Beta Blocker

I am wondering if anyone has or is taking a beta blocker and has trouble sleeping. Since being being dx with LBBB and getting my ICD in 2018. My cardiologist put me on bisoprolol and I have had trouble sleeping. I wake up at least 2 or 3 times during the night.l quite often have trouble going back to sleep. I also have dreams every night and often wake up tired. Before my heart issue I would very rarely remember dreaming. I also have fatigue which I think is from not getting enough sleep. I have gone to a sleep clinic and they don't think I have sleep apnea, but I will be having a sleep study done in March. I discussed the possibility  of the beta blocker, causing some of these issues. They agreed that it's a possibility and that I should bring it up with my cardiologist. I'm curious to know whether anyone in the group has had any of these issues while taking a beta blocker? Thank you for any help that you can give me.  

2 Comments

Bisoprolol and other beta blockers

by Gemita - 2023-12-08 02:50:06

InSync, yes both my husband and I are on the beta blocker Bisoprolol as are many on this forum.  Speaking for the two of us, I can confirm that Bisoprolol may cause sleeping problems as can other beta blockers.  This is because many beta blockers can interfere with melatonin, the sleep hormone.  A sleep consultant actually told me this. 

I have experimented taking Bisoprolol at different times and nothing seems to help.  It can be difficult for me to fall asleep, to stay asleep and to get back to sleep if I happen to wake early.  I am not usually a nightmare sufferer but I can get nightmares occasionally too.   My husband has more in the way of vivid nightmares for other health conditions, so it is difficult to know whether these are always caused by Bisoprolol, but some of them will be, I suspect. 

What to do about this?  Firstly speak to your doctors to see whether you could try a different beta blocker that doesn’t cause melatonin disturbances (Carvedilol and Bystolic I believe, although there may be others) and switch to a new medication, or perhaps ask your doctor whether you could try melatonin supplements at night to see if these help?

Whatever you do, try to get a good night’s sleep because lack of sleep is clearly not good for our health.

Sleep

by piglet22 - 2023-12-08 05:39:17

I haven't had a decent night's sleep for many decades.

I could probably count the number of solid 8 hour sleeps on the fingers of one hand. I've forgotten the sleep of a child.

I've certainly been on beta blockers for almost the same period, firstly low doses of Atenolol then more recently, increasing doses of Bisoprolol up to the maximum dose of 10 mg daily.

Whether Bisoprolol has made things worse is hard to say. It might be the difference between bad and very bad.

At the moment, I have no choice but to stick with Bisoprolol as it's prescribed for ectopics.

Bedtime is the same pattern, drift off to the radio (BBC Radio 4) at say 23:00, wake up at 01:00, read for 30 minutes, drift off again, wake up again at 05:00, drift off.

Diruretics play their part as well.

The only consolation is I don't have to do a day's paid employment and I don't generally feel tired during the day.

As for dreams, some are so extraordinary that it's best they don't reside in permanent memory.

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