New to the world of Hypertension Meds

Hi, @wigreenthumb. Sounds like you're well on your way to resolving some of your most troublesome symptoms. It's good to hear that Metoprolol worked to bring your blood pressure down. It's hard to guess whether your stomach pain might come from Metoprolol, but I'd be surprised at that. I have been on Clonidine myself for a few months, and it was effective at bringing my blood pressure under control as well. In my case, the Clonidine compromised other medications, so I moved off it. I hope you won't worry so much about bedtime BP spikes, unless your personal medical team (not the ER staff) counsels you to be especially concerned about them. Higher levels of BP are expected as we age (I'm 83), although 200/110 is beyond those expectations and worthy of special attention. Insomnia has never been a problem for me, even these days; if I lose sleep once in a while at night, it's because of some social or financial problem, and I make up for lost sleep with a nap of an hour or two the next day. I hope you can establish a strong conversational relationship with your medical team so that you can get timely answers to your questions and concerns without going to the ER. Martin

Hello @wigreenthumb

Many of us on Connect have discussed the problem of sleep and the use of Metoprolol. I tried it for several weeks and then called my doctor and he switched me to another beta blocker, Atenolol. It also works on BP and heart rate but I do not have the same side effects as I did on the Metoprolol. Here is a website that discusses Metoprolol, https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682864.html.
If you scroll down to "Side Effects" you will see stomach pain as one side effect. On other websites I have also seen sleep difficulties.

If you continue to have these problems, your cardiologist could probably help you find another med that would help you without these side effects.

@ladybugmg My Dr told me it doesn't matter what time of day I take B.P. med just be consistent with it so I take mine at suppertime then before bed it's about 5_6 Hours apart this is o.k. with my Dr. Hope this helps

Thanks again for your reply. Today, my 3rd on Metoprolol, and first time at night for trazadone to aid in insomnia, I find myself with tummy issues, a feeling of nausea. Side effect of Metropolol, or trazadone?

A previous doctor prescribed the bp meds 12 hours apart and that seems to have kept the pressure under control. The routine is Atenolol at 6 a.m. followed by eye drops Brimonidine and then 1 p.m and 9 p.m. The next one, Tomolol after 6:05 a.m. The third one. Zioptan. after 9:05 pm followed afterward by eye lubricant to keep the eye moist during sleep. I guess there might be some interaction between the bp med and eye drops but I am only aware of it in the morning.

I dont' have any personal experience with either medication, @wigreenthumb, but Teresa and others have pointed out the side effect of nausea and/or intestinal pain for some people using Metoprolol. Martin

Thanks. I guess I will have to tough it out for a couple weeks, to see if issues will decline. I see that all the Beta blockers have similar lists of side effects, drug interactions, etc.

@wegreenthumb, it's important to remember that -- while the lists of adverse effects of all the beta blockers are nearly the same -- they come out that way to cover the general population. In individual cases, all of those effects do not necessarily apply. As a result, you can probably find some beta blockers that would not have negative effects, as I have (no adverse effects I know of from Carvedilol, and my wife has none from Atenolol). Your doctor should be able to help you get past the problems or refer you to another physician who can. This is a good chance to practice getting a second opinion on a crucial situation. Martin

Thanks again for your reply. Today, my 3rd on Metoprolol, and first time at night for trazadone to aid in insomnia, I find myself with tummy issues, a feeling of nausea. Side effect of Metropolol, or trazadone?