I Take Altace And Coreg Twice A Day For The Past 4 Months. I Am Always Tired And Seem To Get Shortness Of Breath Alot. I Also Keep Getting Slight Chest Pain And Dizziness. I Take The Meds Because My Ejection Fraction Was 39% This Year As To 50% Last Year. 7 Years Ago I Had Quadroople Bypass, What Do I Do? Stop Taking The Meds? Or Keep Taking Them And Deal With The Side Effects? Any Comments Would Be Helpful.
Thanks

Steven,

You need to talk to your pcp or cardiologist.

My understanding is that you don't want to suddenly stop taking Coreg; it's a beta blocker and the dosage should be tapered off.

I took Coreg for about 5 years, until I had to be put on a stronger beta blocker for afib.

What dosage of Coreg are you taking?

Regards,
Bill

Steven,

You need to talk to your pcp or cardiologist.

My understanding is that you don't want to suddenly stop taking Coreg; it's a beta blocker and the dosage should be tapered off.

I took Coreg for about 5 years, until I had to be put on a stronger beta blocker for afib.

What dosage of Coreg are you taking?

Regards,
Bill
IM TAKING 5MG 2X A DAY. I DONT WANT TO STOP IF ITS GOING TO HELP BUT IM WORRIED ABOUT THE SIDE EFFECTS

Hi Steven.

As you may remember, I'm on Coreg (25mg daily) and Altace (2.5 mg twice a day). Check this page out: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a697042.html and call your doctor right away.

Dylan

Hi Steven.

As you may remember, I'm on Coreg (25mg daily) and Altace (2.5 mg twice a day). Check this page out: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a697042.html and call your doctor right away.

Dylan

I WENT TO THE DR THIS MORNING AND HE SAID ALL IS OK,,,GAVE ME SOME LASIX AND IM ALLREADY FEELING BETTER. EKG IS BETTER THEN LAST TIME ALSO.

THANKS

Everyone should know that you should never stop taking a beta blocker abruptly. I didn't know this, and stopped atenolol (abruptly) and had a heart attack and stroke 6 weeks later. Who knows for sure what caused my problems, but in all the medical literature, it warns of this.

Steven:

Glad to hear you're feeling better and that the EKG is improved.

Stay with Coreg; it has proved its worth in increasing EF.

I was taking 25 mg bid when the cardiologist moved me to Betapace because of my afib.

Regards,
Bill

Oh god Jack, so sorry to hear that.

Let me concur, people with heart disease of any knd should NEVER abruptly stop taking beta blockers (and probably calcium channel blockers.)

Steven, such a low ejection fraction (39%) could be expectted to cause weakness and shortness of breath.
How do you feel now as opposed to how you felt a year after your multiple bypass?

Oh god Jack, so sorry to hear that.

Let me concur, people with heart disease of any knd should NEVER abruptly stop taking beta blockers (and probably calcium channel blockers.)

Steven, such a low ejection fraction (39%) could be expectted to cause weakness and shortness of breath.
How do you feel now as opposed to how you felt a year after your multiple bypass?


I Feel pretty good, although ill never be the same. After the lasix , im feeling alot better.

thanks
Steven

Hi Steven,

Many doctors use Physicians' Desk Reference for dosage recommendations. The reference book is published by the pharmaceutical industry, and in their own self-interest the dosage is set high. There are fewer problems if one is started with a lower dose and go higher as one can tolerate-- showing acceptable therapy.

For hypertension coreg should be started 3.25 2x daily. After a couple of weeks it should be raised (no side effects noted) to 6.25 2X daily. Max should be no more than 50 mg.

For CHF, start 3.25 mg then 6.25 and up to 100 mg a day for a 187 lb. male. I am a CHF patient and my dosage after 3 months is 6.25 2x, and I have no symptoms whatsever, and it includes the regular regimen of a beta blocker and an ACE inhibitor. HR is usually 75, and BP 105/68 with slight variations. My echo showed an EF of 29% as shown with the hospital records, but the cardio stated it was only 15%--Big difference, and it does strike at the credibility of my medical attention, care and judgement. Nevertheless it is too low, and I will be looking for another cardio.

If your HR and BP is within an acceptable range with a lower dose of coreg, that should be the criterion. No one should stop their medication without the doc's approval. It could shock one's system with serious consequences. Personally I don't like taking more medication to conteract previous and continuing medication. But obviously sometimes there is no choice.

Thanks for the information. Im not really sure whats going on , but he dropped me from 13mg 2x a day back to 6.25 2x a day today. Plust 2.5 Altace continued. I feel very funny when I take the Altace and Coreg. I cant quite pin point it but it makes me feel funny, like im top heavy if you know hwat I mean. Im only 37 years old. I started taking some lasix yesterday and feel much better today. I think that my salt intake was to high and ive been holding fluids inside. My cardioligist put me on the Adkins diet a year ago, ive lost 20 pounds, but now I have relized that the Atkins diet is alot of salty foods , like bacon, bugers, salads with salty dressings, I think ive finally figured out why im short off breath,,,,all that salt! Dam I feel stupid. So Im going to take the Lasix,,lower my salt intake and keep taking the coreg and altace as directed. Thanks for your help,,,,,I just want to feel better again, im tired of feeling sick and always wondering if im going to have another heart attack. Stupid atkins diet,,,,how dumb could I be?

Steven

When I was diagnosed with CHF, I never had nor have any pain. The only symptoms I had was a dry cough and a sufficating feeling of not getting enough air. The LV of the heart was not pumping efficiently and fluids backup into my lungs (mild pulmonary edema).

I was put on Lasix, coreg, and Lisinopril (your ACE inhibitor is altace). Lasix reduces by eliminating excessive fluids and altace blocks excessive production. You are correct. You need to cooperate with your system and reduce fluid intake, sodium and salts. To do less will cause higher BP.