Beta blocker/Bisoprolol withdrawal and breathlessness

I did my beta-blockers cold turkey. Felt really bad. But I only took them for a few months. What I would suggest in your case is half the dose and do it for 4-5 days and see how you feel. Your bp might go up somewhat. Don't be scared. It's normal. Then you can go with a quarter of a tablet for 4-5 days. Again if you feel OK. If for any reason you feel like it's unbearable go to the previous dose for a couple of days ( but I do hope that you won't have to do that). It would be good to take some teas that calm down your nervous system and make the transition smooth while you are quitting. One thing to keep in mind is that beta blockers have been blocking adrenal receptors for a while and your body has been producing new ones to compensate for the "lost ones" ( that's a self-regulating mechanism that tries to bypass the chemical intrusion). So, what happens next is you end up having the old ones unblocked and the new ones that start reacting to adrenaline during stressful situations. That means that you can experience bp, pulse fluctuations, some anxiety and mood swings while your body gets readjusted to new itself. It may take awhile for your nervous system to reset. Everybody's different. But be patient. And God bless you in doing that.

thank you for the information. I have got myself from 2.5 to 1.25. I am going to the cardiologist on thursday. I dont feel comfortable tapering off without a drs help. I figured I should go to the heart dr anyways because there are alot of heart issues in my family. I recently was diagnosed with lupus. my mom has mitral valve prolapse syndrome. I've been on bisoprolol for 4 years and all of a sudden I get dizzy, headache, sleepy, lethargic. I have all the symptoms of vertigo. so is it this BP meds like my pcp said, vertigo, or the fact I take xanax for anxiety and the bp meds together. honestly either way I want off bisoprolol. I see it can mask diabetes and hormone issues. this is worse than depression meds!

Yes. It is anxiety because your body is in shock right now. It has been taking beta blockers and now demands them back!!! Your nervous system is stressed out. NS consists of sympathetic ( tension) and parasympathetic ( relaxation) departments. The proportion between those two should be 30/70, then your body can back to the normal relaxed state. Now since your body has been taken off beta blockers without warning it's in shock whereat sympathetic department is dominant. That's why you feel tense. It's like a gas pedal that's staying half way pressed. And that is the reason why you easily get anxious about ANYTHING. Little stress gives you all kinds of symptoms. What you want to do is try to google progressive muscle relaxation technique and practice it. It brings your NS back in the normal balance but it takes time. You should start feeling better in about a week. Keep on doing it until you feel normal. Meanwhile you might want to ask your doctor to give you muscle relaxation and anti-spasm medicine . That should make you feel less miserable while you are getting back to normal.

hi seeing your post has brought some comfort I was put on propanolol for migraines 40mg a day for a month..... I suffer from anxiety and depression but not as bad as i feel now...... I have crying spills and I stress for every thought that comes to my head every negative thought..... i feel worse in the mornings and by the afternoons i feel like myself...... this stuff is awful...

It has now been 4 weeks off the med and I still feel terrible like I'm having a heart attack daily. Some days i cant move. I set up and cry. I cant eat or sleep. Nobody believes me anymore, they think its all in my head. When will it get better.

Well. Whenever somebody has been living in a high level of anxiety, his or her stresses are magnified many times simply because you see the whole world THROUGH anxiety. Your nervous system is propped up several steps. It should be on zero, yet its on 5 or 7. This very anxiety kind of "floats" in your body. Those are your emotions that are "stuck or trapped" in your body.

That's why you may feel migraines or any other strange symptoms that docs cannot explain. The symptoms that occur on their own schedule.

So, while propanolol can help some, it doesn't solve the problem. And the problem is behavioral or mental and should be treated as such. So what you need to do is google cognitive behavioral therapy techniques or read books by say Albert Ellis. You will be surprised with how easily you can identify yourself with what he writes.

I sincerely hope you'll all feel better soon. I am on my 113 th day off metoprolol and i can say that 95% of the doomed/ about to have a heart attack feeling is gone. Breathlessness is also almost gone the rest could be due to my GERD. i started feeling better after 6 weeks. anxiety trigger is now pretty much normal unlike when i was on beta blockers.

(Sorry for the lengthy reply)

Here are the things i did to help me feel better:

1. Sleep - twice i had to take a benzo (1.5 mg bromazepam-lowest dose) as i was very desperate and it was already 1AM and i was on my third day of insomnia. After that i stopped it to avoid benzo dependence and withdrawal.

   Bananas- I didn't believe it until i tried them . Bananas can help make you fall asleep faster

   Magnesium supplement- same as bananas it helped me fall asleep faster. be careful not to use the powder form as that can damage your esophagus and lead to very big issues.

2. Blood pressure- at first my cardiologist prescribed losartan 50mg and carvedilol ( i had bp spikes of 180/100) , later changed to metoprolol (which I stopped taking due to symptoms that i never had before medication) and back to losartan.

   I got admitted to a hospital on December 11 2019 due to breathlessness and palpitations which turned out to be because of GERD as a side effect of the Losartan i took. My doctor instructed me to discontinue my blood pressure medication (after he determined through holter monitoring and 24 hr bp monitoring that my bp is now stable and i can always use clonidine for bp spikes.

I now turned to natural means of maintaining a 115/75 average bp.

1. Beets - they really work . At peak effect (after 4 hours) bp falls to 105/69. i steam them just enough until tender . i eat 3 medium beets a day along with 400mg calcium supplements each time to avoid oxalate accumulation in the urine which can lead to kidney stones.
2. Bananas- helps lower bp and help make you fall asleep which in turn helps your bp too.
3. Exercise - start lying down if you can't tolerate sitting up straight. Do calf exercises and leg bends as tolerated. Progress to sitting position and finally standing up. I found the hard way that lying down too much can decondition the body but i thank the Lord Jesus that i am slowly regaining my strength.
4. Palpitations - i only exercise when i feel best. The goal is to keep blood flowing to the head so your heart does not have to pump faster when standing up. Tip toeing while walking from time to time will prevent blood from pooling in the lower extremities. You can also do this while sitting down.

   i took ashwagandha for 3 months and stopped them bec i thought it led to GERD (took them with magnesium 400mg. ashwagandha 1600mg)

   To help slow down my heart during palpitations i lie completely flat and do deep breathing along with glottis breathing.

Listening to calm music also helped. i always mention forum members as a group whenever i pray to the Lord Jesus Christ, bless His name.

how are you doing now?

i hope you're doing better now and thank you for asking ii am doing great chest pain is almost gone so is the GERD that was due to losartan/valsartan glory to Jesus.i also had sprue like sysmptoms due to those two meds and that too is gone now. please note that what worked for me might work for all (quitting meds) i just turned 43 last December and the bp spikes and palpitations i had were due to the fact that i wasn't getting enough sleep (night shifts) and other stress factors like fatigue etc. still it took my body to get to where i am now approximately 9 months . the last bp spike i had was the one in Nov 20 2019 (these did not subside unless medicated with clonidine longest i had to endure one was 2 hours because the clinic doctor was not sure of what to do because she was not a cardiologist and she was not sure if she should give me clonidine and because i already had my metoprolol dose that day she thought my bp (190/100 127 bpm) would fall too low. i am continuing doing all natural treatment and it looks promising i take about 2 medium beets a day and i use 2 leaves of andrographis paniculata as tea ( king of bitters literally).

i stopped taking calcium carbonate as i highly suspect that acid rebound also added to my GERD with good results. i always try to include forum members in my prayers .

erratum : "might NOT work for everyone" although i know you all got that 😅

sent you a message

thank you for the message and replied to it. God bless us all.

im going through the same thing its been 4 weeks now for me.