Small Dose Beta Blockers Or Not

[andybonse]

Hi,

My cardio said he would let me try beta blockers if I wanted to,

My question is, my heart rate is usually around 52-60 sometimes at night so beta blockers would put this into the 40's? quite nerve racking.

Also, when I stand up I do get quite a few times where I dont get tachy and it goes up like a normal persons without pots would, which I love lol, still get the headrush feeling for a few seconds though hate that it *****!

Usually though my hr goes from like 60-70's to 95-110's.

Would you try them?

[Achilles2323]

Can't tell you what to do

But I can tell you in the hospital my hr went from 70-140 upon standing

And I am on 6.25 atenelol twice a day

Morning / night

It has helped me

[Achilles2323]

Originally they put me on 12.5 once a day

But it would wear off by the next morning so they cut that in half

Sometimes I run 40-49 hr

[andybonse]

What was your standing heart rate before and then after beta blockers?

[Kat]

Mine was around 140 when standing also and high blood pressure upon standing. I have been on a beta blocker for 2 weeks now and it has brought both down. I was hoping that it would help with other symptoms. I have not seen that but definitely helped the BP and high heart rate.

[andybonse]

My bp goes up when standing too and I get a weird feeling in my head for like 10 secs, hate it. my heart usually goes to 90-110. If we can bring it down to 75-80 i'd be so happy.

My symptoms apart from that are not existing thankfully, just my heart is the symptom!

Sometimes when I stand I get that adrenalin pain in my chest, I hate it!

[dkd]

In my case, the bb reduces my heart rate (previously 120-140 standing-down to around 90 now standing, 60ish while sitting), but doesn't help with my other symptoms. My cardiologist had told me when we found the right bb, that my symptoms would go away. But that hasn't been the case. I went through three different ones. Some made me worse.

They don't seem to stay in your system long, so I think it wouldn't hurt you to try one and see if it helps. You will just be out some money (depending on insurance).

[E Soskis]

What does you doctor mean when he says "if you want to"? - does he not think beta blockers would really help? - Is he wary of even a low-dose trial? - What are his concerns about beta blockers? - I take 40mg of propranolol every 4 hours - round the clock - it has really helped me with improved cardiac function and strengthening as well as suppress the arrhythmias that come with AAG - I do have a pacemaker and don't have to worry about too slow of a heart rate but, I was placed on beta blockers long before I received the pacemaker. AAG causes the heart rate to decrease rather than increase as in POTS so over time, my natural heart rate dropped to 20-40 beats per minute requiring the pacemaker - not because of the beta blockers.

[Chaos]

Is that headrush feeling you are describing where you kind of "grey out" or your vision gets weird or you're lightheaded? If that's the case, you might be having orthostatic hypotension and your BP may be dropping when you first stand up and your HR is going up higher to accommodate for that. How long is your HR staying higher? A beta blocker in that situation might make things worse.

I personally love my beta blocker but it helps a whole slew of symptoms including the rapid HR, seeing my heart beating out of my chest, lots of PVC's, hand tremors etc etc.

Good luck! Always hard trying to decide what to do in these situations.

[seattle chris]

I have been taking beta blockers for a couple of decades and my normal resting heart rate is typically in the lower 40s (from the beta blocker and being involved in endurance sports). I never had any issues with this until my dysautonomia issues started last year. The low heart rate ins't likely the cause of my problems as my symptoms persisted even while I was off the beta blockers for several days.

[Psalm 23]

I think it's certainly worth giving beta blockers a try if that's what your cardiologist is suggesting. Sorry, I actually posted my experience with beta blockers under your chest pain topic. It's really trial and error with regards to medications.