in all organs/body mechanisms

5. some don't have any withdrawal symptoms when they quit a drug

6. some people are going through hell for 2-6 Months after quitting a drug

Every option is possible for each person.

So, when you take this drug, all you have to do is hope that you won't have too strong side effects.

I hope that you won't have problems with a drug neither now nor in upcoming months or years. Good luck

..and we must remember that no one has actually died from taking Bisoprolol or from coming off it either!  Just a question of how it makes you feel either end of the 'experiment' if you are not one of the luckier ones who sail along on it...

You can surely die from a withdrawal.

But if you had some heart related issue prior to taking BBs (let's say a high blood pressure or arrhytmia), and you take Beta blockers, and then you stop using them, and let's say that you die 7 days after quitting, docs will say that you just had a regular heart attack.

How will you prove that someone died because of quitting beta blockers (which caused a new, deadly arrhytmia or too fast tachycardia) and not because of his original disease?

Or that he died because of a combination of both?

One girl wrote here a few months ago. Her mother was old and had some heart issues. She was taking Beta blockers for some time but had to stop them due to some dangerous side effects (I think that is was pauses or bradycardia). She stopped taking them abrupty since a doc said so. She died 2 days later.

Docs said that she just had a regular heart attack. 

Now, how can anyone prove that it could be due quitting BBs?

About side effects and quitting a drug, every drug in the world is dangerous. But quitting BBs is one of the most dangerous things in the world of drugs. 

If you stop taking drugs for headaches, for a rash or for a heartburn, you surely won't die.

When you quit BBs, well, anything can happen.

Medical sites are full of information about quitting BBs, for example:

"As stated by The Harvard Medical School Patient Education Center, Patients who use beta blockers for an extended period of time get accustomed to the slowed heart rate. Sudden discontinuation of beta blockers may result in heightened sensitivity to the circulating adrenaline in the body, and in turn, this could cause a severe tachycardia, or elevated heart rate, and would strain the heart greatly. In case of the underlying presence of a coronary artery blockade, which is not uncommon in the general population, this could result in angina, chest pain due to a heart attack or even death of part of the heart muscle known as a myocardial infarction."

"Beta-blockers, once widely used to lower blood pressure, may actually lead to heart problems, researchers have warned.

The drugs work by slowing the heart rate and so reducing blood pressure - which has been shown to have beneficial effects on people who have had a heart attack or who have heart failure.

However, the latest study suggests beta-blockers do not help people suffering from hypertension.

Researchers looked at nine major U.S. clinical trials involving treatment for high blood pressure.

Participants treated with beta-blockers achieved lower heart rates than did other patients. However, heart rate lowering with beta-blockers increased the risks of dying and of having a heart attack or stroke, and developing heart failure, according to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The slower the heart rate, the greater was the risk, the researchers said.

A comment in the journal proclaims the research as 'another post-mortem explanation for the fall of beta-blockers'.

It adds that beta-blockers will remain appropriate for treating for heart failure, for after a heart attack, and for slowing excessive heart rates, 'but no longer for hypertension in the absence of these compelling indications'."

In the past, Beta blockers were a first choice drug for lowering a blood pressure, but now they have dropped to a 3rd or 4th place.

They are still a No1 only for heart related problems, like heart attacks, arrhytmias, angina etc.

So, saying that no one actually died from taking Beta blockers or because of quitting them makes no sense, sorry.

I am not saying that people shouldn't take these drugs.

If a doc told you to take it, of course that you should take it.

But it is one strong and complicated drug, which should be used only if a patient really needs it.

​Good health yo you all.

Hi Andrew.. thank you for your reply and reassurance 😁 I still have yet to start this medication , I was trying other alternative things first... like lifestyle changes to reduce stress etc which I feel caused the arrthymia in the first place. I've also been taking supplements including magnesium and COQ10 and omega 3s etc. Trying to exercise more as well . I feel that I will most likely have to try the bisoprolol in spite of my alternate efforts... as the arrthymia seems to be about the same. Thank you again for your reassuring words of your experience! I'll post back to this group once I start the medication with how things go 😁

Marcy, 3 out of 4 people don't have problems with Beta blockers, so if you'll start to take them, there are still high chances that you will either feel good or with mild side effects.

Thanks Bob ... that's very encouraging too ! I've been successful with little or no side effects with my other meds... so hopefully bisoprolol will be not so bad when I start taking it too! 😁

I didn't have any side effects ever in my life with any meds.

With BBs (Nebivolol, Bisoprolol, Atenolol, Metoprolol) I had tons of side effects with all of them.

It's just that some people can't handle beta blockers for some reason and they don't suit them well.

But again, 70-80% of people don't have problems with Beta blockers, so there are way higher chances that you will be among those people.

Good luck

Thanks for the good luck ! Sorry u haven't had much luck with the beta blockers in your own experience. Alternatively, what did you do? I'll eventually post back here once I start the bisoprolol with an update 😁