What Causes Tachycardia, Hypertension And Neuritis While On Medrol?

Posted on Fri, 30 Jun 2017

Question: I am 75 and a registered nurse. I am allergic to ASA and have medrol tablets for use in certain circumstances. I am in the early recovery of severe neuropathy related to Vitamin B6 poisoning after taking it for supplement. My level was 132 three weeks ago and I am now back in normal range at 14 after flushing for days with water etc. But I have been using medrol individual 2 mg tablets to control the severe neuritis around the clock. I started to decrease the medrol over the past two weeks gradually reducing the dosage ...which I have done in the past with torn knee treatments. So, as of today I have been off the medrol since Sunday ..including Sunday. Well, I was out on errands earlier and got back at 12;30 and noticed my HEART starting to bound with a tachycardia....recalled this occurrence in the past using the medrol with the knees ,,,and it was not stopping My BP went up to 170/80 and my heart rate sitting was 120. So I took six mg of valium over a 20 minute period to see if it would bring down the symptoms and it did by 1:40 PM. I recall in the past that I had to stay on does of Valium for a period of time to get through being off the medrol for the torn knees. My original doctor who has died knew how to manage the medrol and valium to get me through the severe pain at the time. Now, I am hunting doctors who have an understanding of the patients like myself who can't take ASA type drugs and must use steroids. None of them want to give you a narcotic either ....so I am always caught in these situations . So, now I have stopped the bounding heart and the pressure must have come down to a decent level which I will check....but I am wondering how often to repeat (probably 5 mg of valium since I have those tabs as well. I have had no medrol for 4 days and hope to stay off now that I am healed of the severe pain of the neuritis.I do not have computer skills to upload or do pdf this and that. If someone could just write me an email as I provided that would be my only ability to follow up with the person. I am not very skilled with more than typing emails on computer. Thank You. XXXXXXX xxxxxxxxx

Answered by Dr. Lekshmi Rita Venugopal (7 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Symptoms are side effect of Medrol, Recommendation to discontinue Medrol

Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Thank you for trusting HealthcareMagic

I have gone through your query and I understand your concern

Tachycardia and increased blood pressure is a side effect of Medrol (MethyPrednisone).Medrol affects potassium channels in the heart resulting in tachycardia. Since you have stopped the Medrol, it is highly unlikely that the palpitation and high BP will occur again. Valium is not the appropriate medication to control tachycardia associated with Medrol. There are also studies showing that Valium can worsen tachycardia.
Valium relieves increased blood pressure, pounding heart and other symptoms associated with anxiety.
If you decide on taking valium the dosage is 2-10 mg two to four times daily. Maximum dosage should not exceed 40mg a day. You should not take more than 10 mg of Valium at once. If you have 5mg tablets, you can take valium 5mg as less as once daily and upto a maximum dose of 40 mg (ie, 8 times a day).

However, I strongly discourage taking Valium. Since you have stopped Medrol, you will most likely not have tachycardia even without taking the Valium.
If you develop these symptoms again, please be advised to go the emergency room.You will need an EKG to determine the kind of tachycardia and management appropriately.

Hope I was able to help you
Please address further questions here
Regards
Dr.Lekshmi

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D