Can I stop taking atenolol? How can I do this?
I am a 38 year old man. I've been taking 25mg of atenolol daily for about 3 years because of a cardiac arrhythmia (I don't know the medical term for this: an extra beat causing my heart to stop for about 1 second) (PVCs?). I was a very active basketball player since I was a teenager until 4 years ago. I suffered a very strong depression period, for almost 1 year, I stopped exercise, and then I started feeling palpitations and arrhytmia. Cardiologist prescribed me atenolol, and when I started taking it, everything was ok, it worked great. But nowadays, I feel tired all the time, I can't sleep at night and feel sleepy all day long, I have gastric problems, I think I am losing my hair, I can't make any exercise, I can't even climb stairs without feeling like dying, and I have palpitations and arrhythmia from time to time. I read they all can be atenolol's side effects, I also read atenolol can't be suspended abruptly, so I've tried to stop taking it gradually once or twice, but whenever I try, I feel very anxious, palpitations and arrhythmia increase, my head hurts, I feel out of breath, I feel chest pressure and pain. I get scared because I think I will end up having a heart attack.
I hope you can help me.
Regards.
Giovanni in Guatemala.