How did you wean off Metoprolol?

Posted by kenny48 @kenny48, May 11, 2018

Hi,
I've been taking both flecainide and metoprolol now for eight years, as a prophylactic for Afib. I recently moved to North Carolina and have a new Cardiologist. Have had a lot of PVC's this past two months, and had to wear a heart monitor for an entire month. He said that although I had a lot of PVC's I didn't have even one PAC! He also noted that my BPM was low in the low fifties most of the time. He asked why I was taking metropolol. I told him that the only thing my previous doctor had said was " it makes the flecainide, work better". He suggested I stop taking the metoprolol to see how I do without it. Unfortunately I read a lot of information on the internet. I read that it can be very dangerous to stop taking it. I take 25 mg metoprolol succinate, split in half. Once in the morning with my flecainide, and then again in the evening for a second dose. He wants me to take half in the morning and skip the evening dose for two days, then stop entirely. Has anyone else stopped taking this drug in a similar manner? I'm worried that the cut off is too soon.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Heart Rhythm Conditions Support Group.

djim115 | @djim115 | Oct 12, 2019

In reply to @lucky1038 "hi -- i've just had two new cardiologists - first one is an EX cardiologist b/cuz..." + (show)

A cardiologist in the same group is’nt a good idea they talk ...
That sounds like way too much medication
Im on both also losartan way before metoprolol but this metoprolol is something im weening myself off its horrible
Ive been in the medical field 20 years
When your given a medication
If it makes you sick and or sicker it almost like an allergic reaction
There is no acclimating !
Medication is suppose to make you better not worse it should blend with your system to help regulate the issue
You hitting the floor is a problem
You need to fix that asap you could be doing more damage then good
Doctors dont walk on water
Medicine is a ever evolving science and everyone is different
They need to find a medication that fits you better

Soliloquized | @soliloquized | Oct 12, 2019

In reply to @djim115 "Sounds like we have the same doctor SMH ! I was given this for palpitations about..." + (show)

I worry about these posts misrepresenting metoprolol.

I take:

200 mg at 7:00 AM of Metoprolol Succinate, then 25 mg Metoprolol Tartrate in the afternoon, about 2:00 PM, then 150 mg of Metoprolol Succinate at about 8:00 PM.

I take 200 mg Phenytoin in the morning, and 300 mg Phenytoin (for seizures) in the evening.

75 mg Ranitidine in the evening.
20 mg Zocor in the evening.
Coumadin
Vitamin D3 in the morning.
Throxine
Singulair
Maxzide
Xyzal

If you read the drug monographs, I should be tired beyond belief, but here I am.

I was told by my cardiologist that I could take 400 mg (as 200 mg twice a day) of Metoprolol Succinate, and I'm sure stop the Tartrate, but it's working, why mess with it. My family doctor maintains my meds, and the afib. The cardiologist also said to lose 30 lbs, I've lost 25+ since he told me. And I don't routinely get exercise.

That it may affect some in more pronounced manners is a given, but people reading this thread may be put off wanting to take a medication that is likely beneficial to them.

Best regards....

djim115 | @djim115 | Oct 12, 2019

In reply to @soliloquized "I worry about these posts misrepresenting metoprolol. I take: 200 mg at 7:00 AM of Metoprolol..." + (show)

I understand, for me it isn’t working , i May continue to have symptoms after coming off this med and placed on something else , others should follow their doctors recommendations
Maybe my issue doesn’t require meds but was put on them anyway to see , and i saw , its not the remedy For ME.
Onto something else
For ME

sue225 | @sue225 | Oct 12, 2019

In reply to @soliloquized "I worry about these posts misrepresenting metoprolol. I take: 200 mg at 7:00 AM of Metoprolol..." + (show)

I wasn't going to make a comment until your's popped up. I am so happy that my ventricular tachycardia can be so easily controlled with 25mg (12.5x2) of Metoprolol Tartrate. I have been on this drug since the fall of 2016 and I would never want to go back to the palpitations, the racing hear etc etc. Yes, I had side effects initially but that's all behind me now.

healthytoday | @healthytoday | Oct 12, 2019

In reply to @soliloquized "I worry about these posts misrepresenting metoprolol. I take: 200 mg at 7:00 AM of Metoprolol..." + (show)

Re exercise and afib, well, I use to rely on regular exercise to keep my weight in the normal range. With afib and the metoprolol, I can only exercise alittle bit. I do yoga stretches (recommend utube, Yoga with Adriane), and walk or swim. But if I'm having some ill days, can't do much of anything but wait until my energy returns to a moderate level. It's the new normal for me. I asked the NP if it's the heart or the metoprolol that has me tired most of the time, she said both. I attempted to cut back the metoprolol, but didn't feel well after two days. Staying on what is prescribed for now. U really need to change your eating to keep the weight down, low sugar, low salt, stuff you once ate isn't possible anymore. Increase raw fruits and vegs. Experiment with food and nutrition.

AFRobin | @afrobin | Oct 12, 2019

Hello! I am pretty sure I have written this to you before but maybe for others, I will share my story.
I had a serious case of Afib years ago. My heart was terribly erratic and I felt faint and air hungry because I didn't have 3 steady beats in a row. The cardiologist had never seen such a bad case. He said I would have Afib for life but that I could control it with a super high dose of beta blockers. It was so high though that he said, the drug could kill me and he urged me to somewhat lower the dose. But if I did, my heart went wonky.. (I took 4 x 80 mg tablets per day).Gentle exercise like walking didn't enable me to reduce the dose.
I decided to join a gym because I had read that making the heart work helped regulate it. The heart's a muscle and I needed to exercise it to make it strong. Within a month, I was shocked to discover that I was able to very gradually get the dose down to....zero! For 4 months, I kept up the 35 minutes of treadmill per day (my heart remained at 80 beats per minute on the treadmill!) and another 30 minutes of stretches and weights.I went every day but Sunday.
Then I went back to see the cardiologist and he couldn't believe it. He said, "Your Afib will be back." Well, here I am 24 years later and thanks to avoiding stimulants (coffee, chocolate, not too much sugar at once, alcohol, smoky environments, ephedrine or epinephrine in decongestants and dental freezing) I rarely have a blip. I never ever have alcohol or caffeinated coffee but on occasion I will have something with chocolate in it. I can't always get away with it so it's a warning. I am so glad I found the cure for my Afib that plagued me for almost 2 years. I hope you do, too.

Soliloquized | @soliloquized | Oct 13, 2019

In reply to @healthytoday "Re exercise and afib, well, I use to rely on regular exercise to keep my weight..." + (show)

Perhaps someone here, you, or others, can edify me about the feeling of afib. All summer long, I thought I was cured, well, the feelings in my chest were just about absent, but my pulse was often irregular. Afib (once diagnosed, no one should use this comment to self diagnose) produces an irregularly irregular heart rhythm.

Bigeminy, Trigeminy, etc., not from Afib, is a regularly irregular rhythm.

So, my most recent visit to the Internist, my family doctor, said I'm not always in afib, he said mine is Paroxysmal in nature, though he's never run an EKG. I had seen a Cardiologist he communicates well with, and the Cardiologist wanted to try one shock to restore the rhythm. That would have been a three day hospital stay, and I'd been started on Sotalol while being monitored, prior to the shock. But I have other health conditions, I'm not symptomatic, and I decided to wait it out, losing 25 lbs in the meantime.

I'm working hard around the house all summer. I was less symptomatic. I developed a leg infection (dry skin), fever, elevated heart rate, no afib symptoms. But now, colder days upon us, marginally cold, and periodically during the day, I feel the fluttering. Ventricular rate is made irregular by it, but still below 76 to 80, and when I'm relaxed, in the 60s.

But the fluttering is on my left side, a source of afib is the Pulmonary Veins; the only veins in the body that carry oxygen enriched blood; and they are in the left side of the heart.

When I developed afib last November, my heart was banging all over the place, in the hospital. No one was concerned. For a few months after discharge, it banged. But since then, mostly I haven't felt much inside. How many people often feel their afib as a fluttering, and when you do, where do you feel it, if at all.

soph | @soph | Oct 13, 2019

In reply to @soliloquized "Perhaps someone here, you, or others, can edify me about the feeling of afib. All summer..." + (show)

A number of not important flutters can happen and are okay. My experience with afib is that, your pulse will never hold low as 76-80, it will be going up and down, never staying low until you are in Normal Sinus Rhythm. In order to get back to normal rhythm, one possibility is the electric shock, another possibility is having a drip to help it along and simply waiting. Now I don't go to the hospital, and afib leaves in 7-10 hours, same as it did in the hospital (I rest the whole time). I know I am in afib because my pulse is almost impossible to take, it feels like a grand flutter. If I use the home blood pressure device, it reads as a high pulse, perhaps 138-145-175.
Your possible 3 day hospital stay was if you were being started in Sotalol (or Dofetilide.) They both require the hospital stay to see if they give you bad reactions. Mine didn't and I have taken Dofetilide for 4 years. Curious that no one has given you an EKG, regular practice for afib patients, in or out of afib at that time.
One trigger for my afib is more hard work than expected. If you lost so much weight, you must have a lot of ability to work hard, hope you're also giving yourself time to rest. Good luck!

healthytoday | @healthytoday | Oct 13, 2019

In reply to @afrobin "Hello! I am pretty sure I have written this to you before but maybe for others,..." + (show)

Interesting, my afib isn't that bad. But, when I excel my exercise which is lap swimming, the next day I am retaining more water which indicates the heart isn't working as well. It's a delicate dance. Food is important. Today made salt free bean soup with sauteed onion (avocado oil) and celery. Red pepper, turmeric, and a salt sub. Very good. Also home made bread without salt. My husband comes home with a beef dinner with the usual generous supply of salt and sugar. I love that food but keep it to a minimum. I eat a little bit, a few bites, but mostly eat the food I prepare. He's tired of my food but we manage. My point is you have to be on the correct eating 98% of the time. If you start to get lazy and lax, like I do because I'm feeling good, it only takes a couple of days and I'm carrying a few pounds of water, fatigued etc. Anyway, you can improve. It's a bunch of experiments and carefully observing what works and what doesn't.

AFRobin | @afrobin | Oct 13, 2019

Hello Healthy Today, Do you take a diuretic? I think you probably do. In this colder season I like homemade soups...and inevitably they are salty. It's hard to make a soup that isn't salty. Since I have high BP, I do take a diuretic and that seems to help.

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