metoprolol dose switch?

first off i would like to say that I am aware and would like for anyone who has read this question to know that metoprolol is to NOT be stopped cold turkey and is supposed to be monitored by your doctor if you were to wean off the drug. my question is that has anyone shifted the times of when their doses were suppose to be taken? did your doctor give you the okay? Before I left the office it was recommended that my two a day doses should be taken once every 12 hours but "it doesn't have to be 12 hours" not sure what that meant but since then I have been taking it at 12am and 12pm. I am starting to have later nights so I would like to sleep in some without worrying about waking up at 12pm to eat some food and then take my dose. I was wondering if it was dangerous to shift my doses a couple hours forward.

[Jerry_NJ]

If twice a day is possible, then every 12 hours is best.

I assume you are taking the extended release, mine in "ER".  That means one could take a single dose once a day in most cases.  But twice is better in my and my cardiologist's mind.  So when I was on heavy duty I took 100 morning and 100 night.  When I complained about dream problems he said drop the 100 mg at night,  just 100 in the morning.  I give this data as an example of doctor approved cutting the does in half.  I have other examples... but I digress.  I'd think if you get two pills in in a 24 hour period that is fine. The closer to 50/50 the better, but not required.

[EMT23]

I was taking Metoprolol 100 mg. twice daily but was getting too tired from this so my cardiologist changed it to 50 mg. 4 times a day. I'm still getting the same dose but it is spread out so I'm not having as many side effects from it. It is more of a pain having to take it this way but it does work better for me. So I think there are different ways of taking it but check with your cardiologist first.

[questionnone]

thanks for the input everybody :) I'll just try to keep it with the schedule I have been with (12am and 12pm)

[questionnone]

so my cardiologist wants me to up my dose from 25mg twice a day to 50mg twice a day. he said that the 25mg was a really small dose and that weaning off would not be a big deal like I asked him because I read everywhere that metoprolol is hard to get off of and he reassured me that it is a small dose, what i didn't ask him this time is if 50mg twice daily is still considered a small dose. is anyone else taking 50mg twice a day?

[Jerry_NJ]

The lowest does I've ever been on was 50 mg once a day.  As said earlier I have been as high as 100 mg twice a day (I did 8 am and 8 pm).  I'm now taking 100 mg at 8 am and 50 mg at 8 pm.  I found 100 mg didn't bring my HR down low enough, and 200 mg total caused too many side effects.

So, to your question, I do not consider 50 mg twice a day to be a high dose, and I don't see it being so high that you would ever have any problems going off the medication.  I have moved from 200 down to 100 down to 50 down to stop/none in a period of a month testing to see if the dose level had any effect on my unpleasant dreaming problems.  For the record, the does level didn't seem to be related (guess I just have mental problems) and I suffered no unpleasant sided effects from the changing dose levels.  

Metoprolol is a "selective" beta blocker and while it can cause dreaming problems it is less likely too that is a non-selective beta blocker... not something you asked about, just couldn't stop typing :)