Metoprolol. Tapering off. Side effects. Horrible drug!

Hello,

I definitely had those problems with heat sensitivity and many more. Maybe you can record your BP at home and show your doctor and he might lower it again or give you another option Hope you feel better soon

Hi, Chadntori, not sure what you want to know. Some drugs, quite a number it seems, cause skin cells to react excessively to heat and sun and even, in my case, daylight. Depends how bad your own reaction is>

I would advise to first use a good suncream , but that will probably not be enough, probably best to avoid sun, sadly, remember that UVA rays go through windows so you need an anti uva/uvb film on windows, and car windows, then if things bad - they are for me - there are also several firms who specialise in clothes in anti uva/uvb materials ncluding shirts, hats, overshirts, trousers etc.

For me, Lisinopril and Ramipril worsened the effect i already had had with losartan, and now i am on none of these, but a small amount of betablocker, things have again worsened, there seems no way out, i cannot risk stoppping all drugs to see what happens. If you discover a way out, please let me know.

Thanks for the response; when you say had, do you not have them anymore? One thing I meant to say in my post the other day as well was that I can't usually be in the sun for longer than 5 minutes before my face turns cherry red and gets hot. Or a hot room. Funny thing about the doctor and my bp readings is I showed her the Omron app and my average recordings but that didn't seem to matter. Im not a big fan of big medical these days.

Thanks for the response Annie. My reactions seem to be getting worse all the time. As i said to GLR702 I can't even be in the sun for 5 minutes without my face turning cherry red; its very frustrating. I wish I could avoid the sun but I can't ; my job is outside sales and I am in and out of the car and peoples shops and workplaces. The other thing I forgot to mention as well is that it always seems to be worse in the afternoon after lunch; I have tried the sunscreen route and it seems to help just a little but not much.

Yes, I don't have the symptoms anymore because I had to stop the medication. I had a really bad reaction to it. If you go back on the thread you can read a little bit about it. Try to talk to the doctor or get another one if possible. At the end of the day it's your body the one going through all of this. I wish doctors would pay more attention to what patients say. I would try to talk to her and explain the changes you are having, maybe she thinks is not as bad as it is.

Do you know of any betablockers that don't cause the flushing and heat sensitivity. I am taking a beta blocker due to tachycardia problems I have had in the past; I'm afraid to get off of it completely only to have problems with the heart racing again; its a catch 22 situation. really stinks

I guess we are all different, but mike92384 had good a experience with Atenolol. I tried Metoprolol and Propranolol and none worked for me.

Hi, Chadnatori, re your prob getting worse, have you been to a consultant dermatologist. i have, as i had abnormal bloods and lupus was suspected, it was not this, the consultant wondered about rosacia. at that time things were so much better, it was autumn, it was much easier to avoid light, and i could manage lower light, just still had to keep to rules re sun mentioned in my post. incidentally, i had taken myself off meds. and was using them PIL (pill in the pocket) method, but in Dec i had heart incident, and other probs, and was back on betablockers. I cant stop them, now no more heart probs but fatigue , skin probs, and then even worse after GTN patches, face rednesss worse than ever, thobbing and feels hot. i stopped GTN due to other probs but your post has thrown so much more light in things. immediately i read it looked up any rosacia link with blood pressure meds, as i was doubtful re my having rosacia, as no pimples/pustules. Seems rosacia can be triggered by many bp meds, esp vasodilating ones - GTN patches are vasodilating, so are calcium channel blockers and some other bp meds. Whether bp meds started my prob i do not know, but there was an exact co-incidence, and rosacia is triggered by lots of things, including sun, stress, heat etc, and gets worse, google internet. Please keep me informed re your experience re your probs, and if you find a cure.

i forgot to thank you for your reply , it has opened up new avenues of research. I see that there is a study by Dr Adiya Gupta which links having high blood pressure to rosacia, so it may be that high bp alone can be a factor, now doing more reading - i go to discuss all this with my GP this coming week, best wishes re your problem

Sorry, typo, Dr Aditya Gupta, univ Toronto

Annie,

I haven't been on in a while. I have not seen a dermatologist for any of this yet. I just went through a couple bouts of problems with colitis and was on prednisone during this time. I noticed while on the prednisone that my reactions to the sun were lessened. also switching to bystolic seemed to help a little but I am now off the prednisone and it seems that the sun/heat sensitivity is returning. Just a few things to note.....

Also, if stopping the Propranolol is what is causing this, how long until my heart rate will slow down and return back to normal?

The same thing happened to me coming off metoprolol even though I switched to Atenolol smaller dose your body goes through a withdrawal period. I am on day 4 of switch and i have symptoms (nausea, dizziness, anxious feeling and I do not suffer from anxiety normally, and very tired). I have been reading these forums and some people said it took them 4 months to adjust or as long as a year. I know seems like a long time to have symptoms. I would talk to your doctor as Diltiazem will lower heart rate. I am finding getting off a beta blocker or even switching has so many bad side effects. Like you I wish I had never started it. I wish you the best.

Hello,

If you can, please go back and read my posts where I pretty much say how long all of my symptoms lasted, it should help. I got a very useful advice during my weaning journey that I thought was nonsense but I took it anyway because I was desperate. Someone told me to stop tracking my heart rate, I was doing it same as you but with an Apple watch. It helped, slowly but it did. I guess I was making myself even more scared by watching it go up everyday and it was making it worse. Just something that worked for me.

oh wow i hope mine doesnt last 4 months.. so far my only symptoms have been fast heart rate and a little bit of lightheadedness. but it is really interfering with my daily life so i dont know if i should just go ahead and try the diltiazem and hope for no side effects or if i should wait it out and hope it gets better on its own

I should probably stop doing that too because it just makes me have more anxiety when i see what my heart rate is

yes my symptoms are interfering with my daily activities as well. I rather avoid activities because I have little to no energy or afraid my anxious feeling will get worse. I have been monitoring my bp and HR twice a day and it's normal but my body just feels off.. I hope to have some relief soon. keep me posted on your progress and I will do same. it helps to know you are not alone as the doctors are all about numbers. They tell me all your results are normal, your BP, and HR are fine. I say I understand that but I am not feeling well. Anyway wish you the best of luck.

Exactly! All my heart tests were normal (which i am very thankful for) but i am still feeling symptoms related to my heart. I cant do much simply because my heart starts racing like crazy! It was in the 130s with me just slowly walking around the house. I feel like that is what it should be with exercise. I have also noticed that my heart increases while I’m eating, which is odd. I wish you all the best as well. It is nice to know I’m not alone. How long were you on the metropolol?

only 2 weeks and the worst 2 weeks I have ever had. i held just 2 doses because my bp was in the 80s and would not go back up. next day my bp was up high for me 138/92 and I resumed my doses. within 2 to 3 days i ended up in ER with HR in 130s and they called my cardiologist since all my studies were normal asking him what he thought it was and he said rebound from missed doses so he told them I needed to keep taking it so I did despite the terrible side effects in fear that my HR would go back up. Of course ER said they thought it was just anxiety but I now know it may be Anxiety but brought on the stress your body goes through on the beta blockers. I went to see my cardiologist Monday to beg him to switch me or taper me off. He said if I take you off you will end up in hospital again due to rebound.He switched me to Atenolol 12.5mg daily since he saw my bp was in low 100s.. I felt great 1st day then days 2 to 4 which today is day 4 since making change have not been good. I guess my body trying to adjust to smaller dose of Atenolol and only taking once a day. i was on metoprolol 12.5mg but twice a day. These medications are awful. Never knew how much people suffer with them until I was put on them.

I'm seriously getting desperate for relief. They prescribed me Ativan 0.5mg to help with the Anxiety of this all but I took one dose and hated it. I am normally not anxious person so dont know why this is causing me so much anxiety. Not used to feeling this way. The symptoms are real and not in everyone's head like the doctors think. I have never been on medications before so this has been very stressful experience.

btw it's nice to talk to someone that is going through it. my family is supportive but they dont understand. I would probably be the same if I had not been going through it. Telling them they are fine and stop thinking about. which is hard to do when you feel it most of the day. they think I am better because the numbers say so and ER doc says so and cardiologist says so.

I was reading your post and it sounded so similar to the situation I had... Just listen to your body and try to find out what is better for you. My doctors, family, friends, etc all thought it was mostly in my head and my doctor didn't want me to stop the medication but I'm so glad I did. The rebound ends, just taper the medication off, don't cut it at once. Of course, I decided that after analyzing everything, it would be something you would have to think about. If you really need medication then maybe a different one?? I realized I didn't need it. I didn't go back to the ER during rebound because I already knew what they would say, that everything was ok. I just waited it out, which was the worst experience of my life but I was determined to get off of that poison. By that time I couldn't even eat, I was that bad. I was never on medications before either. Good luck. I feel so bad that people have to go through this to have others tell them is all in their heads when it's so not.

thank you yes I am hoping he will take me off. well taper me off and then off completely. He only started the medication because I had some chest pain and I did have positive stress test which he took me for heart catheterization only to tell me it was negative. He said I had false positive stress test. He put me on beta blockers because he believes I have hypertension due to family history. he said even though my pressures are almost always normal I have spikes during certain hours and my bp is almost always on low side except for spikes. He said it needs to be treated and beta blockers would help with me from getting the chest pain. I wish I had never started them as it's been nothing but misery. my bp stays low with 12.5mg Atenolol. I take my bp 2 times a day and its always in low 100s and my HR 60 to 70s. my numbers look great but my body doesnt feel great. Thank you for your comment.

How is your heart rate now? When mine gets high i have to lay down for a while and recover until it goes down. Its really not a fun way to live 😦 I am trying Magnesium supplements to see if that will help. I probably shouldnt have taken mine for as long as i did especially since the issue i was prescribed it for was pretty minor. After researching more on beta blockers I’m surprised my doctor even prescribed it to me. That is interesting because both my primary care doc and cardiologist said I shouldn’t be having rebound effects for as long as ive had, but from what I’ve read they can last for quite a while. I guess it is different for a doctor to say that as opposed to others actual experience with the drug. It makes me not want to even take any medications no matter what its for unless I absolutely have to have it. Yeah, even though my family is trying to help me best as they can and they want so badly for me to feel better, it is nice knowing i am not the only one going through it however I wish neither of us were. Hopefully this is temporary

I am glad i stopped taking mine too as i dont feel that it was absolutely necessary that i take it. I dont have high blood pressure and i didnt have high pulse either before taking it. Just the pesky strong pulse that was probably due to anxiety. That is why i dont think i should start a new one but i also dont want my heart racing constantly. The thing that gives me peace of mind is that i know structurally and functionally my heart is ok. My anxiety was higher before i had the tests to prove that. I have struggled with eating as well. I think i may just let it run its course and hope that it eventually returns to normal

my HR is fine stays 60s to 70s even when I feel terrible. it may be Anxiety like they say but it's due to how terrible the medication makes me feel. I try to tell them how terrible I feel and that is what is causing anxious feeling. They just brush it off saying you need to try to relax. I say I would relax If I didnt feel so bad. I cant sit or lay sometimes just have to let it pass and it is misery. I sometimes can't wait to go to sleep. I am taking sleeping pill to not be awake all night from the symptoms. The only relief I get is when that kicks in. no way to live life. I hope it goes away soon.

Some say they CBD oil for relief but I am afraid of more side effects with my luck lol. I asked my PCP and he said he tried it himself and he didnt notice any difference but he has so many patients on it and they swear by it. If I don't get relief in may try it.

I feel like i get more help from reading these sites than from my doctors. Although i wish no one had to go through any bad side effects regarding meds, it is helpful to hear others experiences.

I have heard good things about CBD oil, that it is helpful for anxiety and pain, but like medicines it will effect everyone differently. I truly hope you can get to feeling better soon

thank you. I am feeling better today Day 7 off metoprolol and on Atenolol low dose. the weekend would have been rough except I decided to try CBD oil the one without additive from a reputable store. I have to say it helped me a lot. I was very skeptical at first but hey I was desperate to feel normal again. it tastes awful but the effects are amazing. I know it doesnt work for everyone. I probably have a hypersensitive reaction to any type of medication or remedies which is why I am in this mess to begin with. I hope you are feeling better.

that is great! i have been considering trying that as well, just because i have heard there are so many benefits

i just found out that another med that i am taking could possibly cause high heart rate. i started taking it around the same time as the propranolol and i am thinking that i didn’t notice it until i stopped the propranolol because the propranolol could have been counteracting it, since it is suppose to slow down heart rate. i am going to try and wean off of it next to see if that helps so hopefully i won’t have any side effects from that

wishing you the best. hope you feel better soon. I am glad I tried the oil it helped a lot. I haven't had to take it regularly either only if I need it. I feel more normal than I have in weeks. wish you well.

you as well!

hey sab, how long did it take for your HR to go back to normal?