Summer3
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 35286
posted
I am not doing well on metoprolol. The beta blocker. I was put on it at 25mg per day for SVT. I'm having more episodes of SVT and it's not helping my blood pressure either.
My blood pressure was 89/49 today. My anxiety level is up and I'm not sleeping well. I'm also freezing cold and had a time span the other night where I was crying because I felt like I couldn't get a full breath of air. It was like severe air hunger.
The SVT starts to happen when I get closer to my next dose of Toprol. I take it at night and by the following afternoon, my heart starts beating extremely irregularly. That feeling lasts for hours even after I take the pill.
I do not like my cardiologist either. He explains nothing to me and doesn't take any time to figure things out regarding my case. He was completely unprepared at my last appointment. He hadn't even read the reports of my month-long monitoring session and never even mentioned my echo. He didn't even know I was off the event monitor and had been for several weeks! The appointment was supposed to be to go over the results of both tests and he wasn't aware and hadn't read the results of either of them.
The symptoms that this medication is supposed to be addressing are fainting/near-fainting, dizziness, lightheadedness, exercise intolerance and extreme fatigue. I would say my fatigue has improved somewhat but mainly because I'm starting to get extreme anxiety.
My report (which I did read) had a lot of benign rhythms (SVT, sinus tach, sinus arrhthmia, PVC's, PAC's, and atrial runs). I don't know if most cardiologists would have chosen Toprol for my symptom set and those findings or if there are other options. I don't go back for a month and I'm not really thrilled to see him again because I get the impression that he could care less and I don't trust him.
I think it was risky to put someone with low blood pressure on Toprol. I mentioned my BP to him and since it was 118/75 at his appointment he wasn't concerned even though it's always MUCH higher when I'm stressed out in doctor's offices. I think I would have been better off preventing fainting with Florinef or something that's used specifically to raise blood pressure. His goal is to lower my heart rate and he claims that will raise my BP and stop the near-fainting.
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