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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Does Nadolol Cause Memory Loss And Confusion?

Hello Dr. Rynne, Thank you in advance for your professional input. I have been diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension and prescribed nadolol. I was not taking anything else new when I started nadolol. After about 3 weeks into taking this medication I began having increased memory loss and unable to comprehend what was being said to me. It was necessary to have most everything repeated 3 and 4 times. I decided to gradually come off the medication gradually, over a period of a few weeks and thank goodness all symptoms disappeared. I told my pulmonary consultant about my experience and he said he was not aware of these symptoms being related to nadolol. I am curious if you are aware of these symtoms while using nadolol.. Ernestine
Mon, 5 Feb 2018
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hello! Welcome to HCM!

Nadolol does not have any scientifically documented adverse effect of memory loss. However, having said that I would like to mention that a common side effect of this drug (reported in >10% cases) is drowsiness and diminished alertness. It is in fact used for the treatment of Agression in Schizophrenia. I would speculate that this is in fact what you were suffering from. It is also likely because you are taking a Beta blocker (i.e nadolol) for the first time and hence you are likely to be sensitive to the complete range of effects the drug has. So you were right in tapering off the drug which consequently reduced your symptoms.

Regards,
Dr. Nirvik Sinha, General & Family Physician
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Does Nadolol Cause Memory Loss And Confusion?

Hello! Welcome to HCM! Nadolol does not have any scientifically documented adverse effect of memory loss. However, having said that I would like to mention that a common side effect of this drug (reported in 10% cases) is drowsiness and diminished alertness. It is in fact used for the treatment of Agression in Schizophrenia. I would speculate that this is in fact what you were suffering from. It is also likely because you are taking a Beta blocker (i.e nadolol) for the first time and hence you are likely to be sensitive to the complete range of effects the drug has. So you were right in tapering off the drug which consequently reduced your symptoms. Regards, Dr. Nirvik Sinha, General & Family Physician