Hi All,
I'm fairly new here, haven't posted in quite sometime but I always come back when I'm having a few bad days and get comfort just by reading some of your letters.  I've had these crazy palps for many years on and off, had all the the same tests that many of you had done also with always the same result, you're fine.  I did have some blood pressure problems and my dr. put me on 25 mg of Atenolol.  It worked wonders, the first day I had a few palps, very minor, I was a little tired but managed to get through the day just fine.  Well about 6 weeks after I started taking it, I started with a slight cough which turned into a full fledged cold.  I would start to feel better then whether it was all in my mind or whatver, it seemed when I took my pill after lunch when I usually did I would start to feel a little congested again...so I stopped taking them..yes I knew that was bad, but I felt fine, no side effects and after about two weeks the cold went away.  My question is this, has anyone had this kind of side effect?  I was around a house full of people that had bronchitis and I know I probably shouldn't have read the little booklet that says it can induce asthma...I have never had asthma in my life nor do I have any problems now...I really want to go back on the meds because I really felt good...not one palp after the first day...not one, even when I was stressed and when I was on the meds it was like...oh well, whatever...now I'm more stressed on my job and the palps are driving me nuts!!  I do take a half of Xanax and it seems to help...when I was taking the meds I didn't take one Xanax the whole time!!  Can anyone shed some light?  Oh..I'm 54 and postmenopausal.  I feel like a crazy person going back and forth to the dr. all the time!

RLR,
Thank you so much for your response.  I am going to make an appointment with my dr. on Monday, I feel I really need something to keep my anxiety at bay and when you said it may have made  my symtoms seem more extreme then they were, I realize that was probably true because when I read the little booklet and it said can induce asthma, it scared me.  I also wondered if it would take that long to have symtoms, like I said I was on it for about 6 weeks before even started my cold.  I am not taking any type of HRT, I just felt it wasn't right for me.  The only other side effect I had was for the first week I was on it, I would feel a type of scared feeling in my stomach, hard to explain, almost like I was on a ride and you would drop down, but that went away.  By the way, my mom who is 75 has had palpitations for years, along with my sister.  But we all have the anxiety thing going on too.  My best to all of you with these nasty little things.  Keeping focused on things that I enjoy seems to help keep them at bay, when I have too much empty time on my hands this little mind starts wander and keeps me thinking about them also.  Thanks again, this board helps me so much, just knowing we're not alone in this makes a world of difference.  

Now I understand much better, I usually don't read the little inserts for that simple reason but somewhere along the line I had a friend who was on beta blockers and she developed a cough, just a dry cough and they changed her meds, well one thing led to another and I had the insert out and well the rest is history.  I'll discuss it with my dr. and see what she advises, I know her pretty well and she'll probably continue with the Atenolol, especially since it worked so well for me.  I'll keep you posted.  Thank you again for putting my mind at ease.