Q: I have been taking 50 mgs of atenolol for years plus Losartan/hctz.. 100mgs-25mg 1tab daily..I have heart palpitations now. I am very concerned. Do my blood pressure medications cause heart palpitations?
A: The blood pressure medicine losartan (Cozaar) can cause heart palpitations and other forms of an irregular heartbeat. The most common irregular heartbeat is atrial fibrillation. To learn more about this condition go to this page on the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute site.
I absolutely agree they can either cause palpitations or cause them to be felt more. I used to suffer from PVC (premature ventricular contractions) and atenelol caused me to feel them more. What happens is since the heart slows down it allows the lower ventricals to fill up more with blood before pumping. When a larger volume of blood is expelled with each heart beat the PVC is felt more. I hope this helps.
I take 100 mg of atenolol in the am and in the pm with benecar, I agree, the atenolol gives me strong heart beats that I can actually feel. I usually get up from bed and sit up and do something to try and not concentrate on them and they go back to normal within 15 minutes. It does scare you.
Hi,
I have been taking this BP medicine Amlodopine 2,5mg and Losarton 25 mg for a long time. But I am taking Amlodopine 2.5mg and neurobeon after breakfast like
Oats/Dosha/Idali/ and Losortan Pottassium 23 mg in the night, it will not get you any guddiness in the night and it will stimulate your sleep also. I am quiet O.K. My B.P is normal.
Odd. Atenolol was prescribed for me for exactly that reason. To prevent the pvc’s. I’ve managed to lower the dosage over time but can’t seem to lose the last 25mg because when I try the pvc’s return along with chest discomfort.
I take (once daily) Atenolol (30 years)- 50mg and since it is a beta blocker it tends to stop/reduce my arrythmias. I have endured PVCs (68 years) and two spells of atrial fibrillation during this time (continuously irregular, force contraction of heartbeat) . I am 77 years of age so my life is almost over….I used to get anxiety/panic spells from the arrythmias, but now I realize that my advancing age will take care of the problem permanently! Also high blood pressure will often contribute to the number of arrythmias -indicator of when BP is high (for me). Fortunately I have low platelets (sp) so don’t need/shouldn’t)need to take aspirin.
Thanks for a great BB!!!
Jim
James, I also have low platelets but don’t know what this means. I asked the doctor and he said nothing. I would assume this is a good thing as more platelets would imply blood would clot more readily increasing MI or stroke risk. I also have low cholesterol, probably another good omen.
I have had pvcs off and on since my 20s. I was given atenolol years ago for this and hypertension. I took it for years and then had something else added, and now down to one now isradipine. However, my HR never got back to normal in that I have bradycardia (slow HR) so much so that my doctor says I have sick sinus syndrome. I exercise regularly and sometimes intensively (for my age of 70). That could cause a lower HR. But could the BP medication have caused the slow HR over the years to continue? It runs in the 50s and 40s with an occasional 39. I do notice feeling it more when it is lower.
My 25 mg dose of atenolol for hypertension was increased to 50 mg to help with an alarming number of PVC’s I was experiencing.
It seemed to work. PVC’s can be associated with the fight or flight response of the human body e.g. stress.
Pretty sure that’s what brought mine on.
Not bothered much by them now, as I retired a few years ago. However, I get an occasional episode. Last severe one was after my daughter had a medical emergency. Stress got me again-
Resperate has also to helped my deal with stress.
High blood pressure in progress to get it down with tablets