So I’ve been prescribed a beta blocker for the first time. The health issues I’ve been having have been traced to some kind of heart problem. I suspect a semi, forming clot somewhere, of some kind…but who knows? They’re going to run tests.
Congestive Heart Failure has already been ruled out.
But anyway, I was given Metoprolol because when I wore a heart monitor for 24 hours, the doctor said my heart rate was over a hundred 42 percent of the time on that day.
I’ve also been suffering from anxiety and palpitations, so here’s hoping this drug will help out with that stuff.
I also tend to have these PVCs (which people with past heart troubles or in the medical field or who just happen to know what they are will know what that means)…so I hope that can be helped as well.
Anyone have any personal experiences with it? Not looking for medical advice. I’m already getting it and plan to take the meds. I’m just looking for stories or personal accounts of people who have been on beta blockers before…I’ve heard both good and bad experiences so far (but that hasn’t been many).
I’ve taken propranolol/Inderal for off label use related to performance anxiety. It doesn’t feel like any benzodiazepine usually prescribed for stuff like anxiety. In fact, except for the first time I used it where it may have given me some slight diarrhea - I’ve never noticed anything whatsoever from the drug. It just seems to let me do what needs to be done without looking jittery or nervous. It doesn’t mark me feel more relaxed or anything - it’s kinda hard to describe - it’s like it doesn’t occur to me I would be normally nervous in such a situation.
I can’t tell I’m on it - an I was under the impression it’s considered a pretty safe and effective drug with few side effects, but I haven’t really looked into it in a while.
Of course not sure about other beta blockers, but I thought in general they are pretty well regarded.
Just a note if you get the mental drowsiness side effect and don’t like it, atenolol is a beta blocker that doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier so it only effects the heart and blood pressure etc.
Also I’ve been with other people who have taken it for the same reason I have. I have seen pretty dramatic results. One person was so nervous and couldn’t even finish a certain task - it wasn’t illegal, but I can’t go into specifics, but let’s say it was akin to having to lie about something and not look nervous or get caught. She was atrocious at it the first time the attempt was made and it had to be called off due to her extreme nervousness. The next time with the propranolol - she performed like a champ and everything went without a hitch.
If your anxiety is at all related to during something like public speaking or anything that raises the flight or fight response - I’d be - I was going to use the word “astonished” if it didn’t help, but don’t want to get your hopes up. It helps with the physical side effects very well - if it’s more mental in nature I really can’t say there.
The cool thing about it too - is if it is related to the flight or fight response - your brain starts to learn not to get nervous as much in the same situation - so even if you stop taking it - you might experience some PERMANENT improvement.
Again - don’t get your hopes up, but I have zero doubt it is effective for many people with what could be considered “performance anxiety” that exhibits physical symptoms.
I’m on 25 mg a day of atenolol. It’s dropped my blood pressure significantly. More importantly, I don’t get nearly as anxious; it’s hard to quantify, but I’m able to not worry as much. There was an adjustment period where there were some sexual side effects but they’ve evened out.
I have taken Inderal for anxiety and panic issues.
Occassional bits of dizzienes. Thats it.
The only problem is that you can’t quit suddenly, you need to taper off and quite a few medications have interactions with Inderal, so you need to be careful/stagger/avoid
I took one of the cardio-selective beta blockers (Bystolic) as a migraine preventative.
I slept a lot and felt generally tired until my body adjusted to the medication. I also got a little dizzy when standing, in part because my BP is naturally normal – 110/70 at the time it was prescribed.
I take atenolol twice a day for racing pulse, which is a trigger for my anxiety disorder. I have found it quite effective in reducing heart rate, without a lot of side effects like drowsiness. It does lower blood pressure, but I had mild hypertension, so that is not a bad thing for me. All in all, I like it, and I notice it if I miss a dose.
I’ve been taking 100 mg of metoprolol twice a day for years now. I started for high blood pressure, but I also use it to control the PVCs/bigeminy that would have otherwise. For me, they work great.
If there have been side effects, I have long since gotten used to them.
I tried both beta-blockers and calcium-blockers for migraines, but since I have low-normal blood pressure, they were such a low dose I didn’t notice much except the metallic taste. Ugh
Propranolol on occasion, when it mattered. I haven’t used it for at least a year but still have a supply in case I have to ‘perform’ in a what I perceive as a difficult environment.
Been taking metaprolol for (OMG) ten years for high blood pressure. I take the extended release tab once a day. If I forget for some reason I don’t notice until at least 24 hours and then I start to feel wired up. My husband takes the same for the same reason and if he misses a dose he usually notice it in about 12 hours, starts to feel very tired and draggy (the opposite of me, who knows why?) But other than this I have noticed no other side effects (except of course that my blood pressure went down).
I first noticed that I wasn’t compatible with it when I would drive to work (20 min) and then barely make it up one flight of stairs because my heart would refuse to pick up the pace. It wasn’t due to cardio health because I could easily complete a 40 min cardio workout if I slowly warmed up for 10 minutes before beginning my routine.
I got the doctor to change my meds and now I don’t feel like I’m dragging every time I stand up after 10 minutes of rest.
I take 50 mg of Atenolol daily as one of my anti-hypertensives. The effect on “anxiousness” is pretty dramatic. I’ve been in situations where I’d expect my heart rate to be elevated (walked up to a guy who left his shopping cart in a handicapped space and called him a “lazy motherfucker”. He was a big guy, could have hurt me but backed down) and I’ve been totally cool. Not a good thing.
I took a beta blocker for migraines for a while. The chief aggravation was that I couldn’t exercise, because it put an upper limit on how high my heart rate would go. I just couldn’t achieve my target heart rate, no matter how hard I pushed myself. I finally decided the benefits did not outweigh the costs (for me).
Can’t you still reap benefits from exercise without reaching your target heart rate? I’ve been a die-hard exercise fanatic for years (many of those years while being on a bb) and never once tracked my heart rate.