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Mr. Li, 58 years old, was diagnosed with high blood pressure during a physical examination a few years ago, and under the guidance of the doctor, he started taking metoprolol, and with the help of the drug, his blood pressure has been maintained in the normal range for many years.
However, recently, Mr. Li was not very concerned about taking medicine because of his mother's illness, and later he was too busy and stopped taking medicine directly. Unexpectedly, a few days after stopping the drug, Mr. Li died of a heart attack.
Mr. Li's family also had doubts in addition to grief, how did Mr. Li die of a heart attack after taking medicine for many years, but he didn't take medicine for a while?
Metoprolol will die if you don't eat it right! Don't do these 3 things
Metoprolol first appeared in the 60s of the last century, and is a very classic β blocker, which has good efficacy for angina, hypertension, myocardial infarction and other diseases, and has a relatively high safety.
However, no matter how safe a drug is, it is still a drug after all, and if you don't eat it right, it will also pose a direct threat to our lives.
1. Don't stop taking the medicine at will
In general, patients taking metoprolol need long-term medication, and after taking the drug for a long time, patients may have a slack mentality, and even stop taking the drug at will.
However, metoprolol, which is a β receptor blocker, will act on β receptors after entering the human body, so that the sensitivity of the β receptors will increase, and if the drug is stopped suddenly, the β receptors will be affected by catechol, which will increase our heart rate, increase oxygen consumption, and also increase the excitability of the sympathetic nerve and increase the patient's blood pressure level.
At this time, the risk of myocardial infarction, rapid cardia, angina pectoris and other diseases will increase significantly, and if not treated in time, it will even threaten the patient's life. The drug should be resumed in time, the dose should be gradually lowered under the guidance of the doctor, and then the drug should be completely stopped, and the entire drug should be stopped for at least 2 weeks.
2. Don't ignore the side effects of metoprolol
Any medication has side effects, and metoprolol is no exception, such as nausea, bradycardia, diarrhea, etc.
However, since metoprolol is a fat-soluble drug, the most common side effects are central nervous system reactions, such as dizziness, drowsiness, exhaustion, etc. Although these side effects usually do not cause us much of a problem, for some patients who need to drive or operate precision equipment, this side effect may bring certain dangers to patients.
Therefore, you must not ignore the side effects of metoprolol, and if necessary, you can consider changing other drugs, of course, it is recommended to follow the guidance of your doctor in this process, and do not change the drug by yourself, the risk is not small.
3. Do not use it in combination with anti-arrhythmic drugs
Many patients like to see their own doctors and prescribe medicines, which is actually not right, and non-professionals are not sure whether there will be some synergistic reaction between drugs.
For example, metoprolol is very unsuitable for combination with anti-arrhythmic drugs, because metoprolol will reduce the patient's heart rate, and many anti-arrhythmic drugs also have the same effect, if used blindly, it will cause the problem of bradycardia, and in severe cases, it may lead to insufficient blood supply to the patient's whole body organs, bringing life danger to the patient.
In short, for everyone's safety, the above three suggestions must be listened to!
It's all metoprolol, what is the difference between "succinic acid" and "tartaric acid"?
I know that I want to use metoprolol, but some friends may encounter such a problem when buying drugs, that is, metoprolol on the market is often preceded by the words "succinic acid" and "tartaric acid", which makes people not know how to choose when buying.
What is the difference between "succinic acid" and "tartaric acid"?
In fact, "tartaric acid" and "succinic acid" mainly refer to the dosage form of metoprolol. "Tartaric acid" is a common dosage form of metoprolol, and "succinic acid" is a sustained-release dosage form, although the main ingredient of both is metoprolol, but there are still many differences.
The most obvious difference is that the drug onset speed and half-life are different, metoprolol tartrate can generally take effect within 15 minutes after taking the drug, but because the half-life of metoprolol tartrate is relatively short, it can only be maintained for 3-5 hours after entering the human body, patients often need to continue taking the drug for 3-4 days if they want to achieve a stable blood concentration, which is more suitable for friends who are anxious to control their heart rate.
The onset of action of metoprolol succinate is significantly slower than that of metoprolol tartrate, and it takes about 2 hours to take effect. In this way, it seems that metoprolol succinate is not as good as metoprolol tartrate, but the half-life of metoprolol succinate is significantly longer than that of metoprolol tartrate, about 24 hours, the drug effect is more stable, and it does not need to be taken for 3-4 days to achieve a stable blood concentration, which is more suitable for patients with long-term medication.
In addition, the length of the half-life also has a significant impact on the frequency of the patient's medication, when the patient uses metoprolol tartrate with a short half-life, it is usually taken 2-3 times a day, and metoprolol succinate only needs to be taken once a day. For patients requiring long-term medication, medication adherence with metoprolol succinate is higher.
Therefore, whether we want to use metoprolol tartrate or metoprolol succinate mainly depends on the patient's condition and needs, and it is recommended that you can follow the doctor's advice and choose the right drug for yourself when choosing a drug.
However, although we know the difference between "succinic acid" and "tartaric acid", there is often another problem when buying drugs - price.
A piece of metoprolol costs only a few cents, does it really work?
I don't know since when, whether it is metoprolol tartrate or metoprolol succinate, when you buy it in the hospital, 1 tablet only costs a few cents, and many patients will have doubts about this price when they buy the drug, is the drug really effective for a few cents?
Don't worry, the reason why the price of metoprolol is only a few cents is because the mainland began to implement the policy of centralized drug procurement in 2019, and negotiated with pharmaceutical companies through centralized procurement, so that the price of a large number of drugs has dropped significantly, reducing the burden of patients seeking medical treatment, and allowing more patients to afford to see the disease and eat medicine.
Metoprolol is one of the drugs collected by the state, which is the fundamental reason why 1 tablet of metoprolol only costs a few cents. In other words, the metoprolol taken by the patient has not undergone essential changes, and it is still a normal and effective drug.
In addition, we don't have to worry that the domestic metoprolol is not as good as the imported metoprolol, in order to ensure the effectiveness of domestic drugs, the state requires that the domestic drugs that enter the centralized procurement list must pass the consistency evaluation, this policy makes the effect of domestic drugs guaranteed, and everyone can use them with confidence.
Write at the end
Metoprolol is a relatively common drug, but it can easily bring life-threatening to patients if used incorrectly. Therefore, we recommend that patients should not stop the drug at will, do not ignore the side effects, and do not combine it with anti-arrhythmic drugs to protect the patient's life and health.
In addition, when faced with the choice of "tartaric acid" and "succinic acid", you should understand the difference between the two, and with the help of a doctor, choose the appropriate drug dosage form according to your condition. Don't use medication blindly.
Finally, I would like to tell you that although metoprolol is cheap, this is the "credit" of the national centralized procurement, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the drug itself.
Bibliography:
[1] Yan Xiaofang, Ge Jinzhuo, Li Jiaying, et al. Analysis of safety adverse events and influencing factors of domestic metoprolol tartrate tablets[J].Chinese Journal of Circulation,2022,37(09):928-934.)
[2] Chen Jiexia, Tang Haiqin, Li Jin. Meta-analysis of metoprolol in the treatment of elderly Chinese patients with chronic heart failure[J].Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Cardiovascular Medicine,2013,5(01):10-14.
[3] Gao Wenxue, Gao Lei, Yan Meixing. Chinese Clinician,2012,40(03):38-41.
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