Coming off Propranolol - Anxiety symptoms
Posted , 7 users are following.
I was originally prescribed propranolol for migraines about 3 years ago. I started on 40mg in the morning and 40mg at night. After about a year my migraines started coming back so following advice from a neurologist my dose was increased. Everytime my migraines came back the doses were increased up until i was on a massive 320mg per day.
After 2 months of 320mg per day my migraines returned so me and my doctor decided to switch medications. He just told me to try and come off propranolol at my own pace - but didnt warn me of any side effects, so in the first week i cut it by half and felt AWFUL. I didnt have anxiety before but after cutting down I felt so lost that I couldnt even leave the house. After a couple of weeks I noticed a slight improvement so I continued to cut down and now I'm down to 40mg in the morning and 40mg at night. (at this point I just wanted to be off them as quick as possible)
so far cutting down to this has taken about 7 weeks, but I do really feel like my mental health has been effected massively. I feel anxious about everything, and everything makes me feel dread. Ive got a lot of good things happening in my life right now but i dont feel excited, I just have this feeling of dread. Sometimes I actually feel like I'm going a bit crazy.
I was just wondering if anyone can relate to this?
I wasnt sure wether to go to the doctors but I dont want them to put me on medication or anything if this feeling will go away eventually as my body adjusts.
7 weeks of feeling this way doesn't seem like long - but it has been the longest few weeks of my life!
0 likes, 7 replies
claire81849 abbey84081
Posted
Hi there I totally relate to what you are saying.
I was given 10mg 3 times a day as i was struggling with a little health anxiety, i was told by my doctor that they just 'chill you out' so i decided to take them thinking they were a simple drug that won't come with many side effects. I tried not to read in to side effects as i do think this can sometimes trigger them in your head.
I've been on them for 2 months and i feel horrendous. It's probably easier if i do a list of all the symptoms i've been experiencing.
Cold hands and feet (feeling cold)
Bad dreams
Crying and breaking down so i guess mood changes
Bad thoughts and just generally not feeling
myself
Anxiety that i didn't have before
Depression - which i didn't have before
Feeling on edge
Paranoia
Not sleeping and waking suddenly in the night
Feeling jittery
Dizzy spells
I'm cutting down now but this has been torture. I've recently discovered i'm quite sensitive to medication. Going on this medication was the worst decision of my life and i can only hope that i can go back to being me.
You're not alone but you are on such a high dose, not sure how you are coping. I would say stay off medication and let your body and mind settle and adjust back to normality. Now i feel my anxiety has sky rocketed because of this drug, i have bought kalms to take once these are out of my system, just incase it takes a while for me to adjust. I hope you feel better.
abbey84081 claire81849
Posted
Hi Claire,
thanks for your reply! Those symptoms sound awful - strangely for me I only seemed to get all of those after I began cutting down?
Have the symptoms got better after cutting down? Ive managed to get myself down to 60mg daily however I am definitely still not right. Apparently, I've read it can take up to 6 months for your body to adjust once the dose is out of your system.
Kalms I found to be effective (wether they work or its just placebo I don't know but I guess if it works it doesn't really matter)
I hope you feel better too
Propranolol is definitely more of a big deal than doctors make it out to be
Abbey x
andrew43649 claire81849
Posted
hi claire,
i am in the same situation, 3x10mg daily for 4 weeks now and its been hell. i have experienced the exact same symptoms, its like being trapped in a bad dream. i cant function at all. i have started to taper them off, 10mg per week. have you come off them completely now? how are you feeling??
GameChanger abbey84081
Posted
Very interesting using it for that. I have not heard of it for migraines before. I wonder if it it something to do with blood flow/anxiety. It turns down, or off, adrenaline - but I have to wonder if that just points to some other cause for you. Did you feel pounding in your head with the migraines? Especially if you bent over? Always? From what I know, migraines are quite individual. I wonder what the cause is that you were given Propranolol. - Jus.
abbey84081 GameChanger
Posted
Hello Jus,
I'm not exactly sure how they work, but anxiety and migraines have been linked so I suppose thats why propranolol works for both? (However I never did suffer from anxiety before the propranolol). Migraines are generally caused by something over stimulating the senses, so I guess adrenaline would be connected with this too?
Yes, Ive always been very ill with migraines I got all the symptoms including aura, headache, sickness and confusion.
Thanks
Abbey
ailapls abbey84081
Posted
Hey Abbey, just wondered - did you have heart palpitations reducing your doses? Like a pounding heart any time you stood up or walked about? How has that been for you? Are you feeling better now?
abbey84081 ailapls
Posted
Hi Ailapls,
Yes but mostly just randomly, for instance if I'm sitting on the sofa chilling it can happen for a few seconds, but not really often.
Mostly my withdrawal symptoms seem to be huge amounts of anxiety, its a strange thing to deal with because I'm trying to completely come off the propranolol but I also don't want to make the same mistake I did at first and cut my dose too quickly.
I think I am beginning to feel better - hard to tell though because I suppose the symptoms reduce slowly & anxiety really does make you have a negative outlook on things rather than positive!
Are you coming off propranolol too? If so ( & the palpatations are really worrying you) it could be anxiety making you hyper sensitive to feeling them/getting extra worried about them.
From what I understand, because propranolol surpresses the amount of adrenaline your body creates, so when we begin to cut out our doses our body goes into over drive and suddenly we have too much adrenaline (this is what causes the palpatations & anxiety) - if this is true its good news because it means we will start to feel better as our body adjusts!
How are you feeling now?
I hope the palpatations have reduced
Abbey