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Beta-Blockers Once a Day


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Hello again;

I know I have had alot of questions about meds. Like I mentioned before, I am now taking a beta-blocker. I am on Toprol XL 25mg, once a day. I take it first thing in the morning which is easy to do because I wake up to a racing heart and palpitations. But, as soon as it takes hold I get extremely tired and weak for a couple of hours. I don't know if this will go away after I get used to the toprol after a couple of months.

I was wondering if it would be better if take this pill before bed. I asked my doctor and he told me what ever works better for me, night or day. I didn't ask him if I should gradually take it sooner or just take it before bed when I had a dose earlier in the morning. With my system being so sensitive I am wondering if I should gradually do it or just take it and get it over with? Any suggestions?

KathyP :)

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The pill is strongest when you first take it. I take atenolol, and my doctor told me that 1/2 of it is out of my system after the first 12 hrs. So the BB is most effective at controlling HR when you first take it. The bad part is that the side effects are also strongest when you first take it.

You may want to try taking it at night , and you can always switch back to the day if it doesn't work. I started off taking the larger dose at night, but then I had to switch to the day beacuse of tachy attacks. When I switched around the dose, it made a huge difference. Also, if you decide to take it during the day, the fatigue could get a lot better over time - it has for a number of us on the board.

Good luck,

Rita

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I just had to have my beta blocker increased to 3x / day so i'm now taking it morning, afternoon and night. I used to be such a night owl and now I'm exhausted by 6pm! How do you get by with just one dose a day??? That's great that you can do that!

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My beta blockers work for 24 hours, so I only have to take them once a day. I find that very helpful because I'm using other meds as well, and keep forgetting them. To help me not to forget, I use the alarm on my mobile phone. That usually works (if I pushed the correct buttons on my phone; have sometimes trouble with that as well!!! And I'm only 41 :( )

Corina

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Thanks for all the great ideas, as always!! I will have to give Toprol XL a couple of months to really kick in. At least that is what my doctor says. A friend of mine has been on it for over 5 years and loves it.

I have to keep positive.

THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL US MAKES US STRONGER!!!!! But does it have to hurt so much in the process????

Bless all of you!!!

KathyP :(

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KathyP, I too am on Toprol XL. To answer someone's question about how come only once a day ... this particular medication is timed release, which means that the same amount of medication is sustained in the body for the entire 24 hours. To be honest, for that reason I cannot imagine why there would be side effects right after taking it, unless one were not consistently taking it at the same time each day. In other words, I could understand feeling the effects of the medication if more than 24 hours had elapsed between doses. It's important to always take the dose at the same time for that reason. (It's not critical though--this med, for us pots people, is typically used for symptom relief--so if you're late or a little early in taking it, nothing bad will happen. You'll just have a little extra medicine in your system for a short while if you take it early or you'll have less in your system if you take it late. Does that make sense?)

I take mine at night, just because it's easy for me to remember to take it when I take my ambien... and I typically go to bed at about the same time. If you wanted to try switching your time to nighttime dosing, I'd recommend taking your full dose in the morning and then splitting the pill (which you can do because the 25 mg toprol xl is scored) and taking an extra 12.5 mg at night. Then don't take a dose the next morning, and go back to 25 mg the next night. Do this on a day where you don't have much going on and don't have anything physically taxing to do--especially if your main side effect right now is tiredness.

(You could also try decreasing the morning dose to 12.5 mg on the day you want to begin to switch to nighttime dose, then 12.5 mg before bed, then 25 mg the following night.)

Hope this helps,

m

PS IT's probably best to call and ask your doctor this question--I'm just suggesting what I would do based on what I know about myself and about why I'm taking this medication. I don't know YOUR symptoms or history or why your doctor put you on this med ... so check with her/him!

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Can you split the dose? That's what I do when I'm on BBs...I take one tab at 8am or whenever I get up, and another one about 12 hours later. But then everyone is different, I guess :lol:

Good luck! I know what you mean about feeling tired and weak :blink: It's a horrid feeling, but atleast it goes after a bit.. :)

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Persephone, it's not so much a matter of everyone being different--it's a matter of every drug being manufactured differently! People who take a beta blocker three times a day are taking a medication that is meant to be administered with that frequency; that kind of med is not timed release. Toprol XL IS timed release.

best,

merrill

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