The real key, as you pointed out somwhere earlier, is that everyone is different. Very different. At least chemically. You may or may not be able to go off your beta blocker succesfully, but there is at least a concensus that "once you're on, you can never go off" is merely a handy fable for the cardiologist.
My wife developed drug-induced psoriasis from a mere 25mg daily dose of Atenolol. I didn't seem to have much affect at 25mg, but when the cardiologist moved me to fifty milligrams, I became tired and lethargic, and put on weight. When I finished off my wife's pills (different generic atenolol from a different drug store), I developed really unhappy sexual side effects, and started getting welts that looked like the beginning of my wife's psoriasis. I dropped back to 25mg, and stuck to my own drugstore's generic.
However, I do get a tight throat (which used to be my angina warning), and now have what my doctor desribed as "the angriest sinuses I have ever seen," neither of which I had in the past. Until you mentioned it, Marguerite, I thought I was projecting them as side effects. I guess not.
Why do I say a "mere dose" of 25mg? Because I know on this board there is at least one person who is taking 400mg of Atenolol a day (and several at 350mg/day), with no apparent ill effects at all. Again, we're all very different, chemically. Take anyone else's good or bad reviews of the more common blood pressure drugs with a grain of salt, for their results very well may not reflect yours. (Except for Amiodorone, a wonder drug which should only be used for emergency or severe cases, but which is being handed out liberally as a cure-all for arrhythmias, without apparent regard for its other effects.)
My HB usually reads in the high fifties to the high sixties. However, I have an "aggressive" (cardio's term) heartbeat, so that low a rate may not be as comfortable for others. Because of that, my aortic pressure gradient is also about triple what it should be. The valve, however, is functioning perfectly so far. I suspect this wrinkle will cut into its lifespan, and is probably associated with the accelerated calcification of my natural valve.
Best wishes,
