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So I'm on Toprol 50 mgs twice a day for months. I went to the cardiologist and told him I'm having a hard time sleeping alot of the time and he asked my dosing schedule. I take them 12 hours apart as recommended, but he tells me I'm taking the last dose too late in the evening. My question is, what happens if I adjust the 12 hour mark? Does anyone else have this problem with toprol or other beta blockers? Thanks in advance for your answers!
Dizziness Pregnancy Cardiomyopathy Verapamil Syncope Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Anxiety Beta blockers Tenormin Pacemaker Coreg Brugada syndrome Heart attack Insomnia Ambien
Hi junimead,
I have just the opposite effect from beta blocker (Coreg).....it helps me sleep more deeply by slowing my heart rate down. My only suggestion is one that you have already thought of I'm sure. Take half the moment you wake up, say 7am and the other half at 7pm. Or 6am, 6pm. I take mine at 8am, 8pm.
Someone else will probably have an answer for you.
take care,
Jaynie
Thank you so much Martzj...I actually do that, I just need to wake up earlier,lol. I'm going to set the alarm to get up and eat and take them. ;)
Thanks again!!
That is my suggestions also I take mine at 8 am and 6 pm. I have been doing that for 3 years now and I go to sleep right away and sleep all night except for my one bathroom run at 5 am. Hope it helps you.
I couldn't take them at all. I took one in the early am ( 7AM) I couldn't sleep. I got off them. They affected my thyroid and made me terribly cold all the time. I may be the extreme, but just wanted to let you know there is a wide difference compared to Jaynie
me again junimead,
I just looked at your profile and was sorry to see you are so young and a mommy of 3 dealing with heart problems. Young mothers have enough challenges without this plopped on top. Pregnancy means the female heart suddenly has to expand to pump an extra 30 percent blood supply as your baby grows. There are some other young moms on this site who may have information to share. You are so not alone in this, although I wish none of you were living with this at all (smile).
I have arrhythmias, dropped heart beats, dizziness and occasional syncope, fainting. I hope you are not having problems with fainting now the pacemaker is in. Sure would be great if that is helping you feel better and able to relax more.
Have you seen Laura's fainting goat link? : )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg
Adding this link for others to check out Brugada syndrome. It may help them understand what you are living with.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/brugada-syndrome/AN00551
Have a lovely day
Jaynie
Interesting - I just started taking Tenormin (25mg) about 2 months ago and now I'm sleeping better than I have for months and months. Maybe that's because my dose is so low and I take it with breakfast. i wish you well with your situation.
Wow....I never thought about the connection with beta blockers and insomnia. I've struggled with insomnia since I was a teenager but it's a hereditary thing in my family...3 sisters with it and my mom had it.
I've been on what I thought were blood thinners all my life. When I was a teen it was called Inderol and in my early 20's they switched me to Tenormin (50 mg 1 a day) and that's what I've been on ever since. (I can't remember what it was called when I was a kid.) But I've been on numerous prescriptions for the insomnia. Right now I'm on Ambien CR 12.5 one at bedtime. Sometimes it works really great and sometimes not so great.
When I was in the hospital for the heart attack is when a nurse told me that the Tenormin is not a blood thinner that it's a beta blocker. I asked her what that was and what it means and all she told me was that it was to help my heart work better and easier. I said I was told for as long as I can remember that it was a blood thinner to help the blood get around the muscle growth that is in my left ventricle. (They wanted to give me shots of a blood thinner and I was upset and asking why) So I still don't know what this term beta blocker means.
I was born with congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with left ventricular arrhythmias. And all I do know is that everything I thought I knew the hospital made me doubt it. Weird huh? Needless to say me and my cardiologist are having a long "heart to heart" when I see him in July! LOL!
Toprol gave me terrible insomnia and vivid, upsetting dreams. My mother and sister both had similar reactions to it. I eventually had other side effects and my doc switched me to Coreg. I still struggle with insomnia, but when I DO get to sleep, at least the dreams aren't bizarre! Annie
Hi,
Beta blockers are to counter and stabilize arrhythmias and help the heart muscles pump a little slower. They can also help with anxiety and lowering high blood pressure.
martzj
HI Martzj! Thanks for giving me a better understanding of the beta blockers. I guess I've been on them for so long and was told something as a child that I never thought to ask questions or wonder anything.
I've never had high blood pressures though. Being on these drugs for so long I guess it's never been an issue. As long as I'm not sick or upset my blood pressure usually runs 90's over 60's. When I am sick or upset then it goes around the area of 100 - 144 over 70 - 80 and that's still as high as it goes. Strangely enough when I was in the hospital for the heart attack they got scared twice because my BP dropped once to 80's over 50's and then 73 over 49. But it came back up with medicine.
(The only other time I had really low BP was when I was in anaphalactic shock from penecillin and it was 40 over 40 and dropping. The hospital had to give me a shot, and a directly injected into a main artery of basically benedryl and another medication to counter the allerfic reaction)
I wish TO God that mine helped me with anxiety cause it sure doesn't as of right now..lol! BU I am seriously going to ask for more information. Because everything I thought i knew seems more and more like I didn't know anything at all and that bothers me.
Thanks again!
Hi Angel,
my, you certainly have a long,interesting history. I imagine it is hard to tell which came first, the insomnia or the anxiety......but chronic insomnia is hard on the heart and definitely causes anxiety, another risk factor. You may want to talk to your doctor about adressing the anxiety. Sounds like you have the sleeping aid part taken care of. Women need to find ways to release or at least lessen the impact chronic anxiety has on overall quality of life.
Are you a reader? It can be a pleasant outing to head to a bookstore and browse the shelves until you realize a certain book is drawing your attention. I like to purchase the one that is calling to me strongly. There are many anxiety help books out there. When I say 'anxiety' I am not talking about the easily solvable 'do these pants make my butt look big?' kind. I am speaking of the clinical, chronic, it's just there kind of anxiety that may need drug therapy. A combination of drug + behavioral tactics work can work up a huge reportiore of coping skills over time. The skills of recognizing what your anxiety feels like and what practices will work for you can greatly enhance your quality of interior life. What calms you at one moment may not work the next day, so it is a life time of learning how to ease the levels down. It's a good thing!! So many ways to go with this....some days you may awaken to find you are just cranky and whiny so maybe those are the times it is best to just get up and start moving, scrub something until you sense calmness start to return. Other days, if you have a spiritual practice, you may want to keep some books beside the bed and reach for them to read soothing passages before you rise. Yoga is both physical and spirit work because one has to concentrate on what every single muscle is doing at all times. Eventually the mind stops whining as it is forced to focus on what you are making your body work through. I find it both challenging (yoga is amazing) and funny (when the whinies have to go play somewhere else for a while). (smile)
Take care,
Jaynie
mines a different story a bout bettar blockers, i was feeling depressed al the time, tried lesser dose half tablet in the morning about 8 am an the other half at 7pm still didnt stop me feeling depressed so my specialist prescribed me (verapamil hydrochloride) 120 mg prolonged release capsules ,take 1 tab in the morning an 1 at 7 pm an feeling fine now
I am on Toprol too. At first it made me tired & sluggish but then things got better. I do have problems sleeping but I never gave the beta blocker any thought. Since I am on 10 or 11 different medications I wouldn't know which one to blame. I wasn't told to take the beta blocker 12 hours apart. I was told twice a day at the same time every day--- obviously there has to be some hours apart but they don't have to be exactly 12 hours. I take my morning meds after breakfast and my evening meds after supper. It helps me not to take meds on an empty stomach.
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