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How much do beta blockers lower resting heart rate?

Messages
22
My resting heart rate is 65-75. My heart rate jumps to 100 just moving around in bed and up to 150 when standing or walking. I am suppose to start 25mg of metoprolol once a day. I was hoping someone could tell me their experience on beta blockers and how much their resting heart rate was lowered?
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
I have a tendency towards very low b.p., so when I had one drop of beta blocker in my eye for a laser procedure, I passed out from it. If you have low b.p. you should talk to your doctor about this.
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
@beverly78
I hesitated before replying to this thread........... I was put on beta blockers once when I was admitted to hospital, I wasn't told about this - they didn't know what to do with me, my symptoms etc. so it seems they do this when in that situation.
I remember coming home and feeling so cold - and that something was wrong - I asked the doctor if it could be the beta blocker she said no and not to come off them, I did it myself, a capsule of tiny little beads - every day I counted them out faithfully and reduced the amount and was off them in about 8 days. Sometimes you just know something is not helping your body and that was my experience. But if you want to try them please don't let my tale put you off, we are all so very different even though we share the same illness

My heart rate is the same as yours when resting - but doesn't jump up to over 100 on walking about - surely your doc needs to find out why its doing this before prescribing beta blockers?
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
My resting heart rate is 65-75. My heart rate jumps to 100 just moving around in bed and up to 150 when standing or walking. I am suppose to start 25mg of metoprolol once a day. I was hoping someone could tell me their experience on beta blockers and how much their resting heart rate was lowered?

My resting HR is 55 - 65 and 2 cardios and an autonomic specialist didn't think I was a candidate for Beta Blockers because of this.

Sushi
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
My resting heart rate is 65-75. My heart rate jumps to 100 just moving around in bed and up to 150 when standing or walking. I am suppose to start 25mg of metoprolol once a day. I was hoping someone could tell me their experience on beta blockers and how much their resting heart rate was lowered?
I'm surprised you got a beta-blocker instead of something like Florinef. I'd ask your doc if your high HR on standing or walking, but NOT resting could be the result of low blood volume.

A tachycardia med (it was a calcium channel blocker for me) did nothing for my symptoms. The Florinef, however, made a big difference -- reducing that big change in HR from resting to standing/walking. My resting HR was still high, though, so we added back the tachy med which then helped.

In my case the issue was my heart beating really fast in an effort to get more blood to my upper body and brain. Stopping it from doing that with a tachy med was not a good thing. Getting enough blood volume meant my heart did not have beat so hard to keep my brain working. That was a much better solution. :thumbsup:
 

bertiedog

Senior Member
Messages
1,738
Location
South East England, UK
Just to say I have hugely benefitted from 20 mg Propoananol taken with breakfast. My resting heart rate is around 72 beats a minute and my bp would be around 125/70 but both will rise as the day goes on and with exercise.

The betablocker just keeps everything steady and stops the surges which can happen from something like a cup of tea or getting too hot or even a gentle walk.

I should say that I also take Prednisolone for my adrenals and also dessicated thyroid. I definitely have symptoms of orthostatic intolerance but with me everything goes too high. From time to time I also need a very low dose of Fludrocortisone especially if I have lost a lot of fluid.

I have always felt a bit better after a dose of betablocker but I am sure if one suffered with low bp then it wouldn't be tolerated.

Pam
 
Messages
22
I'm surprised you got a beta-blocker instead of something like Florinef. I'd ask your doc if your high HR on standing or walking, but NOT resting could be the result of low blood volume.

A tachycardia med (it was a calcium channel blocker for me) did nothing for my symptoms. The Florinef, however, made a big difference -- reducing that big change in HR from resting to standing/walking. My resting HR was still high, though, so we added back the tachy med which then helped.

In my case the issue was my heart beating really fast in an effort to get more blood to my upper body and brain. Stopping it from doing that with a tachy med was not a good thing. Getting enough blood volume meant my heart did not have beat so hard to keep my brain working. That was a much better solution. :thumbsup:

I am currently on 0.1 mg of florinef I am not sure it is making a difference. I am sure I am drinking enough fluids but maybe not enough salt some days I am sure I get at least 3000mg on some days but other days I am not sure. I wish they would have done more testing before they started me on the florinef. It would have been nice to know if is low blood volume instead of a guess.
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
I am currently on 0.1 mg of florinef I am not sure it is making a difference. I am sure I am drinking enough fluids but maybe not enough salt some days I am sure I get at least 3000mg on some days but other days I am not sure. I wish they would have done more testing before they started me on the florinef. It would have been nice to know if is low blood volume instead of a guess.
I know what you mean. It doesn't seem like they test anything for low blood volume -- just give the meds and see if it helps.

For me it takes 0.25 mg of florinef daily plus 2 liters of electrolyte drink (I use ElectroMix in water) and another 1-2 liters of water to get a noticeable effect. So I need lots of florinef, lots of fluid, and lots of electrolytes (table salt is not sufficient). Your situation could be different, of course.
 
Messages
22
It seems like it is a huge waste of our time not theirs to treat to see if things work instead of testing. You go to the doctor and they just give you meds and tell you to come back in a month. I keep thinking how am I going to get through another month like this. I have to go back to work this week or lose my job so I am out of time to wait and see. I am going to up the salt and fluid intake for a few days and see if that helps. Then maybe ask for a larger dosage of florinef.
 
Messages
1,082
Location
UK
I've just started on Beta-blockers today for POTS. I asked for Florinef but it was Beta-blockers or nothing. I have to just ring the doc if there's any horrible side effects.(Not something i want to do as the doctor himself has caused severe side effects now lasting a week so keeping contact with him to a minimum)
 

JAH

Senior Member
Messages
497
Location
Northern California
@beverly78 I had a resting pulse in the mid 80s and beta blockers knocked it down by about 10 bpm. I was initially placed on Florinef (for POTs) and had a terrible reaction to it. I went on a beta blocker (bisoprolol) which initially increased my fatigue and lowered my blood pressure too much. Cut the dose in half, and it has really helped. We are all different -- good luck in finding something that helps you, J
 
Messages
1,082
Location
UK
@JAH They've started me on 1.25 just in case i reacted badly. Only been on it 1 day but i'm sure its affecting me already. I was very tired last night. I had the normal fatigue; but with extreme tiredness added on. I was comatosed last night, very deep sleep!
 
Messages
1,082
Location
UK
@Valentijn Yeah, my POTS was very active last night.

I haven't used a blood pressure cuff in a long time, ever since using a chest strap with heart rate monitor but i'll have a look and see if i can find it.
I've always been normal to low blood pressure so i really should be keeping an eye on it :thumbsup:
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
My heart rate varies so much that I hesitate to even answer this question! I stood up from the couch once and it went to 177 bpm! I had a bad experience with metoprolol and was switched to Atenolol which has worked well for me. I take a super low dose of Atenolol (either a quarter or a half of the lowest dose pill which is 25 mg- so I am taking either 6.25 or 12.5 mg per day depending on how I am feeling.) There are many different beta blockers in case the first one that you try is not the right fit. Best wishes.
 

TrixieStix

Senior Member
Messages
539
My heart rate varies so much that I hesitate to even answer this question! I stood up from the couch once and it went to 177 bpm! I had a bad experience with metoprolol and was switched to Atenolol which has worked well for me. I take a super low dose of Atenolol (either a quarter or a half of the lowest dose pill which is 25 mg- so I am taking either 6.25 or 12.5 mg per day depending on how I am feeling.) There are many different beta blockers in case the first one that you try is not the right fit. Best wishes.
Thought maybe you would know the answer to this given you took it in the past....is Metoprolol supposed to lower my resting heart rate as well as my heart rate when standing? My doc put me on a POTS dose of 12.5mg once daily with breakfast. I am not experiencing any reduction in my resting heart rate whatsoever and wondering if that means my body isn't responding to it?
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
Thought maybe you would know the answer to this given you took it in the past....is Metoprolol supposed to lower my resting heart rate as well as my heart rate when standing? My doc put me on a POTS dose of 12.5mg once daily with breakfast. I am not experiencing any reduction in my resting heart rate whatsoever and wondering if that means my body isn't responding to it?

I would think that a BB would lower your resting HR in addition to your standing HR but I would verify this w/your doctor to be sure. My initial tachycardia in 2013 was in my sleep and the BB is the only thing that stopped it. Then it switched over to traditional POTS.