Propranolol: How It Works Dosage Uses Side Effects
Medically reviewed by Kristin Hall, FNP
As one of the earliest and most widely prescribed beta blockers, propranolol is used by millions of people in the United States alone.
Below, weve explained how propranolol works as a medication, as well as what its commonly used for.
Weve also covered the side effects of propranolol, potential propranolol interactions and tips for using it safely and effectively.
Can I Take Bystolic If Im Pregnant Or Breastfeeding
Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known whether nebivolol will harm an unborn baby. However, having high blood pressure during pregnancy may cause complications such as diabetes or eclampsia . The benefit of treating hypertension may outweigh any risks to the baby.
You should not breastfeed while using nebivolol.
Types Of Hair Loss Due To Medication
Mostly, hair loss due to drugs is temporary and can grow back once you stop taking the medication. The extent and duration of drug-induced alopecia depend on the type and dosage of the medicines. They can also destroy hair follicles, which disrupt hair growth, affect hair quality and sometimes change hair color.
Typically, medicines can cause one of the two types of hair loss:
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Discontinuing Medication To Stop Hair Loss
You may need to stop taking your medication in order to stop your hair loss. If you do not wish to discontinue your medication, however, talk with your doctor about the possibility of taking a lower dose or changing to a different brand of bupropion. It could be that you are reacting to one of the inactive ingredients in the pill, rather than the bupropion itself.
An inactive ingredient is not a compound that has no actions the term “inactive” simply means that the ingredient does not play a role in the purpose for which the medication is prescribed. These inactive ingredients have been known to cause side effects as well as allergic reactions at times. If this is the case, it could be that your hair loss is caused only by the generic version of the drug, or vice versa.
Keep in mind that another hair-loss trigger may have occurred at the same time at which you started the medication. Stress alone may sometimes cause telogen effluvium.
Causes Of Telogen Effluvium
Telogen effluvium happens when the body is stressed in a number of ways. You may have heard people talk about hair loss occurring after childbirth or after a major surgery.
Other conditions which may result in this type of hair loss include an illness, poor nutrition, crash dieting, or starting a number of different medications. The mental stress of clinical depression, or whatever event precipitated depression in someone with situational depression, can cause telogen effluvium.
Telogen effluvium occurs when hair follicles go into their resting state of growth too early and stay there. Since a larger than normal number of hair follicles are in the telogen phase, hair loss can occur diffusely, all over the scalp. Humans normally shed around 100 hairs daily, but this number can be greatly increased with telogen effluvium.
The good news is that hair loss on Wellbutrin is temporary and completely reversible. There are several distinct types of telogen effluvium. The one related to Wellbutrin is caused by a temporary disruption in the hair cycle.
There is another type of telogen effluvium in which the trigger is ongoing. Some people with thyroid problems or nutritional deficiencies experience this type of telogen effluvium, which is more gradual than other types but lasts longer.
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What Is The Most Important Information I Should Know About Bystolic
You should not take nebivolol if you are allergic to it, or if you have:
- a serious heart condition such as heart failure, “AV block” , or sick sinus syndrome
- very slow heartbeats
- if your heart cannot pump blood properly.
Tell your doctor if you have ever had:
- asthma, bronchitis, emphysema
- a heart attack
- problems with circulation
- diabetes
- a thyroid disorder
- allergies or
- pheochromocytoma .
Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known whether nebivolol will harm an unborn baby. However, having high blood pressure during pregnancy may cause complications such as diabetes or eclampsia . The benefit of treating hypertension may outweigh any risks to the baby.
You should not breastfeed while using nebivolol.
How To Deal With Hair Loss
Unwanted hair change can be traumatic at any age and for any reason. These strategies from patients who’ve experienced it may help.
Prepare others. Reassure family and friends, especially children, that although you may look different with no or thinner hair, you’re getting healthier thanks to your medical treatmentwhether it’s chemotherapy, surgery, or medication.
Do what’s important to you. If you feel comfortable in a fuchsia wig, wear it. If you have no problem with your hairless dome, raise your head proudly. “Don’t be afraid of your choices,” says Rohina Hoffman, a neurologist-turned-photographer and author of Hair Stories . “Don’t let fear of judgment hinder your needs or wishes.”
Seek support. Consider seeing a professional therapist, leaning on friends and family, or joining an online support group. “Hair loss is emotionally challenging, and support is crucial,” says Kelly Baker, who lost her hair after taking divalproex sodium for epilepsy. Her hair grew back after her neurologist adjusted the dose.
Find an understanding stylist. Baker has high praise for both her current hairstylist and the one who worked with her when her formerly straight hair came in curly, although they had very different approaches. Her current stylist has shown Baker how to shape her curls and what products to use, while her previous stylist tried to remove the curls with relaxers and gelsbut both provided much needed support.
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What Medications Cause Hair Loss
Beta blockers, especially those used to treat glaucoma and include forms of timolol, may cause hair loss or hair thinning.The beta blockers used for high blood pressure can also cause hair loss.
However, there are many other medications that cause hair loss as a possible side effect, including:
- Blood thinners
- Statins
- Antidepressants
- Anti-inflammatory drugs
- Vitamin A
- Acne medication
- Immunosuppressants
Note that these are just some of the medications that cause hair loss. If youâve experienced hair loss and are wondering if itâs from your medication, talk to your doctor for more information.
Blood Pressure Medications Captopril And Lisinopril
ACE inhibitors are a class of medications used to treat high blood pressure. They include the medicines, and . Both of the drugs have been known to cause hair lossbut only in around 1% of patients taking them.
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Does Bystolic Cause Hair Loss
A wise and responsible approach to a healthy and long life means to be attentive to our health condition and all the signals our bodies send us. For many people in the USA one of the biggest health problems is hypertension, which is actually a high blood pressure. In fact, it means that the arteries of a person suffering from high pressure receive too much pressure constantly.
The statistics speaks for itself, one third of all U.S. population over twenty years old suffer from hypertension . Hypertension is also a very dangerous disease because its symptoms are not very obvious, and in many cases people do not even suspect they have hypertension. It can be caused by a great number of factors, especially connected with a lifestyle, smoking, aging and genetic predisposition. Thats why it is essentially important to undergo regular check-ups and to pay attention to your health condition.
What Are The Side Effects Of Bystolic
Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction: hives difficult breathing swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.
- a light-headed feeling, like you might pass out
- rapid weight gain
- slow or uneven heartbeats or
- numbness or cold feeling in your hands and feet.
Common side effects may include:
- dizziness
- tiredness or
- headache.
This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
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Preventing Or Stopping Hair Loss
Using a special shampoo or changing the way you care for your hair will not prevent telogen effluvium or stop the process once it is underway. Stopping Wellbutrin is the surest way of stopping future hair loss. Working to , however, may reduce one of the triggers for this kind of hair loss.
Telogen effluvium hair loss usually resolves around six months after the stressor which started the process is removed. For example, without any intervention, hair loss usually resolves around six months after delivery of a baby, after the resolution of an illness, or after a new medication is stopped.
Is It Safe To Exercise After Taking Propranolol
Like other beta blockers, propranolol can reduce your heart rate. This means that you may have a lower-than-normal heart rate while exercising and this can make it harder to exert yourself.
Most of the time, its okay to exercise at a mild to moderate intensity level while on propranolol.
However, if you engage in strenuous exercise, or frequently work out until youre exhausted, you should talk to your healthcare provider before using propranolol or any other beta blockers.
Additionally, if you have a chronic lung disease, such as emphysema or COPD, it is important to talk with your healthcare provider before taking propranolol in order to be properly monitored during your use.
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Plaquenil And Hair Loss
Hair loss is not a documented side effect of Plaquenil. If it does occur, it is so extremely rare that it is not documented in the literature. In fact, hydroxychloroquine is actually used to prevent hair loss from other medications. However, hair hypopigmentation, or hair color lightening, can occur from damage to pigment cells.
How To Avoid Plaquenil Side Effects
Other important drug information can be found on the FDA website.
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Changes In Hormones Mean That Loss Of Body Hair Can Increase After Menopause
Menopause, of course, is one of the life events that causes the biggest disruption to our hormone levels.
DHEA levels may drop and so too may estrogen and progesterone levels, allowing the male hormones in the body to have more of an impact on the body.
This can cause hair in unwanted places and also loss of body hair. Indeed, this British Journal of Dermatology article confirms that there is an increasing loss of body hair after menopause.
Speak to your doctor for advice this type of body hair loss may not be too worrisome to you but hormone replacement therapies are available to help you deal with the more troublesome symptoms of menopause.
Pubic hair loss its an embarrassing topic not many of us like to discuss, but it happens!
If its affecting you and youre not sure why read this article which takes a look at the possible causes
Ways To Head Off Hair Loss
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The more you know about hair loss as a possible side effect of prescription medications for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, migraine, high blood pressure, and multiple sclerosis, the more you can take steps to prepare for or mitigate it.
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A Hair Loss Side Effect Story:
Q. I am very upset about a side effect of beta blockers. These drugs are widely prescribed for blood pressure and other problems and a huge number of people are taking them. But they make our hair fall out! This is devastating for a woman.
I have appealed to my cardiologist to help me with this problem and she has offered to switch me from carvedilol to metoprolol . If this doesnt work, whatll I do?
A. Beta blockers like atenolol, carvedilol, metoprolol and propranolol can lead to hair loss. No one knows how common this complication is because it has not been considered a serious side effect . Patients have a very different perspective!).
One reader reported her experience with a different beta blocker:
I started drastically losing my hair soon after starting on atenolol. My doctor was reluctant to take me off of it since it was working so well in lowering my blood pressure. But there are many meds to take for hypertension, so dont let your doctor keep you on any one medication if you are experiencing side effects that bother you.
Hair loss from atenolol IS reversible. My hair grew back completely in less than six months. Its taken me a few years of trial and error to find the drugs that work best for my blood pressure without side effects.