propranolol withdrawal
Posted , 106 users are following.
As anybody experienced any withdrawal symptoms when withdrawing from small doses?
5 likes, 331 replies
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Notes on propranolol withdrawal
Skylark96 alison81137
Edited
Same situation in my case. I stopped taking propranolol about a week ago, after 4 months of treatment at 40mg a day, and the side effects of the withdrawal have been terrible.
Here's a list of the ones I have:
I stopped the treatment due to hair loss that had me worried. Bald spotting going into your 25th year is a hell to deal with. Had me thinking I might have certain diseases and basically made the treatment pointless as I was taking it as a post trauma treatment.
Good thing, I can feel my hair growing back.
merlintw Skylark96
Posted
How are you now skylark96 as like you im on 40mg of propranolol which im now on day 2 of not taking it.
loeysigmund merlintw
Posted
im not sure who to reply to because this post is so scattered so ill reply to you Merlin.
but this is for everybody.
i was started on propranolol er about 12 years ago at 60-80 mgs through our the years for migraine prevention. the past three years i completely changed my diet to grain free, low fodmap non acidic foods and ive been migraine free for the past year or so.
because i've changed my diet my blood pressure is always low now especially while i was taking propranolol. like 90/60 .
i devised a plan with my neurplogost to wean down on propranolol. it involved weaning from 80mg to 60 mg for one month, from there
then take 20mg tabs twice a day for two weeks.
10mg tabs three time a day for two weeks.
10mg tab twice a day for two weeks.
10mg tab once a day for two weeks.
i think weaning like this helped me with not getting some of the withdrawal symptoms others are experiencing.
I'm on day 9 right now of no propranolol.
i get high heart rate when standing, sitting and sleeping. standing is the worst. i get dizzy sometimes and on some occassions i feel like i cant catch my breath.
keep in mind i usually am doing cardio for 5 hours a week, even while weaning.
right now im not exercising at all and its frustrating and makes me sad but if my heart rate sitting here typing this is 98 i don't want to risk it. funny thing is my blood pressure is around 90/70 now without the propranolol.
so day 8 yesterday was good i felt better like i can do regular house hold chores and actually walk up stairs fine, but today i didnt drink as much water as i usually do ( about 72 ounces a day) and i was cooling dinner and chopping carrots and felt like i was going to pass out dizzy, out of breath heart rate elevated.
i try to tell myself if my heart rate isnt as high as it is when i exercise then its okay.
im praying that time will help and to keep staying hydrated. i also noticed ( and it may just be my imagination) but taking fish oil supplements help. i normally take them even when taking propranolol but today i forgot and the withdrawal was really bad. not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
i hope this helps someone, i was told by my neuro if you feel sick like this see a cardiologist so please dont hesitate to see one guys.
loeysigmund
Edited
i wanted to update anyone whose reading this.
Today is day 12 of no propranolol after taking it for 12 years or so. Today my resting heart rate was 77 so i thought id take advantage of
a lower heary rate and go on the eliptical for 30 minutes. i set the eliptical to 30 mins and checked my heart rate through out the whole time. i went slower than usual but made sure my heart rate stayed at 130-140.
i finished the 30 minutes and i felt fine and happy to be getting back to normal.
Week one was the worst so far. everyday i get a little bit better. I'll try to update you guys as this goes.
yazmin92487 loeysigmund
Posted
hi, have you recovered?
toni40109 alison81137
Edited
Hi can anyone help, I've stopped propranolol 8 days ago and I'm going through bad withdrawals is this normal?
Katie19990 toni40109
Edited
Hi I'm new to this site so not sure who I'm replying to, hopefully Toni.
I found this thread after googling Propranolol and so glad I did. It has been so informative and some of the symptoms I have been experiencing, many of the others have too.
I know trying to come off Propranolol is a lonely and scary experience. What are your symptoms?
This is my story...
I'm in my 40s and I had my first ever panic in February. I honestly thought I was about to have a heart attack and as I was alone with two young children I called 999. Long story short, ended up in A&E, did bloods, ECG... everything fine. I've had an extremely stressful year so they put it down to anxiety. Spoke to my doctor the next day who prescribed 40mg Propranolol once a day. Apart from struggling to sleep at night I felt okay at first, just tired and a bit slower to get going in the mornings. I have a busy life so always here, there and everywhere. However, I began to notice I would feel out of breath just running up stairs or doing light housework. I would feel my heart begin to race.
A few weeks later, I had another panic attack on the Sunday night and then another later in the same week after walking up some steps on an outside walk. It was awful as I had to pick my children up from school. I called the doctors again and one called back (telephone appointments due to covid restrictions) and he advised that the propranolol was only reducing the symptoms and not getting on top of the anxiety so prescribed 10mg of Citalopram. I only took two and OMG the side effects, I honestly thought I'd end up at A&E again. Felt like I couldn't breath, thirsty, legs shaking, heart rate so fast. Awful. The next day I called the Doctors again and they agreed I should stop but carry on with the Propranolol. I think I had one that day, but by reading up the side effects of the Citalopram I started looking at Propranolol too. With hindsight I think slowing my heart rate down (naturally quite fast) just made me feel more panicky when doing any remotely physical. So I decided to stop taking Propranolol completely.
So the first week was good. A few times felt like I had this adrenaline rush that would result in a panic attack but managed to ride through it. Kept busy as school holidays. This last week felt okay and then last night, wham, an almighty panic attack. No reason and gutted as been doing so well.
It almost felt like food set it off. I didn't eat much yesterday so at bed time I had 4 biscuits. One child was still awake so went to him and then by the time I got in bed I had stomach ache, I could feel the onset of panic and I started to physically shake and couldn't stop, my legs, hands all over body shaking. I was freezing too and very very thirsty. It was about midnight and I was in this state for well over an hour. Very very frightening. Husband was awake with me. When it subsided I was too scared to go to sleep. I did eventually but woke again several times. This morning I felt rough but managed to get up and function but at a slower pace. Went out for a walk. This afternoon I had something sugary and it was coming on again, heart was racing but thankfully none of the other symptoms. It's just so scary. It's weekend so unless I call 111 I can't speak to anyone. I'm dreading going to bed tonight in case it happens again.
Many people on this thread have commented about the reaction to food and certain foods triggering symptoms. I honestly thought I was going mad until I found this, its been so reassuring. It is not at all pleasant trying to get off propranolol, I think I took it for just under 7 weeks and honestly thought I'd be okay just stopping. I haven't even told my doctor yet. It's scary and its lonely. That's why I wanted to share my story as hopefully it will reassure others going through similar that they are not alone. I think I'm day 12 post propranolol and determined not to have to resort to taking another one ever again although I did come close last night.
I'm going to try some magnesium supplements as suggested and I have a short course of CBT starting next week. The daft thing is, things are ok at home right now, I don't feel worried about anything in particular, my mind is ok, just my body playing tricks on me.
To anyone reading this, keep going, speak to your Doctor if you are worried and hopefully as many others have said before me, things will improve with time. I hope I am over the worse now. Time will only tell. Take care x.
m24653 Katie19990
Posted
My daughter was on prozac for anxiety. She was given propranolol for migraines. Propranolol gave her anxiety attacks. Happened when she first started taking it, then as we tapered down and a few with withdrawal symptoms. The propranolol may be making your anxiety worse.
m24653 alison81137
Posted
My 13 year old daughter was put on propranolol for migraine prevention. It only mildly helped with migraines (if at all). About 4 days after starting it, she had, what i now realize, was a panic attack and massive mood/anger outburst. Her doctor wanted her to hang on for a week if possible to see if she'd level out. She did for the most part. She started at 60mg and then they put her up to 80mg. Her stomach blew up like a balloon in 2 days. Then we started figuring out it was causing her extreme fatigue, muscle weakness and pain, profuse sweating with exercise. She's normally a very active girl and is in several sports. She could barely hold a plank or push up. I decided she needed to come off the medicine. Her doctor said she could come back down to 60 mg and then just go right off. I wasn’t comfortable with that… especially after seeing the mood swings an panic attack at the beginning. Doctor gave me tablets to break up and we tapered down. got down to 20 mg a day and saw mood swing out burst and a panic attack after mood swing on her bday. Got down to 10mg and watched her get frustrated with herself at ball practice and then had another panic attack followed by a migraine. I decided to just stop it there at 10 mg. She did great the first week or so. Played a softball game yesterday and had a mini anxiety attack during the game. She was able to breath through it and calm herself down. Then later before another game, she got worked up again and started sweating and felt sick to her stomach. She never had panic attacks before this medicine. She took prozac (and still does) for anxiety but never full blown panic attacks. I hope the withdrawal symptoms pass soon. At least she's got most of her energy back.
Katie19990 m24653
Posted
Oh my goodness that sounds absolutely horrendous for her. How many days has it been since she has stopped taking it completely?
It is three weeks tomorrow for me. I do suspect you could be correct about the propranolol making my anxiety worse. I had a horrible weekend last week. Ended up at our walk in centre on Sunday, followed by a call to the doctors on Monday and a further call on Thursday. Every morning getting up I was physically shaking and just had this awful feeling of heightened anxiety, often made worse by eating throughout the day. On Thursday I felt like I was having panic attack, after panic attack. My pulse rate high even when relaxing and BP up too (which is why I called to speak to the Doctors again). They did not think it could still be withdrawal and said it was just anxiety. I agreed to try sertraline if things don't get any better. The pharmacist did think it could be withdrawal but suggested I give them ago. However, reading up on the side effects they sound just as bad and don't want to be back to square one where I feel like I can not function. Friday seemed to be a turning point (touch wood) and apart from feeling a bit shaky in the mornings over weekend I have felt much better so have held off trying the sertraline. I really hope it is side effects and that each day which passes is one more day closer to feeling normal. I am not worrying about anything in particular, I do not feel depressed so really reluctant to have to resort to medication. I am taking both magnesium and omega oil supplements as I have read they can help with anxiety.
I have found this thread invaluable and I hope my experiences will help others who are in a similar situation coming off propranolol. It is certainly very scary.
yazmin92487 Katie19990
Posted
how are you now?
Fibble alison81137
Edited
I registered on here just so I could reply.....
In my twenties I was put on Propranolol 40mg daily for my slightly weird heartbeat which they said was harmless. At the time, I was in a very horrible relationship and that was the reason I was so stressed, which made my heart bad, but they didn't ask about the situation, just put me on this stuff and to be fair I had no side effects and it did make my heartbeat more stable.
Recently, being in a better place and wanting to see what happened if I came off it, I talked to my doctor who told me to half it. I did this, being unaware of any withdrawal issues, and I then was very unwell, just feeling horrible and my heart got worse and I was just feeling ill so I went back up to 40mg and everything went back to normal.
Then, I read some of these patient forums - and that made me REALLY want to ditch it so what I have done is cut a TINY piece off, and let my body get used to that for a couple of months before cutting another tiny bit off. It has taken TWO YEARS and now I am off it completely. However, my heartbeat is too fast. It was never like this before, but now it races when I'm doing anything at all - walking upstairs, cycling, climbing - I climb mountains and it just feels like it' working far too hard which is slightly alarming. My resting rate last night was 74 but this morning it's more like 84 and that's not normal for me; normal for me when resting would be 60-70. I also keep feeling a bit spaced out and dizzy and anxious. I'm still getting the ectopic beats I have had since I was a child, but no more than I used to. Been off it for around 6 weeks now I think - but after 11 years taking it, maybe it's going to take some time.....
When I get back to normal, if it happens, I'll post again and say how long it took!
yazmin92487 Fibble
Posted
how are you now?
dave05823 alison81137
Posted
I was taken off 80mg slow release three weeks ago, cold turkey on the advice of my GP. This was due to them making me light headed. I had previously been on 20mg twice daily without issue, the increase was suddenly changed when I spoke to them about my sinuses, I didn't really question it. I was on them for persistent headaches. After coming off of them I was put straight onto 10mg nortriptyline.
This caused my resting heart rate to shoot up from a usual 65 (average) to almost 95 and required a trip to A&E where ECG, bloods and chest x-ray were all normal. This was four days after coming off the propanolol and switching to nortriptyline. I came off the latter following this and discussion with GP.
However three weeks on and whilst my resting rate seems to be sitting at a more comfortable 73-78 something as simple as standing up and washing the dishes is causing my heart rate to sit between 110-120. I also get some muscle ache in my right leg and arm along with the occasional tingling in the hands. My palpitations that I had seem to be a bit more controlled. There is still some occasional light headedness.
Should I be worried or is this likely to pass?
Many thanks.
tricia10630 dave05823
Posted
looks like you posted four weeks ago. how are you feeling now? are you still having symptoms? i stopped propranolol 2 weeks ago and am still experiencing palpitations and other symptoms. its really horrible. i feel like I suddenly have a heart condition. would like to know from others how long this lasted. it seems like most doctors are misinformed about the effects of stopping.
yazmin92487 dave05823
Posted
how are you now?
dave05823 tricia10630
Posted
Hi,
sorry for the late reply.
I'm doing a fair bit better, still getting some mild flare ups but my heart is much more settled, it has been for the last couple of weeks. It is really frightening going through the symptoms but they seem to pass at different rates for everyone. I found that rest and very very slowly upping the activity rate and energy drinks seemed to help.
The first couple of weeks are the worst. You will get better!
Take care and look after yourself 😃
dave05823 yazmin92487
Posted
Hi Yazmin,
Hopefully you can see my reply to Tricia on this thread but I am doing much better now, the worst seems to have passed 😃
yazmin92487 dave05823
Posted
how many weeks has it been? also what dose were you on/how long?