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Question:
Are my heartbeat symptoms due to my long-term use of a medication wearing off?
For the past 6 weeks my heart beats very hard when I lie down at night..(9pm on)...Even more so when I have a glass of wine or two. I have been on nadolol 80mg for the past twenty years. Just had stress echo and event monitor for two weeks that showed the usual isolated PAC/PVC's that I've had for years. My question...Is it possible my nadolol is wearing off ? I don’t get this sensation during the day...only when I lie down.
submitted by Andrew from Boston, Massachusetts on 2/24/2013
Answer:
by Texas Heart Institute cardiologist, Mohammad Saeed, MD
It’s probably not the nadolol which is wearing off, but PAC/PVC are usually felt more so at night time when there are not many distractions. It is also possible that the glass of wine at night may be contributing to the increased frequency of skipped beats. You can try eliminating the wine and taking nadolol at night time to see if it helps, otherwise it might be time to talk to your doctor about a new class of medications called antiarrhythmic drugs. These medications selectively work on the heart and help suppress the skipped beats and may be combined with nadolol if appropriate.
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Updated March 2013
