Clonidine and beta blockers
Common Questions and Answers about Clonidine and beta blockers
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My consultant is talking about putting me on Clonidine, and being a steroid based drug does this mean everyone will put on weight?
I can't have beta blockers as I also have asthma, so I realise my options are limited, but I really can't cope with weight gain, mentally or physically.
Any advice would be helpful as I'm totally in the dark as far as high BP goes.
Clonidine belongs to a class of drugs called central alpha-adrenergic agonists, so no...it is not a beta blocker... Beta-blockers have been used in cocaine rehab as it can control the "fight or flight' response ...
beta blockers? clonidine? guanfacine? alpha blockers? Ace receptor blockers? calcium channel blockers? All seem awful for my case. (e.g. what if it turns out have a hidden pheo? what if i do have mast cell). plus am so intolerant of meds. And with those swings in bp, this is not normal hypertension. Anyone have success? docs are useless and I'm doctored out!!
Why dont they ditch the ace inhibitors and beta blockers, and put you onto calcium channel blockers. These will lower blood pressure, by resticting the amount of calcium that the artery muscles can absorb, and act as a heart relaxant.
200+ is too high and sustained levels as high as this are likely to start causing long term problems. I assume kidney tests have shown they are functioning correctly?
I had to stop taking atenolol and all beta blockers because of major short term memory loss and other adverse side effects. Even 10 mg is more than my body can handle. It is not unusual for dysautonomia patients to be so sensitive to beta blockers that we cannot take it. I call that time in my life - Beta Blocker Hell. I also could not tolerate mestinon but the effects were much different than Beta Blockers.
I know that Tizanidine is similar to Clonidine and I have read that if you stop Atenolol while on Clonidine you could go into hypertensive crisis due to alpha antagonism. I am curious if this is also an issue with Tizanidine. I've read Tizandine is like 1/50th the potency of Clonidine but I'm not sure if there are any issues here. I am only taking 12.
Finally they put me on Clonidine 0.1 mg 3 times a day and carvadilol at 12.5 mg 2 times a day. They were so puzzled by my positional tachycardia(fast heart rate) of 120-150 and my blood pressure getting as high at 222/138. All I was doing is getting up to walk around. Finally with this combination of meds everything is under control for now. I feel dizzy and tired from the meds but anything is better then being on a constant adrenaline rush!
I was wondering if anyone gets tired or dizzy after exercising at a moderate pace while being on beta blockers? I am trying to get back into exercising and I walked yesterday for about 30 minutes, and I haven't done that it months, well I felt a little dizzy at the end of my workout. Now I have walked 10, 15, even 20 minutes at a moderate pace and been fine, but yesterday It was a noticeable difference. I don't know if it's all in my head or if it's the medication.
That helps a lot of people, myself included. FWIW, I hated being on a beta blocker. Some people tolerate beta blockers okay, though, and as far as I know, there is no problem with drinking a glass of wine per night on a beta blocker. Biofeedback is also worth a try, if you have access to it. Good luck.
selective and non-selective. Selective beta-blockers, such as metoprolol, act primarily on the Beta-1 receptors in the heart. Non-selective beta-blockers, such as propranolol act on both types of receptors, in both heart and lungs. Propranolol and other medicines in its class are capable of evoking bronchospasm in people with asthma. Metoprolol is selective, but not entirely so; thus, asthma worsens in some people given this “selective” medicine and you may be one of them.
Newer beta-blockers such as carvedilol (coreg is a beta blocker and ACE inhibitor, slows hr and lowers bp...my medication) or nebivolol are better tolerated. These beta-blockers have a vasodilating effect, which may beneficially affect systolic blood pressure in the aorta. Their long-term cardiovascular outcome in hypertension is still not known. Further studies would be required to show that stroke is adequately reduced by these newer beta-blockers.
I have had a high resting heart rate (100-130s) since July, and I finally decided to go ahead and try a beta blocker to help lower my heart rate and reduce the chest pain. I have normal-low blood pressure, so I know I'll have to keep an eye on that and any side effects. I don't remember which one my doctor said he was going to call in (I think it's propranolol), but I was just wondering if there is a beta blocker that works best... or do they all pretty much work the same?
Like shortness of breath all the time swollen legs and feet my hands and feet turned purple and i was so pale. My blood pressure was so low like 90/50 and had a pulse in the 30's and 40's it was horrible. I don't take anything now except Ativan.
Some people just can't tollerate bb's. And some people do fine on them.
Ablation, hmmm. I guess if things get worse, dont improve after we try every beta blocker and ccb, it might be something we can look at, we would hhave to see if I would benefit from that.. but I have a cardiologist thats willing to try anything that might help.
I was told mine we're benign but I asked for an another echo so I'll have that done in feb.. theres a waiting list. The last one I had was 2 years ago it was normal.
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