I am a 19 year old who had a mitral valve repaired and I am forced to take beta blockers for up to a year after the surgery as part of the recovery process. Before the operation I was an active college athlete. I am reading that these beta blockers cause people to gain weight and make it difficult to exorsize. Is this true? If so what can I do to stop this?- Thanks
Beta Blockers Effects on my fitness
- Thread starter Sjrlax69
- Start date
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The Mayo says it can cause the weight gain http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/beta-blockers/AN01409
so if you take them for one full year you will have an average life expectancy of 75 or 55 more years or in excess of twenty thousand days to exercise unfettered by beta blockers I thinkk you willl lose any gain and what it adds to your life is .....BONUS
so if you take them for one full year you will have an average life expectancy of 75 or 55 more years or in excess of twenty thousand days to exercise unfettered by beta blockers I thinkk you willl lose any gain and what it adds to your life is .....BONUS
I am 55 but a serious daily jock. Tri sports and skiing are my life. I have been on Beta blockers for 3 months and have experienced NO wt gain. If you want to put on wt.,eat sugar salt and junk food.
Beta blockers will artificially slow you heart rate down. You can no longer train with reference to the age verses heart rate table. You must now train according to the intensity table.
Beta blockers initially may make you tired and depressed. I found this past after a few weeks.
That's my experience with the drug.
NCAA Lacrosse goalie, very cool. Your reflexes will return after the adjustment period. I believe you will not gain weight. Remember food choice and lack of exercise makes you gain weight. Avoid also the sugar drinks!
Beta blockers will artificially slow you heart rate down. You can no longer train with reference to the age verses heart rate table. You must now train according to the intensity table.
Beta blockers initially may make you tired and depressed. I found this past after a few weeks.
That's my experience with the drug.
NCAA Lacrosse goalie, very cool. Your reflexes will return after the adjustment period. I believe you will not gain weight. Remember food choice and lack of exercise makes you gain weight. Avoid also the sugar drinks!
RobThatsMe
Well-known member
Hi Sjrlax69,
Since beta blockers lower your heart rate, this also slows your body metabolism.
A slower body metabolism means that your body will burn fewer calories, thus the potential for some weight gain.
I would also like to share some information regarding beta blockers that I have posted several times over the years that I have been on this site. The information was provided by a nurse.
Re: Exercise with low pulse from medication
by ljandie91 (WebMD), 8/18/00 10:09 PM
Hello,
Your heart is getting an adequate workout as long as you raise it 20-30 beats
per minute over your resting levels. You can't calculate a target heart rate
based on the traditional method of subtracting your age from 220 and
multiplying it by 70-85%, because of the beta-blocker.
In the cardiac rehab setting we usually use 70-85% of the highest heart rate
achieved on the pre-exercise stress test, if the medication(s), especially
beta-blockers, were taken before the test. If the medication(s) were held,
the highest heart rate achieved must be further adjusted for these meds;
typically a range of 10-20% more depending on the size and frequency of the
beta-blocker dose and the dose(s) of other medications being taken that may
also be lowering the heart rate. Sometimes this method of calculation is
ineffective; in this case we often use the simple formula of resting heart
rate plus 20 to 30 beats per minute. This range is decided upon based on
whether or not the person is still ischemic (blockages that are preventing
adequate blood flow to the heart), the amount of heart muscle damage from the
heart attack, the ejection fraction and other individual considerations.
In regard to your question about time of day to exercise, in my opinion you
are actually better off to exercise earlier in the day, when your
beta-blocker is having the most effect on your heart rate. I can't evaluate
this in relation to your condition, because I don't know what the situation
is with your heart's blood flow. In general the effect of the beta-blocker is
to improve blood flow to the heart muscle, so it is better protected from the
potential effects of decreased blood flow and thus you are less likely to
have angina. Hope this is clear and helpful; I will watch for additional
posts from you should you have another question.
Sincerely, Laurie Anderson, RN, BSN
I hope you find this information useful. You may want to copy this to a document and save it to your "Health Folder" on your PC.
Rob
Since beta blockers lower your heart rate, this also slows your body metabolism.
A slower body metabolism means that your body will burn fewer calories, thus the potential for some weight gain.
I would also like to share some information regarding beta blockers that I have posted several times over the years that I have been on this site. The information was provided by a nurse.
Re: Exercise with low pulse from medication
by ljandie91 (WebMD), 8/18/00 10:09 PM
Hello,
Your heart is getting an adequate workout as long as you raise it 20-30 beats
per minute over your resting levels. You can't calculate a target heart rate
based on the traditional method of subtracting your age from 220 and
multiplying it by 70-85%, because of the beta-blocker.
In the cardiac rehab setting we usually use 70-85% of the highest heart rate
achieved on the pre-exercise stress test, if the medication(s), especially
beta-blockers, were taken before the test. If the medication(s) were held,
the highest heart rate achieved must be further adjusted for these meds;
typically a range of 10-20% more depending on the size and frequency of the
beta-blocker dose and the dose(s) of other medications being taken that may
also be lowering the heart rate. Sometimes this method of calculation is
ineffective; in this case we often use the simple formula of resting heart
rate plus 20 to 30 beats per minute. This range is decided upon based on
whether or not the person is still ischemic (blockages that are preventing
adequate blood flow to the heart), the amount of heart muscle damage from the
heart attack, the ejection fraction and other individual considerations.
In regard to your question about time of day to exercise, in my opinion you
are actually better off to exercise earlier in the day, when your
beta-blocker is having the most effect on your heart rate. I can't evaluate
this in relation to your condition, because I don't know what the situation
is with your heart's blood flow. In general the effect of the beta-blocker is
to improve blood flow to the heart muscle, so it is better protected from the
potential effects of decreased blood flow and thus you are less likely to
have angina. Hope this is clear and helpful; I will watch for additional
posts from you should you have another question.
Sincerely, Laurie Anderson, RN, BSN
I hope you find this information useful. You may want to copy this to a document and save it to your "Health Folder" on your PC.
Rob
johnp
Well-known member
I would guess the beta blocker will impact your ability to compete at a high level, but I would also think the recovery from surgery itself would also impact you. But over time you can adjust to the beta blocker, so you wont feel as sluggish. Thats been my experience anyway.
SumoRunner
Well-known member
The bottom line is it does NOT impair your fitness. You can still workout and get very fit in any way you want. It does however effect competitiveness. You cannot perform at your maximum level because it limits the max heart rate.
All good answers here...BB's are commonly used post surgery as the heart recovers. I would recommend keep discussing this with your cardio and see if you can stop them earlier, based on your recovery, not just a blanket "we always do this for a year". One size does not fit all here!
ps..let me know if you are ever in Syracuse playing lax!
ps..let me know if you are ever in Syracuse playing lax!
Although metoprolol has slowed my resting heart rate and lowered my BP, I still have the same response to exercise. My heart rate goes up nicely, I am able to outperform everyone else in rehab, I feel fine afterwords and my heart rate returns to baseline fairly quickly. Know that the physiologic effects of beta blockers on cardiac function seem to contradict their basic pharmacology (I'm a pharmacist by training). For example although they reduce the force and rate of cardiac contractility, which would seem like a bad idea for people with something like, say, congestive heart failure, clinical experience overwhelmingly has shown that they improve cardiac function in most heart failure patients. So, reducing the rate and force of contraction can make the heart more efficient. Although i have gained weight recently (now taking it off again), I must blame the cookies and ice cream. I used to be a sub-3 hour marathon runner, even with my BAV. I'm about to restart running and I'm not expecting the beta blockers to be a hindrance. Maybe they will be. In theory they should and can reduce exercise capacity, but I think you should just see what they do in your case. As always, it's important to only take medicines that you really need and that work well for you. So, ask you doctor how long you need to keep taking the beta blocker and if there are other options for treatment. In my case, I have high blood pressure. There are many, many treatment options. Although metoprolol is working well for me, I'm hoping to lose a few (heh, 20) more pounds and no longer need it. I have been exercising more recently and cut back on the cookies and ice cream, and my high BP has fallen like a rock.
