Metoprolol. Tapering off. Side effects. Horrible drug!

You should always discuss concerns on medication with the doctor, and perhaps they will prescribe you something different.

My doctor put me on 200 mg per day of metoprolol during recovery from viral cardiomyopathy with a ejection fraction of 12 % which i now realize was nothing short of attempted murder. However i recovered and have tried twice to withdraw from metoprolol without success .As time has gone on i have realised some mistakes i was making in the with drawl process , the first one was cutting the pills in half as it destroys the slow absorption membrane and make the journey more difficult , get a pill complete that fits your with drawl program. Do not take other meds while withdrawing as the situation can be get confusing. Do not take herbs to help with drawl like i did and ended up in hospital. So far my problem has been a big drop in heart rate down to 15 beats per minute which has caused me to abort the attempt. Withdrawl still in progress. hope these points are helpful

How has your anxiety been since starting to taper? I have been on 25mg of Metoprolol ER once a day for tachycardia and hypertension following Covid for the last month. Over the last week my anxiety has skyrocketed. It seems that by the evening when my med is starting to wear off, my anxiety increases kinda like a withdraw symptom. It usually causes a severe panic attack particularly 15-20mins after i eat. Its literally making me crazy. I dont know what to do. Im not certain that it is the Metoprolol but its the only change that i can point to.

Help, i have inappropriate sinus tachycardia and was given this... i was told to take 25 mgs but have been taking half of a half because it makes my BP low.. now since christmas im feeling so SOB im so scared.. i cant live breathing this way but scared to go off and have worsening high HR! im 28 year old female... so scared

Boy do i have a story for you! I started taking Metoprolol ER Succinate 50mg in 2016 when I was 22 years old, for anxiety and hypertension. the hypertension is caused by my anxiety, so when i get anxious my adrenaline increases thus a racing heart and spike in blood pressure. This runs in my family and my mom has the exact same condition and is also on the same medication but a higher dose (100mg.) Metoprolol helped my anxiety, racing heart, panic attacks and blood pressure very well. I was happy with the medication overall but of course there are side effects just like any other drug. I gained a lot of weight, i was more fatigued, and sometimes my heart would skip a beat. But overall i was satisfied and i was able to function on a daily basis without the burden of having a panic attack. Fast forward to 2020. I turned 27 in September. Almost immediately after turning 27, my health took a turn for the worse. I began having extreme anxiety, almost on the verge of panic. This had not happened for years since i began Metoprolol. I wasn't able to leave my house or drive or go anywhere. Along with the extreme anxiety, I also had other symptoms which I won't address but basically i am undiagnosed as of yet. I still don't know exactly what brought on these horrific symptoms. But, unfortunately, since no one knows what's wrong with me, my doctor assumes its just anxiety. He tested my thyroid and it came back perfect. So in February i went in for a physical. And i am VERY nervous when it comes to going to the doctor. That gives me the most anxiety of all. So of course my anxiety was high and my blood pressure was high too. My doctor took note of how i was acting. I have a fear of blood tests too so that made my anxiety even worse. So my doctor was concerned about my high blood pressure and my anxiety so he prescribed me 100mg of the Metoprolol instead of the 50mg which i have been on since 2016. I was hesitant about taking it but my Mom was on the exact same dose so i felt more comfortable about it. About 3 weeks after starting the 100mg dose, I was walking in a nature reserve near my house. It was such a nice day that i laid out a blanket and sat on the grass under a large tree. i was having a great time until i started to feel heaviness and tightness in my chest. Alarmed, i rushed home and called my doctor who told me to come into his office ASAP. So i did and he proceeded to tell me that i have asthma and thus I can't be on Metoprolol anymore because it can cause an asthma attack. I was upset because i didn't want to change a medication I had been on for years that seemed to be helping me. The big mistake I made was taking the 100mg. All of my problems started because of that. My doctor refused to titrate me down off of the Metoprolol because he was scared I would end up in the ER with an asthma attack. Instead he told me to stop the Metoprolol COLD TURKEY and he gave me Lisinoprol 40 mg for high blood pressure. I was very hesitant to stop the Metoprolol and take the new medication because of all of the side effects i had read about.

So the next day, which was a Wednesday, i called the pharmacist who advised me to still take the 50 mg Metoprolol in the morning and then half of the Lisinoprol in the evening. So that day i did. I took the 50 mg in the morning around 11am. I felt fine until around 2pm i had a major panic attack. My heart was racing and it would not stop. I took my blood pressure and it was so high it was at stroke levels. I panicked and quickly took the Lisinoprol 40mg. I was in such a bad state that i had my mom call 911. The EMT came and we explained the medication switch and he took my blood pressure which at that point was like 155/90. My blood oxygen was good and all of my vitals were good as well so he gave me the option to go to the hospital which i then decided to turn down. Everyone attributed this incident to anxiety, including my doctor.

The next day (Thursday)I felt okay and so i followed my doctors instructions of not taking any Metoprolol and just taking the Lisinoprol 40mg. I immediately felt a shift in my body. Instead of my resting heart rate being 65 it jumped to 85/90 bpm. So the rest of the day when I would simply walk around my house, my bpm would get up to 130. I couldn't even stand and eat something without my heart pounding and my bpm getting up to 115/120. It was very uncomfortable and also my heart would race when i was laying down on my bed for no reason. One minute it would be 80 and then the next it would be 100 and increasing and increasing and i couldn't do anything to stop it.

I didn't take the metoprolol for two days so (Thursday and Friday). I suffered for those two days. I couldn't leave my bed because my heart rate was out of control. So by Saturday i had had enough. Mind you i had been calling my doctor all throughout those two days and complaining about my out of control heart rate and he blamed it on anxiety.

Friday night was the breaking point. I had fallen asleep from 8pm -10pm. i woke up startled out of my sleep at 10pm with my heart rate very high and a weird taste in my mouth. I almost called 911 again but my mom was fed up with me at this point so i went back to sleep.

The lisinoprol was also causing me major problems. it seemed every time i took it, almost 2 hours later I was violently throwing up. I told my doctor this as well and he said it was anxiety. I have never thrown up from anxiety before. So of course i didn't believe him.

So by Saturday I am a complete mess. I'm shaking uncontrollably, dizzy, fast heart rate, my heart pounds for no reason, I could barely sleep because my heart kept waking me up out of my sleep all throughout the night. my vision is severely blurred, and i'm not thinking clearly. I had had enough so I took the 50 mg metoprolol. i had a normal day as a result and then at night i took the 40 mg Lisinoprol. I felt fine for the most part.

Sunday: i felt ok so i tried to refrain from taking the Metoprolol 50mg. i didn't take it and then at night i took the Lisinoprol.

i did the same thing on Monday. and at this point i'm feeling worse and worse.

finally on Tuesday i really tried to explain to my doc that I was not doing well at all and i needed to take the Metoprolol. He told me to take the metoprolol but keep taking the Lisinoprol. So before i could take the Metoprolol for the day my heart rate was so high and would not go down. it went up to 145 while i was laying down. i could only get it down so far with deep breathing. this high bpm lasted for almost an hour and i took the metoprolol 50mg after. So today is Saturday. Ever since Tuesday i had been taking the Metoprolol 50mg. But to my dismay, i don't feel back to normal at all. I'm dizzy, off balance, feel faint, can't leave my house or bed, my heart rate has actually been feeling too low. I've been feeling weird for days now so i'm going to have to see another doctor or cardiologist because something isn't right.And i can't believe I had to go through this hell and wasn't titrated down safely like i should have been. This is not even the full story but it's all i have the energy to explain at this moment in time. Unfortunately i feel my doctor assumed i would be fine since i am so young and "healthy". If anyone has been through anything similar to me and got better please reply so I can figure out what to do.

thank you

Yes, without a doubt!! Metoprolol is an AWFUL medication, both to take and to come off of. I took metoprolol as a monotherapy for about 7 months; the only things it did for me was raise my blood pressure to unhealthy levels, and gave me an excuse to just get off of it - which I did successfully. I tried Metoprolol ER again about 2 weeks ago - due to the fact that my last doctor incorrectly prescribed lisinopril, which led to a spike in my blood pressure. I only took the metoprolol for about a week at 12.5 mg, so a very low dose, and combined it with 10mg lisinopril. I talked to my doctor about stopping the metoprolol due to the hideous side effects and severe anxiety problems I was having. She agreed, and my last dose was last Thursday. I have had issues with severe anxiety attacks, and occasional increases in blood pressure - mostly after I would exercise. The only medication I take now is 10mg of lisinopril. All's I know is that I'm through with metoprolol!! I've had it with the side effects, anxiety problems, and constant monitoring I have to do with my blood pressure - up to 30 times in a day!! It's impossible to have a life with this med!

Metoprolol has bad side effects when discontinued, fast heart beat and spiked blood pressure. I weaned off 50mg to 25mg, I've changed my diet to boiled meats like chicken and fish, boiled potatoes, sweet yams, and greens. At 48 I finally accepted I can't eat fried foods anymore and need a drastic life change and weight lost. I broke 25mg in half for two days than had spiked blood pressure and a fast heart beat for three days. I'm hoping to get this drug out of my system and back to normal balance which I will diet and exercise to control the high BP. I have childhood hyperactivity which they now call ADHD, exercise like walking relieves anxiety. I broke 25mg in half for two days than had spiked blood pressure 170/111 and a fast heart beat for three days on various occasions. Its been going up and down to 148/95. I'm hoping to get this drug out my system and back to normal balance which I will diet and exercise to control the high BP. I think I was born with a cortex adrenaline problem, which was probably why I was diagnosis with hyperactivity as a child. Adrenaline hormone or super sugar just keeps leaking out into my blood causing hypertension and anxiety. I will have to cut out all sweets from here on out like the Oreo cookies.

Im 39yo & I started on metoprolol succinate ER 50mg back in January 2020 after waking up out of my sleep with Afib. In June of 2021, it was reduced to half because i was anemic and my iron levels were super low. i was experiencing lightheadedness, dizziness, blurry vision, extreme fatigue, anxiousness, jitters, body pains so, my doctor took me off of it completely, thinking that would relieve the weakness, fatigue, dizziness & blurry vision. Today is day 7 since being off of it and ive had multiple episodes of horrifying symptoms that include: severe dizziness, weakness, blurred vision, feeling faint, anxious, jittery, head & body pains (feeling like bruises but nothing is there) eye pain & sinus pressure, extreme fatigue and fast hard heart rate. its been very scary but, i have my ups and downs. yesterday seemed to be a little bit better but, todays been another scary day. (side note: i have a mystery undiagnosed autoimmune disease as well that can cause those symptoms sometimes as well, just not as severe). im hoping that im able to get through this quickly bc it really has been taking a major toll on my mental state.

New person on this forum. Although I am a medical doctor, I am not a heart specialist so I am a passenger on this train as well! I was given metoprolol succinate 25 mg daily for an arrhythmia about 10 months ago. I was scheduled for an electrophysiology study for my arrhythmia in July, so my cardiologist told me to stop taking metoprolol cold turkey 5 days before the procedure. Nobody warned me about metoprolol withdrawal and I wasn't aware of it. You all could guess what happened next. After two visits to the ER, reading the (extensive) medical literature about metoprolol withdrawal, and angry calls to the doctor's office, he allowed me to take it a couple more days until two days before the procedure. By that time, I knew I was done with metoprolol.

After the procedure, the cardiologist started me on diltiazem 120 mg daily in order to transition me to a calcium channel blocker instead. I stayed on that regimen for over two months without issues other than occasional orthostatic hypotension (which was manageable). Around the beginning of September, I started weaning off metoprolol by using half a tablet daily at first, and after ten days I stopped it completely. On the second night, I had anxiety and tachycardia that prevented sleep, so I took another half tablet. Withdrawal symptoms stopped within an hour (extended release takes its time). I then stopped taking it again. The first couple of days were ok. After the second day, I started getting anxiety, tachycardia, and mild hypertension but I managed to rest and sleep just fine. The symptoms progressively got worse. On the 6th day (yesterday), my resting heart rate was around 80, and it climbed to 120-130 immediately if I did as much as walk up on flight of stairs (I am 60 years old and otherwise healthy). I came close to giving in and taking another half tablet, but I decided to grin and bear it. Instead, I took another diltiazem in the late afternoon (which did not help all that much). It was difficult to fall asleep, but in the morning of the 7th day (today), the symptoms were less severe. After taking my daily dose of diltiazem, my resting heart rate settled around upper 60s-mid 70s and the heart rate increase due to activity was less pronounced. As I write this note, it's been 11 hours since the diltiazem and its effect must be wearing off since my resting heart rate started creeping up. I will take another diltiazem soon.

Later tonight, I am hopping on a plane for a 10-hour flight (was scheduled a long time ago and I cannot change it). Hopefully the tachycardia and anxiety won't get worse during the flight (I will be traveling with a bunch of medicine with me just in case). I'll post an update tomorrow and tell you how I'm doing on Day 8.