Beta Blocker adverse effects

When I was originally diagnosed with high blood pressure I was prescribed atenolol. Within a  six month period I experienced two episodes of being startled during a sound sleep at which time I immediately felt an intense stabing pain in the heart which lasted approximately two heart-beats. After the second episode I attemped to talk with my doctor about this situation explaining that it felt as though all the heart muscles were attempting to fire at once (It felt as though my heart was going to explode) and that the subsequint contraction was less painful than the first. By the third heartbeat the pain was gone. Unsuccessful, I changed doctors and was put on an ace inhibitor which eliminated the problem (4 years).

I recently experienced my first heart attack and when I awoke from surgery I heard the head of cardiac surgery say "no beta blockers for this guy" When I had a chance I asked him why he had made that comment and he explained that I have a relatively low "at rest" heartbeat which does not work well with beta blockers.

This refreshed my memory of previous experiences with atenolol. My new cardiologist thinks I'm nuts when I explain my best guess as to what was happening to me. (i.e. all heart muscles firing at once)  Has there been any indication that beta blockers can totally disrupt the firing sequence of heart muscles during rapid heart rate change?

[Cleveland Clinic]

Beta blockers are the cornerstone medications that decrease the risk of peri-operative heart attacks. However, they do slow the heart rate down, and if a person has some type of heart block then they may be contra indicated. A slow heart rate by itself is not an indication not to use them. Not sure that your symptoms were caused by the atenolol, as I have never heard anyone complain of that specific symptom.