B-Blocker question

[PVC man]

I had a lot of success a few years ago controlling PVCs with 25mg of Atenolol (Tenormin.)  It worked extremely well for about four years but now I am having a LOT of PVCs again.  My doc suggested I go up to 50mg daily but I guess I'm kind of concerned about having to keep going up and up.

Can any of you share experiences as to having to increase dose and did that do the trick?  How fast did you have to increase dose...every few years?...

I guess I am wondering  if I might get lucky and be able to stop at 50mg or if I will have to keep going up. I just don't want to have my body become "dependent" on a high dose.

Thank you all!!

[Artaud]

Hi,

I have a fairly long history using Beta Blockers. Years ago, I suffered from what was believed to be Visual Migraines, no pain, just visual symptoms. They would last about 45 minutes, subjecting me to a colorful display of light and a temporary partial loss of vision in the affected areas. I would get them a few times a week. The only medication that stopped my form of migraine was Ergotrate. (NOT to be used for Cardiac problems I assure you) and an unusual treatment for Migraines as well.

Also having PVCs at the time, I was being treated with a moderate dose of Propranolol. I was aware that Propranolol was used to treat Migraines as well. I asked the Doctor if he would increase the dose of Propranolol to see if it would stop the Migraines. He did and the Migraines stopped (more or less, perhaps 1 a month rather than a few per week) and I discontinued the Ergotrate. I continued to take 240 mg Propranolol per day for several years. Having moved to another city, I eventually found a Cardiologist to see concerning my PVCs. He was astounded that I was on Propranolol. He wanted me to change to Atenolol. With some trepidation, I did, and with 50 mg Atenolol my blood pressure and pulse were lower than it was with 240 mg Propranolol.

I took Atenolol for years and recently had (and continued to have) problems with PVCs. The Cardiologist  I am seeing now changed my medication to Toprol, but no success, my resting heart rate was high, even with increasing doses, and the PVCs the same. He next tried 40 mg Nadolol. My resting heart rate dropped from 60 bpm while on 50 mg Atenolol to 54 bpm taking 40 mg Nadolol. No change in the PVCs, blood pressure is good.

In my experience, Atenolol has been effective for a number of years at maintaining my resting heart rate at 60 bpm, and the blood pressure was good. But, the PVCs seem to come and go regardless of the medication, at least to this point. It may be possible for a person to build a tolerance for a specific drug, but this does not seem to have been the case with me on the Atenolol. Switching to another drug in the same category may restore the therapeutic effectiveness of that category despite the overall number of years that a drug from that category has been used. (I hope this makes sense).

Wish you and all the others a normal rhythm for your heart and life.

[dolfnlvr]

wow, you too??  I've had 3 optical migraines in the past 6 years.  Let me tell you, between the PVC's and then having those I was sure I was going to die either from a heart attack or stroke.  Mind you, before having my kids I had NEVER had symptoms of PVC's or migraine in my life.  Interesting to know that you suffer from both as well.  

As for you PVC man....I have little advice. I do however COMPLETELY understand your trepidation over increasing your dosages.  Talk to your cardiologist about the possibility of using an increased dose until your heart calms down and then cut back.  My cardio doc suggested I do this with my metropolol so that when my symptoms were really annoying I would use a higher dose, and when they were less annoying I could cut back by a 1/4 tablet at a time (3-5 days at each level).  Weren't you the one who said you tried to wean off the bb and noticed an increase, then went back on and your heart decided it preferred hyperactivity over relaxing anyway??  Perhaps you just need to take a higher dose for a short while to remind your heart to behave...then a lower dose might be enough to keep it in check from then on.  

Beta blockers build up in your system over time...maybe when you came off it was too fast and you are suffering rebound effects.  Maybe the higher dose will settle things and let you fall back to your maintenance dosage.

What do I know though??? If I had the answers I wouldn't be searching on here all the time for the miracle cure that someone else was lucky enough to find :-)  

Hope you feel better soon.

[PVC man]

Thanks so much for the info and support