Posted by emme on January 28, 2005, at 23:39:39
In reply to Re: atenolol is cardioselective » emme, posted by KaraS on January 27, 2005, at 23:27:31
> I just read that in one of Ed's posts above. Does that mean that it isn't contraindicated for asthma?
All the drug info I've ever seen for it says it is contraindicated for asthma; there will be some cross-over between receptors with all the beta-blockers.
> Does it also have a tendency to cause or worsen depression?
All the beta blockers have the potential to cause depression. I believe my doctor tried atenolol because it crosses the BB barrier less readily than, say, propranolol. I think it was a good choice to try to avoid potential worsening of depression. If you want to find out more about how much actually makes it across the BB barrier, do a search on "atenolol" and "blood brain barrier". I think I saw one or two on Pubmed where they measured how much crossed the barrier.
But what it all boils down to is that you wouldn't know if it made you more depressed unless you tried it. But you've said the doctors wouldn't prescribe it. What were their reasons? Are you asthmatic? Do you have really low blood pressure? Beta blockers could be contraindicated for a number of reasons.
poster:emme
thread:448161
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050128/msgs/449498.html