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