Since starting with PAF some months ago my sleep has deteriorated. Am having to go to bed much earlier because of tiredness but then either can't get to sleep or wake after an hour or so and lie awake for hours. I imagine it might be a combination of worrying about my heart etc but may also be a side effect of my Bisoprolol? Anyone else have this experience and if so have you found any solutions, please?
Maggie
Some people take their Bisoprolol at night to avoid side effects during the day so it presumablt does not affect their sleep.
Hi Maggie,
I use a herbal tea that helps greatly with sleep, energy and blood issues. Doubt the forum administrator would allow me to mention it here though. Sorry.
Be carefull with herbal products as some can put your BP up. I used to take one for chestiness after having a cold and my BP shot up after taking it. It now has a warning on the package.
Hi Maggie,
I've been a bus driver for 25 years and thought that my sleep issues were related to 25 years of shift work, and to a degree they maybe. However, my sleep issues have worsened since AF. I too am on Bisoprolol (5 mg daily) and had a terrible time with it to start with but now its OK. Oddly enough when I'm at work and active I have no tiredness feelings at all - its when I stop the demons get to work. If I'm at home relaxing I become very tired and can't get through the day without a 'napette' !! At night, I can drop off to sleep about 10 to 10.30pm in seconds but am awake again, all bright and ready to redesign 'Concorde' by 02.00 am to 03.00 am. I deal with it by getting up have a cuppa, maybe read and go back to bed about 2 hours later and sleep for another 4 hours. Not ideal, but then nor is AF :-)
Any questions, get back to me.
Carneuny (John)
Maggie - I forgot to say that I take mine at night. couldn't deal with it taking it in mornings as it was originally prescribed. Must say in the 4 and half years I've been on it it is holding my heart at an very good average of 65 bpm. Steady as a rock.
Thanks John, your experience is very similar to mine. I did shift work, as a nurse for 32 years so feel that certainly didn't help. I'm sure it's worsened since AF, I'm on 10mg Bisoprolol but it didn't help my PAF. If I do get off to sleep, I too wake around 2am and my mind is extremely active and just won't switch off. Usually lie there trying all manner of relaxation techniques - maybe I'll try getting up. Trouble is it's winter here in NZ and getting out of a warm bed isn't that appealing! Because I'm on quite a high dose of Biso (take it in morning as take Digoxin at night) haven't figured out how to swop over to night and whether I should.
Have tried taking mild herbal sleeping pills which help a bit but am aware they may not mix with my other heart pills.
Cheers Maggie
Hi there Maggie
I try to keep busy and stay awake all day with no naps but since I started on Bisoprolol, I can fall alseep holding a cup and spill a drink over myself, sometimes a hot one.
Have you tried having no tea or coffee after 6pm.... or cutting it out altogether?
(I am now on Decaff. but Jury is still out on how healthy it is).
For during the night, there are good techniques for calming the mind.... I find it doesn't stop the heart waking me up but it does help me get back to sleep.
Regards
Jess
Hiya Maggie,
Well another sleepless night from Cornwall, UK. With my party bag of drugs for AF and hypertension etc I try and stay off all herbal stuff as a precaution. That said, I do take a Pharma Nord product - Bio-Quinone Q10 - you may care to 'Google' it and see for yourself. Prior to AF I was on Ramipril (10 mg) for hypertension and Simvastatin (40 mg) for cholesterol (which is now about 3.1). Now with AF diagnosed I'm on the same, plus Bisoprolol (5 mg) and Warfarin (alternate doses on alternate days but averages out at 5.5 mg a day). I also found that I'd get indigestion come on about the same time at night too. I then began to identify a link with other digestive issues and the onset of an AF event and changed my food intake by going gluten free and also (not too seriously I must say) following the FODMAPS diet. Massive improvements and now can't recall my last AF event. Minor palpitations though. So with a combination of drugs and diet if sleeplessness is the price I have to pay for being AF free - so be it. It still enables me to work driving buses two, three or four days a week as required. Did you know the Atrial Fibrillation Association have a website, both in UK and Australia with a Forum too.
John
Hi Derek,
Thanks for the note of concern. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.
I feel it is best to be focussed on avoiding synthetically created medicines. I have been following non-allopathic treatments for ailments and simply 'fine tuning' for more than 30 years now, but will take on board what you have mentioned.
I watched my mother survive a coma and intensive care early last year following over-prescription of blood and heart related (AF) medicines, so would counter your concern for herbal tea with a more urgent need for anyone on prescribed medicines to question their doctors as to what are the true side effects of taking pharmaceuticals. She survived, but has been robbed of her ability to dance and play golf in her twilight years (she is 82 years old)
Kel
Hi there John,
Thanks for your suggestions. I think the Pharma Nord product might be the same as CoQ10 here, I take that too. I'm about to start on Warfarin at the weekend and coming off aspirin thank goodness. Interesting about your diet, will certainly google that. Not sure I could go gluten free tho, wasn't aware that helped with AF. Thanks for the other contacts - wasn't aware of one in Australia.
Cheers Maggie
Why are you pleased to come off aspirin?
Warfarin is a highly dangerous drug as are the other anti-coagulants.
Hi Maggie, Lankylass here again. Sorry you have not been sleeping well, I have the same problem and will be interested to see the replies you get. My sleep pattern is very erratic these days, it's a good job I don't have to get up for work. My problem is the 'knocking' as I call it, when I can really feel the heart beating irregularly. I got an appointment with my cardiologist last week, I shouldn't have had one so early as it's only 4 weeks since I left CCU after being diagnosed with AF but as I had been back to A and E with a couple of fast heartbeat scares he saw me after my own GP rang his secretary. I wonder if this happens to anyone else? I have 5mg of BIsoprolos in the morning and at night, 3-4 mg of warfarin at tea time. The Betablocker really calmed the loud beating/knocking of my heart and it almost felt 'normal'. Then, for no reason, I had no alcohol, chocolate, caffiene, it started to jump about all over the place during the night, I had gone to bed feeling ok then got this 'little' feeling in my chest which just grew. Never slept a wink, can't understand why, when I am on the bisoprolol, this happens. A GP friend of the family said that sometimes this happens when the body is getting used to the drug. I'm not sure, there is nothing really I can do about it. I have to wait for a few weeks before I have a cardioversion and can just hope it goes away and sleep is restored. I had some calming tea last night, it tasted like someone had washed their socks in it? Why do these things taste so awful. Any suggestions anyone for a nice tasting, calming bedtime drink that doesn't taste of soap??? Ah, I remember the old days, (about 6 weeks ago!!) when a glass or two of wine would do the trick, happy memories. My cousin in NZ was telling me they had a ground frost last week, flippin' eck!! You will be knitting all that sheep wool into bedsocks. As I write this I hope you will be tucked up in bed having a restful sleep, here's hoping Maggie. Cheers.
G'day lankylass,
Sorry to read of your dramas. When I was first prescribed Bisoprolol (5mg daily) it was prescribed it to take in the morning. I had massive, just massive problems and went back to my GP in a rage and told her to get me off the stuff. She got out her book of Magic Potions and Brews and said take it at night.
I have taken it at night ever since ( was diagnosed with AF in Jan 2010), along with my Warfarin with either water or a cup of tea and have no problems at all with it now - except maybe this tiredness I was talking to Maggie in NZ about. Occasionally I get very cold extremeties, cold hands and feet, fingers and toes and have to go to bed with an electric blanket on and/or a hot water bottle. Sleep for about 3 hours or so wake up and I'm as good as new. BUT - the Bisoprolol is working for me but I reckon, depending on the individual, it can take 6 months or so to get used to it.
Cheers
John
The coldness is due to the Warfarin. That seems to be it's most common side effect.
Hi there, Thanks for replying so promptly. I was originally prescribed 5mg of bisoprolol in the morning and 3mg of warfarin in the afternoons. As I said to Maggie this did not seem to settle the heart really 'knocking', the sensation was horrible. After seeing own GP and being referred 'early' to cardiologist, ( I say early as I am only 4 wks out of CCU and probably will be another few weeks before my next visit to cardio) he prescribed another 5mg at night, because at night after I tried to settle down to sleep I started with the very 'noisy' knocking feelings again and just could not settle to a nice sleepy rhythm. I thought the bisoprolol would 'calm' this feeling when it slowed the heart but I keep having these feelings. I don't really want to see the cardio again, he will probably be fed up of me!! I could actually function quite well with the 10mg a day, I do get odd bouts of, not quite breathlessness but not able to get a 'full' breath when breathing normally, it's difficult to explain!!. Anyway , once again thanks for your advice, I do think this forum is a real help to AF sufferers even if the advice is not good for all of us. Oh, one thing I didn't mention is that I seem to be in permanent AF, the irregular heartbeat didn't go back to sinus rthythm when I was in CCU, even after the amid( can't remember the name of the med) given to me in the 'drip'
It is now medically recognised that Asprin is of no use in stroke prevention in cases of Atrial Fibrillation.
Having XRays is also dangerous if misadministered !
Anticoagulants - be it the newer ones or warfarin are the only ones suitable for stroke prevention in Atrial Fibrillation and a number of other cardiac conditions.
No Derek76, the coldness is due to the betablocker (Bisoprolol) - nothing to do with the warfarin. These times of coldness I was describing are always associated with my fall in heart rate and on each occasion my heart rate drops to around 45 bpm. Ideally, for me a 6 ft bloke weighing in at 96 kgs, I need around 70 bpm to survive. Prior to AF my heart rate was around 88 bpm (which was far too high). Certainly 45 takes me to my end days. So the Bisoprolol is doing its job, sometimes too well.
John
Yeah lankylass - I know exactly what you mean about not quite getting a full breath. Happens to me regularly - even now after 4 and half years.
I think you mean the Amioadrone or something like that - I had it administered in A & E by the Dr. and she warned me that I'd feel like I was going to die - she wasn't wrong either - absolutely dreadful but after about 24 hours it did bring my heart rate down from the 160 bpm I was hurtling along at. As I spin off - I am one of those weirdos who can at times be in AF and not know it.
John
Amid = Amiodarone?