Question:

When do you take the atenolol?  If it is a once a day dose try taking it at bed time rather than in the morning.  Also you may want to have your blood pressure checked couple times a week of daily if possible and keep a record to give the doctor when you visit.  It may be that when you visit the doctor and have the blood pressure checked it may be elevated. A few years ago I was taking atenolol for migraines.  I started losing weight began feeling dizzy etc . When at the doctor my blood pressure was high or normal so the doctor didn’t think I needed to stop the atenolol.  I started having my b/p checked at work and it was always low.  When I took the record to the doc he d/c’d the atenolol. He jokingly said I had white collar/jacket high blood pressure.  When I see the doc it makes me tense raises the b/p.  Anyway I know I’m rambling but try keeping a b/p record.  Hope this helps. Good Luck, Katie

Response:

Great to hear that you are finding some answers!  It’s up to us to watch our own health, doctors can’t catch everything. Maybe try another blood pressure medication if cutting this one in half is not enough. Carol Schmidt

Response:

you sure might be able to get off them entirely. I’ve seen it happen. Losing weight definately can have a great effect on your blood pressure. CONGRATS!! ) and it must feel great knowing you are taking control of your destiny by losing the weight..  you are becoming more fit, and decreasing the need for the meds. I salute you! — ~~Joanie~~ Started WW Oct 31/2000 224.6/217.8/215 (personal minigoal #2) /202.6 = 10% April fools day goal…  212 5′5"  - rubenesque  hourglass shape 916 mile club miles done:   47.95/916

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Medications can certainly cause sleepiness and a general drag on life. When I first started on blood pressure pills some 15 years ago, they all made me depressed and tired, until a new doctor prescribed Zestril, which was then a new blood pressure medication specifically aimed at those of us who felt depressed and tired on others.  It worked. Ten years later I had to join an HMO where Zestril wasn’t covered.  I had to go to Monopril, which the doctor said was just the same.  I didn’t notice I was getting depressed again, but looknig back now, I can tell I was. Last year when my Dad died and I went through a bunch of heart tests the new doctor changed all my meds around and I am on digoxin and cardizam and a diuretic and potassium instead of the Monopril.  I feel so much better I can’t believe it.  And I was finally able to start losing weight again, my whole life felt better, I could get some control over it again.  That’s when I started following a modified WW again.  (I’d joined WW probably 17 times before and knew the various programs pretty well, though I have taken the best from each of them and put them together for me as I have come to know myself.) I notice that when I take another med that increases intestinal action I get sleepy in the afternoon. I try to take it at night now. I encourage you to keep trying, to keep paying attention, to not give up until you find something that works for you.  The doctors can’t care and follow up, they’re tired and overworked and often haven’t kept up on all the new info themselves, so it’s up to you to live your own life and do the best for yourself you can.  Good luck at finding out more info. — Carol Schmidt, Phoenix, AZ, USA 366 start on April 18, 2000 309.4 now, 56.6 pounds lost 308.1 minigoal for April Fool’s Day Challenge 166 goal for the year 2007 I have just figured out that it is my blood pressure medicine that is making me sleepy. I purchased a blood pressure monitor last night. I checked my blood pressure and it was 95 over 55. I thought this can’t be right. I walked over to a friend’s house and had him check my BP with his monitor and it was about the same. This morning I checked it after 25 minutes of light to moderate exercise on my elliptical machine and it was only 109 over 65. This morning I cut my BP pill in half and decided I would try to take myself off of it gradually. About mid day I decided I should still touch base with my doctor. He agreed with me! He told me to take half of my dose for a few weeks while monitoring my BP. If that goes OK he told me I could try to go off of it entirely. This is really really really great news to me!!! I realize that it’s possible that I may not be able to go off BP medication entirely but this lets me know that loosing the weight is already making a difference in my health!!! — Wired_1

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Medications can certainly cause sleepiness and a general drag on life. When I first started on blood pressure pills some 15 years ago, they all made me depressed and tired, until a new doctor prescribed Zestril, which was then a new blood pressure medication specifically aimed at those of us who felt depressed and tired on others.  It worked. Ten years later I had to join an HMO where Zestril wasn’t covered.  I had to go to Monopril, which the doctor said was just the same.  I didn’t notice I was getting depressed again, but looknig back now, I can tell I was. Last year when my Dad died and I went through a bunch of heart tests the new doctor changed all my meds around and I am on digoxin and cardizam and a diuretic and potassium instead of the Monopril.  I feel so much better I can’t believe it.  And I was finally able to start losing weight again, my whole life felt better, I could get some control over it again.  That’s when I started following a modified WW again.  (I’d joined WW probably 17 times before and knew the various programs pretty well, though I have taken the best from each of them and put them together for me as I have come to know myself.) I notice that when I take another med that increases intestinal action I get sleepy in the afternoon. I try to take it at night now. I encourage you to keep trying, to keep paying attention, to not give up until you find something that works for you.  The doctors can’t care and follow up, they’re tired and overworked and often haven’t kept up on all the new info themselves, so it’s up to you to live your own life and do the best for yourself you can.  Good luck at finding out more info. — Carol Schmidt, Phoenix, AZ, USA 366 start on April 18, 2000 309.4 now, 56.6 pounds lost 308.1 minigoal for April Fool’s Day Challenge 166 goal for the year 2007

I have just figured out that it is my blood pressure medicine that is making me sleepy. I purchased a blood pressure monitor last night. I checked my blood pressure and it was 95 over 55. I thought this can’t be right. I walked over to a friend’s house and had him check my BP with his monitor and it was about the same. This morning I checked it after 25 minutes of light to moderate exercise on my elliptical machine and it was only 109 over 65. This morning I cut my BP pill in half and decided I would try to take myself off of it gradually. About mid day I decided I should still touch base with my doctor. He agreed with me! He told me to take half of my dose for a few weeks while monitoring my BP. If that goes OK he told me I could try to go off of it entirely. This is really really really great news to me!!! I realize that it’s possible that I may not be able to go off BP medication entirely but this lets me know that loosing the weight is already making a difference in my health!!! — Wired_1

Response:

I’ve been very tired for several weeks now. I don’t actually doze off but I’ve taken a nap on a few days and that’s completely new behaviour to me. I’m trying to get more protein into the diet, hopefully that will help. Mia — 220/189/152 pounds 100/86/69 kilos A Finn in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I thought maybe someone here might be able to tell me if thy have had any similar experience with this. When I was at my heaviest weight (215Lbs) I was constantly tired. As I began loosing the weight I had a lot of energy that I didn’t have before. As I lost more weight I began feeling even better and have had even more energy. Lately (164 Lbs and still loosing) I have been bursting with energy! For the first time in my life I actually want to get serious about exercising. Now here is the problem: When I am up walking around I feel great. However, often when I sit down I suddenly get sleepy and I often attend technical classes, which usually are 5-day classes and run 8 hours per day. I also sometimes attend night classes. When I was heavier I had a big battle with dozing off. As the weight started coming off I was able to stay wide-awake all through the classes without a struggle. However, lately even though I have been bursting with energy I have started dozing off again. It is even getting worse. I have started dozing off sitting at my desk at work and also during meetings. A week ago in night class it was so bad that I fell asleep while the instructor was asking me a direct question. It was pretty embarrassing. However, 5 minutes later when we started doing the hands-on computer exercises I was wide-awake! It is almost like I go from being Wired One to Sleepy Man and visa-versa!!! This week I will be in another 5-day class and I’m getting worried.  I plan on exercising in the morning before I go. At lunchtime I plan on walking around the shopping mall that is across the street from the training center. I think this will help some. However, I am still concerned as to why I am experiencing this again. One of my many but main reasons for wanting to loose the weight and change my lifestyle was because I want to get off of the medications that I am taking for high blood pressure and acid reflux. The blood pressure medication is Atenolol and the reflux medicine is Prilosec. The labels on both of these say that they can cause drowsiness. I asked my doctor a while back and he tried to tell me that they don’t cause drowsiness even though it is printed on the label. With my doctor’s OK I have tried to stop taking the Prilosec but have been unsuccessful. He suggested that I try going off of it and if it didn’t work to try again after I had lost another 10 Lbs. I have tried it twice but have had to go back on it. I will try again as I loose more weight. When I have discussed the Atenolol with my doctor he has suggested that I not try to go off of it yet. The other day I ran into a friend who had just started taking Atenolol. He told me that he had suddenly lost he energy that he had before. Am I on the right track by thinking that since my health is getting better that the blood pressure medication might be too strong for me now? Or do I just need more exercise? I don’t expect a medical answer to this question but I thought that somebody here might have had some experience with this. — Wired_1

Response:

My husband is not overweight, and he takes Prilosec, switched to Prevacid for awhile. He can’t be off his GI medicine, he needs it, and it doesn’t have anything to do with his weight or what he eats. Without the meds, he got to the point where even drinking water hurt. So stay on the meds. However, you’re probably right on about your dosage needing to go down since you are now smaller. Please point that out to your doctor, and if he doesn’t listen, switch doctors! Obviously the stuff causes drowsiness in some people or it wouldn’t be on the label! Or it might be something else entirely. It may be an Attention Deficit Disorder. You would think that since you can pay attention to some things that you don’t have ADD, but the truth is that part of ADD is hyper focusing on some things. My husband also has ADD with Hyperactivity. He falls asleep when he tries to read. — Mickie in Fort Worth, Texas 252/246.2/227/148

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I thought maybe someone here might be able to tell me if thy have had any similar experience with this. When I was at my heaviest weight (215Lbs) I was constantly tired. As I began loosing the weight I had a lot of energy that I didn’t have before. As I lost more weight I began feeling even better and have had even more energy. Lately (164 Lbs and still loosing) I have been bursting with energy! For the first time in my life I actually want to get serious about exercising. Now here is the problem: When I am up walking around I feel great. However, often when I sit down I suddenly get sleepy and I often attend technical classes, which usually are 5-day classes and run 8 hours per day. I also sometimes attend night classes. When I was heavier I had a big battle with dozing off. As the weight started coming off I was able to stay wide-awake all through the classes without a struggle. However, lately even though I have been bursting with energy I have started dozing off again. It is even getting worse. I have started dozing off sitting at my desk at work and also during meetings. A week ago in night class it was so bad that I fell asleep while the instructor was asking me a direct question. It was pretty embarrassing. However, 5 minutes later when we started doing the hands-on computer exercises I was wide-awake! It is almost like I go from being Wired One to Sleepy Man and visa-versa!!! This week I will be in another 5-day class and I’m getting worried.  I plan on exercising in the morning before I go. At lunchtime I plan on walking around the shopping mall that is across the street from the training center. I think this will help some. However, I am still concerned as to why I am experiencing this again. One of my many but main reasons for wanting to loose the weight and change my lifestyle was because I want to get off of the medications that I am taking for high blood pressure and acid reflux. The blood pressure medication is Atenolol and the reflux medicine is Prilosec. The labels on both of these say that they can cause drowsiness. I asked my doctor a while back and he tried to tell me that they don’t cause drowsiness even though it is printed on the label. With my doctor’s OK I have tried to stop taking the Prilosec but have been unsuccessful. He suggested that I try going off of it and if it didn’t work to try again after I had lost another 10 Lbs. I have tried it twice but have had to go back on it. I will try again as I loose more weight. When I have discussed the Atenolol with my doctor he has suggested that I not try to go off of it yet. The other day I ran into a friend who had just started taking Atenolol. He told me that he had suddenly lost he energy that he had before. Am I on the right track by thinking that since my health is getting better that the blood pressure medication might be too strong for me now? Or do I just need more exercise? I don’t expect a medical answer to this question but I thought that somebody here might have had some experience with this. — Wired_1

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Are you getting enough sleep? Your body could be telling you that you need a little more sleep. Roxan i’ve had pretty similar energy changes…  your organs are producing the same of what they produce, your increased muscles are producing an increased total of what they produce, but the stuff is shared around with less total tissue.  ergo, more energy. about your class —  i honestly think your instructor is probably boring. here’s what i do…  i have some wasabi peas before a potentially boring stretch.  between the spice and the protein, it keeps me going.  if you’re like me, you think you already know more than this guy who might be just one lecture ahead of you, anyway.  so you don’t want to waste your time. about bp and reflux —  a few months back, reflux came up here on the ng — many people, like myself, reported that they hadn’t had a rolaids or anything. gotta go — more later! a the s

I think I’m getting enough sleep.  The times that I have gone to bed early I end up waking up too early wide awake and ready to go. Then have to just sit around a little longer waiting until time to go to work. Although I have not been tested for Sleep Apnea I don’t think that I have it either. My friend was just diagnosed with it and the only symptom that I had that matched his was the sleepy part. My doctor hasn’t considered it to be a possibility either. Although, this is the same doctor that says the meds can’t make me sleepy. I’ve thought about trying to discontinue the blood pressure medication for a week to see what happens. I would be monitoring my blood pressure myself to make sure it doesn’t shoot back up. But I had really planned on doing that after I had lost more weight and had been exercising longer. Also I had wondered if I was just getting burnned out on my career. I’m pretty sure that’s not it because I can be driving down the road and doze off too. I have to make sure that I have something playing on the radio that holds my interest or attention to keep awake while driving. What Andy Gee said is partially true. Sometimes the instructors are pretty monotone but I don’t think that is the whole cause. — Wired_1

Response:

Are you getting enough sleep? Your body could be telling you that you need a little more sleep. Roxan

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – i’ve had pretty similar energy changes…  your organs are producing the same of what they produce, your increased muscles are producing an increased total of what they produce, but the stuff is shared around with less total tissue.  ergo, more energy. about your class —  i honestly think your instructor is probably boring. here’s what i do…  i have some wasabi peas before a potentially boring stretch.  between the spice and the protein, it keeps me going.  if you’re like me, you think you already know more than this guy who might be just one lecture ahead of you, anyway.  so you don’t want to waste your time. about bp and reflux —  a few months back, reflux came up here on the ng — many people, like myself, reported that they hadn’t had a rolaids or anything. gotta go — more later! a the s

Response:

Medications can certainly cause sleepiness and a general drag on life.  When I first started on blood pressure pills some 15 years ago, they all made me depressed and tired, until a new doctor prescribed Zestril, which was then a new blood pressure medication specifically aimed at those of us who felt depressed and tired on others.  It worked. Ten years later I had to join an HMO where Zestril wasn’t covered.  I had to go to Monopril, which the doctor said was just the same.  I didn’t notice I was getting depressed again, but looknig back now, I can tell I was. Last year when my Dad died and I went through a bunch of heart tests the new doctor changed all my meds around and I am on digoxin and cardizam and a diuretic and potassium instead of the Monopril.  I feel so much better I can’t believe it.  And I was finally able to start losing weight again, my whole life felt better, I could get some control over it again.  That’s when I started following a modified WW again.  (I’d joined WW probably 17 times before and knew the various programs pretty well, though I have taken the best from each of them and put them together for me as I have come to know myself.) I notice that when I take another med that increases intestinal action I get sleepy in the afternoon. I try to take it at night now. I encourage you to keep trying, to keep paying attention, to not give up until you find something that works for you.  The doctors can’t care and follow up, they’re tired and overworked and often haven’t kept up on all the new info themselves, so it’s up to you to live your own life and do the best for yourself you can.  Good luck at finding out more info. — Carol Schmidt, Phoenix, AZ, USA 366 start on April 18, 2000 309.4 now, 56.6 pounds lost 308.1 minigoal for April Fool’s Day Challenge 166 goal for the year 2007

Response:

i’ve had pretty similar energy changes…  your organs are producing the same of what they produce, your increased muscles are producing an increased total of what they produce, but the stuff is shared around with less total tissue.  ergo, more energy. about your class —  i honestly think your instructor is probably boring. here’s what i do…  i have some wasabi peas before a potentially boring stretch.  between the spice and the protein, it keeps me going.  if you’re like me, you think you already know more than this guy who might be just one lecture ahead of you, anyway.  so you don’t want to waste your time. about bp and reflux —  a few months back, reflux came up here on the ng — many people, like myself, reported that they hadn’t had a rolaids or anything. gotta go — more later! a the s

Response:

I thought maybe someone here might be able to tell me if thy have had any similar experience with this. When I was at my heaviest weight (215Lbs) I was constantly tired. As I began loosing the weight I had a lot of energy that I didn’t have before. As I lost more weight I began feeling even better and have had even more energy. Lately (164 Lbs and still loosing) I have been bursting with energy! For the first time in my life I actually want to get serious about exercising. Now here is the problem: When I am up walking around I feel great. However, often when I sit down I suddenly get sleepy and I often attend technical classes, which usually are 5-day classes and run 8 hours per day. I also sometimes attend night classes. When I was heavier I had a big battle with dozing off. As the weight started coming off I was able to stay wide-awake all through the classes without a struggle. However, lately even though I have been bursting with energy I have started dozing off again. It is even getting worse. I have started dozing off sitting at my desk at work and also during meetings. A week ago in night class it was so bad that I fell asleep while the instructor was asking me a direct question. It was pretty embarrassing. However, 5 minutes later when we started doing the hands-on computer exercises I was wide-awake! It is almost like I go from being Wired One to Sleepy Man and visa-versa!!! This week I will be in another 5-day class and I’m getting worried.  I plan on exercising in the morning before I go. At lunchtime I plan on walking around the shopping mall that is across the street from the training center. I think this will help some. However, I am still concerned as to why I am experiencing this again. One of my many but main reasons for wanting to loose the weight and change my lifestyle was because I want to get off of the medications that I am taking for high blood pressure and acid reflux. The blood pressure medication is Atenolol and the reflux medicine is Prilosec. The labels on both of these say that they can cause drowsiness. I asked my doctor a while back and he tried to tell me that they don’t cause drowsiness even though it is printed on the label. With my doctor’s OK I have tried to stop taking the Prilosec but have been unsuccessful. He suggested that I try going off of it and if it didn’t work to try again after I had lost another 10 Lbs. I have tried it twice but have had to go back on it. I will try again as I loose more weight. When I have discussed the Atenolol with my doctor he has suggested that I not try to go off of it yet. The other day I ran into a friend who had just started taking Atenolol. He told me that he had suddenly lost he energy that he had before. Am I on the right track by thinking that since my health is getting better that the blood pressure medication might be too strong for me now? Or do I just need more exercise? I don’t expect a medical answer to this question but I thought that somebody   here might have had some experience with this. — Wired_1

Response:

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