Stopping Atenolol

[Greentea73]

Hi,

I've been on 100mg of Atenolol for about 2 months now. I'm supposed to see my doctor on monday and I plan on telling him that I want to stop the Atenolol. I realized today that I don't have any refills left on my current prescription and only one dose left.

Has anyone else stopped taking Atenolol cold turkey? I heard some get a bad reaction. It's not expensive, so it wouldn't be a huge deal to get another prescription, but it seems wasteful to get one knowing that I will ask to quit in less than a week.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mgraylorn]

This drug is a beta blocker. You can suffer serious rebound hypertension if you just stop taking it, especially at higher doses (100 mg) and if you have been taking it for a long time. You need to wean off this drug slowly. Cut your 100 mg in half and take 50 mg for a week or so. Then cut it down to 12.5 mg and take that for a week or so, before stopping altogether.

You can ask your pharmacist to just fill part of a prescription. When I was trying new meds, I would ask to just get 10 pills, so if I got bad reactions and couldn't take them, I wasn't out much.

[Looly]

I tried stopping Atenolol cold turkey. I was taking 50 mg. Dr said it would be fine. It wasn't. I would refill your prescription to be on the safe side of caution. It's just not worth the bad effects of stopping without another b/p drug to replace it. Since it's not that costly, why suffer needlessly. I would, if I were you, halve the dose until Monday - but that's about it.

[skylark]

I was on Toprol xl (beta blocker) for 5 years, I changed my diet to include more fruit & veggies etc, my BP really started getting lower. I took my readings to the Dr. She gave me a 7 day supply of 50mgs and a 14 day supply of 25 mgs. went to see her after 3 weeks and she said to just stop them. my BP is around 112/72 and she said to see how it goes for a few weeks then half my DiovanHCT and then get off them. I feel so much better already coming off Toprol and hope to get off the Diovan as well. I read all the labels for sodium content on food now. It is scary how much is in the stuff we eat!

[Greentea73]

Thanks for the info.

I'll talk to my doctor tomorrow and get a refill.

I'm looking forward to getting off of Atenolol. 50mg was okay, but 100mg is kicking the crap out of me.