Metoprolol: Do The Side Effects Improve Eventually? (Page 3)

I started Metoprolol this Monday after the cardiologist prescribed it because of being in the ER with extremely fast heartbeats. After a heart ultrasound, chest xray, blood tests, and wearing a holter moniter, they found there was nothing wrong with my actual heart other than the fact that I have a mild heart arrhythmia which they believe was brought out by a virus I also had. Now that I have started the medicine, I have had dizziness, nausea, sever mood swings, insomnia, and anxiety. The cardiologists' nurse said these were all normal, but it seems a little excessive to me. I am on the lowest possible dose (25MG) minus the possibility of cutting the pill in half and I take it once a day. I do not have high blood pressure and am young and not overweight (5ft and 105lbs). Has anyone else had all these side effects, do they go away?

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I have been taking Metoprolol for around three years, i was put on it for heart arithmetic, it really impacted on my ability to tramp and hunt in the mountains. I found myself having to stop every ten minutes to allow my heart rate to slow. In March I underwent surgery to try and correct the problem. This failed but the specialist said I could stop taking the metoprolol. I did this cold turkey and it's been a month now and I have tightness in my chest when ever I do even the lightest exercise. Is this normal, and how long before my body is back to normal. Should I carry on trying to build up my cardio ?

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When I stopped taking Metroplol...I was told to do it gradually, because of the side effect. I cut the dose down the first week, and then every other day the next week, until my body adjusted. My medical advisor was very specific about this. It's a terrible drug for a lot of people, as you've probably read in this column.

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Yea I just stopped mine. My cardiologist said no prob bc I was only on it for a month and I have no other health issues. Yes if your in it a long time or 6 months you need to wean off slowly.

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Al I've been off For almost a year, and I'm still having side effects, anxiety, tightness in the chest, and I all of a sudden having horrible heartburn, this stuff was like poison to me! Hope you feel better soon

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Thanks for the heads up, the tightness of chest and heartburn like symptom are the worst. Really disappointed that no medical person told me about the possible side effects. I spend a lot of time in the outdoors and now I can hardly climb a flight of stairs let alone a mountain.

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Yes mine went away. I was on it for a month but I took 12.5 - I cut it in half. I stopped it though bc it made my palpitations worse. I take propanolol now if I go into afib, but not everyday. I also have a normal heart, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, diabetes, nothing, not overweight. I'm 5'6, 35 years old and 129 pounds. I don't smoke. I don't consume chocolate, sometimes no soda, no coffee. I do suffer from anxiety but I guess I just get episodes of a-fib here and there.

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I was put on 50 MG at first and I didn't feel right now I on 25 MG and I still feel like crap ..dizzy lightheaded tired as hell funny feeling in my chest achy feeling in my arm slow heart rate ..I just don't feel right at all..what should I do ?stop it altogether or cut the pills in helf and slowly take myself off of them ?

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Definitely decrease dosage slowly, I stopped cold turkey and I am suffering incredibly bad side effects !!

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How do I deal with the side effects of metoprolol (gas and diarrhea)? How long does this last?

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Oh waoo i started metroplol 25m tartate and its been 5 days i wish i would had never started this medication i had all the possible side affects...how long does this last to get out of my system

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I have taken Metoprolol for two years. Got side effects with vomiting almost all food. The doctor could not help me. I was desperate and went to an acupuncture, who helped me with finishing with the pill gradually. Could not go on with this because it already has made a hole in my purse. I had no abstinens at all. They began after 10 days. Got heart beating and felt very bad. Then I tried Magnesium Taurate and it helped me for 14 days. Now I have complemented with vitamin E. I take two vitamin E pills everyday but the guy who guided me says I can take more. After a week on vitamin E I feel so much better. Will see how it goes in the longer run. But then I can take more vitamin E. No side effects with that. Eventually this can be combined with some vitamin C and Zinc.

Now after a week I feel much better: I take four E-vitamin natural combinded with C-vitamin and zink according to new reasearch. I have discovered that IHerb has a combined C and zink, which will free me from too many boxes.

I will now go on with being my own doctor because I have been so afraid of the health care in Sweden where doctors only give you medication and refuse to help you with side effects because they then only will give you new medication. They now seem most like sellers for the product companies.

I also got on Eliquis at the same time as Metoprolol. My plan now is to also stop with that. But first I must lose weight and I will do that with a short fast according to the model of Jasong Fung in his book The Obesity Code.

My next step is to keep my blood suger really low. I have now bought a little thing that measures blood sugar. I can see that almost a little piece of a candy reflects in the figures I get when testing. I will be even stricter with the low carb food I have eaten for years according to the LCHF model.

My best for all of you here. Follow your own way to health.

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I called the paramedics at night...because I became so ill on metropolis, I ended up in the emergency room at the hospital. My blood pressure and pulse were so high...but it took me a while to figure out what was causing it.
Talk to your Doctor about your concerns...it is dangerous to stop taking it abruptly. Good luck!

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I have been taken Metoprolol for two years because of problems from another drug. I stopped slowly 4 1/2 month ago and still hade abstinens. Have to take E-vitamin to be able to funktion plus Magnesium Taurate. How long will this go on? It is terrible. Think Metoprolol have wounded my heart for ever.

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My husband was on Metrolpol and continued to be dizzy, passed out and had trouble walking. I took him off of the medication and used Hawthorn extract instead. His blood pressure is perfect, not one dizzy spell, seizures have stopped. This is one bad drug. Get off of it.

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I was put on Metoprolol in 2000 for a fluttering heartbeat. No problems until 2 weeks ago when I almost lost consciousness on the street. Next day was much worse. Ended up in the emergency room and stayed overnight for extensive tests. My heartbeat was 20 beats per minute. They immediately reduced my dosage from 50 mg twice a day to 25mg once a day. I was still dizzy, having intermittent lightheaded seizures. After 2 weeks I am starting to feel slightly better. I am completely off the Metoprolol. The day of my first attack I was on my way home from my primary dr. How could she have missed my low heartbeat? Please everyone....if you are on Metoprolol take your pulse at least once a day. When these drugs work, they are a lifesaver but when they turn toxic they can kill you.

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Re: Marianne (# 54)

I also have been started taken Hawthorne to slow down the heart. It actually works. But I still have problems left after five months finishing Metoprolol.

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I took Atenolol 25 mg 1` x day for 20 years but it wasn't working to lower BP any more so MD put me on Metoprolol Succinate. Gradually we worked the dose up to 75 mg per day but I was getting daily drops in BP to around 90/55 so we compromised at 50 mg 1 x day. Metropolol controls my highs (which were around 175/90) but I still am very troubled with too-low readings around 100/60. Worst side effect of incapacitating fatigue does not entirely correlate with low BP readings---I wake up aching with fatigue and then it gets worse even when BP is reasonable like 125/83 and I still feel awful. Other minor side effects I can manage or live with but the fatigue unto malaise is making normal life impossible. Blood tests last week rule out other causes of the fatigue. MD wants me to hang there until my body gets use to Metoprolol which I have now been taking for five months. How long does it usually take for the side effects to remit? And do they, eventually, always? I wonder if splitting the dose (25mg q 12 hours) might work better than taking the 50 mg all at once? MD loves this drug. I don't.

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I was prescribed 50mg Metoprolol ER daily five months ago after experiencing occasional heart flutter (up to 150 pulse for a few hours sometimes). All other tests were normal - no high BP - good blood work.

The Metoprolol helped somewhat, but I experienced some of the noted side effects, so I stated doing research into the possible underlying causes of heart flutter. Read several articles about the importance of electrolyte balance, coupled with a possible magnesium deficiency. I went back to the blood test that the cardiologist ordered, and it did not test for magnesium. For the prior 15+ years, I have routinely drank 8-10 glasses of reverse osmosis water per day, ate healthy, and got moderate exercise regularly. I learned that drinking RO water will leech minerals from your system, and so I asked for a special magnesium RBC blood test - not the standard serum test which I have read is not accurate. The results came back and my magnesium was in the bottom 1/3 of the "normal" range, and that was after a month of regularly drinking re-mineralized water and taking magnesium supplements. (In hindsight, I should have gotten the magnesium RBC test first.)

I have slowly cut the Metoprolol down to 25mg per day (50mg > 37.5 > 25), and after two weeks on 25mg (knock wood) the heart flutters are less frequent than when I was taking 50mg daily (before taking magnesium).

In my case, I believe I have a magnesium deficiency which I am working to correct. I plan to step the Metoprolol down to 12.5mg soon, and eventually stop it altogether. I will re-test for magnesium RBC in a few months to confirm my assumptions.

If you want to look into magnesium deficiency and the heart, there are several articles online and books. There are many forms of magnesium, some better for certain issues versus others. Some forms I would never take. And if you think you might want to take Mg, get a magnesium RBC test first. If you already have sufficient magnesium, taking too much may create more heart issues. You should consult with your doctor and/or nutritionist to discuss what's best for you.

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After two years on metoprolol and having stomach problems, I stopped in april with the help of acupuncture. The doctor could not help me. After a while I got terrible abstinens with pressure over the breast and rapid heart beat. I was helped with Magnesium Taurate and later E-vitamin in high doses. After six months my problem was smaller and now it is seven months. I still have a hard heartbeat every evening when I am tired. Others here on the chat have stated that it takes about one year to get back to normal. The body has very big difficulties to come back from to regain normal function. If you are in the beginning of stopping please take it very very slowly. If you are lucky the body can adapt better. Sorry for my bad english. I am Swedish and not fluent. Hope you understand what I try to say.

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I have been on Metoprolol XL for approx 5 yrs due to Afib. The past couple years, every month my heart would start beating excessively, up to 160bpm. I would go to the hospital so they could slow it down. They gave me cardisim through IV. It slowed the heart rate, but my heart would still be in Afib. Anyway, the last few months have been exhausting. I have had terrible bouts of anxiety to the point of not being able to sleep for fear of going into Afib. I was miserable. I was having anxiety constantly & knew something was wrong. I know my body & how I should feel. I decided to stop taking this drug & I can’t begin to tell you how great I feel! I know it was that drug! I don’t recommend anyone to stop without speaking to their Dr. I’ve been off it for 2 1/2 weeks now. I didn’t have any side effects from stopping it. Only feeling like myself with the energy I was always use to before taking it.
I also take a blood thinner.

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