Imuran & Betablocker interactions?

I'm on my trusted Imuran 100 mg and I recently added Atenolol 25 mg. I initially went to the cardiologist because of irregular heart beats. He was more interested in me fainting all the time and prescribed this Betablocker. Since then I'm having flare symptoms again (genital & anal ulcers, incontinence). Does it make Imuran less effective? For the sake of simplicity, I do take them together, at the same time. I'll definitely bring this up with him during the next appointment but I wanted to hear if you had any experience with this. I googled but couldn't find anything.

That's strange, Andreita. Once you are healed, you could try the beta blocker again and see what happens. If it does it again then you will know for sure. There are lots of different types of beta blockers so if you really need one a different brand might do the trick without causing the other issues. Fainting frequently could be very dangerous so I hope you can find the right med that will play nicely with your pouch.

Twice is enough to know. You will need to ask your doc for a different med.

I tried beta blockers once and had the same fainting problem. Beta blockers basically make your heart non-responsive to adrenaline, so that when adrenaline tries to make your heart work harder, like say when you are very anxious or walking fast, the heart does not respond. I fainted a lot from being on beta blockers, so I stopped them. I eventually learned that my heart beat irregularities were due to lack of magnesium and CoQ10. When I took those, the problem went away. I had to figure this out through alternative investigation because my doctor at the time claimed there was no clear reason for it. She ordered a bunch of really invasive tests, including an angiogram, and then I fired her. it was a naturopath who helped me figure out the problem, ultimately.

I am not personally aware of a connection between Imuran and beta blockers. They act on completely different pathways in the body. The only thing I can think of is blood pressure. Immune suppressants often have low blood pressure as a side effect. When blood pressure gets low, heart rate is supposed to increase to compensate, but a beta blocker would stop that. So the brain would get less oxygen, resulting in fainting. This is just a theory, I don't know for sure. I just know that beta blockers are not a good way to deal with irregular heartbeat. For that, I would see a naturopath... and honestly, I don't trust naturopaths for a lot, but they are good for arrhythmia.

That really sucks. Sorry. Does he have any other recommendations to try?

They gave me a different betablocker lol I haven't started it yet. I'm coming out of the flare though so that's good

@Andreita- mind if I ask why are you on immuran even after colectomy?

My son started daily beta blockers (for anxiety) in February and in April started flaring significantly, he asked his doctor if it could be the beta blockers and she said no so he kept taking them and started prednisone. He did a round of prednisone and it only helped mildly (which he was surprised by). In August, when flare was still not better he decided to do some research and found this study (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29111997/#:~:text=Conclusion%3A%20Even%20in%20this%20limited,of%20IBD%20and%20follow%2Dup.). It's only one study but he figured it was enough to make him try stopping beta blockers, which he did in August. Within a few weeks he was out of the flare and is still doing well. He felt like that was enough info for him to conclude that the beta blockers could be causing his flares. Funny enough, he was at Rhem dr today (for his joint pain) and we shared that story and she said "no way" beta blockers were cause. Which just seemed inconsistent with this study and his experience, but whatever. We keep learning lesson to listen to yourself. The doctor may be 100% right, but thought I'd share this anecdote with you.

I have crohns in my colon. Whenever I took propranolol, it wrecked my intestines and made crohns symptoms much worse. So at some point I dropped it and never touched propranolol or any other beta blocker again. Doctors are ignorant about this (and many other things). Listen to your gut.

I agree with FlowersGal. I have clonazepam as backup and been taking it occasionally as well for 10 years now. I think it's safe in small dosages (I take 0.25mg)