Has anyone here ever accidentally forgotten to take their meds and then found they actually felt
better the next day? That's what has happened to me. The meds I take are Lanoxin 0.125mg, Toporol
XL 50mg, and Cozaar 50mg. Now I am wondering which of these meds is the likely suspect for causing
my extreme shortness of breath whenever I attempt to do anything? So I am hoping someone in this
newsgroup might be able to help me sort out which medicine might be the one most likely to be
causing the problem. I'll try to give some background that might help in understanding how this
all started.
First, back in 2000 I went to my PCP to see why my legs and feet were swelling. He sent me for a
chest xray that showed my heart was enlarged. Next, he sent me for an echocardiogram, which
indicated (among other things) I'd possibly had a previous heart attack and needed to have more
testing done, according to the cardiologist who read the echo results. That cardiologist became my
first one.
My first cardiologist prescribed these meds after diagnosing me as having dilated cardiomyopathy
and LBBB. That was about 3-years ago, and when I last saw him in Nov. `02, he didn't make any
changes to those meds, he just told me I might be someone who would qualify for one of the newer
pacemakers (the kind with 3-leads). Back then I was just beginning to have the shortness of breath
problem, but as time went by it got worse. Then last summer this cardiologist moved away, and
before leaving he recommended another cardiologist to me. (The new cardiologist belonged to the
same Cardiology Practice as the first one.)
By late summer of last year the shortness of breath had gotten much worse and so I called to see if
the new cardiologist would do whatever testing was necessary to determine for certain if I would
definitely qualify for the pacemaker. So after sending me for a new echocardiogram last October,
this new doctor told me he didn't believe a pacemaker would solve my problem, which he believes is
more of a pulmonary problem. In fact, he told me my heart was much better than when I first came for
treatment 3 years ago. But when I asked if I could go off of the meds, he said no because that might
cause my heart problem to come back. He set up an appointment for me to see a pulmonary specialist
later this month, and said I wouldn't need to see him again for a year.
Then, a few days ago, I accidentally forgot to take my meds, which I usually take shortly after our
evening meal. Strangely enough, the next day I felt better than I had been feeling for a long time.
This made me wonder if one (or all) of these meds are contributing to my shortness of breath
problem, but that evening I took my meds as usual. Sure enough, the next day I was feeling worse
again. So that evening I purposely didn't take the meds and once again I felt better the next day.
Now, this evening I broke the Lanoxin and Toprol XL tablets in half, and I'll see how that works. In
the meantime, I'm hoping maybe someone here can give me some idea of which of the meds is causing
the problem.
TIA Wanda