How to Restart Carvedilol After Stopping for Less Than a Week

Carvedilol is a prescription medication prescribed for heart failure and high blood pressure. Heart failure is when the heart cannot properly pump enough blood to all parts of the body, and may be congenital or the result of a heart attack. Carvedilol belongs to a class of drugs called beta-blockers, which slow down the heart rate and relax blood vessels to help the heart pump more effectively and reduce blood pressure.

Things You'll Need

• Carvedilol

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Instructions

Determine Number of Missed Doses

• 1

  Count the the number of days you have missed your medication. Stopping your intake of Carvedilol for less than a week could be a period of anywhere from one day to six days.

• 2

  Check your prescription label. If you are taking the extended-release formula, your dose will likely be once per day. Other formulas are usually to be taken twice per day.

• 3

  Multiply the number of doses you are supposed to take per day by the number of days you have been without the medication. This is the total number of doses you have missed.

Consult Your Physician

• 4

  Phone the doctor who prescribed you Carvedilol and tell him how many doses you have missed.

• 5

  Follow your doctor's instructions. If you have missed only a few days' worth of doses, your doctor will likely instruct you to simply resume taking Carvedilol as you were before.

• 6

  Do not resume taking Carvedilol if you physician tells you not to. If you slowly increased your dosage over time, which is common with Carvedilol, and then abruptly stopped for close to a week (5-6 days), your doctor may want you to start back on a lower dose to decrease potential side effects from stopping and restarting your medication.