Toprol-XL and nurse

Back in July I was experiencing rapid heart beats and shortness of breath. I'm a 43 white female with a high stress job. I went to the doctor expecting him to prescribe a sedative. He hooked me up to an EKG which showed I had a left bundle branch block. He then ordered blood work, chest x-rays, an ultra sound, and a nuclear stress test. All test came back fine, but my stress test showed a heart attack, which apparently is common with the left bundle block. I then wore a 24 hour Holter moniter which indicated tachycardia. That's when the doctor prescribed 50 mg Metoprolol. My BP and heart rate are now almost normal and the shortness of breath has gone away. I still experience a mild heaviness in my chest, but that is only when I allow my self to be stressed. I have gained over 5 pounds in less than 2 months and my dreams are more vivid than usual. One side effect that was listed on my drug info sheet that I haven't read about on this site described a cough, which I have had for over a month. I mentioned the cough to my doctor and he said it was prob post nasal drip so he prescribed 180 mg Fexofenadine and told me to cut the Metoprolol in half so I would be taking 25 mg. The Fexofenadine has helped with sneezing that I have always experienced, but the cough is still there. The cough is not always severe, but it has interrupted my sleep twice and my job once. The last bad coughing episode lasted 90 mins during the night. Has anyone else experienced the coughing side effect of Metoprolol?

I decided a long time ago, Doctor's are not the best listeners!! I am a nurse, I know!! Read my post today June 18th. I have been praying for an answer to all my symptoms, especially the profuse sweating I have been having for the past year!!! I believe I have found my answer at this site. Thank God I found it. All because I was looking up info about Toprol because after the doctor increased my dosage yesterday , today my ankles and feet swelled up like balloons!!!!! Now I have pitting edema!!!
I have gone to a # of doctor's in the past year and a half and I think they believe it is all " in my head"!!! I have been so depressed. My husband has even threatened to leave me. NO interest in much of anything. I don't know what it is like to sleep anymore :-( My husband says " just close your eyes and sleep like a normal person". Maybe after he reads the posts at this site he will begin to understand that everything I have been going through is "REAL". I am calling my Dr. in the morning and she will WEAN me off this awful drug!!! My BP has been going up since I have been on Toprol instead of going down. I have wondered why the Dr. didn't just change the med. It really makes one wonder. DO the Dr's ever hear what we are saying???? I would be happy to share stories with anyone on this site. How many of you have experienced profuse sweating???? The doctor will WEAN me off this drug!!! :-)
God bless everyone!! I pray you all get off this drug!! It needs to be pulled by the FDA!!!
Joyce47oh ;-)

Hi my history started from last couple months when I realize my bp went up very high(160/100) so I started metoprolol succinate 25mg,for couple days i felt fine and my bp went down but I noticed some pain in my right side so i thought maybe is the liver problem and i started to get off.After a week i was suffered from withdrawal(first week i decreased dose to 12,5mg)then my bp was very high so i called doctor and he prescribed metoprolol 100 mg and lisinopril 25(i never used this one)and hydloxiazyde 12,5 and i felt better for couple weeks then I started to get heart palpitation and very low bp so I quit hydroxiazyde and now I'm on toprol xl (oryginal brand) and still have chest tightness (i switch metoprolol to toprol one day ago)and how you guys divide the tablets to get exact amount its hard

Hi,
I just found this site and was wondering how long it takes this horrible drug to leave your system. I have been taking it for a year and have suffered the WORST depression and anxiety attacks from it. I have been lucky enough to have never suffered from any of these symptoms in my entire life and my heart goes ou to those who live with it every day
So far I have lost my job, any chance of sleep, and I can barely get out of the house in the morning. Its having a direct affect on my marriage, I have lost all intest in my hobbies, unable to concentrate, I'm just a wreck. I just saw my Dr. last week and she made my dose smaller (25 MG) for the past week and I feel worse. Is there any ending to this?

I am a female, 55 years old, and have taken Toprol XL 100mg. for the past 5 years for an irregular heartbeat. The symptoms of the premature beats caused an annoying sensation in my chest that I could not tolerate. My cardiologist prescribed several beta blockers before I finally found that Toprol worked the best for me. I have suffered with leg cramps for years....even before taking the Toprol. A nurse who worked for my internist suggested that I try a calcium supplement called "Calcet". This triple calcium supplement is a life saver. I only have to take half of the recommended dosage to have excellent results.....no more being awakened at night by severe leg cramps! The product is sold "over the counter" and can be purchased in any pharmacy or grocery store. As for the side effects of the Toprol; I am sure that I suffer from some adverse reaction as a result of taking the medicine. In any case, as with all medications, the outcome is a trade-off.....one must determine if the harm outweighs the good that the medicine offers.

I started taking Toprol XL on Wednesday 11-14. I had been admitted to the cardiac unit after having to be given 2 nitro pills and also a nitro patch to get my chest pain to go away and my blood pressure to come down.

That evening my cardiologist put me on 50mg of Toporol XL. I have had a headache pretty much since that night, that just won't go away. I had an anxiety attack last night that left he crying for no reason pretty much all night long, I have not slept well since the night they put me on it, I have been sick at my stomach since that night, I have been dizzy and not feeling like myself since that night, and I also continue to have a feeling of something being wrong, even though all the bllod work and the stress test came back good.

They told me that my problem was stress related and for the next 2 weeks am to try and remain stress free. But everytime I take the medicine I continue to feel worse with these same symptoms.

I am a nurse of 20 years and was placed on Toprol XL for super ventricular tachycardia (SVT) over a year ago. I was place on 25 mg dose after a stress test, ekg, echocaridogram and 24 hour halter monitor. I was not feeling any better and I was having periods of weakness, profuse sweating and being clammy. The cardiologist had me wear a 30 day event monitor and it showed frequent PVCs and runs of SVT. So he increased the dose to 50 mg. I continued to have the weakness, tachycardia, PVCs, extreme weakness, poor concentration and extreme periods of sweating with becoming clammy and some chest pain. Oh and I started having severe left leg pain that I had not had since my back surgery, so I went back to my pain specialist for treatment. I became so depressed, thoughts of life not worth living, poor endurance, not able to sleep in bed due to severe leg pain and increasing bouts of tachycardia, irregular heart rate, weakness, and sweating this is while at rest or working the symptoms remained. I forgot to mention that my blood sugar was increasing during this time to the point of in danger of being a diabetic.

I decided to stop the Toprol XL after reading some of the side effects that are less common. I was able to sleep in bed for the first time in 6 months, no leg pain. I called my cardiologist and he told me my symptoms were not consistent with Toprol XL side effects or reaction and to double the dose of Toprol XL. I refused and changed cardiologist, one who listened to me.

The result is I stayed off Toprol XL, after 5 weeks it is getting out of my system. No more sweating spells, cold clammy spells, extreme weakness, I feel part of life again and ready to go back into the world not hide from it, my blood sugar is getting back to normal. I am getting my strength and endurance back but have to rest some still, oh and I am losing the 25 pounds that I gained while on Toprol.

I still have irregular heart rate and that is okay but I am on a new medication that really seems to work. Oh, and the spinal implant that I was to have has been cancelled because the leg pain is almost gone and I sleep in a bed not a chair.

I have been taking it for two weeks. The first week I noticed severe itching lasting 30 minutes or more within 3 hours of taking the 50 mg pill. I also had headaches, insomnia, nightmares, ringing in my ears and short term memory loss. I thought these symptoms would decrease when my body adjusted to the medication. After taking it for one week, my blood pressure did not go down, but increased. I called my doctor's office to let them know. I should have reported these side effects at that time, but since I just talked to the nurse on the phone, I didn't mention them. The nurse told me the doctor wanted me to double my dose since it was not decreasing my blood pressure. I then began having swelling of the hands, feet, ankles & lower legs, joint pain, increased thirst, dry lips and mouth, shortness of breath in addition to the original side effects. The only thing that stopped was the itching. I am going to call my doctor's office Tuesday (we are in the middle of a 3-day weekend/holiday) and report all of this.

I've been on Toprol XL 100 mg for about 18 months with great results as far as lowering my blood pressure. Until the past couple of weeks I didn't realize that the symptoms of major depression, horrible nightmares, memory loss and chronic fatigue along with sleeping day and night were more than likely due to the medicine itself. After along discussion with my doctor, he has started me on a schedule to wean me off this class of drug while watching my blood pressure closely for rebound side effects. And get this.....I've been a nurse for 30 years......please ask questions when your doctor orders a new drug!!!

I've been taking 25mg of Toprol twice a day since the middle of February this year. Since then, my joints ache so badly, I'm so tired I can't function, and the nightmares! I thought for sure the Grizzly bear in my dream this morning had me for sure! My blood pressure is a bit lower than usual, but I haven't had the chest pain or noticeable irregular heart rate since I've been taking Toprol.
I guess to get a little, you've got to give a little. sigh.

I had what a nurse called as a hypertension crisis with a 220/130 bp. I went to the ER in an ambulance. After trying me on several meds over a short period of a few days, I am now on Toprol XL 50 mg. and cardizem LA 180 mg. I have only been on Toprol for 1 day and I already have leg muscle weakness and feel a sense of depression that I never have. I am also dizzy and have some shortness of breath. The doctor says that my heart is strong and that all my blood work was great. I am just worried that it won't stay that way. I have an alternative medicine physician that I will be talking to and looking for safer alternatives. Does anyone know if only 5 days on bp medicine and then weaning myself off will hurt me?

Interesting point. I too wore a monitor for 4 weeks, and after transmitting obvious "episodes" to the nurse, I was told my heart was normal so yes, why are we on Toprol if we are "normal" and who really reads the results anyway before transmitting it back to my PCP? Been on this med for 7 months for rapid/irregular heartbeat and some days I am too tired to care for my children, toes tingle, loss of appetite,short of breath/pressure, whole body aches like I have the flu, my heart still "thumps hard" and I get very light headed. I am seeking a second opinion next week. I'm an active, healthy 29 year old so I hardly call living like this NORMAL.