Afraid to take bisoprolol

Treatment and medication
1

Hi, I've been prescribed Bosvate (bisoprolol) by my cardiologist for what he said was "my heart beating faster at times when it shouldn't" after having a holter monitor on for 48 hours. I originally was referred to him for what me and my GP suspected was supraventicular tachycardia but in the three appointments I've seen my cardiologist he has not even uttered these words. I'm certain he doesn't actually know what it is because we have been unable to capture it happening on an ECG or the holter.

I'm only 18 years old (female, with low blood pressure weighing 53kg and 5'8) I drink probably once or twice a week but hardly ever get drunk, and I have about 1-3 coffees a day depending if I'm working or not (I'm a waitress/barista). I've done a lot of reading into bisoprolol and I'm very scared to take it because of the side effects and because I do have low blood pressure (I've heard you should not take it if you have low blood pressure). I'm also scared because when I took the prescription the cardiologist wrote into the pharmacy, the two pharmacists could not read what he wrote at all, and I told them that he just told me he was going to give me a beta blocker. I don't think they gave me the right thing honestly.

I'm putting off taking it for now, until I feel more comfortable, or if I can get into touch with my cardiologist and see if he really did want to put me on bisoprolol. I'm also concerned because I'm only 18 and I don't want to be taking these for the rest of my life, plus I'm currently working as a waitress and I'm always on my feet, and working late and waking up early and I'm dreading the tiredness effects. I've heard its a horrible nasty drug. 

Advice?

2

If you think a mistake may have been made,then go back to your doctor and explain this to him before making a start.  Bisoprolol is to slow the heart rate and I have not heard it linked with blood pressure for which there is a completely different set of drugs.  But you are going to feel uncomfortable if you think there could have been a misunderstanding, so make an appointment to see your doctor about it.

Now whilst Bisoprolol has some nasty side effects with some, it is also a very common and trusted drug for those who tolerate it and either way, will not put you in any danger.  This forum is mostly populated by those who have experienced the worst side effects of fatigue and listlessness and we share those experiences here quite a lot.  If you need a beta blocker, then there are many others which can be tried, but to try them is your own path only you can take - if they don't suit, then something else can be called for within the same group.  My husband takes Bisoprolol every day (1.25 mg) and has no effects whatsoever.  I took the same and was wiped out by fatigue.  We are all different in reactions to medications.

So first make sure you are getting what is prescribed or else you are never going to have a good start.  Then take the medication and see how you get on with it and take it from there.

3

Great advice for her. Beta blockers are all challenging but can certainly grip many.

4

I was on Bisoprolol for 6 months. And you are correct, it lowers blood pressure and your heart rate. If you have low blood pressure you should talk to your GP. I personally don't recommend it  However try for a week not to have a coffee, don't smoke and eat some good healthy food. Lots of veggies also try to reduce your stress. Try it. For a week and then tak it from there. Also the comment below is not correct. Bisoprolol dos lover blood pressure. Talk to your pharmacy. Good luck and be positive. 

5

I take Bisoprolol 10mg along with Warfarin for Atrial Fibrilation. However, for many years I was prescribed Sotalol for when I had SVT (I can only speak for myself) but, I was okay on that.

6

Whilst I stand corrected on the blood pressure issue, although most with high blood pressure have additional medication for this, as I myself do, then if the blood pressure of Niryastare is low to start with, then I really think she should seek the advice of her doctor (a) to check the correct prescription as she is doubtful about this and (b) to question the wisdom of the prescription in view of her blood pressure.

I can see the advice you are giving is good health advice, but it really would be best for her to go back to the doctor first and foremost on these issues.

7

As others have said, Bisoprolol will slow down your heart, but it will also lower your blood pressure (I was taking 1,25 dose and it lowered my BP from 125 to 95-100. I felt really bad with such a low blood pressure).

If you don't want to take BBs yet and if you want to try different options, try not to drink coffee (it can cause tachycardia) and alcohol (the same).

Try to sleep more and drink lots of water (if you don't drink enough of fluids, your HR can go up also) and sleep regularly.

Further, if your raised heart rate is not dangerous, maybe you can try to live without mediactions.

I am also younger and I have similar problems (Spvt tachycardia, the same as you), a too high heart rate or some arrhytmia from time to time.

But if those things last only a few minutes and if they are not dangerous, in some cases it is better to live without drugs and just wait for an episode to end than to take drugs which will cause lots of side effects.

So, if your situation is not dangeorus, then living without medications with occasional problems may be a better solution than taking these drugs.

But then again, each person is different and each of us have a different dissease.

How often do you get these episodes, how long do they last, how fast is your heartbeat during them?

Which symptoms do you have during these episodes?

8

I am wondering what the diagnosis is for niryastare - there must be one from the specialist cardiologist but she says he has not mentioned anything to her.  To some extent we are giving advice in the dark here.  As you say, you know you yourself have a named diagnosis and I know I have AFib as my own diagnosis, where blood thinning will be my lot for life - but in this case we don't really know what the cardiologist had to say.  Some conditions are not dangerous if the correct medication is followed.  I too would question Bisoprolol for niryastare but she must go back to the doctor to do this, especially i she decides she will not take Bisoprolol.   I decided this for myself but did inform and discuss it with the GP and specialist.

9

Supraventricular tachycardia is a term used for lots of different conditions.

There are lots of benign and some more dangerous conditions.

Anyway, in my case, a specialist told me 2 years ago: if you are afraid of that tachycardia, I can give you a BB. If you are not afraid, don't take any drugs. It is your choice.

I was afraid and I thought that BBs are a simple drug, so I started to take them and my condition and overal physical state turned 100s of times worse than before taking a drug.

So, in some situations, a cure and it's side effects are much more harmful than an actual disease (if a disease is not too dangerous).

Further, about why a doc gave her a BB. Well, some doctors are giving BBs for more or less everything.

My friend, who is a doctor, told me: you can take small doses of BBs whenever you want, They are like drinking a tea, a very soft drug, you won't feel any side effects.

I want to say: some docs think that it is a drug which should be used only in very ill patients, while others wil prescribe it for more or less anything.

Majority of people won't have any side effects, while for others, it may ruin your life (both side effects and a potential withdrawal).

But yes, in every case, a patient should talk to his doctor whether drugs are optional or a must, since each of us has a different disease and different strength of that original disease (one person may have 1 Spvt attack per month, lasting 2 minutes. Other can have 3 attacks per day, each one lasting 6 hours. Both diseases will be described as Spvt, but they clearly are not the same disease, or at least not of the same strength...)

A person no1 surely can live without drugs, while a person no2 will surely need drugs to lower the amount and length of episodes.

10

Yes, that is why it is so individual to each of us.  The variety of side effects or none are striking on this forum.  As you say, safety is the criterion though and only a professional can decide this, or a patient with professional prior consultation.  The best thing she can do, is to go back and discuss this with her doctor, inlcuding her doubts about the original prescription, and meanwhile swot up on all the info she can glean about her condition so that she can converse more knowledgeably.

11

Hi, sorry for late response. Have been extremely busy at work, but thank you for your insights. I would love to go back to thhe cardiologist some time soon, but he's currently at a hospital far away from me and I have made appointments with him before and have been put on months long waiting lists. I might make an appointment with my GP here in town and talk to him, but I don't have a day off until next week so it may be a bit until I can see him. And for being left in the dark about what is actually wrong, it is very worrying and frustrating for me to not actually be told what I have and just be given meds saying that it will make everything all better.

And the episodes of tachycardia are not constant, they happen about once or twice a month but I am quite afraid of them now since I almost blacked out when I had the last one. (when I told my cardiologist about this he said it was due to anxiety, and as a person who has experienced true anxiety in the past I know I have never blacked out from it). I have been monitoring my heart rate recently and its at about 94 when I am resting (I don't know if that is abnormal or not?) and I think my blood pressure is at about 100,although I don't remember the last time I had it taken (speaking of, the cardiologist has never taken my blood pressure either which did worry me when he prescribed me bisoprolol).

I wish he prescribed me something just to take when I need to, not constantly, but if bob52204 is right about being able to take it whenever I need to and not every day, I will consider that. However, I will definitely make an appointment with my GP and discuss all of this with him before I do anything.

Thank you for all your responses

12

Well, as I have said, each of us is different.

Resting heart rate of 94 is a (somewhat) too high heart rate.

Normal resting HR is between 60 and 80.

My resting heart rate is around 70 and it would go up only during short Spvt episodes for a few minutes.

Luckily, regarding higher heart rate, there are several solutions: Beta Blockers, Calcium channel blockers, a newer drug called Ivabradine which works only for heart rate and it doesn't lower blood pressure (and doesn't affect a central nervous system like Beta blockers). It works specially good for people who have a too high HR all the time.

So, if you'll need drugs, maybe you'll find the one with a low amount of side effects.

On the other hand, if you are anxious currently over this (which you surely are, we have all been in that position), it is possible that your resting HR is 5-10-15 points higher than usual because of being scared and anxious all the time over your original disease.

So, in short, let's say that your normal resting HR was maybe 80, and during the episodes of Spvt it jumped to 120-150 (whatever number).

Now, after you almost blacked out, of course that you are scared about this original disease, and now it is possible that you being scared (and thus anxious) affected your nervous system and your whole body. And now when you are scared all the time, you will have more adrenaline and your resting HR may jump to 85-90-95 easily all day long.

So, on one hand, maybe you had too high resting HR all your life.

But maybe it is too high currently because of your original disease and you being scared about all of this is (which is normal, we all had these problems).

So, it is not exactly ONLY anxiety, but we are all scared about these HR and similar issues and then we surely are having anxiety to some extent. And when we have anxiety for longer periods (weeks, months, years), anyxiety starts to manifest not only as a mental problem, but it also starts to have physical symptoms like: dizziness, higher blood pressure, higher heart rate, throat and chest tightness etc.

So, you will have to test your body on your own, because docs will usually say that you either have a disease or anxiety.

The easiest solution would be to know how high your resting HR was a few months or years ago when you wasn't sacred about these new problems.

Maybe you should try to measure your HR (one minute) on your own for some time 3-4 times per day.

That way you'll see whether it is 90+ all the time, or it goes up and down like 70, 90, 70, 85 etc

Also, if you are measuring your HR only in doc's office, it is possible that it will be way higher because you will be scared then.

My HR was always around 70, but whenever I was at doc's office, I was scared that he will find some deadly heart disease and my HR would always jump to 90-100 while resting when he would measure my HR there.

So, for now, try to measure your HR on your own to get a larger sample.

And also, if you'll need meds, luckily you have a few different options for a too high HR (as I have mentioned above), in Beta blockers, Calcium channel blockers and Ivabradine.

Also, if your too high HR comes from anxiety or being scared, there is also an option that you can take only a low doses of Valium or some diazepam to calm you down (it calms a central nervous system, affecting anxiety, and then since a too high HR can be a symptom of anxiety, it will "kill" both the anxiety and physical symptoms of anxiety=constantly elevated HR).

So, you have to test whether your elevated resting HR is 1) from a heart disease 2) from anxiety 3) a combination of both 4) because of some other reason (other drugs, hormones, other diseases)

Good luck, and ask whatever you need, a lot of people will try to help you here

13

How right you are about anxiety.  All of us with whatever heart complaint experience this fear when you feel your heart start to play up and it is hard to control, even if told it is not life threatening.  Fear can build up to playing a large part in being dizzy and faint.

I cannot add to the good advice you have given - it does have to start with self recording, a visit to the GP and an accurate opinion on all the symptoms, and confirmation is not always easy to obtain, especially when episodes are intermittent.  Meanwhile the anxiety goes on......

There are so many different medications and most of of us have tried and not got along with some of them.  Getting a voice is also so important and not being deferential.  A lot does depend on the quality of GP care (and caring).