How Does Bystolic Work? Uses, Side Effects, and Dosage

The CDC estimates that 75 million adults in the United States suffer from hypertension. This condition refers to blood pressure at or exceeding 130 over 80.

Hypertension can come from a number of factors including stress, obesity, inactivity, nutritional deficiencies, and chronic alcohol abuse. Over time, it can lead to serious problems like kidney disease, memory loss, heart disease, and stroke.

Some people need a medication called Bystolic to regulate hypertension. So, how does Bystolic work?

Treating Hypertension: How Does Bystolic Work?

The drug Bystolic may protect you and improve your quality of life if you suffer from chronic hypertension. Keep reading to learn all about this medication.

What Is Bystolic?

Bystolic blood pressure medicine, also known as nebivolol, lowers blood pressure. This reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Is Bystolic a Beta blocker? Yes, it belongs to this class of drugs because it prevents epinephrine from attaching to the heart’s beta receptors.

This causes the heart to beat slower and less forcefully, thus reducing blood pressure. This drug also uses nitric oxide to vasodilate the blood vessels, further lowering the pressure.

Bystolic Uses

This drug is FDA approved to treat hypertension. Doctors may also prescribe it to prevent angina and subsequent heart attacks,

The drug also proves useful in correcting atrial fibrillation and to treat some forms of heart failure. Beta-blocker research suggests that the mechanism of slowing the heart makes this drug class good supportive therapy for panic attacks and social anxiety disorders as well.

Form and Dosage

Bystolic comes in tablet form to be taken orally. You can receive Bystolic 2.5 mg, Bystolic 5 mg, Bystolic 10 mg, and Bystolic 20 mg.

Side Effects

As with any medication, some people experience side effects while taking Bystolic. Reported side effects include:

• Fatigue
• Dizziness or fainting
• Impaired thinking or alertness
• Unusual and/or rapid weight gain or weight loss
• Swelling in the feet, legs, hands, arms, and/or face
• Slow or irregular heartbeat
• Shortness of breath, wheezing, and/pr difficult or labored breathing
• Chest tightness
• Tingling in the extremities

If you notice any troublesome symptoms when taking this medication, consult your doctor before changing your dosage or stopping your medication. You may need to ween off of Bystolic.

Your physician can guide you on decreasing the dosage over a two week period if the risks outweigh the benefits of this medication for you. Missing doses or suddenly stopping this drug can lead to serious, possibly even life-threatening complications.

Failing to take your medication can cause sweating, nervousness, tachycardia, the inability to stay calm, fearfulness, and other symptoms of anxiety. Physical symptoms can include worsening of your original condition, angina, heart palpitations, a sudden spike in blood pressure, and a heart attack that may or may not lead to death.

Recommended Dosage and Overdose

You can expect for your doctor to increase your dosage by 50% intervals over the first few weeks. For most people, doctors recommend the maximum dose remain at 10 mg once a day, for the duration of their treatment. Though, some patients do require up to 20 mg in special circumstances.

Do not take more than prescribed. Bystolic stays in your system for about 2 days and will continue to build up to toxic doses if you exceed your recommended amount. Call your local poison control center right away if you or somebody else overdoses.

Symptoms of overdose include:

• Anxiety and/or depression
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Dizziness and/or fainting
• Fatigue or lethargy
• Shaking
• Headache
• Increased thirst
• Dry mouth
• Change in appetite
• Body chills
• Cold sweats
• Pale, clammy skin
• Fast, slow, shallow, or irregular breathing
• Coughing
• Slow or fast heart rate
• Blurred vision
• Slurred speech
• Mood Swings
• Numbness and tingling in the lips, hands, and feet
• Decreased urination
• Seizures
• Coma

An overdose does pose the risk of death. Do not wait for symptoms to pass on their own.

Special Precautions

Before starting any medications, you should discuss all medical history with your doctor. Leaving out any details can result in harm or death.

Discuss all known allergies with your doctor. Though people rarely develop an allergy to this beta-blocker, it can affect how you treat other allergies.

Remember, this medication blocks epinephrine from its heart receptors. This would make your epi-pen useless. So, if you carry epinephrine for a life-threatening allergy, you may want to discuss alternative options to Bystolic.

Other conditions may require you to undergo special testing prior to taking this medicine. Let your doctor know if you:

• Recently suffered a heart attack
• Live with diabetes
• Have any condition that affects the lungs such as bronchitis, asthma, or emphysema,
• Suffer from liver or kidney disease, a thyroid disorder, or pheochromocytoma
• Experience circulation problems, such as Raynaud’s syndrome

You also want to discuss any and every medication you currently take. This includes herbal supplements and homeopathic remedies.

You also should discuss pregnancy with your doctor. The FDA regards it as a class C drug, which means that they do not know whether or not it causes harm to your unborn baby.

Nursing mothers should also consult their physician. They do not have enough research to conclude whether or not Bystolic passes into breast milk or if it could harm the baby.

Why Bystolic?

After reading the possible side effects and warnings, why would you want to take Bystolic? If your doctor prescribed it, then they feel that the risk of your condition outweighs the risk of this medication.

Remember, that list states everything from common side effects to minute possibilities. Most of the time, people take this medication without problems and experience only minor side effects like headaches or fatigue that often subside once your body adjusts to the medication.

Also, consider your alternatives. Above, we discuss the dangers of hypertension if left untreated.

Some alternative choices to this medication carry bigger risks. For example, alpha-blockers and alpha-2 agonists both cause potentially life-threatening fluctuations in blood pressure.

Order Your Prescription Online

We answered the pressing question, ‘How does Bystolic work?’ Now that you’re armed with information, you can confidently get your medicine.

We understand that life gets hectic, and you cannot always make it to the drug store on schedule. That is why we set it up so our customers can order their prescriptions online and get them shipped to their doorstep. Learn how to order online!