Hallucinations? Feeling things?
Posted , 22 users are following.
Ok I have a feeling it's only me with this problem, been on propranolol slow release 80mg for 3 weeks and just started to experience waking up in the night and seeing a figure of a child, then last night I woke up and felt a mouse running under my duvet, there was nothing there 
this only happens when my brain has just woke up , anyone else experienced anything like this? Medication was working great until this happened
2 likes, 42 replies
martha50305 emma1984
Posted
molly98593 emma1984
Posted
This is actually more common than you'd expect. There are so many papers and reports on these symptoms from normal doses of propranolol. This paper is worth the read, https://pmj.bmj.com/content/postgradmedj/63/735/57.full.pdf
Odrog molly98593
Posted
Yup, also see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1604211/
I just found the above plus this very thread here tonight in a google search after experiencing visual distortions / hallucinations. I have never experienced this before, propranolol was the only med I had taken (and completely free of meds for weeks before this. No alcohol. I have taken propranolol several times before in the past without any issues, but this time it was a new form and higher dose than I've taken before:, 60mg ER version. It was not until 7 hours after taking the first dose that I noticed a strange distortion of my visual field, I was at the dinner table, not sleepy at all. I started freaking out a bit just because I had never experienced anything like this and didn't know what was causing it, I was worried maybe my retina was detaching or something. I took off my glasses thinking maybe they were somehow causing it, but nothing changed. I was seeing flashes of light, blinking dots, and some interesting colorful patterns, all in my peripheral only, I could not look directly at the patterns, they always stayed at the edges of my vision. I tried closing my eyes and still saw them, tried going into a dark room with eyes open and that's when I saw the most, it was actually kind of cool and beautiful but when you don't know the cause it can freak you out. This whole little episode only lasted about 15 minutes then disappeared. I had no idea in advance that propranolol had this side effect and that it is even fairly common.
jena89157 Odrog
Posted
I have been taking that medication for years and years and I have just now started in the past like two or three months heaven like I don’t know like night terrors or hallucinations or something like spiders on the walls seeing shadow figures or something in my room in the corners stuff on the ceiling I have never hallucinated off of anything and I like I said I’ve been taking this medication for years and it’s just now starting so it’s just a little odd to me that it would just now start but only other thing I take is a cholesterol pill and a blood pressure medication and the medicine that I take that I think is making me hallucinate is for my chronic migraines weird I don’t understand I wish I could get more answers
elijah94908 emma1984
Posted
Ive been on this med for only 3 days, and i'm seeing people who arent there, that ive never met before. Im 15 years old. I take the meds for my heart. I mean... the people im seeing dont even look like ghost. I woke up and looked on the end of the bed to see a Old lady near my feet. I was very paranoid, yet I still am. I see figures, Im feeling really depressed. I dont know what to do
elijah94908 emma1984
Posted
Ive been on this med for only 3 days, and i'm seeing people who arent there, that ive never met before. Im 15 years old. I take the meds for my heart. I mean... the people im seeing dont even look like ghost. I woke up and looked on the end of the bed to see a Old lady near my feet. I was very paranoid, yet I still am. I see figures, Im feeling really depressed. I dont know what to do
Propranolol emma1984
Edited
I just started this medication today 40 mg twice daily, at night the hallucinations started wtf from the first day? it's very suprising that so many people seem to have the same type of things i was trying to sleep facing my mirror and saw a spider leaping between my cabinets (black figure)
don't know if i would want to continue was using Ivabradine previously for Sinus Tachycardia worked so well but i had double vision (not always) and light sensitivity.
might go back to metoprolol but it made me tired when i used it for over 2 months.
martin03623 emma1984
Posted
my wife was prescribed propranolol for anxiety . she took her own life 2 months later due to psychotic episode caused by side effects of propranolol .a!
CWomack87 emma1984
Posted
I came across this discussion through Google looking for people with similar experiences.
I started taking 80mg of Propranolol in July of 2022. Within the first month I had the craziest hallucination waking up. I'd wake up seeing numbers, letters, & math symbols of various sizes everywhere. I would be able to see my room, but with all that non-sense superimposed over it. The vision would eventually fade away pretty quickly the more awake I became. I've only experienced it about 4 times. Each time I'm waking up. The last one I had was capital letters in various sizes but in spirals. I told my neurologist on my follow-up and they called it Hypnopompic hallucinations. They and another neurologist had never dealt with an adult having hallucinations as a side effect on Propranolol. They said hallucinations was a side effect children had taking the medication. So of course I had to google search cause I couldn't believe just children were hallucinating on this medication. I take my medication at night before bed. I'm thinking maybe that could be part of the problem too, so I'll be taking the Propranolol in the morning and hopefully the hallucinations stop. I just don't want them getting worse.
tiff66589 emma1984
Posted
please KNOW these hallucinations are not ok. If a dr says it will go away.. not true. I am off Prpnl 3 weeks now and finally panic & "visions" disappeared. SEE WELLNESS FOR WHOLE BODY AND MIND. it is not "quackery". check in your community about treating source for cause NOT symptoms. Wake up to this nightmare.. its dangerous medicine
gemma94098 emma1984
Posted
Has anyone experienced auditory hallucinations on propranolol? I've had these mainly up to now a couple of times. Then last night I also saw a shadow in the corner of the room move. I heard music (which I've had before) and I also heard a repetitive noise like something tiny was being thrown at me in bed or water dripping on the bed. I was terrified. I've been on propranolol for about a year and a half for migraine (lifelong migraine but put on propranolol after I started with hemiplegic migraine which was a bit scary) . At the moment I take 80mg a day. Any other migraine sufferers with alternative medication ideas please ?? TIA