Switching from Atenelol to Toprol?? help?? - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

akahoneypotqt · 02-04-2004, 08:01 PM

I was prescribed 25mg of Atenelol 2 years ago for heart palpitations and anxiety. all stress tests/echo grams and such came back good. Doc thought it was strictly stress/anxiety. Well 2 years was a good 2 years for my palpitations were gone! 2 days agao they came back with a vengance! Been pretty much constant and now my once low blood pressure (or norm i should say) is 135/100 don't know if that is bad but i'm usually 120/80 or less! Never thought my bp was a problem. Anyway.. Heart beat is fast! 100-125 resting, and my heart is jumping out of my chest and palpitations I swear every other beat! I went to my doc who did an EKG and said it was textbook normal! said he felt it was extreme anxeity and that 25mg of Atenelol was "bulls*it". HIs exact words. He said that dose isn't even worth prescribing basically. He felt that my time had come to change meds and up the prescription. As well as to start taking Xanax again (which i had stopped regularly way back when).. I guess just the anxiety/stress in my life have just caught up with me. My question (thanks for being patient btw) is who has had good results switching from one to the other? Any problems I should be aware of. I had a obsession with NOT taking meds. Took me 2 weeks looking at the Atenelol before I took it!. Now i have to switch?? oyeeee!!. This is more stress too... Scared to do it,, scared not to do it.. heart pounding/palpitating it's own musical beat in my chest. BTW I am 36 and a smoker. ( i knowwwwwwwww).. That is another post.. lol.. Any suggestions, comments, how ya doin's or such is welcomes.. Thanks! Mary

zip2play · 02-04-2004, 08:38 PM

Mary,

You are the boss. TELL him that you've gotten accustomed to the effects of the atenolol and want to continue...perhaps at 50 mg (a very common starting dose.)
Tell him if it doesn't work than you will make the change to another drug.

Fill the XANAX Rx and take some or stockpile it for when you feel you need it. I've known a couple people who god BADLY strung out on the stuff...it's not for day in-day out use and can result in terrible dependency problems.

My own mother was on the Ativan (similar to Xanax)-atenolol route and it MANGLED her sleep pattern causing 3AM panic wakeups over and over...but she couldn't get off it/them! This went on for years....when she died I found a bagful of Ativan bottles.

hiramtraveler · 02-04-2004, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akahoneypotqt

I was prescribed 25mg of Atenelol 2 years ago for heart palpitations and anxiety. all stress tests/echo grams and such came back good. Doc thought it was strictly stress/anxiety. Well 2 years was a good 2 years for my palpitations were gone! 2 days agao they came back with a vengance! Been pretty much constant and now my once low blood pressure (or norm i should say) is 135/100 don't know if that is bad but i'm usually 120/80 or less! Never thought my bp was a problem. Anyway.. Heart beat is fast! 100-125 resting, and my heart is jumping out of my chest and palpitations I swear every other beat! I went to my doc who did an EKG and said it was textbook normal! said he felt it was extreme anxeity and that 25mg of Atenelol was "bulls*it". HIs exact words. He said that dose isn't even worth prescribing basically. He felt that my time had come to change meds and up the prescription. As well as to start taking Xanax again (which i had stopped regularly way back when).. I guess just the anxiety/stress in my life have just caught up with me. My question (thanks for being patient btw) is who has had good results switching from one to the other? Any problems I should be aware of. I had a obsession with NOT taking meds. Took me 2 weeks looking at the Atenelol before I took it!. Now i have to switch?? oyeeee!!. This is more stress too... Scared to do it,, scared not to do it.. heart pounding/palpitating it's own musical beat in my chest. BTW I am 36 and a smoker. ( i knowwwwwwwww).. That is another post.. lol.. Any suggestions, comments, how ya doin's or such is welcomes.. Thanks! Mary

Hi Mary, my expertise is not in the meds area, though I have had first hand experience off and on with anxiety and ativan. I can recommend, however, an excellent book: The Feeling Good Handbook by DAvid Burns. I do work with folks suffering from speech anxiety-this book covers that but does basically all areas. I can tell from your post that you are very literate (read and write a lot)-I think the book might help. The drugs are useful to sometimes reduce the symptoms to get your body to remember what it is like to relax, but until you break the thought to symptom connection your symptoms will probably persist. Good luck

rachelh69 · 02-05-2004, 04:55 PM

Hi Mary,
I agree with zip. I would ask the Dr to first increase the dose and see if it helps.
I've taken xanax and I absolutely hated the stuff and refuse to take it. I have tachycardia and if anything it made mine worse. Recently my Dr put me on lexapro for anxiety and it caused insomnia not to mention I thought I was literally going to start climbing the walls. I wanted to jump out of bed and start running until I collapsed from exhaustion. It made me feel spacey too. It was awful and I couldn't sleep for the next two nights. Then my DR wanted to put me on Buspar and I said no.
Instead of helping me it caused nervousness and agitation which I'm sure didn't help my anxiety which is more stress than anything else and I don't think my anxiety warrants medication. Not yet anyway and I can't stand to feel like I want to start clawing something. And it made the tachy worse.
ONe thing that has helped me is a chiropractor. I don't suggest this if you don't have back problems though. I do and it helps back pain and it helps the tachy. THe spinulator tables help to relax me and help with the pain.
If you don't have back problems you might try a massage therapist if you can afford it. You might try acupuncture.
Exercise helps, mainly walking.
Magnesium helped me. It helped with the palps(not the tachy though). It also helped to relax me too and I slept better at night.
You might even want to try yoga or meditation.
Your DR is not going to suggest anything that has nothing to do with taking a pill.
If that pill doesn't work they'll say take more and more until they switch you to something else.
Sometimes you can't get around taking a pill.
If xanax helps take it, just don't take it very often and try to find alternatives too.
BTW, I'm not knocking Lexapro. Some people really need it and probably helps alot of people. It just didn't help me.