Help, How low is too low BP on Toprolol XL????

[dancingheart]

need HELP soon! I have been having problems with sinus tachycardia, atrial tachycardia and SVT at night.  They put me on 100 mg of toprol XL.  Started out as one dose 100 mg in the morning I had been taking it this way for about 3 weeks.  It didn't hold throughout the night and into the next morning.  I was tachy at night before bed and upon waking.  So they divided the dose into two 50 mg in morning and 50 mg in evening. I have been taking it this way for about 4 days now. Now I am having issues with blood pressure being 90/53 and my pulse rate dropping into 58-61 range in evening.  I am unable to get up to the Bathroom without feeling washed out at night, sometimes I fall asleep watching TV on sofa and can't walk to bed. IS THIS DANGEROUS!  I won't die in my sleep or trying to get out of bed will I?  What if I pass out, will I come awake again???? I still have bouts of tachycardia in the day rising into the 120's-150's, usually when I get out of bed in the mornings to start my day.  My doctor told me to try switching the times I take them.  Anyone else had this problem and have any suggestions on the time I should take the pills.  Any advise would be helpful as I am so afraid...  Please help any and all and thanks so much.  Being the weekend I am not able to get a hold of my cardiologist, And I know you just can't stop the medication.

[Jerry_NJ]

See my post this morning on another thread by you.

To your specific questions:  
1) be careful when changing from a resting position to a standing position, bet up slowly and stand for a few seconds before starting to walk.  If dizzy, stay stationary and ready to sit down.  My experience is at high dose (200 mg in my case) standing for a few seconds seemed to give my heart and BP time to adjust.  You just need to prevent falls.
2) if you pass out, yes you will wake up, just avoid conditions that would allow you to fall and hurt yourself.
3) your system may adjust over a period of time, suppose month or more, to the BB, and your undesirable symptoms may subside.
4) I can't think of a better arrangement than to split dose between morning and evening, of course once every 8 hours (three times a day) could be even better, but splitting pills doesn't work well that way.  My experience is splitting a pill is less expensive than getting twice as many pills at 1/2 the dose.  The only time I had 50 mg tables was for a period that I was on 50 mg once a day.  Now all my "stock" is 100 mg pills, and I split, even if I take only 50 mg once a day.
5) while you must not just stop, I can testify that I have changed my dose downward without any problems, e.g., going from 50 mg twice a day to 50 mg once a day.  I also went from 100 mg twice a day to 100 mg once a day.  I have never made a jump from 200 mg to 50 mg without going through 100 mg for a few days.

[banglamom]

You can get accustomed to the lower pressure and your body will adjust.  It can happen a couple ways.  Your blood pressure may not go down QUITE as much when you adjust OR you can get accustomed to a pressure of 90/50 and do just fine.  Then.. low and behold, if you DON'T take it, you could actually have high blood pressure until your body adjusts again.  I was on 300mg of metoprolol and 200mg propranolol and lisonopril for a while.  I had never had high blood pressure either, it was all about rate aand rhythms.  I take coreg instead now and plenty of other stuff but I am almost always at 90/50.  When it gets much lower than THAT, but at that, I go to work, I make dinner, I just live life.  I'll not have a stroke and my heart is not having to work too hard now.  For me, I have to choose every day what I will have a pgood rhythm OR a good pressure.  Best of luck to you too.  Hang in there.  Rome wasn't built in a day.

[jondsam]

I would have to say that your pressure is low, but probably not to much to worry about.  However, if you start dropping much lower that what you are at, you may start to begin to feel symptoms of fatigue, nausea, and all sorts of nasty feelings.  I would just watch and make sure you dont drop to much lower.  You will not go to bed and not wake up, but it could start to impact your daily life.  No one wants to worry about blacking out and hitting their head on something!

Get well soon

Jondsam (BSN)