Cardiologist doubled my metoprolol to treat PVC

I had severe episodes from age 14 to 19. Read in newspaper column that some people are SEVERELY sensitive to caffeine. After quitting coffee etc, I had NO problems for YEARS, until lately without thinking I was eating coffee ice cream from the US. Once I put 2 plus 2 together, I stopped the coffee ice cream and fine. That med you are taking has bad side effects. At age 75, I take NO meds for anything. I investigate the CAUSE of the problem.

Dana,
Thank your information. I have been referred to an EP who specializes in the lower chamber ablations. Now I am waiting for the call back and to see what my echo shows, etc. I didn't realize the medications for the lower and upper heart would be different, but it makes sense. You mentioned you were on different medications for the lower chambers. Do you recall what medications you were on at that time. That may be helpful for me to know. I appreciate your help. Thank you.

Hi @gloaming,
Thank you so much for the information you shared. This issue is hard for me to make sense of and your explanation is helping to clarify the big picture. I also appreciate your comment on the doom-laden term 'heart failure'. And further input about living many years which I hope too at age 69, turning 70 this summer.
I am currently looking for an EP. And, yes I would drive two days away if I could get in to see the proper doctors! I am originally from WI. My husband and I were going to spend the month of July in Rochester, MN this summer to escape the TX heat. But because of my arrhythmia issue we canceled our plans. Currently, I am attempting to get an appointment with a different EP in Austin or Houston, but I am waiting for a call back. Maybe I should have kept the plans for Minnesota and tried to see a doctor there. Here, in TX it takes about a month to get an appointment.
I do have another question. How do you go about finding the best cardiologists and best EPs? I went to TCA (Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia, supposedly world renown) in Austin and had two ablations done and neither one worked more than two weeks. The doctor I had in Austin was highly recommended by several people I knew. (I guess that situation is similar to what happened to you. Sometimes they just don't work) Anyway, if you know how I can find out about a doctor who specializes in lower chamber ablations please let me know.
I do appreciate your sharing. Thanks for listening to my ongoing search for a remedy to this problem. It's complicated.
Thank you.
Ruthie

Thank you for your comment.
I think it is remarkable to be 75 and take no medicines for anything!
You are very fortunate.

You have seen Dr. Natale, then? He is about the best there is. However, even he has his failures, regrettably. He often has to do a touchup ablation, and warns his patients when he sees them after his first crack at them in the surgery if he suspects they'll have to come back for a 'cleanup', or for a Watchman implant. I would suggest going back. He's extremely competent. The only other I know of is Dr, Santangeli at Cleveland Clinic, also a crackerjack EP. I don't know of others in the top drawer, but there must be some. The only other world-renowned EP, and he taught Natale, is Dr. Pierre Jais in Bordeaux, Fr.

It's not exactly a perfect plum or a warm peach to grasp at, but if worse comes to the worst, and nobody can fix your particular cardiology, you can always have a pacemaker implanted.

I doubt I am remarkable. The reason I don't take meds is, the few times I went for treatment for a few valid concerns, I had read up on the problem and knew more than the doctors because they are mainly trained to give you meds that were worse or more scary than the original problem.
I have alleviated many health issues by decreasing sugar. Also, a chiropractor who uses the Gonstead method eliminated health issues I had that I didn't know he could help. I would go in for one problem and he would eliminate three. I wish he lived near me now.
But I have a list of 35 people that have died, many younger than me, The majority self destructed with unhealthy habits, and spent their time in and out of doctor's offices and hospitals, and unnecessary meds for things they could get rid of naturally. And then get cancer and spend the last year of their life getting chemo, radiation, etc. and losing their hair etc. Every one of them on their death bed stated they would not go the chemo route if they had to do it over again. My friend's aunt was diagnosed with stomach cancer at the age of 80. The docs told her she needed operation, and chemo, etc. Her response was NO!!! The docs told her she would doe if she didn't (well, we are all going to eventually.) She ended up living 12 more years to 92!!! A neighbor I had who was 8s, went in for a checkup, because her out of town daughter didn't want her to live alone. So she went to prove to her she was fine. She WAS fine, but one prescribed a med because a number was a little high, and had negative side effects, and after 6 months was taking a handful of meds. Her last symptom was depression, which she never had before, and lost her will to live. EVERY problem she had was from the meds. She stopped eating and died.
Remember the drug ad where a lady is sitting in doc's office because her med for depression was not doing anything. So the doc says, sometimes you need another. And then in the ad warn you to call you if you feel like committing SUICIDE! And people take these meds!!!

@ritzyrobin1 YES! I am bedridden with them and it feels like rubber marbles bouncing off of my heart walls! metropol made them worse. Took me about two weeks of resting after not taking the medication to have them subside. It seems like heavy exertion aggravates them.

@ciri I used that same marble example to my cardiologist. I recently had an episode that felt like the alien creature was exploding out my chest. I passed out and luckily I woke up. In my case the pvcs are aggravated by lack of sleep and physical stress. Metropol made me bed ridden for 3 days. I stopped taking it. The new EP just put me back on it. Have a heart monitor on now so we will see what happens.

Just a word of caution. I had been put on Metoprolol (varied from 25 - 50 mg. twice/daily along with Eliquis. The reason I as because I had a thyroid disease which caused my heart to go into a “toxic storm” which sent me into AFib and RVR at the same time. Fortunately, I saw an ER dr that quickly treated it correctly without letting me stroke out. I thank the GREAT physician for that and for providing wisdom to this little rural community dr. That’s when I had to begin Eliquis and Metoprolol and had been on both for several yrs. Recently, my electrophysiologist (in FL) discovered that I now, along with paroxysmal SVT and Afib also have Bradycardia (slower than 60 beats/min even during awake times), which is also very dangerous. He explained that the Metoprolol caused the Bradycardia so he greatly decreased the daily dosage. I was advised to use another drug, Flecanide, if I should go into irregular rhythms that don’t stop quickly on their own, which they always did until recently. I took 1 Flecanide and it did help. Another word of caution is “be sure not to take Flecanide unless you are also taking Metoprolol! Can’t win!

@conrand10 Interesting - I was treated for years with Losartan because the Metoprolol (which worked great for me) interfered with my Asthma meds. Sadly it didn't control the rapid heartbeat from my thyroid issues (same story about the "storm" except I was already in the hospital post-ortho-surgery and a sharp-eyed nurse called int eon-duty doc!)

Fast forward to 2024 - and angina mistakenly identified as shortness of breath led to a diagnosis of Coronary Artery disease. Suddenly I was on 4 meds - Losartan for BP, amlodipine for Angina, Plavix to prevent clots, and Repatha for cholesterol (failed all statins.)

Now I feel great, so this week I asked my cardiologist if there was anything we could "get rid of" - he patiently explained the purpose of each and actually looked up whether there were any combination alternatives or other meds to reduce the number of pills to keep track of, and concluded I am on the best and safest regimen with the least side effects. He also told me this is "for the rest of my life" unless things get worse and we have to revisit alternatives.

I guess that in my mid-70's, with a long list of health issues, I should be grateful that modern medicine has solutions that allow ne to stay active.