B-blocker advice wanted please

[PVC man]

Just want to know if anyone has a bit of advice. 42 year old male with 25 year history of PVCs.  Heart structually okay.  I was on 25 mg Atenolol for about three years  and I was fortunate as the PVCs were essentially eliminated.

Well, recently I tried to be a big shot and taper myself off the Atenolol.  At one point...WHAM I got hit with a TON (maybe 3-5K) PVCs daily for about a month even after going back to my 25mg..  My cardio. was not concerned and he suggested waiting a little bit (I have) anfd then increasing to 50mg if not feeling better.

Well, it has been a month and I still am having a lot of discomfort so my question is

1. Does anyone have experience going from 25 to 50mg as far as side effects...the 25 didn't really affect me but I am worried about sexual side effects with a higher dose?  

Thanks guys for any experiences you may be able to share; we have to stick together  :)

[PVC man]

Thanks Deedle-you hit the nail on the head--anyone telling me that 3-4 is "not too bad" obviously never went through it; it is purely physical not mental.

[deedle1976]

In some people every PVC causes an unpleasant sensation which results in enough physical discomfort, if they are frequent and relentless, to affect one's quality of life. IMO in this case medication is to treat the physical discomfort and not mental. For people with infrequent PVCs or who cannot feel their PVCs the main problem is the resulting anxiety and of course it's best to try and tackle that than take drugs. I'd much rather have 10,000 PVCs per day and not feel them than have 1000 and feel them all. I don't worry about them killing me or anything like that but that flipflopping and sinking sensation is damn uncomfortable and distracting.

[PVC man]

Thank you very much for your input; were you taking it for PVCs?  Did the 100 finally do the trick?

Thank you!!

[hopeful 5]

I was on 100mg Atenelol and found that  when I initally began the med I experienced some side effects that subsided in a few weeks but then when I started increasing I had no side effects at all.  I think the inital adjustment for your body is the worst but then you can increase without problems, that is my experience.

[PVC man]

Thanks for the input-

B blockers definetly cause some very vivid dreams but they tend to subside with time.

[degrassi]

well, I am just a girl and not too good at math, but I think that comes to about 3-4 pvcs/min..not too bad, as long as your heart is OK.  1000s of pvcs a day makes it difficult to work/sleep for some reason for you.   IMHO, this is mental, not physical.   The sexual side effects vary from individual.......just like the pvc side effects.

[rosetoes]

I recently increased my beta blocker (Metotropolol) from 25mg to 50mg  and feel great.  The only complaint is that I noticed very violent, harsh dreams that I wake to a sweat....not a rapid beat though, the beta blocker takes care of that.  Never ever have had such bad dreams, but thats the trade off for my SVT.  Hopefully it will be worth it.

Good Luck with your PVC's.  I can't imagine having so many of them as often as you do.  Take care.

[PVC man]

Thanks for the comment but 25 mg was definetley NOT for my mind as i went from 3-4thousand  PVC a day to almost none...

With thousands of PVCs a day work/sleep becomes VERY difficult

[whineyhiney]

I am just a girl, but I wouldn't be so eager to treat these at all.  You don't really need 25mg..it is just for your mind.  ED would be the worst case scenario............but loss of libido is common.  Don't know which is worse.