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GERD AS A RESULT OF BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICATION

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Posted 6/7/2006 2:36 AM (GMT 0)
Over the years I have experienced slight GERD problems, but after a few months on a beta blocker, Atenolol, GERD became a major problem.  I am blaming the GERD worsening because of this medication as it really became a huge problem when taking Atenolol for a few months.  It got so bad I had to eliminate anything good I liked to eat.  And even though I've discontinued the medication I am left with GERD symptoms and I'm totally miserable like the rest of you.  I am wondering if anyone has developed GERD or your GERD worsened because of medication.  Having been off of Atenolol now, as my blood pressure in the normal range (Yeah!) and probably never really having to need the med. but just given to my by a heavy hand doctor, I can't believe that I'm left with this awful condition that keeps me up at night and doesn't allow me to eat like the normal person I was before the meds. Does anyone identify?  Miserable!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 6/7/2006 7:08 AM (GMT 0)

Yes!!!!

I had the odd episode before but when i started on a certain anti depressant it became so unbearable i had to change to another antidepressant (this all happened in december of  last year) since changing my GERD has improved greatly but i too am still left with some of the symptoms although they are milder, not sure if its just residual from the first lot of meds or if its still happening because im still taking an antidepressant.

Nell

Posted 6/7/2006 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, I know exactly how you feel. I take a beta blocker called Topral. Ever since I started taking it I have had GERD. I too have had to give up most foods that I like. My doctor won't let me stop taking the Topral. There has got to be something else.

Maybe yours will clear up more has time goes on since you dont have to take yours anymore. I hope that with the walking I have been doing, that at my next visit I can maybe start to cut down. But that is not until August.


Laurie
Posted 6/10/2006 10:45 AM (GMT 0)
Hi. I just joined tonight. I had taken Toprol for 15 days and now I think I have GERD. I have never had heartburn in my life. It is so bad that it wakes me up at night. I started getting chest pains within days of taking the Toprol. It was so bad that the doctor told me I had coronary disease and sent me for a stress test with an ekg and echo. The cardiologist said that my heart is perfectly normal and fine, but the pain from this heartburn is so bad that I swear I am having a heart attack. All day today I felt like I had a two ton weight on my chest and now tonight I am unable to sleep. I can't believe that taking this medicine for such a short period of time would leave me like this. I took 150mg of Zantac before I went to bed and I still woke up. I am uncertain if I can take more than that? Does anyone have any advice? Thanks.
Posted 6/10/2006 11:32 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Rose,

Hang in there. I had the exact same thing happen to me. Right down to the testing for heart disease. All the tests came back fine. The heart doc sent me to a GI doc who gave me Nexium that took a long time to work. Now I take Aciphex, which worked well in the beginning, but is not so well right now. Considering how I felt in the beginning is waaaaaaaaaaay better.

It's scary to have your chest hurt all the time. Let us know if your doctor gives you something different. Mine says no for now, but with exercise maybe I can bring my heart rate down.

Thanks, Laurie
Posted 6/10/2006 2:41 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the reply Laurie. I stopped taking the Toprol about a week ago. I only took it for 15days. I am hoping I am not going to have to suffer from this for the rest of my life because of my stupid doctor. He gave me the Toprol because I had been on an antibiotic for a sinus infection for three weeks and had a very scary epidsode one night where I woke up paranoid and sweating with my heart pounding. I stopped taking the antibiotic and went back to the dr. and instead of giving me a different antibiotic he said I needed to take the Toprol to regulate my heartbeat. I knew that I shouldn't have started taking it, but I did anyway. I wish I had listened to myself instead of the doctor. Now I need to find another doctor and start all over again. The first doctor INSISTED that it was impossible to get heartburn from the Toprol. How can they be so unfeeling? I am so mad right now that I have to suffer with this because of him not listening to me.
Posted 6/10/2006 3:34 PM (GMT 0)

Thanks Rose,

I have been taking Toprol since January 06. One doctor says it doesnt cause acid reflux the other says it does. 

Sound to me like you had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic and really didn't need Toprol at all.  Why would a doctor do that to someone? Who knows.

I hope everything turns out good for you! Having this GERD really stinks! sad

Posted 6/10/2006 4:23 PM (GMT 0)
My gerd was caused by a doctor's incompetence with medicine too so I really really feel for you. I knew better too but just felt like I should listen to the doc. I now question them, get second opinions, etc.... without being obnoxious and they really don't mind at all. I also read a lot more and do research online (within limits...cause you can really get off track with the internet).

I hope this is a temporary thing for you. Daily chest pain is such a bummer. I have dealt with this for 3 years all because of unnecessary meds...my doc even told me he was prescribing stuff, watching my reaction, and using that as a way to diagnose me!! I found a new doctor!!!!

I believe 100% I never would have had gerd had it not been for the meds. Probiotics help me a lot...but I have to be on Nexium too.
Posted 6/11/2006 1:46 AM (GMT 0)
Rosequilts...so sorry to read that another one of us has suffered under the hands of a know it all doctor. I too didn't need the Atenolol (same category as Toprol). I had heart racing for a day or two but was put on 50mg atenolol for that. When I told my doctor that I was having digestion problems from it he said "hey I take it too and it doesn't cause me any problems." I should have known then that he didn't know what the heck he was talking about and that I should have gotten off the pill. But I didn't. I continued for five months after that, suffering terribly. I gave up every type of food that I enjoy, spent nights up in misery as there were other side effects (all of which the dr said was impossible, and then I went on another health board and read that there were many out there in cyberspace who had the same side effects I was having. To make this story short, I stopped going to this doctor, went to another, who I currently with, and weaned off of the Atenolol. Beta blockers which are used for high blood pressure and tachardia (racing heart occurances) have awful side effects, one of which is indigestion, gas, and GERD. I am currently on no blood pressure medication and doing just fine. However the long term effects of this medication has caused me to be depressed because now I am stuck with this GeRD problem and being sensitive to meds, I don't get that much relief, except from over the counter drugs that just mask the symptoms. Dr's are notorious for prescribing medications that have side effects they don't even know about When I want to find out somehing I would trust my computer more than I would trust a doctor. We have to be our own doctors. I am seeing that more and more every day as I have an elderly father in Florida who's doctor almost killed him prescribing him medication that landed him in the hospital twice. It's scary that we can't trust our doctors. they all push medications that do more harm than good. Maybe there is truth to the notion that drug companies give these doctors kickbacks if they prescribed all that they do. Just a though. Anyway, good luck to you. Hope you are feeling better. Life on a beta blocker was like the worst 6 months I've had in a long time.
Posted 6/11/2006 3:42 AM (GMT 0)
I've been on Toprol for 4 years for high BP. It actually seems to have helped my GERD. But........now I am addicted to it. By that I mean that every time I try to come off of it, my heart speeds up and won't come down. I hate it. I wish I'd never started it, but at the time 4 years ago, my entire sympathetic system went haywire (I think it had to do with menopause and fluctuating hormones), and it made me feel alot better. But.....I think it's so very unfortunate that doctors just put you on meds without trying any other way to deal with things. They are so UN-holistic.
Rosequilts.........I think that's absolutely horrible that your doc put you on Toprol just because your heartrate went up one night. I definitely would see another doctor. But.....if you ever come off of it, do it VERY slowly.
One of my biggest pet peeves, after seeing alot of doctors for my fibromyalgia, is that they seem to have very little experience with peoples' side-effects. I think they just don't want to deal with them, so they say that they aren't possible side-effects.
Posted 6/11/2006 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
I've only been on Topral for 6 months. My doctor prescribed it because of my very high blood pressure (sometimes 220/120) and rapid heart rate. It has brought my heart rate down very well and I do feel better in that regard. I do have all the other symptoms, but mostly it's the GERD that bothers me the most. Like every single day.
I'm starting to wonder if I have fibromyalgia. Cathy what are the symptoms? I have a pain in the center of my back when I get up in the morning. I thought it was the acid reflux because it goes away when I get up and move around. Now
I'm starting to wonder. I've also been having trouble with my elbow and also if I sit for any length of time I'm really stiff when I get up. It goes away after I move in just a minute. Just curious.

Thanks, Laurie
Posted 6/11/2006 10:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Laurie,
May I ask your age? I'm seeing alot of women develop symptoms of fibromyalgia when perimenopause starts. Fibromyalgia symptoms include lots of pain in various muscles and joints, GI problems (like IBS), sleep problems, thinking problems, fatigue and some others. Mine started out as feeling like a had the flu all the time. There were several years when I had incredible shoulder and chest pain, then it changed into hip pain. My pains move around all the time. Supposedly, people with fibromyalgia have "pressure points" at specific places on our bodies, and then the doc presses on them, they all hurt. Thank heavens that most docs believe in fibromyalgia now, and don't just treat it as an emotional disorder. My absolute worst symptom is constant fatigue. No matter what I do, I'm fatigued all the time.

I would like to ask all of you on Toprol..........has it made you tired, and does it make you really dumb? I got so that I couldn't think at all! I came down slowly from 75 mg to 50 mg last year, and it helped my thinking sooooooooooo much. Then recently, I tried to come down from 50 to about 35mg, and my body went crazy. My upper GI problems came back with a horrible vengeance. I couldn't figure out why a beta blocker would help all those symptoms in me. Anyhow.....I had to go back up to 50mg. Would LOVE to be off it.
Posted 6/12/2006 12:21 AM (GMT 0)

Hi Cathy,  I'm 41...soon to be 42 in July.

I never really thought about it, but since I have been on the Topral I have made alot more mistakes at work.  I also do really strange things...like drive 10 miles to go to the store and forget my purse at home.  I cant seem to remember anything.  Someone can tell me something and I won't remember what they said in only a few minutes.  I find that I have to write everything down or I will definatly forget. It very frustrating.

In December, right before Christmas, my blood pressure sky rocketed and my heart rate was very high.  I went to the cardiologist and he did an EKG, nuclear stress test, echo, and sleep study.  I started taking blood pressure medicine which helped the blood pressure, the other heart tests came out fine.  My sleep study said I have sleep apnea.  Where does this come from all of the sudden?  So now I use a CPAP, which is very hard to get used to but it seems to help the GERD.  I still have chest pain, pain in my back sometimes lower back and sometimes upper back to the point I have trouble walking, and in my elbow and knee. Mostly my left elbow, sometimes my hand(s) feel numb or like they tingle. No matter how much sleep I get I still feel tired during the day. 

What are the pressure points and how do they test for them? 

Thanks for your reply!

Laurie

Posted 6/12/2006 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Laurie,

This is really wild.......you sound so much like me. When I was about 52, my heartrate started going up, I started freaking out at things like going to the doctors/dentist's, and my BP really started going up. I started getting incredible pressure in my chest and neck, and spent 7 months sleeping in a chair! I had a stress echo and it was normal. I went back on my aciphex (which I had been off of), and went on Toprol, and my problems started clearing up. I really think alot of this was perimenopause. I guess I'm in menopause now (age 56), but I still have some hormone fluctuations (it happens when my ovaries hurt.....even though I don't have periods any more).....and my heartrate goes up, I'm extra nervous, my joints get loose, my IBS gets worse, as does my GERD.
41 is pretty young to really be getting into perimenopause, but it wouldn't be impossible.
Here's something else you and I have in common.........I have sleep apnea too. I just did the sleep study a couple weeks ago, and found out a few days ago that I have moderate obstructive apnea. They want me to come back in for another night study, but it freaks me out so much, I'm not going to go! I'm going to try to talk the doctor into letting me figure out the pressures at his office during the day, and try it out at home at night. I have heard that apnea can cause high blood pressure.
I don't know for sure........but it feels like perimenopause/menopause has turned me into a person with constant angst. I've tried to come down on my Toprol, thinking it was causing my fatigue, and definitely my brainlessness.........but my heartrate goes crazy......as does my GERD.
So I feel sort of trapped.
What good effects do you feel that you're getting out of your cpap machine? I just can't imagine that I could use it, since I'm a bit claustraphobic.......but I sure would like to see if it helps my fatigue.
Are your periods still normal?
The pressure points are something like in 18 places around your body. Do an internet search and you'll find a drawing of where the points are.
Fibromyalgia is a "disease" of exclusion. That means that there are no tests for it, so you just have to be sure it isn't anything else that CAN be tested for..........like M.S., Lyme disease, etc.
You might try taking B12 tablets. Many times that can help with tingling.
Feel free to ask me more questions if you like.

It wouldn't surprise me if your thinking problems were caused by your Toprol. It got really ridiculous for me. I almost felt retarded. But....."brainfog" is also very common in fibromyalgia.
Posted 6/12/2006 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Cathy,

We do sound alot alike!

My blood pressure goes up when I'm ovulating every month even on the meds. I'm always scared that every pain I have is something else. My periods are still at the same time every month, but seem to be heavier. One day out of it I can't leave the house its so bad.

The second sleep study is okay. Its the same as the first except with the gear. It is very hard to get used to something on your face after years of having nothing. I woke up many times while I was there. I tried to do alot of extra stuff during the day that I was going to make myself tired. They said I stopped breathing an average of 20 times an hour. And that I move my limbs alot. The doctor is trying the CPAP first to see if my limbs stop moving at night when I'm sleeping. I've been on it for 3 months now. The first month was rough. I couldn't make it longer than an hour with it on before I would wake up un a panic and rip it off my face. Now I can go about 5-6 hours. It is loud and I still have trouble adjusting to it. I do think I look better than I did, not such dark circles under my eyes. And it has helped with the GERD and the blood pressure. Believe me you don't feel very attractive with the contraption on you head, but I do feel like I have more energy during the day. Before I used to fall asleep at around 2 in the afternoon, now I dont feel like that until about 8 at night. My uncle also has sleep apnea, he has used the CPAP for 5 years now. He said it would take awhile to get used to it. The reason I know it helped with the GERD is because I was off of the CPAP for about a week because the first mask I had was leaking air. During that time my heartburn seemed to get worse. After I was back on it calmed down again. Give it a try. I know I was totally against it at first, but I'm open to anything that will make me feel better.

What I really wish it helped is my concentration. I noticed today that I have to read something over and over till it finally sinks in.

Thanks for sharing with me Cathy. Not that I'm happy we are sick, but it is nice to have someone to share with and understands. I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Laurie
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