Does Metroprolol Help?

[johnnyky]

I have not been diagnosed with anything other than benign PVCs and have had every heart test in the book and evidently my heart is structurally normal. My main issues have been skipped beats and racing pulses with activities, which get worse after rest. Sometimes I awaken at night in bed after sleeping on one side usually the left and I get this uncomfortable feeling in my chest and my heart suddenly beats fast (not irregular) and then slows down as quickly as the fast beats started. I'm a young guy 32, 5'11 165 slender nonsmoker nondrinker and recently stopped caffeine.

I do have anxiety disorder too which I take Xanax as needed for. I just was put on Metroprolol by a cardiologist 25mg twice a day. So I'm supposed to take one in the morning and one at night. So I have some questions about this medication. In the past I took Propronolol 10mg as needed and did ok with it it helped my anxiety a lot but it was such a low dose I still got fast pulse on it.

The cardiologist said Metroprolol is newer and more selective for the heart. So is it a good effective medication? So far it's helping my fast heartbeat during the daytime quite a bit. I still get skips but not the debilitating racing pulse. But I still am getting a few bouts of fast heartbeat at night after waking up mainly after sleeping on one side the left. I have only taken 25mg once a day so far, and last night took 12.5mg before bedtime and I still woke up this morning with a fast pulse but it lasted VERY briefly. So I do feel it's helping, I've only been on it 4 days now and I haven't yet taken the full prescribed dose, of 25mg twice a day. I was trying to hold off to see how I do on one tablet.

But Metroprolol has a short half life right? So to stop my night time episodes maybe I should take the 25mg at night and 12.5 in morning. Or should I take 25mg in morning and 25mg at night like prescribed. I haven't had any side effects so far just a bit of sleepiness. Does this cause any sexual side effects? I'm a young fit guy and don't want my libido to suffer I just want to keep my pulse in check. I'm going to try and take 25mg twice a day and see if that stops the night episodes hopefully it will. So far it's DEFINITELY helped stop my racing pulse during the daytime. Maybe if I up my night time dose I won't have these weird spells of waking up to a fast pulse anymore. Can anyone else relate to this? Did Metroprolol help you? So far I definitely think it's a more effective med than Propranolol.

[Hazel2773]

Hi  I am 59 and have had PVC for 30 years they act up about every 5 years where I have runs of then for about 1/2  to and hour  , they put me on Motropral 25mg twice , what I want to know is this safe I also take Xanax ,25 mg as needed  even thought I have had then this long they are still scary and I wish I know what causes them I have been caffeine free for 30 years,,Thanks for the help and God bless

[tom_h]

At 63, I still skate short track and coach.  It takes a little longer to get my pulse up to "working speed", so I warm up a little longer and bring it up slowly.  If I just blast out the blocks, forget it.  There's nothing there.  So I'd advise to see how you feel with exertion, and bring it up slowly.  Your heart will respond.  It takes just a little longer.

[johnnyky]

Thanks for the comment tom that's reassuring. I def notice it is helping keep my heart rate normal which is good. I've never been diagnosed with SVT if I had to guess when I get the sudden fast pulse they probably range from 120-140bpm but that's just a guess and usually they aren't near
that. I'm going to try taking a higher dose at bedtime maybe that will stop the sudden fast pulses I've sometimes been waking up with. Not sure if it's a positional thing or something but laying on left side seems to cause them.

Can I still lead a full active lifestyle on metroprolol.  I'm an avid runner but lately haven't because I was scared of getting my pulse too fast. The docs assure me to keep exercising though.

If I start taking the two 25mg twice a day, maybe it will give me the most benefit and stop those annoying sudden fast beats that I wake up with at times. If it does that I'll be happy. I do feel a lot more comfortable in terms of doing daily activities again now that I'm not scared of my heart racing.

[tom_h]

It had little to no effect on my PVC's
It had no effect whatsoever in controlling my SVT.  I was on 100mg per day
It had no sexual side effects

It did slow my resting pulse
It did lower my blood pressure
I believe it made converting my SVT episodes easier.

Metoprolol Tartrate had a serum half life of approximately 5 hours.
I currently take 75mg per day; 25mg. in the morning, 50mg at dinner.
I've been taking it at various strengths for nearly 10 years, at one point as high as 200mg per day.
.