CarolynCRNP

I think they need to talk more to the doctor that prescribed the medication. However, Pindolol is actually is not a bad choice for someone with low blood pressure. Pindolol is not that effective for people with high blood pressure. It can decrease the heart rate without decreasing the blood pressure as much as the other beta blockers. I just switched recently from atenolol to pindolol. I had been taking 25mg atenolol once a day and wanted to increase it but going up to even 37.5 mg/day dropped my blood pressure to the 60s-70s/30s. I am now taking Pindolol 5 mg BID and my blood pressure has been fine. (The mg doses of Atenolol and Pindolol are not the same - 25mg of atenolol is not the same as 25mg Pindolol. In fact, pindolol only comes in 5mg and 10mg while you can get 100mg doses of Atenolol).

I have POTS but most of my symptoms seem to have started after I had clotting problems. I had a DVT in Feb 2007, 2 PEs in Feb 2007, and another DVT in March 2007. My hematologist has tested me for a bunch of clotting abnormalities but everything has come up negative. There are 2 that she has not tested me for because I would have to be off Coumadin to test. However, her opinion is that I have a yet-to-be-discovered clotting abnormality. Of course, many of the clotting problems they know about today were unknown 10 years ago. In order to answer your questions, I have a couple questions for you. Do you know what the name of the clotting abnormality your siblings have is? What drug is your sister taking to prevent clotting currently? What has she taken in the past?