Extreme anxiety and Propanalol

I would like to say how comforting it has been to read the posts  about how people are affected by anxiety and the positive effects of taking Propanalol, enabling people to take back control of their emotions and, more importantly, their lives. I now feel totally vindicated in going to the GP for help. I am 60 and was always a “nervy” child until I left school, got a job and found a new self confidence and joie de vivre.  Anxiety didn’t start to rear its ugly head until a year ago, despite several bumps in the road of my lifes journey before then, and then it was relatively mild and only travel or dentist related, so not that often. Would just wake up really early in the morning and get anxious but as soon as I was on my way, I’d relax.  Then in April this year - bang ! I would wake up suddenly in the night, heart racing and pounding, sweating, knotted stomach and it took a huge amount of deep breathing to bring it under control.  Being a lady of a certain age, nocturnal visits are common and whenever I woke up and had to go to the loo, bang again. Heart thumping and racing, stomach churning, tense, knotted feeling in my abdomen. More often than not I would then be awake for the rest of the night and experience an upset stomach.  Several issues are going on in my life, just “stuff” but nothing bad. I suppose as soon as I am awake, my brain just takes control.The anxiety then started to impact on my daily life. I could be on the computer working, hoovering the carpet, doing ironing - all typical and mundane routines and - bang !  My decision to go to the GP was made after I had a panic attack over going to spend the day with a friend of mine who I’ve known for 45 years.  Another attack over going out to dinner with my daughters parents in law, and a really bad attack today over meeting my cousin and friend for lunch tomorrow (obviously known her all my life) and spending the weekend with friends this weekend (known them for over 15 years and stayed with them several times). Initially my GP prescribed me Fluoxetine but told me it could take up to a month to take effect.  Today’s anxiety attack (in my home) was particularly bad and I thought, nope there’s no way I can cope with this for another month, so went back and saw a different GP. I explained what is going on with my life, how this anxiety is making me feel and that I can’t cope with these awful feelings for another month and needed something that would kick in straight away. She prescribed Propanalol.  I am also going to make arrangements to do one to one CBT, as I found talking to the GP really helped for the 10 minutes I was in her room. She said my serotonin levels are probably on the floor and has suggested I take 4 x 10mg daily, but I can adjust the quantity to suit.   I am going to take a tablet now, and then another when I go up to bed as I want to experience the effect they have on me, before I go into the full dosage in the morning. I am hoping that, after tomorrow morning’s dose, I will get to my lunch and thoroughly enjoy it, likewise our weekend away. Having read everyone’s positive experience that Propanalol has had on their anxiety, I am confident that tomorrow I can take back control and start to look forward to future events with excitement and not trepidation.  I will post an update in a few days.

0 likes, 3 replies