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Re: [RC] [Guest] Beta Blockers - Heidi SmithOn Behalf Of MarisR@xxxxxxx I think the response to the question has alot to do with which beta blocker, the dosage, and your friend's sensitivity to it. For most patients, at a low to moderate dosage, beta blockers will cause only minimal impact on exercise and heat tolerance. At higher doses, and in some very sensitive people, beta blockers can be very impairing. If your friend really needs a beta blocker for other reasons (there are so many choices for blood pressure control, but beta blockers also help with multiple other problems, they are cheap and have been shown to prolong life in hypertensive people) perhaps they can lower hte beta blocker dose and add a second medication. Maris Ramsay, (Family Physician) Thanks for a voice of reason from an MD! Pharmacology by and large is an imprecise science, as all individuals are different, and will react differently to various medications. My dad has been on various beta blockers and on some fairly high doses. He did finally reach a point where his doctor had to back off on one because he couldn't elevate his heart rate sufficiently, but he has led a full and active life on them, as he's been on various ones for years. My mom can't take them at all--she had a bout with high blood pressure this past winter, and even very small doses just caused her to fade out. (Her problems were caused by anxiety, and were able to be addressed in another way and actually solved.) I find it distressing that an MD would simply rule endurance riding out altogether for a patient on a beta blocker. Seems like a more rational approach would be what Truman suggested--start off slowly and see how it goes. Do some LD's, and if you feel good, do more. For those of us with hypertension, sitting around in fear of what might happen because of our beta blockers would likely just make matters worse. And I'd suspect that's true for other cardiovascular conditions for which beta blockers might be prescribed. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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