Me And My Blood Pressure Medication (1 Viewer)

[SWFF]

I just started taking blood pressure medicine for these heart palpitations I have been having since February, and, man, does it wipe me out! Though, I have been informed if these "wipe-out" side effects continue there are other drugs.


Never thought I'd be that guy, you know, the one that has to take medication for some kind of chronic health problem.


Shit, I hate aging.


Anyone else in this boat?

 

[Ockeghem]

SWFF,


Hi. When I was in my early twenties (about thirty years ago), I suffered for a while with tachycardia. At the time, I was ingesting things I shouldn't have been ingesting, plus I was smoking about three packs of cigarettes a day and drinking far too much coffee. I quit smoking, stopped doing all kinds of drugs, and began running (about :30 my first time running; I have since completed several marathons). It was no wonder that the increased levels of adrenaline that I had due to what I was ingesting would lead to a rapid heart rate. (BTW, my resting heart rate is about 52-56 these days. To the untrained eye this might look like bradycardia; however, it's not this at all. It's the result of having done a lot of distance running for several years.)


About two years ago, I had arrhythmia. It wasn't dangerous, but it was annoying, mostly because when one has this, they are aware of it. I had an EKG, and I continued running and doing other cardiovascular exercises on a daily basis. My doctor found nothing wrong with my heart. The arrhythmia continued to plague me, and when it got to the point where it was occurring about every third day, I did some extensive research and took matters into my own hands somewhat. I eventually found out how to make the arrhythmia cease once and for all. I started taking magnesium every other day or so. (I have a friend who suffered from a similar type of arrhythmia, and since he began taking a specific type of magnesium, it went away completely.) Now, I am not pretending to be a cardiologist, but I would at least ask your doctor about this, and whether or not it would help. I realize that you are talking about blood pressure medication (and not arrhythmia); however, as a muscle relaxant, it may be helpful to you as well.


"I hate aging.


Anyone else in this boat?"


Oh, if you mean aging, yes -- I am doing this as well, and have yet to find a cure for that.


Best wishes!

 

[SWFF]

Funny you should mention magnesium, I did some research, too, and thought that, maybe, it was either a potassium or magnesium deficiency. Now, this before my cardiologist appointment, and I started taking first potassium for a while, then some magnesium tablets I bought at Wal-Mart. For a while I thought they were working, but the palpitations would always return. They do seem to stop, a week being the longest I have gone without them.


Anyhow, all the blood tests the cardiologist eventually did indicated no substantial deficency in either one of those departments. I even had a stress test, and even though the palpitations registered on the EKG, I was told none of it was out of the ordinary.


What?! For whom?


Anyhow, I'm taking 25 milligrams of Metoprolol, and even though the side-effects are unrelenting, the palpitations have stopped, for the time being. The doctor wants me to take 50, but when I did, I was pretty much useless for the entire day.


I gotta call them tomorrow telling them they gotta change the meds. To something that doesn't wanna make me sleep all day, and the back of my head feel like there's a small arm's fire fight going on in it.


I'm 41 and, well, perhaps, I could handle it better without the palpitations, but that's life, as I understand it.


(Note to self: Must look into the building of a time machine).

 

[Ockeghem]

SWFF,


Do you happen to know what your heart rate is when you are (from your perspective) having palpitations? If my resting heart rate is above 72, I can feel it. This rate is nothing to be alarmed about, but when you're use to about 52-56 or so, 72 seems fast and 'unnatural.' Of course, when you are exercising, a nice heart rate around 220 minus one's age is a good rule of thumb to follow.

 

[SWFF]

No, I don't, never thought of measuring it. I don't really keep track of my heart rate, but when I work out it gets pretty damn high. Obviously. So far, though, barring the debilitating side-effects, the palps have stopped. But I don't know if it's because of the medicine or something else. Right now, I'm just concentrating on getting the right meds with the right side-effects (i.e. none).


Thanks for the concern, though.


Good to hear someone else has had irregular heartbeat problems, too.


There should be some kind of support group.


I wish to God it was a potassium or magnesium deficiency, be a lot easier to manage, I think.

 

[gene c]

SWFF, hope everthing works out well for you. And at 41 you're not old. You still got a ways to go yet.


When I was about 19-20 (I'm now 50) I was going to school full time, working full time + and during finals week I was only getting 2 1/2 to 3 hours of sleep a night and not eating right. I was laying in bed the following Saturday morning and I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest. It was beating faster than the fastest drummer could drum. I layed in bed for a minute or two until it stopped. I was so scared I was afraid to move.


It only happened that one time and a visit to the doctor the following week revealed nothing alarming. My heart does beat a little irregular, it speeds up a bit when I breath in, but nothing that required medication. Stress was the diagnosis and I was told to start taking better care of myself. I decided to quit school as I had to work and the economy was actually as bad in the late 70's as it is now. Not going back was my fault, not my faulty hearts fault.


Anyway, 30 years later I've been taking high blood pressure (registered 170/110 ) meds (25 mg Hydrochlorothiazide and 25 mg Liprinisil) for a couple of years now and all is well. BP is around 120/85 give/take. But I'll never forget when Buddy Rich was practicing in my chest. Scared the hell out of me. Your body has it's own way of telling you somethings wrong. Pay attention to it.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Get used to it. I'm in mid-40s and I'm in good health. My cholesterol levels are great, my weight is fine but my upper back is creaking like a car with bad suspension. I also hate the fact that I'm at that age where the doctor puts on the glove and makes me bend over and he makes me turn my head and cough. The first time that happened was the first time I was feeling my age.

Shit, I hate aging.

 

[Eric Samonte]

Metoprolol has that side effect of being tired but its pretty much the only one that works for palpitations. There r some other meds but the side effects are worse. Hopefully though u aren't getting the other known side effect of beta blockers.....the one that makes u a "softy" down there....

 

[Eric Peterson]

I have blood pressure problems in my family and have been taking small dose medication for about 5 years now, but I've also noticed that my weight and regular exercise help immensely (DUH!!), but even more so than I thought. At one point, I lost a measly 5 pounds and saw a substantial reduction in my BP....and I'm not what anyone would refer to as obese...just overweight (6' - 210lbs)


On top of that, I started having palpitations a few years ago and put off seeing a doctor for a long time. Finally I gave in and they struggled for a while to discover what my problem was, but they did find that I had an enlarged heart. After a couple of years, I started dating my current fiancee. After a few nights together, she complained of my loud snoring and woke me up several times because she heard me stop breathing. I talked with the doctor and was diagnosed with Apnea. I'm now on CPAP therapy and every since, the palpitations have been virtually eliminated, my energy level is through the roof, I'm less cranky, etc..., etc.... I would have never known that something so simple could cause so many problems. I don't know if you are a snorer or not, but this is something that you may want to investigate.


I also started taking Fish Oil and several other natural supplements that are supposed to be good for the cardiovascular system.


Best of luck,

 

[SWFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Hewell
I also hate the fact that I'm at that age where the doctor puts on the glove and makes me bend over and he makes me turn my head and cough. The first time that happened was the first time I was feeling my age.

I haven't, yet, been asked to do that. I'm already dreading it.

Originally Posted by Eric Samonte

Metoprolol has that side effect of being tired but its pretty much the only one that works for palpitations. There r some other meds but the side effects are worse. Hopefully though u aren't getting the other known side effect of beta blockers.....the one that makes u a "softy" down there....

The first half of your statement is good to hear, the second half, not so much. I've been taking it for about three weeks, perhaps, four, and, thank God, I have had no side effects related to my dick. It's still working as good as it has ever been. It's just the drowsiness and the pressure in my skull that's an issue.

 

[SWFF]

I never called the doctor to change my medicatiom, I'm toughening it out, and earlier the doctor suggested I split the pill in half. Take half in the morning and half in the afternoon. So far that has worked. not odd side effects have plagued me yet, not even the drowsiness. Strange. The palps are still there but very minimal, and not everpresent like they were, but, again, I can't be sure it that's the result of the drug, or not. Need more time to evaluate.


I'm supposed to call the Doc next Tuesday with an update, and then we'll see where I need to go. The ideal is to get rid of them completely. So, he may need to up it, if they haven't totally disappeared yet.

 

[SWFF]

Good news . . . the palpitattions are almost nonexistant. Bad news . . . now, so is my sex drive. Gotta call the Doc Monday and see what can be done about it. This is a side effect I refuse to live with.


UPDATE: I've felt horrible all day today, no energy, no desire to do anything. I'm seriously considering just stopping the drug and contending with the palpitations. I mean, I'm debating which is worse, the condition or the side effects.

 

[SWFF]

All right, I'm in the process of getting off the metoprolol. Which is, too bad, the 50 mg dosage works great in killing the palps, it's just the side effects are too debilitating; the 25 mg, unfortunately does nothing, not even in the side effects department. Well, I found out I don't have a high blood pressure problem, the doc was just treating the palps. So, I went back to that info about my white blood cell count being down, and looked that up on the web. I'm wondering if I might be anemic. Most of the symptoms for it, I seem to have, but only as they pertain to being anemic through a B12 deficiency.


I started taking some over the counter B12 pills to see. Got an appointment on December 7th, to have that white cell count re-checked. Will bring up the anemia theory then.

 

[Stan]

Not sure if my blood pressure medicine causes my minor fatigue, but I'll tolerate that before death.


A few years ago my blood pressure was 160/110, massively high.


Drop a little weight, exercise, take a pretty strong beta blocker and I rarely top 90/60. Even went in for a minor operation and I was 80/50. They almost kicked me out, but finally went ahead.


Heart rate stays incredibly low also, like clockwork 60 during the day, lower at night. I was hospitalized in the ICU for something completely unrelated several years and kept setting off the alarms, they finally lowered the threshold after they saw I was fine.


Can't even begin to come close to the target heart zone for aerobic exercise, maybe hitting 105 if I bust my ass, I just finally gave up and do what's comfortable.

 

[Eric Samonte]

Well, that was to be expected from beta blockers, Shawn. The anemia theory is very valid but I would wager ur doc has already gone through ur bloodwork and would have picked up on this. Though B12 levels are not a standard test for screening. At any rate, be sure to tell him about the B12 supplement ur taking now. Its a real pain when patients fail to mention supplements that can also cause side effects not to mention drug interactions.