Stopping Atenolol Use After 11 Years Due To Body Rejection

I started using Atenolol 50mg daily in January 2002. For years I considered it a "wonder drug" since it easily took care of my BP issues and had no noticeable problems with side effects. I started noticing earlier this year that my BP was fluctuating more than normal... almost like the Atenolol was no longer effectively regulating it. I also just didn't feel like "myself" though I was still functional at home and work. Over the Thanksgiving weekend I developed Bradycardia episodes... a very slow irregular heartbeat that was approaching 40 beats per minute. These episodes increased immediately after taking my daily Atenolol dose. After the holiday I went to the emergency room and was there for a night in the hospital for observation. All results came back negative including blood work, chest x ray, treadmill stress diagnostics with heart sonar, numerous EKG's, etc. My family doctor finally diagnosed the problem as being related to long term Atenolol use. Apparently by body was starting to reject it and was becoming less and less effective. My doctor reduced my Atenolol use for complete withdrawal and started me on Norvasc 5mg daily. The Bradycardia episodes totally went away within two days after starting Norvasc and I feel like my life has been "reborn". I have an energy level that I haven't felt in several years. There are several forum posts on the net connecting the long term use of Atenolol with Bradycardia and I can honestly say if you develop similar symptoms after taking Atenolol long term... look at Atenolol first as being the problem. I can go into more details about my ordeal if anyone is interested.

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Hello, Steve! How are you doing? Sorry about the problem you had.

It is completely normal for you body to eventually get used to any medication that you take long-term and for it to begin to lose efficacy for you, basically your body just gets too used to it. Some medications work for many years for some people, such as it did for you, and some only a few months for some people.

If the doctors didn't look at how long you'd been taking it as possibly causing a problem, then I have to wonder what they were thinking.

Are there any other questions or concerns?

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Thanks for the reply. I am still doing absolutely GREAT! Probably haven't felt this good in at least a year or more. My doctor now has me down to 12.5mg of Atenolol plus 5mg of Norvasc daily. Have a week and a half to go before totally off the Atenolol. The less Atenolol I take... the better I feel. Simple as that. The long term use of Atenolol eventually resulted in all of my recent heart and breathing problems... that I am sure of. I have no regrets checking myself into the hospital and having all of the diagnostics done. I've needed all of those check ups for many years since I am not one to really see a doctor on a regular basis. Luckily they all came back negative and I have a clean bill of health... thank God. I'm also shocked the hospital docs didn't recognize the Atenolol as causing the problems... but it was the first thing my family doctor addressed after seeing my long term Atenolol use and evaluating the hospital reports. In any case... I'm finally living my life again!

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