Exercise with and without Beta Blocker and ACE inhibitor meds

[PaulBromley]

I've recently been taken off a beta blocker and ACE inhibtor meds (Bisprolol & Ramipril) - See blow for back story


I've noticed that reviewing a couple of turbo sessions without the meds and comparing to sessions with meds that I'm doing the same miles in the same set time on the same set up.

Without Beta blocker my HR is higher, as expected, and I burn more calories (on paper anyway - garmin algorithm) than I do medicated.


My question is whats going on? Why, when my HR isn't throttled back by Beta blockers can I only put out the same amount of (distance x time) as with Beta blockers - (don't want to say power here)


So to my engineers brain you would think. Take the beta blocker and you're more efficient. Or is that flawed? I think it must be, but can't come up with a rational alternative theory


Back story: I've cycled most of my adult life. Usually to and from work covering 120miles a week a part from the winter. 30years into this and I had a heart attack and cardiac arrest.
I was put on a blanket set of meds : beta blockers, ACE inhinbitors, Statins and Asprin. Due to the cycling I never had high blood pressure due tthe medics said I needed them. Any forward 11 years since the event and 11 years of putting in
regular BP readings a nurse finally noticed that my BP was low. Hooray. Set off investigation with cardiology to see if I could come off the meds and so I had tests to cofirm both ventricles were working normally and I came off the meds. Another hooray

 

[ColinJ]

Are you using the same gear ratios and cadences for the same efforts?

 

[PaulBromley]

Yeah. Everything is identical

Ok I didn't set off to compare the efforts I just noticed that for a 70 minute effort I seemed to do the same miles and so I assume the same effort.

 

[PaulBromley]

I thought last night may be it's an efficiency thing. As your heart rate gets faster then it pumps out less blood per beat thereby tailing off in performance

 

[kingrollo]

I thought last night may be it's an efficiency thing. As your heart rate gets faster then it pumps out less blood per beat thereby tailing off in performance

The beta blockers dilate your blood vessels - in simple terms that makes them wider. Therefore more blood can flow through them - therefore your heart can take it a bit easier to supply the same amount of blood.

However even accounting for the above - you're high end heart activity is likely to be restricted by beta blockers.

My GP switched me over to calcium channel blockers because of the effects bisoporal had on my cycling and HR performance.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

A long read that sheds some light on the whole usage issue:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl...acity or exercise induced bronchoconstriction.

 

[PaulBromley]

A long read that sheds some light on the whole usage issue:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8710988/#:~:text=Beta-blockade has no meaningful,capacity or exercise induced bronchoconstriction.

Thanks Spokey. This article seems to suggest that my body has a work around for the beta blockers that were in my system by compensating blood gas and stroke volume of the heart, thereby giving no loss in muscle power. Therefore, I could indeed ride the same miles in the same time for a lower heart rate. Isn't the human body a wonderful thing :-)

So, that said, What's the down side of the beta blockers. Is it like a runner training with a tyre on a rope dragging behind him. you get better when the tyre isn't there. Common sense surely says if you don't have to take the tablets then dont

I'm guessing f I spoke to my GP about this he'd just stare blankly back at me and say "Above my pay grade Matey. On your way"

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Thanks Spokey. This article seems to suggest that my body has a work around for the beta blockers that were in my system by compensating blood gas and stroke volume of the heart, thereby giving no loss in muscle power. Therefore, I could indeed ride the same miles in the same time for a lower heart rate. Isn't the human body a wonderful thing :-)

So, that said, What's the down side of the beta blockers. Is it like a runner training with a tyre on a rope dragging behind him. you get better when the tyre isn't there. Common sense surely says if you don't have to take the tablets then dont

I'm guessing f I spoke to my GP about this he'd just stare blankly back at me and say "Above my pay grade Matey. On your way"

I think your last para' is pretty accurate, having lost faith in the GP's at our Practice for displaying a serious lack of knowledge re one major illness and several minor ones ime. However, one for another thread.

Specifically, beta-blockers. I was prescribed these by a Consultant Endocrinologist to help control, ie lower my heart rate, prior to receiving permanent treatment for an over-active thyroid gland.

Paraphrasing, he said that he preferred to minimise use of these drugs as they can cause long-term heart problems. It wasn't top of my agenda at the time to research this online and tbh I hadn't even thought about it again until now. Maybe he was right, or maybe he was wrong, and current knowledge as per the linked article was possibly an unknown at the time - 2008.

 

[PaulBromley]

I think your last para' is pretty accurate, having lost faith in the GP's at our Practice for displaying a serious lack of knowledge re one major illness and several minor ones ime. However, one for another thread.

Specifically, beta-blockers. I was prescribed these by a Consultant Endocrinologist to help control, ie lower my heart rate, prior to receiving permanent treatment for an over-active thyroid gland.

Paraphrasing, he said that he preferred to minimise use of these drugs as they can cause long-term heart problems. It wasn't top of my agenda at the time to research this online and tbh I hadn't even thought about it again until now. Maybe he was right, or maybe he was wrong, and current knowledge as per the linked article was possibly an unknown at the time - 2008.

Yeah, at the end of the day I was no athlete before my MI and cardiac arrest so performance wasn't an issue. I remember reading an atricle in cycling weekly years ago (think it was Dr Michael Hutchinson) on riding with beta blockers and how they affected performance and he wouldn't recommend them (presumably for elite types ) and suggested a change to ACE inhibitors. It's my understanding that the beta blocker slows the HR and ACE inhibitors dilate the ateries. Both affect BP

I was just happy to get away without a hypoxic brain injury and be able to get on with my life.

Anyway back to the original question. Thinking abut it last night when I did get back to riding to work I was doing the same times for the same journey week in week out that I did prior to my MI. Ok small variations for weather and I never questioned why until now. Guess I was just happy to get my life back to normal

Anyway. Thanks for your thoughts and observations