Doctors & patients are saying about 'A-Fib.com'...

"A-Fib.com is a great web site for patients, that is unequaled by anything else out there."

Dr. Douglas L. Packer, MD, FHRS, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

"Jill and I put you and your work in our prayers every night. What you do to help people through this [A-Fib] process is really incredible."

Jill and Steve Douglas, East Troy, WI

“I really appreciate all the information on your website as it allows me to be a better informed patient and to know what questions to ask my EP.

Faye Spencer, Boise, ID, April 2017

“I think your site has helped a lot of patients.”

Dr. Hugh G. Calkins, MD Johns Hopkins,
Baltimore, MD

Doctors & patients are saying about 'Beat Your A-Fib'...

"If I had [your book] 10 years ago, it would have saved me 8 years of hell.”

Roy Salmon, Patient, A-Fib Free,
Adelaide, Australia

"This book is incredibly complete and easy-to-understand for anybody. I certainly recommend it for patients who want to know more about atrial fibrillation than what they will learn from doctors...."

Pierre Jaïs, M.D. Professor of Cardiology, Haut-Lévêque Hospital, Bordeaux, France

"Dear Steve, I saw a patient this morning with your book [in hand] and highlights throughout. She loves it and finds it very useful to help her in dealing with atrial fibrillation."

Dr. Wilber Su,
Cavanaugh Heart Center, Phoenix, AZ

"...masterful. You managed to combine an encyclopedic compilation of information with the simplicity of presentation that enhances the delivery of the information to the reader. This is not an easy thing to do, but you have been very, very successful at it."

Ira David Levin, heart patient,
Rome, Italy

"Within the pages of Beat Your A-Fib, Dr. Steve Ryan, PhD, provides a comprehensive guide for persons seeking to find a cure for their Atrial Fibrillation."

Walter Kerwin, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

A-Fib Patient Story #35

Switching from Metoprolol to Nebivolol (brand name Bystolic)

by Rose Vernier, October 2009

Rose Vernier

October 2009: I take 5 mg tablet of Bystolic (nebivolol) from Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc. at night, because my cardiovascular nurse said people say they sleep better when they take it at night. I agree. I sleep better. I sleep more soundly. I sleep longer. It is as though I know I spend more time in deep sleep and enjoy the healing benefits of such a journey. I awake more refreshed.

During the day, I increasingly feel more mental and emotional well being in general in all my affairs. My JOY is back!!! Living is exciting again. My physical energy has not greatly increased which is because of the A-Fib condition, I suspect, rather than medications.

Contrasted to Metoprolol (100 mg twice a day) which I took for 3 years, Bystolic seems like an upper booster with Metoprolol more of a dragger-down. It took a few days for me to notice my improvement because it was subtle and growing. I feel more like my upbeat self before I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation. I feel more optimistic and hopeful. I love the results so far.

FYI I am also on Warfarin (averaging about 5 mg a day taken at night with the Bystolic), and Digoxin (0.125 mg) tablet taken in the morning. In summary and retrospect, maybe for me Metoprolol was a depressant as well as a heartbeat-slower.

The contrast between Bystolic (5 mg once a day) and Metoprolol (100 mg twice a day) may also be because I take less medicine? Dosage? I don’t know. I did not take a lower dose of Metoprolol; I always took the same amount.

I really like being on Bystolic. I feel lighter; I think my breathing is enhanced, easier. I move with more vigor. I even feel a bit more like exercising. On the Metoprolol, I think I gradually became much more sedentary as time went by, little by little limiting my life more and more, even feeling less hope of ever reversing a subtly, invisibly advancing decline. Being independent and in control are most important to me.

People who know me remark that I look better, more healthy now, even though I still have A-Fib.

Best wishes,
Rose.
E-mail: rosevernier2(at)hotmail.com