In this video, Dr Sanjay Gupta, consultant heart specialist talks about the use of beta blockers in patients who are getting recurrent palpitations, skipped beats, repeated PVCs and PACs
Hi guys my name is sanjay gupta i am a cardiologist and i work in york over the past few months i’ve put out quite a few videos on the subject with palpitations and i’ve had some great feedback and i thought i’d do another video because a lot of people ask me about the use of beta blockers in palpitations now as i always say that this video is really for those people
In whom the palpitations have been defined and nothing serious has been found so this video is exactly for those people who would for example have palpitations or sensations of mist speeds or skipped beads and they’ve gone to their gp or that been seen by a cardiologist and they’ve been told that these are just extra beads or their mist beads and they’re not so
Nothing serious unfortunately despite that reassurance the poor patient continues to get their symptoms and a lot of times they ask well what can i do about them and as you if you’ve seen my previous videos i have done videos on what you can do about them in terms of your lifestyle so in terms of modifying what you eat what you drink about your exercise your sleep
Patterns etc despite this some people continue to get palpitations and then they want to know is there anything i can take for them to give me some relief and often the name beta-blockers comes up because beta blockers are commonly used in cardiological practice and they’re commonly used for the subject of pub for for treating palpitations now one of the problems
That a lot of people have would be two blockers that they’re unsure for the side-effects though and they don’t know whether they need to be on the beta blockers for life or not and so i thought i’d just do a quick video on beta blockers okay the first thing to say is that beta blockers are generally very safe drugs there are certain people who just should not have
Beta blockers and in particular if you have asthma or if you’re known to have an abnormally slow heartbeat then you should definitely avoid beta-blockers if you have vascular disease so you have critical vascular disease that that’s also a relative contradict ation i think it’s always good even after listening to this video if you’re contemplating beta-blockers
To go and speak to your doctor and make sure that you do not have any underlying contraindications to beta blockers the second thing to say is that we do use them very often and they’re probably the first agent i would reach for and because of its safety profile how do they work well there are a lot of ways that the beta beta blockers can be helpful in controlling
Palpitations firstly they work by slowing the heart down and therefore they reduce the irritability of the heart the second thing to say is that a lot of times when you have palpitations they can be propagated by symptoms of anxiety or adrenaline rushes and what beach’ blockers do is they oppose the effects of adrenaline so they are sympathy lytic adrenaline is
Released by something called the sympathetic nervous system as a response to flight or fright and what beta blockers do is they oppose the effects of adrenaline and therefore if the if the heart becomes more irritable as a result of adrenaline and then beta blockers will negate those effects the third thing to say is that beta blockers are anti-inflammatory agents
As well and in my past videos i’ve often commented on the fact that i think a lot of topics that we see these days are because of inflammation and beta blockers have a very good anti-inflammatory effect on the heart as well so in general even a small dose of e2 blocker can help with reducing pvcs or p acs ectopic beats what are the side-effects of beta blockers
Well the main side effect is that they slow you down so they affect they they negate the effects of adrenaline so a lot of people often say that well i just feel a bit slower and maybe i don’t have as much energy as i used to and and that’s really the main side effect some people complain of things like you know cold hands and feet in slightly the older groups
Sometimes you can get problems with erectile dysfunction but it’s important to know that most of these side effects are reversible in the sense that firstly they may not continue even if they occur in the first few days they may just generally settle and even and if they continue then stopping the beta blocker will reverse the side effect so there is no long term
Side effects so if you take a b2 blocker for a week it is unlikely that you’ll be left over the side effect 3-4 months down the line that they usually just get better as soon as you stop the beach’ blocker um so so those are the main side effects of beta blockers but on the whole uh there are generally safe agents and they do make a difference even a small dose
And it’s always good to go on a small dose first to firstly see if you can tolerate it to minimize any possible side effects you can have and then up titrate it depending on how it acts on the palpitations the other thing people say to me is well if i took the beta blocker does that mean i have to be on it for life and the answer is no i’ve used beta blockers very
Successfully in people with lots of palpitations and i’ve actually been able to stop the b2 blocker after a few weeks and when i’ve done that you know the palpitations have gone away and that the reason for that is that essentially when people complain up a lot of ectopic there is not one single thing that’s causing them it’s a mixture of a variety of different
Things so people can get the big topics because they’ve eaten something then they get very and and the anxiety causes adrenaline and cortisol levels to go up and that propagates the palpitations and causes more topics and what beta blockers do is they and so what happens as you get into this vicious cycle you know one thing propagating another and you get more
Ectopic then you worry more than your anxiety levels go up your stress hormones go up you get more topics and you keep going into this vicious cycle and what beta blockers can do is they can sudden they can put a halt on that cycle they can break that cycle so you take the beta blocker for i don’t know three four weeks it breaks that cycle the palpitations calm
Down as the palpitations calm down your anxiety levels calm down your cortisol levels come down and then the palpitations get less and as that happens after a few months you you forget about the palpitations or they settle completely you then come down on the bitter blockers and eventually stop them and some people the palpitations don’t come back and some people
They do and it’s not unreasonable to use the same kind of approach where you build a beta blocker for a short period of time and see how you go they’re also very good because they have effect on the electrolytes electrolytes of the body and they can help with magnesium and potassium hema genesis and so that’s another reason why and they’re worth trying if you are
Really struggling with your symptoms so i hope this has been useful if you have any questions you can always get in touch with me i have a website and you can access me through there i’ve got my secretary has a phone number i have a facebook page and i also have a twitter handle now so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch i do try and answer my
Questions unfortunately i just i am quite busy so i struggle sometimes but i will eventually get around to answering all your questions so i wish you well and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch with me right
Transcribed from video
Palpitations and Beta Blockers By York CardiologyliveBroadcastDetails{isLiveNowfalsestartTimestamp2015-04-19T113056+0000endTimestamp2015-04-19T113927+0000}
