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Chest Pain (external), shallow breath, shortness of breath, anxie...

Posted at 3:39 AM on Oct 19, 2008 by garyw, #35801
Chest Pain (external), shallow breath, shortness of breath, anxiety, mild depression, lethargy. I have just started taking Toprol XL 50 MG because of a scary Atrial Fibrillation episode last week. When I was 30 my Doctor opter to put me on Norvasc to "control" my BP. My BP was 130/73. A couple of years later my new doctor changed me to Lotrel 5/10. My BP stayed in the same range despite me exercising less and gaining weight, and drinking more. Basically, I did all the wrong things. Despite that I never had any side effects from either Norvasc or Lotrel. Only other thing to note is I do have sleep apnea, untreated as of yet. Well, last week as I stated, I had an episode and went to the ER. They pushed Lopressor and eventually Toprol to get my A-Fib back to level. I was completely freaked out of course. I went to my doctor the next day and he prescribed Toprol XL 50 MG at bedtime, and to stop the Lotrel. I have been taking this drug now for 4 days. Here is my experience... I take the pill with dinner at around 9 pm. I then go to bed soon after. While I lie in bed, I feel like I need to consciously breath or I will stop breathing. If I get up this feeling goes away. My breaths are very shallow. I have sleep apnea, so I can visualize myself falling asleep and not breathing. I do have some anxiety surrounding this, but I would not say it is out of ordinary. Right now it is 3:33 am and I cannot sleep due to this issue. Every time I start to fall asleep I jolt back awake because I feel like I am not breathing. In the past three mornings, I wake up and feel anxious and downright depressed. I feel tired and wrung out. This appears to last until approximately 1 pm and then things start looking up. Then at 9 pm the whole cycle starts again. My mother and father take this medication. My father takes 2 * 100MG and he does not complain of side effects. My mother takes 2 * 50 MG and she has similar side effects as what I have described.
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Reply about 1 year ago on Oct 20, 2008 by tammiehope, #13642

I've been taking Toprol XL for about 4 years and I could not sleep until I started taking my medicine about 2pm. Take with food or milk. This medicine reaches "peak" about 5 hours after taking. Sometimes I feel a little shaky in the evening and have found that Toprol messes with your blood sugar. I try to eat small dinners, so I can eat cereal or something later in the evening. Hope this helps.

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