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Suggest Remedies For Chronic Fatigue And Low Heart Rate
Question: Hello,
I am writing on behalf of my husband. He has been working with his Internist to get this high blood pressure under control via various drugs (trying to add new ones, varying strengths, etc.). Continued readings from our two home machines are danger zone high: 1). 175 /108 with pulse of 79 and 2). 154/93 with pulse of 82. Also, he is VERY TIRED! Yesterday his pulse was as low as 46 due to what we believe is the wrong does of Atenlol. Slept all day. help!
I am writing on behalf of my husband. He has been working with his Internist to get this high blood pressure under control via various drugs (trying to add new ones, varying strengths, etc.). Continued readings from our two home machines are danger zone high: 1). 175 /108 with pulse of 79 and 2). 154/93 with pulse of 82. Also, he is VERY TIRED! Yesterday his pulse was as low as 46 due to what we believe is the wrong does of Atenlol. Slept all day. help!
Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully passed through your question and would explain that his blood pressure is still above the normal ranges and further changes to his therapy are needed to achieve the desired blood pressure values.
From the other hand, symptoms like chronic fatigue and low heart rate could be related to atenolol adverse effects.
You should know that atenolol is a beta blocker, and as such it can decrease the heart rate and also physical performance, leading to expressed fatigue. It is not a very helpful drug in the management of high blood pressure.
That is why, I would recommend reducing its doses gradually (with 25mg or 1/4 tablet every 3 days, up to 50mg. If these symptoms are still present, and his heart rate is still low, you can try to stop it.
I would also recommand adding a calcium channel blocker to his actual therapy, in order to have a better control of his blood pressure. I would recommend taking amlodipine 10 mg for this purpose. You can start with 5mg and increase the dose to 10mg after 5 days.
In this clinical situation, It is also important performing some blood lab tests to exclude other possible metabolic causes that may lead to this symptomatology:
- anemia. A complete blood count is necessary for this purpose.
- blood electrolytes for any electrolyte imbalance
- kidney and liver function tests
- thyroid hormone levels for possible thyroid dysfunction
- cortisol plasma levels for possible adrenal dysfunction
- fasting glucose
You should discuss with his doctor on the above issues.
Hope you will find this answer helpful!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully passed through your question and would explain that his blood pressure is still above the normal ranges and further changes to his therapy are needed to achieve the desired blood pressure values.
From the other hand, symptoms like chronic fatigue and low heart rate could be related to atenolol adverse effects.
You should know that atenolol is a beta blocker, and as such it can decrease the heart rate and also physical performance, leading to expressed fatigue. It is not a very helpful drug in the management of high blood pressure.
That is why, I would recommend reducing its doses gradually (with 25mg or 1/4 tablet every 3 days, up to 50mg. If these symptoms are still present, and his heart rate is still low, you can try to stop it.
I would also recommand adding a calcium channel blocker to his actual therapy, in order to have a better control of his blood pressure. I would recommend taking amlodipine 10 mg for this purpose. You can start with 5mg and increase the dose to 10mg after 5 days.
In this clinical situation, It is also important performing some blood lab tests to exclude other possible metabolic causes that may lead to this symptomatology:
- anemia. A complete blood count is necessary for this purpose.
- blood electrolytes for any electrolyte imbalance
- kidney and liver function tests
- thyroid hormone levels for possible thyroid dysfunction
- cortisol plasma levels for possible adrenal dysfunction
- fasting glucose
You should discuss with his doctor on the above issues.
Hope you will find this answer helpful!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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