Will calcium channel blockers cause the same problems beta blockers do?

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I had a horrible reaction to beta blockers a few months ago (lung numbness, out of body experiences, near-fainting). Now my doctor wants me on calcium channel blockers. Will these cause the same sort of symptoms, and does your body become addicted to them My heart rate is 120 and my blood pressure is 123/90 at the moment. All of this happened after taking a small dose of a methyl supplement (my body reacts to those).

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Danielle68370,  

    I had bad side effects from the beta blocker Metoprolol: seizures, sleep disruptions, fatigue.  And the medication didn’t really help with my SVT symptoms.

    After two weeks I asked to be put on another medication and I was put on the calcium channel blocker Cartia 120 mg XT.  I am doing much better on this and I experience no side effects.

    • Posted

      Thanks so much. I hope I'll do much better with it. I only get bouts of tachycardia when I have reactions to medication, so hopefully I won't need them at all.

  • Posted

    danielle68370...lung numbness????????? Quite frankly, I've never heard  of it.  As for out of body experiences, I've never known a medication to do such things. Dizziness, near-fainting, nausea, etc.etc...yes. Some people have a horrible time with Metropolol. If you read about it in the forums here, you'll find that a lot of people have had nightmarish experiences with it. I had terrible headaches a few years back while on it. I could set my watch by the time the headache hit. They were so bad, they scared the daylights out of me. My Dr. finally took me off...

    I do take Atenolol without problems. What's the diffrence??? Metropolol is fat soluable, whereas Atenolol is not.

    Your bp is 123/90..which is great. A heart rate of 120 is high, which is likely why the Dr. prescribed a beta blocker in the first place. I don't know the job of the calcium channel blockers except for it to help lower bp.

    When stopping beta blockers, one MUST wean, but if they've only been taking it for a very short time, it's ok.

    I would suggest you consult your Dr. with your concerns. He/she is the best qualified. We're not doctors here in the forum, just people helping & providing suggestions.

    • Posted

      I should probably elaborate.

      It felt like my lungs were paralyzed. I couldn't take a full breath, and I couldn't yawn no matter how hard I tried. I had about 3 out of body experiences all while trying to sleep during the time I was taking atenolol. It's almost like my body fell asleep but my brain didn't and I was completely aware of it. When I forced my body awake, the right side of my face was numb and I couldn't hear in my right ear. I finally recovered about 4 hours later. Atenolol was awful.

      My GP said my blood pressure was just a tad too high. My heart rate has only gone up to 120 the last 5 days, though. It was 70-80 without medication only 2 weeks ago or so. My GP told me to go to the hospital today so I did, and the doctors weren't worried.

      I did go off atenolol mostly-cold turkey (was weaning down about a week by myself), but then I went completely cold turkey because my cardiologist told me to stop taking it immediately. I was only on the beta blockers in the first place because I was overmedicating thyroid hormone and went hyper.

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