Propanalol Withdrawal?

yes i understand. its amazing to me that doctors do not. i think for many of us, the drug dysregulated our autonomic nervous system. and it may take time to regain equilibrium. that doesn't mean the drug is still in our systems. stopping beta blockers can cause beta adrenergic hypersensitivity... over-reactivity of part of your autonomic nervous system. it's just that it is usually associated with longer term use of beta blockers in patients with pre-existing problems. it's possible we are just more sensitive for some reason.you'd think most MDs would put this together. whatever we are experiencing is obviously due to stopping the drug that acts on this system, which controls heart rate, blood pressure, temperature regulation etc.

does anything make the burning go away? I hate to recommend another med, but have you tried taking a Xanax (even just once) just to see if the burning stops? It sounds like it’s either anxiety related or some type of neuropathic pain. If xanax takes the burning away, then it most likely is related to anxiety. If a Xanax doesn’t help, then it’s probably not anxiety. I think SSRIs sometimes help with neuropathic pain as well as anxiety, so increasing yours short term might be beneficial. Anyway, just trying to help. I feel so bad for anyone going through this.

Hi Tricia.

How has your day been?

I have taken clonazepam for the burning and yes, it does help. It would seem that the withdrawal from Propranolol has made it a lot worse. I should be speaking to my consultant tomorrow to see if I have to increase my anti depressant as I am on a very low dose.

When it comes to to see if that might help.

i think i'm finally starting to improve in all ways after 4 weeks. I also got an ekg today, which was normal and so I am relieved about that. a lot more blood work too. i'm still not sure what is causing bp drops. i do think it's possible that there may have been something mildly wrong to begin with that made me more sensitive to stopping the drug. trying to figure that out.

Glad you seem to be turning the corner. It's very distressing and scary when you don't know what's happening to you.

I hope this continues for you and you start to get back to normal

thanks. yes, its all super scary. how did it go with the consultant?

Well nobody has got back to me as yet and I called last Friday, Monday and yesterday.

I do think at this point it is anxiety which has been masked by the Propranolol and it is very unpleasant. It's waking me up at night. I didn't take it for anxiety.

I was supposed to go on a family break for 5 days tomorrow but have had to cancel as I don't feel well enough to go.

I'm very disappointed nobody has got back to me and it's private.

How are you feeling today?

that's terrible. i think anxiety after stopping can be worse than it was initially. i had a bad day yesterday again ( a day after posting that i was doing better!) but am feeling a little better today again. i suppose it will just take more time.

You just don't know who to turn to, do you?

I think you have to be your own doctor most of the time. It's an ongoing battle. You will get there. Some people have said it's taken them a few months to get back to some normality.

it's true. i have to keep reminding myself that i'm much better than i was a month ago. i've been getting some mid back pain recently (which scared me b/c i didn't know if it was related to my heart) but i switched magnesium supplements to a magnesium glycinate and this seems to be helping. have you tried magnesium? it's supposed to also help with anxiety.

Hi Tricia.

How are you getting on?

yes I take magnesium but not sure how helpful it is for anxiety.

I have felt a bit better the last couple of days. At last I spoke to my consultant on Friday which was very helpful. I do believe however Propranolol has a lot to answer for in terms of side and withdrawal effects. I do think things will slowly get back to normal. Unfortunately, we have had to learn the hard way.

I

Hi Sandra.

I'm doing okay. I think all of my withdrawal symptoms have lessoned at this point. I still have them sometimes, but not as intensely. I still have the blood pressure issue though and I'm much too tired. Very little energy. It's 5 weeks now for me.

Too bad about the magnesium. I was hoping it could be helpful with my anxiety. Which type do you take?

I'm glad that it went well with your consultant.

Hi Tricia.

Will let you know what type of magnesium it is.

Did you take the Propranolol for anxiety?

This is my 7th week from last Friday off the medication and I feel that last week was my worst. You may be just around the corner.

Have you tried the The tiredness could be your lack of iron too. What about trying Floradix liquid iron which might give you a burst of energy

has your heart racing improved? what symptoms did you have that have gone away?

Hi

So I had a fast heat rate, my blood pressure shot up. i already have high blood pressure. i had severe burning in my stomach, chest, arms and face. I then got really bad anxiety. I would say that most of these have returned to normal at 7 weeks. Not sure about the burning and anxiety as it was at its worse last week. The last few days have been better

I took the propranolol for migraines, but the only benefit I really got from it was that at times it reduced my anxiety. that's awful that week 6 was your worst. I hope it's not like that for me. it really seems like the withdrawal course is a little different for everyone though. I will look into floradix. i really appreciate the suggestion. i've been taking naturelo iron. still exhausted though. and i haven't been retested so i don't know if my level has improved. maybe the liquid one might be better absorbed? thanks and stay well!

How long were you on it for? I forgot what dose you were on

Yes everyone is different. I didn't start getting any withdrawal symptoms for about 2 weeks.

Floadix has iron and other vitamins which is supposed to help with energy levels. It's been around for years. Certainly worth a try.

20mg usually twice per day, so 40mg per day for about 4 weeks. hope you're having an okay day!

That's interesting because I didn't get many withdrawal symptoms until around day 5 or 6. I'm getting another blood test on friday to recheck my iron levels and will go from there. I'm now convinced my low iron levels worsened my withdrawal. how are you doing?

let me know how you get on with your blood tests. Hopefully they will have improved.

I haven't been too bad just some palpitations today, thank you.

I guess you've just got to go with it. Unfortunately, when you're unwell it seems like forever. I would never take them again

Good luck with your blood test.

hi sandra. I got my blood test results. my iron level had improved. still lacking energy though. I see a cardiologist tomorrow - an appointment I made weeks ago. how are you doing?

Hi Tricia

That's good news. Let's hope that continues as I'm sure that will help with your energy level. Maybe the cardiologist can shed some light on some of your symptoms but I do think as your iron levels improve so will your energy.

Let me know how you get on with the cardiologist tomorrow.

My consultant increased my anti depressant to try and help with the burning which it has. Unfortunately, I have to wait for the side effects to subside, hopefully they will. I truly believe the burning sensation came from the beta blocker.

I don’t doubt that the burning sensation is related to the propranolol. The cardiologist has referred me to a nephrologist who specializes in a condition called PoTS. Another person on this forum has also been diagnosed with it. It’s possible I had a mild case of it that the propranolol withdrawal/rebound worsened. Hopefully I continue to improve until I get back to how I was before.

The cardiologist did say that healthy people can have withdrawal symptoms from propranolol (like racing heart, sweating, breathlessness, irritability, anxiety) for several weeks.