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Experience with beta blockers? Can they stop working?

performfully
performfully Posts: 126 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I apologize if this is the wrong board, but I was hoping someone had some insight on this.

A few months ago I started beta blockers as my heart rate was very very high, I have palpitations, high BP, as well as an enlarged right side of my heart. I tried one medication and didn't feel an improvement. I switched to atenolol and things were great!

Over the past week or so I have noticed that I haven't been feeling so well, I had one set of heart flutters and have been sluggish and out of breath. I kind of just chucked it up to TOM (sorry tmi) as it makes me very exhausted. I hurt my legs so took a 2 day break from exercise, and put my HRM to do cardio tonight when I noticed I felt kind of wobbly. My HR is way up again! 170s+ from light to moderate effort.

I am totally bummed! Obviously I'm going to call my cardiologist Monday, but I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. My heart problems were a pretty big obstacle for me to overcome mentally, so I'm pretty flustered at this point. I'm hoping I can count on an upping of my dose or something. I have been on atenolol for maybe 2 months without a problem.
Thanks for responses!

Replies

  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    The only thing I have noticed--and this may not apply in your case--is that, while atenolol is supposed to be a "one a day" drug, I have found that the effects seem to fluctuate and do not seem consistent throughout the day. I have worked with a number of clients over the decades whose exercise HR was significantly different depending on the time of day they worked out vs the time they took the med.
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