Metoprolol side effects after stopping. Heart poundingPalpitation SVT
29 year old male, was put on metoprolol for SVT only took it a month or so. I couldn't take the side effects light headedness, swollen left foot in hot showers, fatigue, could barely walk or exercise. I'd wake up with what felt like a high heart rate and it felt like heart palpitations some nights middle of the night or close to the time for my next dose. Couldn't focus really either most days from lightheadedness. Was told to wean off metoprolol for 2 weeks halfing my 25mg dose to 12.5mg and I did that for four days or five. Stopped cold turkey couldnt take the lightheadedness anymore even with half dose. Been in and out the hospital since september 21st with SVT episodes hitting 190 bpm atleast four times till 26th today, never had this many issues in one month outta the four years of dealing with SVT. Most was one episode every few months or 7-9 months. Still wake up heart racing, stand up slowly heart races and pounds, walk around heart pounds and feels like racing or heart palpitations. Only noticeable when sitting down or stopping activity when walking short or long distances, standing up slowly its very noticeable still even when just rising from my seat then sitting back down slowly. I was told august 29th to half my dose. I stopped september 3rd-4th around there cold turkey and its now september 26th. Not sure if Its heart damage I sustained from hospital records 2.5 from two different hospital visits and one 2 of troponin out of 20 on chart called my chart. I was given a calcium channel blocker one day when leaving hospital for SVT episode of 190 bpm or so Dilt XR or cardiazem august 21st. But I was scared to take it. That was around september 21st and have had a few SVT episodes over last few days had to bare down with blowing into a empty pill bottle. I'm worried my heart wont go back to normal and I keep asking for advice from doctors but they tell me its SVT. But its constant throughout my day when I been resting a lot the heart palpitations. I can feel my heart racing sometimes while just sitting or it feels like its pounding or high when its not. It comes and goes even when Im relaxed or focused on a movie or video game thats relaxing. BPM of 70 when resting and goes up to 80-100 when standing up slowly and walking around my kitchen just a few steps sometimes 105 bpm taking few steps slowly. I'm 120 pounds slightly fit or was till this happened in August. I was admitted to a different hospital on August 4th where they told me I had afib after I told them I had SVT and put me on eliquis and only took that for 6 days and my cardiologist told me to stop it as I didnt need it or have afib. I really wanna know if this is gonna be for the rest of my life the palpitations as its hard to excercise, walk to the store, grocery shop, and I can't get a job in this condition afraid I can't provide for my family. I have ablation soon since I've had so many problems with meds. I'm told my heart palpitations all throughout the day and night are from SVT when I fall asleep and wake up here and there to adjust sleeping positions I sleep mostly on right side never left. I dont drink do caffeine or anything else completely clean. Today I woke up fine most times but around normal time I wake up 8-9am It started again. Today was the first day I got good sleep thankfully. I havent been eating due to SVT triggers from food. I went to the hospital from eating a tomato turkey sandwich non-gmo spinach pizza etc. So no tomatoes for me. Will my heart come back from this and is it normal rebound effects of stopping metoprolol or withdrawals? I never had high BP in my life but recently its been high since stopping metoprolol succinate 25mg the extended release. I only took the pill for a month or slightly more. Im hoping the withdrawals are just lasting a long time and its nothing to worry about. Or my heart just needs rest from being over worked the passed five days. I was told yesterday in hospital I can walk for 20 minutes but not for hours. The day before yesterday I walked 2 miles taking my time to grocery store for food and got light headed on my way home after walking out of the store. Not sure what that was about I never get lightheaded and havent since I stopped metoprolol. My lab results from blood tests yesterday show a value of 4 out of 20 troponin. Should I be concerned and is that heart damage permanent?
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'...I went to the hospital from eating a tomato turkey sandwich non-gmo spinach pizza etc. So no tomatoes for me...'
How do you know it wasn't the bread? Or the turkey? An ingredient in the turkey if it were partially or wholly cured?
'...Should I be concerned and is that heart damage permanent?...' The elevated troponin is a marker of some kind of myocyte damage, but it's a low result. I had the same after going into AF and having a cardioversion (four in total and none of them worked more than about 10 hours). The heart damage is only permanent if tissue dies, such as during a heart attack. Otherwise, like all living tissues, they can repair themselves, at least partially. Your troponin levels will almost certainly be elevated after your upcoming ablation as well. It's natural. After a couple of weeks, as the heart calms and repairs what it can, those levels should return to a low.
Being lightheaded at any time when you have a formal diagnosis of an arrhythmia could be the arrhythmia returning, it could be bradycardia when in normal sinus rhythm (NSR) caused by metoprolol or another rate control medication (you've stopped the medication), or it could be a temporary hypotension and syncope caused by sudden movement or standing, perhaps by dysautonomia. This is only a series of guesses, not a diagnosis as I am not qualified to make such a diagnosis, nor do I have access to your records.
@gloaming Thank you so much for the reply it's helped relax me some. I been only eating slices of bread here and there and I'm fine same bread, I ate a turkey sandwich plain after my last visit in hospital but that was after I had a SVT episode so I don't know if I got lucky or if the turkey I buy is not good for me .I've been trying to see a neurologist as well to rule out any other possible problems but don't know how to go about getting one scheduled. I'm sorry to hear your cardioversion didn't work out for you I hope all is well and your healed asap. Not sure what kind of turkey to get other then like low sodium but I'm scared to experiment or try new things or food cant afford to go back to the hospital anymore this month sadly.
@nelson1996 In order to find exactly what sets your heart off, you'd have to methodically eliminate any suspected triggers and then introduce them again....BUT.....only one at a time. You'd start with your favourite bread, eat it over two/three/four days, and wait a couple of days with only that change to see if your heart breaks into SVT. Even then, it might just be 'idiopathic' in nature, meaning of unknown origin, but you'll think it's the bread because that was what you reintroduced to your diet. [ see 'post hoc, ergo propter hoc' fallacy. I did this, so the unpleasant event was because of this. Not necessarily so!] But, say your heart didn't go into SVT or AF, you've waited three days after eating the bread you enjoy, and next you introduce your fave turkey slices. Eat that each day for three/four days, and then let two/three more days pass. No SVT or AF? Try the mayo, or the pickle, or.....whatever you consume must be dealt with one item at a time, plus a couple of days for your heart to act up.
If none of those seems to bring on SVT or AF, now you're in a quandary. What else sets off my heart....dammit!? People eventually learn that sometimes their arrhythmia is indeed triggered, most often by stress or cardiomyopathy which has little or nothing to do with occasional dietary tweaks. But it can be alcohol, caffeine, too much calcium over a short period, too little rest, being to warm, uncomfortable, in pain....you'd be surprised to see all the things patients insist is what their trigger is/are.
Thanks for your sentiments about my cardioversions. They can work, sometimes for months and years, just not for me. So, I had to have a catheter ablation, two of them it happens, and those have had me in NSR for over 30 months now.
@gloaming Will try that out and hopefully can start to eat healthy again. And you had two ablations done? How did they turn out for you and what was that like an was it hard or stressful? How do you know if the ablation worked? If your healed Im happy to hear that I wouldnt wish this on nobody ever its so bad. I just hope the palpitations go away when I get my ablation along with the SVT cause it's gotten to the point I can't go get a job and I don't know how to go about getting disability just yet. I took a 2 mile walk yesterday and today I stood up from laying on the floor and BPM hit 111 or higher kinda worried. I was fine till a doctor from the hospital tried to put me on a calcium channel blocker they offered me 1 pill before leaving which I knew nothing about and went back and fourth I was wanting to try a new beta blocker nothing else but they kept insisting and dismissing me and my recommendations I got from my mother. Kinda sad that I was treated as such.
The first ablation failed. I knew in six days that the electrophysiologist had not blocked all the extra signals because I resumed a nasty AF and had to be placed on amiodarone, an anti-arrhythmic drug. I sent him an ECG recording by my Samsung Galaxy wristwatch, and he could immediately see that it was indeed a resumption of AF for me. He scheduled a repeat ablation seven months later, and that one worked. Note that, statistically across the field of electrophysiology, the failure rate of first (called 'index') ablations is 25%. So, only about 75% of all index ablations are successful, although there is some range between the best EPs and the average EP.
My HR (heart rate) would reach 140-180 when I was fibrillating. Before my second ablation, the one that worked, my HR would rise to 125-135 when walking, no matter how slowly I was going. It was not fun. Like you are, I was highly symptomatic and didn't feel well a lot of the time. My friends told me I looked grey.
If you have some SVT that comes and goes, a beta blocker or a calcium channel blocker should help to keep the rate low, and this is where a good cardiologist comes in, someone who knows you and who knows the science. If you have an adverse reaction to one kind, ask for the other. It may mean moving on to another, more sympathetic, cardiologist.