Blood Pressure Meds & Heat Tolerance?
 

I'm on 8mg of Sandoz-Candesartan for high blood pressure. Lately I've notice a severe drop in my heat tolerance. I've searched online to see if there's a correlation between that drug and my decreased tolerance of heat but didn't find anything.

Do any of you on high blood pressure medicine find that it lowers your ability to handle heat?

Cheers

Edit. Will a moderator lock or delete this thread? I started another on over on 50+ because I think there's a better chance of getting related advice there.

Not heat, specifically, but beta blockers make me feel sluggish overall. I take 'em once in awhile for migraine (yeah, weird, but most pain relievers don't work well on migraines, while meds like beta blockers, anti-seizure meds and voodoo potions that mess with the serotonin level can help). And occasionally I take one when other meds screw up my heart rhythm too much. One of the meds I take for an auto-immune disorder -- causes constant palpitations and skipped beats. I'll talk with my immunologist about it next week. Anyway, a small dose of metoprolol helps. Same with propranolol.

But it makes me feel sluggish. Can't get my heart rate up for intervals or hard sessions. So when I do ride I take it very easy, watch my heart rate and keep it around zone 2.

I'm not sure but I suppose it's possible that my considerably slower heart rate might affect cooling. For a day or two after taking a beta blocker my heart rate will be around 20 bpm slower. So while I'm ticking along at 120 bpm, it subjectively feels like a tempo effort where my HR is usually around 140 bpm. So I need to remind myself to adjust my effort downward, rather than assume, hey, my heart rate is only 120, I should have plenty of overhead today, let's go for an FTP or HIIT session. Bad idea.

So I ride much more cautiously, although I have done some 50-65 mile rides this summer after taking a beta blocker and did just fine. Not fast, but enjoyable and helps vary my rides and presumably my overall fitness. I did an interval session Friday morning, then my heart rate wouldn't settle back down even hours later and was skipping beats like crazy. So I took a metoprolol and a nap. If I ride Saturday I'll take it easy, drink plenty of water with electrolytes, rest for a few minutes every hour. Usually works fine for me.

I know blood thinners severely affects one's tolerance to cold.

I also know reaction to blood pressure meds varies by individual. In my case it took half a dozen different meds before we found one that didn't have some unlivable side effect. My suggestion is exactly what you are doing, listen to your body and work with your doctor to find something that works for you. It can be hard to get doctors to listen sometimes so stick with it.

Several years ago I was put on Coreg, a beta blocker. I couldn't spin the pedals.I was told it was like a governor on your car motor. Would not let my heart go past a certain point. I also couldn't stay awake and got depressed. A friend is an ND and she suggested I try 100% beet juice. That helped quite a bit. I also decided to stop drinking coffee. I was drinking LOTS of coffee. As a result, my BP went from a high of 160/100 to 120/80.

I tried the beet juice approach and it wasn't too long before I was in the hospital for kidney stones. If you tend towards kidney stones don't go too hard on the beet juice or maybe mix with lemonade. ;)

Ditto on the Coreg. I had heart failure a couple of years ago and was prescribed Coreg. I ended up passing out twice because my blood pressure would drop very low because of it. I determined the cause by myself and stopped taking it. My Dr still wanted me to take it but i did not listen to him.
As for tolerence for cold, my experience says lower blood pressure, less tolerance for cold.

Beta blockers block part of your body’s “fight-or-flight” response, which keeps your body from increasing your heart rate and respiratory rate in response to heat stress, so you konk out much sooner.

I am on Valsartin or the approved non-cancer type alternative. No question it does affect my ability to handle higher temps at high output so I just go slower and ride within my tolerance level.

I'm on metoporol. I also own a greenhouse business and temps are regularly north of 100. the heat isn't an issue. What i have noticed is my heart rate is 10-20 bpm lower while riding my bike when I take Metoporol for high blood pressure.

I've been doing beet juice (4 oz) for about 5 yrs. Especially before rides. Haven't had a problem. As I understand it, beet juice is used by some pro cyclists to enhance their rides. Here's an interesting article.

https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/arti...you-love-beets

From the article above:

Q. I take beet juice powder and it has dropped my blood pressure to normal levels. But I hear that beets can cause kidney stones in some people. If so, am I putting myself at risk by taking the powder daily?

A. Unless you have had a kidney stone, you may not be in any danger. If you are susceptible to oxalate-containing kidney stones, however, then beets, beet greens and beet root powder could pose a problem. They are quite high in oxalates and may promote kidney stone formation in susceptible individuals.

Yeah, who knows if I'm susceptible to kidney stones or not. It just happened that the beet juice and the stones coincided. They were my first stones (at just short of 50 years old). The experience was enough to discourage me from going back to the beet juice afterwards though, particularly the ureteric stent they put in following the stone removal surgery. It's like a coat hanger they shove up in there and watching them remove it was like seeing a really sick, twisted magic trick. ;) I had an xray the following year to see if I had any more stones developing and I was clear.

I don't even remember if the beet juice was having an impact on my blood pressure. Turmeric for sure does (more than any BP meds I've taken).

Beets are high in oxilates so yes some people predisposed to stones should avoid lots. Beet juice is great vasodilator due to the nitrates that turn into nitric oxide. BP and athletic performance improve.

My approach is L Citrulline or Citrulline Malate, same effect as beet juice without the sugar and red urine. You can buy these alone or in pre-workout mixes. Citrulline is a non essential amino acid found in fruits and vegetables, especially watermelon.

Citrulline also gives you a great *****.

I'm on Lisinopril, which is an ACE inhibitor. I haven't observed any effect on heat tolerance, and it doesn't dampen heart rate. I did talk to my doc about beta blockers, though, but she said with my BP and the fact that I ride, she wouldn't prescribe me a beta blocker anyway.

I'm on amlodipine and have only noticed an intolerance to the cold. I get chilly quick and nothing short of the surface of the sun can warm me up. As for riding, I haven't seen a change in my abilities that couldn't be explained by my arthritis.

I find I have to stop taking my Lisinipril in hot weather or I'll pass out every time I stand up.

I’ve been on Atacand/Candesartan Cilexetil for almost 20 years. Currently 16mg. I have had no issues with heat during that time frame. But heat hasn’t been an issue for me throughout my life. At 68, I’m starting to feel it a little bit more.

So if you have recently started on Candesartan and having these effects you may want to talk to your doctor. If you’ve been taking it for a while, even more reason to talk to your doctor. Especially if you have handled heat well in the past.

John

I wish it worked that well for me, I'm barely in acceptable bp range. Do you take it with a diuretic?

I am on Lisinprril twice a day, metoprolol (beta blocker) trwice a day and hydrochlorothiazide (diuretic) and Plavix once a day. None of these affect my heat or cold tolerance, I so love the heat (80 to 100+ my best) though. My blood pressure is quite low after a ride (I can feel faint getting up too fast). and since the beta blocker affects my maximum heart rate and riding, I have taken to not taking the metropolol day dose when I go on a ride that is going to be more than 25 mi (which is practically every ride) .

I can be sensitive to cold if my medicine for hypothyroidism isn't adjusted right, but that's another story,