Question

A nurse is counseling a patient who will be discharged home on propranolol [inderal], 40 mg, po, three times daily. the patient has angina pectoris and type ii diabetes. he'll be taking insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents as well. the nurse cautions the patient to check his blood sugars more frequently because:

Answer 1

The nurse cautions the patient to check his blood sugars more frequently because the beta blocker can blunt tachycardia and anxiety, which are signs that might alert the patient of hypoglycemia. Propanolol is a drug of the beta-blocker type, used to lower blood pressure. It is also implicated in worsening diabetes control in several ways. One of the most important ways is that beta-blockers keep the heart rate slow which reduces and blunts the symptoms of hypoglycemia. This, in turn, blocks a person's ability to identify and respond to low blood glucose.