Hello,
I’ve been regularly using Huel as my main source of calories since 2018. Recently I’ve been put on Beta blockers (propanolol) to reduce my heart rate / adrenaline and alleviate palpitations I’ve been experiencing from stress.
I initially started with 20mg doses of beta blockers, however this amount didn’t agree with me. So I’ve been gradually reducing doses to even 2.5mg of beta blockers as they certainly alleviate my high heart rate and adrenaline response. Unfortunately even a dose this low didn’t really settle with me, basically leaving me bedridden.
One potential avenue Ive researched is how beta blockers can affect potassium intake, it essentially blocks it from being absorbed by cells. This leads to recommendations that people don’t eat bananas or potassium high foods whilst on the medication.
This leads to Huel - something which contains 175% recommended dosage of potassium. Logically this could be where I’ve been experiencing trouble. However I’ve not seen anything in the forums which suggests this is the case, specifically I’ve seen people say they’re on beta blockers in historical threads and not mention any troubles.
I’m just wanting to check if I’m missing something here or have a thread with enough keywords that may bring others who are searching for answers to a central point.
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Hey Lee! Welcome to the Huel forum but so sorry to hear about this. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to learn a bit more.
I know you mentioned you’ve been consuming a majority of your intake as Huel - how many servings per day is this, which product, and what else are you consuming throughout the day?
Have you had your potassium levels checked recently and were you given any guidance on foods/nutrients to consume more of or avoid? Did this start when you were put on the medication?
I’d recommend checking in with your doctor if you have not already. They would be able to best advise you here!
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I’ve had a range of products and servings over the time, however recently it’s been relatively stable.
Huel Vanilla and Salted Caramel, normal editions.
An average of 3 meals of 2 scoops each. About 1200 calories.
Then additionally i’ll have some form of meat, generally chicken fajitas, or such, I have a very boring diet because I’m pretty ill and don’t want to aggrovate myself with salt or sugar.
Im going to check with my doctors whether the recent bloods I’ve taken included potassium levels, I’ve had no guidance on foods/nutrients. That would be something worth checking as I understand everyone’s bodies react differently.
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Coincidently when I first started huel I started experiencing chest pains a few months later, which left me 4 months off work and staying at my mother’s, thinking out loud I wasn’t having huel whilst there.
I’ve always doubted the involvement as beforehand I had a non-balanced diet of meat, potato, and bread and joked saying huel woke up my receptors to feel these pains.
However afterwards I kept huel consistently in my diet until 2021 where I caught covid and am currently suffering from after effects. (high heart rate / palpitations). Which leads to my story of taking beta blockers and then experiencing weird symptoms which could be associated with high potassium.
I apologise for the wall of text 
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Kudos to you for being so thoughtful about the causes and effects on your health!
No worries at all and thank you so much for sharing your story!
Definitely a good idea - your doctor would be able to best advise you here. I would not be able to say or speculate as to what is causing this to occur.
I am so sorry to hear this and I am sending you all the well wishes and positivity throughout your recovery.
If there’s anything we can do to help or if you have any additional questions or concerns, please let me know too!
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