I've been in bisoprolol 2.5mg for 3 weeks and the doctor told me to stop them today to see if it's them that's causing me to feel so rough. I'm still talking aspirin and ramipril in the morning. Not sure if to completely stop it only take half
Hi Sharon,
Seems too early to me...I would have weaned myself off of them....Like you say,breaking a tablet in half etc then after a week miss half every other day, eventually stopping - these are heart drugs not to be fooled with - Professional advice can be obtained from a Pharmacist but I would always go with what your own Doctor's advice is, I cannot comment on Ramipiril although I used to take those regularly but not any more. I still take Aspirin & Atorvastatin.
Best of luck, I stopped them and feel much brighter, no more sluggish feelings but that was my decision not the Doctors, so beware, always get expert professional advice.
By the way, I am not qualified in any way to comment or give medical advice. I am Just a layman.
I was given bisoprolol,rampril and aspirin for a fib. I had awful side effects,which I put up with thinking that it was the a fib! It's taken me 4 years to find out that the mess we're the reason for my lethargy,weak legs, tinnitus,scary dreams,thinning hair,general weaknesss,woolly/ thick head...plus others!
I'm now bisoprolol free but still take 2.5 rampril and rivaroxiban. I'm lots
better,heart rate isn't much different and blood pressure is fine. The a fib is still
I weaned off the bisoprolol ,cutting the dose from 10 to 5 mg,then 2.5....with my docs permission. I then started cutting the 2.5, without medical knowledge! Foolish,many would think,but I'd had enough of feeling so rough. I had bad withdrawal for almost 6 months...but then I'd been prescribed beta blockers for many years!
I've since had a check up with my doc and she was ok with my decision and my check up was fine .i still have palps and jittery feelings,but I feel a whole lot better.
This is my story and may not be the one for you. I hope that you get sorted,at least you're with a doc who has listened to your concerns and is suggesting you stop the bisoprolol. Good luck. I will watch with interest your further posts. Take care. You will get a lot of support from people on this site.
Thankyou for your replies. I decided to carry on taking the bisoprolol for another week. I was frightened of just stopping this as it is a beta blocker and I know it's only been 3 weeks. Maybe I have not given this to work properly yet?
Some people don't have any side effects on beta blockers.
Other people have mild to moderate side effects, so they can keep on taking them.
Some people have horrible side effects from day 1 and as time goes by, it usually gets worse and worse.
If you thought that maybe your side effects will go away after more time on Beta blockers, that probably won't happen.
Also, why were you taking Beta blockers?
Docs prescribe them for lots of different problems.
For some situations, like high blood pressure, there are lots of different (and better) options.
For other problems, there are less options (but there are still some solutions).
For some problems, there is almost no other options and you just have to take them no matter what.
So, about Beta blockers, there are 2 questions:
1. are you one of those people with or without side effects on Beta blockers?
2. if you suffer side effects, are there other options (some other classes of drugs) for your original disease (or maybe, can you live without any drugs at all?)
Also, if you want to keep on taking Bisoprolol, you can try to take 1,25 Mg or 0,62 Mg.
For some people, even smaller doses like 1,25 or 0,62 Mg (1/4th of 2,50 Mg pill) will do the job and you will have much weaker side effects (even though some people have horrible side effects even on tiniest doses).
Hi bob
Thankyou for your reply. I was prescribed them for suspected CAD. I am also on aspirin and ramipril. Awaiting a angiogram.
Hi I have reduced from 2.5mg to 1.25mg since 5th December, on Drs advice because my heart rate was very slow. I am going to ask to stay on the lower dose for a few months before stopping altogether as I was on Beta blockers for 22 years for High Blood Pressure Side effects since coming off have been minimal some aches and pains. I have had no palpitations which I previously had every night, and no sudden spikes in pulse. My blood pressure has also stayed stable, my memory is better and Imhave lots more energy.
Thankyou Ali. Maybe I should half my dose to 1.25 and maybe it will make me feel better
Well, you should talk to your doctor then, how to both find some drug which will help you and which won't ruin your life due to side effects.
You will probably need some medicines, so let's hope that your doc will find some better combination of drugs+doses of those drugs.
Good luck
Started to take 1.25mg this morning instead off 2.5mg. Or should I split the dose? Half in morning, half at night?
Take it the same as your original dose, which was probably 2,5 Mg in the morning.
The point of Beta blockers is to slow down your heart, prevent arrhytmias and lower your blood pressure mostly while you are awake and when your heart usually pumps stronger and faster.
Further, a half life of this drug is 12 hours. Half life is time needed for the level of dose taken to drop to 50%.
So, if you take 1,25Mg in the morning, 12 hours later you will have 0,62 Mg in your blood, and by the next morning (24 hours later), the dose of 0,62Mg will again drop by 50% to 0,31Mg.
So, you will have 1,25Mg in your blood in the morning, 0,62Mg in the evening and 0,31Mg in the next morning, when you'll take a new dose.
So, on the 2nd day, you will have 1,25+0,31Mg in the morning (1,56Mg), and 0,62+0,16 (total of 0,78Mg) in the evening etc. Eventually after 7-14 days of taking the drug, a drug will slightly build up more and more in your system and you will constantly have around 200% of a daily dose in your blood (you will take a 1,25Mg dose, but you will have around of 2,5Mg of a drug in your blood since you will have a certain amounts of a drug from previous days still in your blood).
So, unless if a doctor told you that you need to take a drug twice a day, you will have enough of a drug in your system during 24 hours after a few days, even with (only) a 1,25Mg dose in the morning.
Thank you for your reply. Yes I took the half dose at the same time this morning as I would of done if I carried on with the full 2.5mg
Well done with your explanation. It should help others clear up their worries. Thank you for this from all of us .
Well it's been 8 days since I reduced my dose of bisoprolol from 2.5 to 1.25. Feeling slightly better but today had a hr of 80 which panicked me a bit. Blood pressure slightly high. Is this normal?
hi yes that is normal my pulse goes up and down anyway and 80 is quite healthy. What is it when you are resting? my BP has been up and down a bit too but nothing alarming I showed the gp sll my readings and she was quite happy with them.
Have you reduced a bishop dose?
When resting its about 60
yep from 2.5mg six weeks ago to 1.5mg a resting pulse of 60 is good mine had went down in to the 40s and I had no energy but I was on beta blockers for 22 years.
Yes I had lack of energy, always tired, aches. Still having trouble sleeping tho. Hoping this will all pass
My resting heart rate before beta blockers was around 70.
On 1,25 Mg of Bisoprolol, my resting pulse dropped to around 55-60.
When I have quit Bisoprolol, my resting HR was around 105, 100 to 90 almost all day long for 2-3 weeks.
Later it slowly went down to average 90, then 88, 85, 83, 80 each new week.
After a few Months, with walking, light excercise, work and a normal life, it will slowly go back to 70-75 again.
So, don't worry, 80 is not too high.
Though, it is probably a slight rebound (and a withdrawal) for you currently.
And 80 may seem like a lot since you got used to very slow and weak heart rate of 40-50-60 on Bisoprolol.
(So, it may seemduring a withdrawal that a heart rate of 80, 90 or 100 is like: my heart will explode, it beats way too fast. But it is not THAT fast, it is just because we got used to that too slow 40-50-60 resting heart rate)
I reduced my doses a few times and the same would happen every time, for example:
1. I was taking 1,25 Mg dose and I had a resting HR 55
2. if I lowered my dose to 0,90 Mg, resting HR would be higher for 1-2 weeks (let's say 80-85) and then it would go back to 60
3. when my HR would settle down at 60, I would lower a dose from 0,90 Mg to 0,60 Mg
Then again, HR would go up the same as a few weeks before, for 1-2-3 weeks to 80-90 (it will be slighty higher now because you are taking smaller and smaller doses of a drug, so both your normal HR and slightly raised HR are higher and higher on average)
It would go back to 60-65 after 1-2-3 weeks.
4. Then, if I would lower the dose to 0,40 or 0,30 Mg, the same would happen each time
So, each time when you lower a dose, you will get some eleveted HR, some anxiety, pain in abdomen, you will have some breathing problems, maybe some nausea, dizziness, headaches, too high blood pressure.
But you have 2 options when lowering the dose:
1. for example, lowering from 1,25 to 0,0 Mg=this way you will have STRONG withdrawal problems, let's say for 2-3-4 Months
2. or, you can lower the dose 3-4-5 times, more slowly (like: 1,25Mg, then 0,90Mg, then 0,60Mg, then 0,40Mg, then 0,20Mg), this way you will have 3-4-5 "mini-withdrawals"
, but they won't be as strong as you quit cold turkey.
But, on the other hand, this way, it will last longer, let's say 4-5-6 Months of slowlier weaning off.
So, you can wean off fast, have a tougher withdrawal and have more risks for a heart attack.
Or do it slowly, it will be milder, but it will last longer on the other hand.
So, you can pick: a lot of pain for a shorter period of time, or a milder pain for a somewhat longer period (and less risks).