Beta Blockers Alternative

[Rosemary1938]

I have heard that doctors in Britain have stopped prescribing beta blockers.  Does anyone know why and what alternative are they prescribing? I take them, plus the water pill, for high blood pressure and chest pain.

[EFT56]

the bbc news wrote on this before ,about a year ago or so .. as well the u.k doctors
also were told to limit the use of ccb's  cal channel blockers - as they found most ccbs
were causing cancer for long term useage !   since the reports, I havent seen anything on this up untill now and here.  though I would imagine you can still find the reports in the bbc archives dept (somewhere)   unless the drug companys paid to have them distroyed !    I sure wish some drug company would come up with a b.p med that worked well and had no side effects ..

boogernose

[mikelj50]

They have stopped prescrbing them to new patients who are suffering from just High Blood Pressure. Angina patients (Chest pain) are still being given them. The reason for the change is that there are newer and more effective drugs available
go to www.nice.org.uk for further details
As I found out various national bodies have set ways of treating patients but as we are all diferent then what suits one patient may not suit another. For example I had angina last year and the Beta Blockers were great. At the start of this year I had stents fitted and have increased my exercise since then. The GP stopped the Beta Blockers earlier this month because they were restricting what I could do.

Best of luck
Mike UK