Ask a doctor on the topic of General medicine

Medicine taken incorrectly

September 12, 2018 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Christian Welsch

Hello,
my mother (98 years old) has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter, suspected coronary heart disease, NSTEMI 2018, mitral and tricuspid valve insufficiency, as well as hypertension. She has been prescribed 1 Ramipril Isis 5mg and 1 Metoprolol succinate 47.5mg in the morning, and 1 Eliquis 2.5mg in the morning and evening.
She has mistakenly been taking an extra Metoprolol in the evening for the past 4 weeks. Should she taper off this medication or can she simply stop taking it, or continue until her appointment with the doctor? Our appointment with the doctor is scheduled for Monday, September 17th.

Thank you in advance,
I. Kock

Christian Welsch

Hello Mr. Kock, metoprolol is a so-called beta blocker that lowers heart rate and blood pressure. If the heart beats slower than 60/min and blood pressure is too low due to mistakenly high dose, I would reduce the dose to the original amount, maybe gradually reducing it to just half in the evening for a few days. Do you have any questions?