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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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High Blood Pressure |
Sinus Tachycardia and Toprol-XL06/11/2008 10:23AM |
I have been taking Toprol-XL 200mg daily for the past ten years to treat sinus tachycardia and mild hypertension. The medicine works well at controlling both the sinus tach and hypertension. My doc wants me to get allergy tested and the testing center basically stated they could not test me while on Toprol-XL because it can cause complications in the rare event that I would go into shock while skin testing. My doc stated that they could change my Toprol-XL so I could be tested. I remember once in the past they tried switching me to Procardia. It worked good for the hypertension but was not effective in treating the sinus tachycardia. I told my doc I would rather have nontreated allergies than go through the awful withdrawal symptoms of going off Toprol-XL again. Are there any other meds you can think of that I can discuss with my doctor that will control my sinus tachycardia and mild hypertension and still allow me to be allergy tested and treated? Thanks.
You can consider switching from Toprol XL to diltiazem (Cardizem). Diltiazem is a calcium channel blocker, similar to Procardia, but is slows the heart rate, while Procardia does not. Given your current dose of Toprol XL, the required dose of diltiazem would probably be 360 to 480 mg of a long acting formulation a day.
Diltiazem is a good substitute for patients who cannot tolerate a beta blocker. Be careful not to combine Toprol XL and diltiazem, The combination could cause your heart rate to slow down too much.
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Max C. Reif, MD Director, Hypertension Section Division of Nephrology & Hypertension Department of Internal Medicine College of Medicine University of Cincinnati |
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