Blacked out, hit my head and concussed...can't wait to get off Metoprolol/Coversyl

[T in YVR]

2 steps forward and 1 nasty step backwards in my recovery...

Last night I woke up around 2:30am and got up to go see my son as he was crying. I started to walk down our hallway and completely blacked out, fell over (on hardwood), hit my head and ended up being taken to the hospital in an ambulance. They said I have a concussion. I don't remember too much of what happened until the paramedics arrived as I was apparently unconscious for at least a couple minutes. It certainly scared my wife and 5 yr old son (poor little guy was asking if I needed a new valve and had to get another scar). The doctors did blood work and ran a CT Scan to look for bleeding and it came back negative which was good. I also have a massive bump on my temple (4" x 3") and aches all over my neck, shoulder and elbow from the fall. Most of this is a side effect of my heart medications (Coversyl - 4 mg daily and Metoprolol 2x25mg daily). I never once experienced anything like this before taking these meds. The side effects have been mostly manageable, but last night was like nothing I have ever experienced. I hope I can get off these 2 meds permanently. My cardiologist came around to see me in the morning and said we should look at lowering the dosage a bit. He said I had a "Vasovagal Response".

Unfortunately we were supposed to leave for 10 days in Hawaii today. Great timing - there were lots of cancellations to do. Anyways, the doctors told me that I should wait at least 24-48 hours before going anywhere, in order to see if anything worsens. Until then they said get lots of rest.

Boy this ought to create one hell of a bruise since I am on Warfarin...if I don't bruise from this, I'll be very surprised.

Anyways, for those on these drugs, be cautious if you feel these side effects. I used to only get the lightheaded feeling and dizziness when I was squatted down and then stood up too quickly, but in the past week (at the 4 month mark) its been happening a bit when I get up from a lying down position (such as when I am sleeping). I have also noticed my heart rate going quite low at rest (48-50bpm last night before bed). I was practically still asleep when this incident occurred so I did not think to get up real slow - and when I started to black out I had no way to stop it or control myself.

My recovery has been going so great. I'm in better shape now than I have ever been. But whew, what a rough day. My head hurts - time to lie down.
Tony

 

[mbeard]

Tony, I am so very sorry that this happened to you. I really hope you start feeling a lot better, and soon, and I am especially sorry that your trip to Hawaii got disrupted. Enough already.

 

[Agian]

Wow, that sucks. Sounds like your BP dropped too low, because you're on more medication than you need. I can certainly empathise. I'm on Losartan 50mg twice a day and Atenolol 50mg in the morning.

 

[T in YVR]

Thanks. What i am unclear on is whether this is in any way an indication that my heart is recovering and is not as dependent on the meds or not (since my BP and HR are appearing to be lower than they previously were). Not sure, but I have an echo in 2 weeks which may be telling.
T

 

[Agian]

I take the Atenolol and my heart-rate drops to between 70 and 80. By the evening it can get up to 110, if I'm stressed.

 

[Lynlw]

I'm sorry to hear this, especially since it messed w/ a trip to Hawaii and if your winter has been anything like ours, i'd probably cry if I was that close to going to warrm and sunshine then had this happen. PLEASE pay real close attention to how you are feeling the next couple days, might also want to ask your wife to mention if anything seems off and if so call your doctor or go back to the ER. Do you know what your INR was?

PS I am so sorry your son saw everything. Poor little guy must have been so scared. Tell him we think he is very brave

 

[T in YVR]

Thanks Lyn.
I'm watching things closely especially with the concussion. Lots of R&R and Tylenol. My cardiologist said my heart was fine. My INR was good at 2.4.

 

[Lynlw]

Are you also taking aspirin? did you see what I wrote abou your son? I think we were both writing at the same time

 

[T in YVR]

I am on a daily low dose aspirin but have stopped it while I take the Tylenol. Not sure if ASA is ok with Tylenol. I know you should not take it with ibuprofen. I suspect it's fine.

I missed your comment about my son. Thanks. Yes, he was very good about it and my wife explained it to him in a way that was age appropriate. He missed the worst of the accident which was good. He also got very excited when he saw the fire truck and ambulance at our house with lights flashing. That was a bit of a distraction which was good (until I got in the ambulance).

T

 

[Paleowoman]

I really feel for you having had a lot of steps forward and then backwards…including a fall but that was not due to blackout. I take Atenolol and my bp goes quite low, I sometimes feel dizzy and get a bit of double vision. I'm certainly not happy about this beta blocker but my heart rate is okay - between 75 and 80 bpm - very strong and loud which I hate. Seeing cardiologist to evaluate the beta blocker this Saturday. I was taken off fluid retention meds after only a few days post op due to low bp and dizziness. Both those types of meds can cause that.

Hope you recover soon from this.

 

[dg_moore]

Sorry to hear about your accident - best wishes for a speedy recovery. My life has been hellish due to meds - we can't find anything that controls BP and cholesterol without making me dizzy and queasy to the point of being unable to function. I've been working with my cardiologist: quitting Crestor has helped some, but not enough. I've also reduced BP med dosage quite a bit - with each reduction I feel better but my BP control is worse. If we can't find meds/dosages that control my BP and cholesterol without destroying my quality of life I"m tempted to take the chance and go without. The side effects are literally intolerable, and I've had years to acclimate with no success.

 

[AZ Don]

Sorry to hear about your accident and vacation cancellation. It is a good reminder to be careful for those of us that sometimes get lightheaded when getting up, especially if it is frequent. About 1-2 months after my surgery I was on Metoprolol, 50mg twice/day because I had a couple episodes of Afib. After going a few weeks w/o afib, my heartrate occasionally dipping below 50, and frequent lightheadedness when getting up, my Dr. reduced the dosage to 25mg twice/day. My HR is still lower than before surgery, but doesn't seem to be too low.

 

[AZ Don]

Dave,
FWIW, my father-in law used to take statins for cholesterol and finally had to stop all of them because he developed so many side effects. The Dr's were w/o options so my wife bought him red yeast rice from BioActive Nutrients. It lowered his cholesterol w/o side effects and he is doing so much better now. I understand the active ingredient in red yeast rice is comparable to that in the drug Lovastatin so I'm sure there is still the possibility of side effects.

 

[dg_moore]

Dave,
FWIW, my father-in law used to take statins for cholesterol and finally had to stop all of them because he developed so many side effects. The Dr's were w/o options so my wife bought him red yeast rice from BioActive Nutrients. It lowered his cholesterol w/o side effects and he is doing so much better now. I understand the active ingredient in red yeast rice is comparable to that in the drug Lovastatin so I'm sure there is still the possibility of side effects.

I've considered red yeast rice but have been a little hesitant - my wife took it for a while and had severe side effects and had to discontinue. But that doesn't mean it would affect me the same way - I'm thinking about giving it a shot.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Freddie]

Don't want to sound insensitive Tony, but did your doctor(s) say it was okay to go to Hawaii?
The reason I ask is b/c my doctors was against me going to Vancouver when I was 4 months out.

Do hope you're taking care of yourself and hopefully very soon you can start being weaned off those heart medications.

 

[T in YVR]

Hi Freddie,
I can do pretty much anything now at 4 months post op as it relates to travel. They have no restrictions on me (and I can even get insurance now while traveling - I had to wait 90 days post op for insurance coverage to kick in).

Since this occurred, I have continued to take my meds as prescribed with the exception of cutting back my Metoprolol at bedtime. I'll see how that goes to start. Fortunately my head feels a bit better today. I still have some headaches and stiffness in my neck though.

Thanks for the concern,
Tony

 

[Paleowoman]

I have high cholesterol but my profile is extremely protective: total 7.6 (293) (once went up to 9.4 (363)), HDL 3.6 (139), trigs 0.5 (44), LDL calculated so inaccurate with my profile, so I only take a teeny statin of 5mg pravastatin solely for it's pleitropic effect which has no side effects at such a low dose. I wouldn't touch a higher dose - cardiologist happy with this. I might even stop this low dose if I got doubts. There's quite a lot of controversy in the cholesterol world about levels and statins.

 

[T in YVR]

Ugh. Back at Emergency today. Crazy stuff going on. I woke up at 7am and my nose would not stop bleeding. Just like a someone turned on a tap. Blood running everywhere. Another CT Scan of my head confirmed that it was in my sinus cavity and nothing was abnormal with my brain and no broken bones, which was good. But somehow I broke a blood vessel in my sinus cavity after my fall and it filled up with blood, and I have other fluid in my ears. It took a few days for anything to happen (they called it a "delayed bleed", which can be more pronounced with warfarin apparently). They said there was no way to cauterize it and have asked me to stop taking warfarin for 1 day and then resume my normal dose after that.

I have also been taking Tylenol for 3 days and have learned how much it can apparently mess with your INR (I thought it was just ibuprofen that can mess with it?). My INR jumped from 2.3 on Monday to 2.4 on Tuesday and then 3.1 today, as I took more pain meds. So, its probably a good thing they want me to cut my warfarin dosage given my higher INR (which undoubtedly contributed to the bleeding). After 4 hours I managed to get the blood flow to ease up. My bruising has started to come in and boy do I look ugly...purple all around my eyes and temple.

Wow, this whole head injury thing is the last thing anyone wants right after OHS...now I know what to expect while on warfarin. I have cut my Metoprolol at bedtime and that seems to be helping with dizziness. Fortunately my concussion symptoms have been reasonably ok so far - just pain where I injured myself.

T

 

[mbeard]

Tony,

Sounds like you have had a really tough time this week. I am so sorry. Hoping and praying that you feel better soon. We are here for you.

 

[Lynlw]

I am sorry to hear this. Thankfully your brain CT is sill good, I can only imagine how nervous you must have been waiting for the results. Hopefully now that the bleeding stopped things will start getting better. What a miserable week, especially since you thought you'd be spending this time on the beach and not in the ER.