Increasing Propranolol dose post exercise

[m@t]

Evening chaps

40mg of Propranolol a day seems to have levelled out the worst of my symptoms so I have been experimenting with a little exercise.

I have been doing a small set of 6 mins recumbant bike to warm up, then some weight work for arms followed by legs which in total comes to about 30 mins of work.

I definitely feel worse in the hours and days afterwards, with increased HR rise on standing, heart hammering so hard it shakes my shirt, nausea and fatigue but also strangely insomnia.

However, I have been experimenting with a post exertional Propranolol dose and seem to be having some good results. I have found that taking an extra 40mg as soon as I finish my session followed by a further 40mg at 6 hours and extra doses the following day if required cuts down the duration of all of the symptoms. This is reducing my recovery time from a number of days to approximately one day at the moment.

Has anyone else experimented with this or any other beta blocker and had similar results?

[kalamazoo]

Do are you saying you take it twice a day or 3 times? I take propranolol 30mg once a day, twice if i feel like **** later because it's not the extended release form. I'd be worried if you were taking the extended release form that many times a day. And propranolol helps me too, not a ton though but enough to function. My heart rate and bp still go up and i still get short of breath 

[m@t]

Its not the extended release form, at the moment it may be a maximum of 120mg a day from a usual baseline of 40mg. 

The 40mg lets me hold down a full time fairly stressful job and do a few bits and pieces in the evening. Ive just got to get some exercise back into my life as I miss it and the social side of it so much!

What are your limits at the mo conpared to without Propranolol?

 

[kalamazoo]

1 hour ago, m@t said:

What are your limits at the mo conpared to without Propranolol?

 

mo?

I can't exercise, at all. I feel miserable with any physical exertion.  My HR gets to about 200 just with fast walking, I basically cannot tolerate anything that makes it elevated and feel horrible afterwards, I also have BP issues though as well. I would just be careful about taking so much because it really can lower your blood pressure, which is part of why I take it. Maybe monitor your BP to check? Since you did increase the dosage without your doctors instructions. I'm just very leery about medications lol. Just be careful because increasing your meds 3x seems kind of dangerous without doctor approval. Don't mean to sound like I'm telling you what to do but I know I feel a difference just on 30mg, I don't know how I would be able to handle that much, granted pronranolol only reallly lasts for about 5/6 hours. 

[m@t]

Mo as in short for moment...

I have been at the point where I could do no exercise so I know your pain. My BP has been up at 180/110 and swung wildly around before starting the propranolol. It now sits at around 135/85 on 40mg, the additonal doses don't seem to affect it.

My starting prescrition from my GP was 120mg / day every day but I was suffering from terrible migraines and gout at that dose. I cut back to 40mg and those side effects went away. I should say that I am not the smallest of people at 1.91cm and 100kg which I assume dilutes the dose slightly!

As you say, the half life is quite short which is why I assume the additional doses have a positive effect after exercise.

Before all of this started my resting heart rate was in the high 30s due to the amount of exercise I was doing, even with the propranolol I'm nowhere near down at that level anymore.

What's your response to swimming / recumbant cycling? I assume you wouldn't hit your 200bpm as easily as you wouldn't be upright?

[kalamazoo]

I'd still hit 200, my POTS isn't just postural, though it is greatly exaggerated by it. My HR is just always elevated. Sometimes my resting can be 60ish, but i usually sit around 90.  Any type of heat or exertion just makes it spike really bad. I can't cycle, I've tried that, same response, I haven't tried swimming though. And that's good that you're not having any negative side effects any more with that high of a dosage, I haven't really noticed any side effects except being really tired. My HR is high too, ad the propranolol keeps it around the same as yours as well. About 135/85~90. IT's a good thing you've been able to figure out your exercise though. They want me to exercise too but I haven't started the ivabradine they prescribed me because I have severe medication anxiety lol ... one day

[m@t]

It was a massive thing for me start the propranolol and I really dislike taking them, but I can't really argue with the results. 

That is a remarkably high heart rate you hit there. I assume you have been worked up with team caridology with a treadmill ECG etc? Do they know if your inner workings extremely sensitive to adrenaline which causes the HR rise  on exertion or something else?

One other question, say if you are 90bpm sitting at rest and 200bpm fast walking are there any activities you can do that would get you to say 130bpm or is it always a step change beyond that?

[kalamazoo]

Yep I have high levels of adrenaline and I've had echos, EKGs, etc, all normal lol. And there isn't really a medium I can hit. It's either feel semi rested with high resting heart rate or feel like i'm going a million miles an hour with a really high heart rate of at least 150. Even just cleaning gets me exhausted. I'm going to UW in a few months for autonomic testing so hopefully that'll give more answers and I'll be seeing the POTS specialist in Kirkland as well. Doctors in Alaska have no idea what they're talking about or doing unfortunately. 

[yogini]

Did your dr ok taking the extra medicine? You can search through old posts to read about how to reduce the effects of exercise - different types of exercise and strategies.