Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 100)

i've been taking metoprolol for several years as partial treatment for high blood pressure. through diet and exercise, i've lowered my BP to the point my doctor says drop the metoprolol.

i did, 3 days ago, and i'm soooo tired, dizzy, irritable, and my vision is blurred.

is this withdrawal? how long will it last?

i remember starting this medication was terrible to get used to. it appears that stopping it is just as bad.

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Re: Txcandy1 (# 1980)

The wonky feeling could be from anxiety or lack of sleep, if you’re suffering from either condition. But it sounds like you’re on the mend overall, which is great.

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Uberchap (# 1974) --

I hope everyone is doing amazing! I loved reading this whole forum. It was a great deal of help. I am currently 1 day into week 6 off of Metoprolol. It is the most horrible feeling I’ve ever felt. Anxiety is so bad I am in bed rest. Sweating, headaches, nauseous, vomiting, and so so much impending doom, elevated hr when doing anything. I’m on .5mg of Lorazepam to help but it barely takes the edge off. How did most you you get through this extreme feeling of impending doom without any anti anxiety meds??? I just couldn’t imagine that pain! Any advice or updates on how everyone is now currently doing would be much appreciated !

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Re: Juliya (# 1982)

I’ve been off Metoprolol for over a year now (13 months or so) & I’ve been back to normal for some time now. What really helped me feel better was my heart MRI in Jan, which was all clear save for a slight defect I’ve known about since last year, & walking almost daily. The first few weeks of walking my anxiety was through the roof, but after that it dissipated.

Medication wise, I switched to Atenolol & have had no problems w/ it save for some fatigue. I don’t know what meds help relieve a sense of doom or dread, but some OTC medications may do the trick (you can google it). But if your heart is healthy overall, then you have little to worry about in that regard. Good luck to you.

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Re: Juliya (# 1982)

I’ve been off of metoprolol for 90 days and feel SO much better than the first 6 weeks. I still have a few days here and there where I will feel a tad foggy head or my HR will be elevated all day for no reason. I am being monitored for a possible
Arrhythmia ( not a serious one) so that may be the reason for elevated HR here and there. I still feel like the medication made me have the spikes but we will see. I’m being monitored for 6 months and have the first 3 month follow up in September. Cardio isn’t concerned with it because the serious arrhythmias have been ruled out. Today I’ve been having a really off day, a little light headed and elevated HR upon standing and doing anything but overall SO much better and pretty much back to normal. That medication was wicked.

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Re: Txcandy1 (# 1984)

Thank you both so much for replying. Txcandy1: I’ve seen a lot of people on this thread comment about caffeine intake and how they can’t drink it and have also developed severe sensitivity to a bunch of other things. Is this the case with you as well? I know my anxiety rushes happen first thing in the morning and any time after I eat. No matter what I’m eating. Sometimes just lasting all day long.

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Re: Juliya (# 1985)

As I typed that, I had a really off day yesterday. HR was high all day and night was awful. I had adrenaline rushes/feelings last night and hadn’t had that in a long time :( I was up all night trying to calm it down.

I used to drink coffee every day and now I can’t touch it. I don’t drink any caffeine or it makes me feel the adrenaline rushes and heart rate high. Even taking an allergy pill with the D Made my heart rate higher for the day. So I’m just drinking decaf right now for the taste.

I’m really hoping if this is still a side effect of the medication that it will resolve fully soon. And if it’s a minor arrhythmia that I get some sort of answers after this first 3 months of monitoring.

I will say besides the random heart rate spike that started this whole thing, I never felt this bad until I started the beta blockers so I still think all these other symptoms besides maybe elevated HR are from that. And I do think my heart rate responded to the beta blockers by random heart rate spikes and adrenaline rushes too so it’s really hard to know what’s what for me. My cardio doesn’t see a clear cut arrhythmia yet which is why we’re monitoring for 6 months to make sure.

When I was about 5/6 weeks off like you, I felt the adrenaline rushes at night and when I first woke up in the morning. I’m trying to drink lots of pedialyte to stay hydrated to make sure I don’t make symptoms worse when I was having them.

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Re: Txcandy1 (# 1986)

Earlier in this thread there was a guy who stated that he had random spikes in heart rate and anxiety until like 6 or 10 months off. I still drink a coffee every morning. It’s just some mornings after a sip or two I know it’s a day that I can’t. One other guy earlier in this thread said it took him two years before he could stomach a cup of coffee. This medicine is just horrid! I’m sure I still have a few more weeks until I start to feel a little normal again. You said you had a bad day yesterday. Has it resolved yet? Are the rushes any weaker and tolerable?

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Re: Juliya (# 1987)

So in March I had an episode of tachycardia that woke me out of my sleep and because I panicked I couldn’t get it to calm down and called an ambulance. I thought I was having a heart attack. All the tests came back normal, ekg normal, troponin normal and blood work was stellar. That was right when COVID was hitting the US, so they also did every test under the sun and all normal. Only thing was my heart rate wasn’t coming down into the 90s after resting so they kept me one night to observe. More tests and all normal. Sent me home on Metoprolol and said it was inappropriate sinus tach. About two days later I had another episode but in hindsight I realize it was me reacting to the metoprolol. I was getting crazy washes of adrenaline about an hour after taking the medication and in turn that was causing my heart rate to spike. I called cardio and he UPPED the dosage because we thought it wasn’t working. Everything just got worse from there. Dizzy, loose stools, adrenaline rushes, foggy head the whole
bit. He then changed me to a calcium channel blocker and that was worse! But again in hindsight I think it was the reaction of no metoprolol versus a reaction to channel blocker. I called again and asked if I could just go back to metoprolol but the small dose that I left the hospital with. He said yes. I did that for about a month and it was just haywire from then on. Adrenaline spikes, heart rate spikes after taking the medication, super dizzy like I was falling but I was just sitting down, foggy head. I did a 24 hour monitor, nothing really showed up. Did the 30 day monitor and half way in I asked if I could get off the metoprolol and he said yes. But then I started withdrawal and you know what that’s about. It was AWFUL. That first day I weaned to a lower dose of metoprolol I went to the ER because I was so dizzy and heart rate was high. So I didn’t really think that 30 day monitor was a clear picture of what the tachycardia was really doing because half was on meds and half was on withdrawal. The 30 day didn’t really show anything else besides what he still thinks is the inappropriate sinus tach but still not clear. So I ended up getting the loop recorder implant for a longer term monitor.

I was feeling really good all last week as I approached the 90 day mark. Last night is the first time I’ve had the adrenaline rushes in a long time. I fell asleep at about 3am and was fine after that. I felt a few rushes this morning as I was waking up but they’ve seemed to finally dissipate. I do feel a little bit of foggy head today. Heart rate is pretty normal Today though so that’s good.

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Re: Txcandy1 (# 1988)

Oh my! Well I’m glad you are starting to feel better. My experience was kind of the same. I’m 36 years old and in January had a horrible panic attack. It was so bad I didn’t realize it was a panic attack and I called a cardiologist office close by and luckily they had an appointment right then and there. My heart rate was still high so they said I had sinus tachycardia and put me on 12.5mg metoprolol twice a day. My heart rate started dropping to 43 so I stopped taking the evening dose after only 3 days. I had no withdrawal from that. Then after a 48 hour holter showing a good daily average heart rate, And an echocardiogram showing that my heart was structurally fine. I was told I could just go 12.5 every other day for 4 days and then stop. Which I did but after two days my heart rate shot up to 150’s debilitating anxiety, I couldn’t take it so I went back on the 12.5mg a d just tapered to 6.25mg on my own. After a week on 6.25 when my body stabilized I went to 6.25 every other day as recommended by my cardiologist. After a month my body stabilized so I stopped again and the same thing happened, but I lasted 4 weeks this time before it got too painful. But I had to go back on again to ease the pain. I went back on 6.25 twice a day, then to 3.12mg twice a day, then to 1.56 twice a day, then to 1.56 once a day, then I even cut that down to just a sliver of a pill. Each time for 7 days. Now I’m day 2 on week 6 and it’s still the most horrible experience of my life. I’ve had about 20 different tests ran and 3 different holders during all of this and they keep telling me my heart is fine and the withdrawal shouldn’t last this long or be this harsh. I’m thinking we may be unfortunate ones that get protracted withdrawal from this metoprolol. I’m hoping third time is a charm and I can struggle through it this time.

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Re: Juliya (# 1989)

I honestly thought mine was a panic attack too because we had just come back from Ireland 24 hours before they were closing borders and everything got crazy with COVID and now with the reaction from metoprolol it’s so hard to know if this is what my heart usually does or if it was a panic attack at the time or if it’s really a minor arrhythmia OR the metoprolol has caused all this drama. I guess only time will tell which is why I went ahead with the loop recorder. Peace of mind that they’ll really know with time. I will tell you coming off metoprolol Was causing heart rate spikes and so I don’t know if it’s just set my heart rate higher for now. I never kept track of my heart rate before this so I don’t know what my normal is/was.

Since everything checked out with your holters, just know these symptoms WILL subside. Just like you said, it seems like people are having residual side effects even 3+ months off of this drug. And we know that both of us weren’t feeling all of these adrenaline rushes and feelings before the medication so it has to be that.

I wish I wasn’t so sensitive to medication :(

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Re: Txcandy1 (# 1990)

I did some research over the past week and it seems that people who are sensitive to this medication have an overactive sympathetic nervous system when stopping, which is what is causing the elevated HR and adrenaline surges. Thing is I can’t find any material on in the beta receptors in the heart can heal or readjust. I know my normal resting heart rate is 80–85. But lately it’s running high 90’s majority of the day and night with random spikes to 115 for an hour after I eat. The mornings are the worst. As soon as I open my eyes HR jumps up to 110. I stand up and walk down the steps it goes anywhere from 120 to 160. Then stays up in the low 100’s for like 2 hours then it finally goes to high 90’s. My daily average heart rates have been in the 90’s. Which is pretty high. I measure mine with the iwatch. I have blood pressure fluctuations throughout the day as well but my blood pressure is normally low so even when it fluctuates high for me it is still within normal range. I’m not prepared to change my eating habits like so many on here have had to do. I’ve lost 20LBS since all of this started and I was only 115 to begin with. My doctor says I really really have to put my weight back on, but even with drinking high calorie protein shakes those adrenaline surges just strip the weight right off. Fingers crossed we can all make it out of this as close to normal as possible!

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Re: Juliya (# 1991)

I wonder if an overactive sympathetic nervous system is something we just had naturally or if something else caused that. I have been monitoring with an Apple Watch too and in fact ordered it as soon as I left the hospital so I could keep track lol. My resting at night is in the 60s. Like last night my resting was 66. When I’m up and moving around nothing strenuous it hovers around 100 and then can have spikes like you to about 120 but mostly just hovers around the 100 mark. Sunday when I had the bad day, it was jumping into 125-140 with no strenuous activity. That’s when I know it’s a high HR day. I haven’t been having the adrenaline rushes with it though. Sunday was just a really bad day and night. This is why I’m wondering if this is just all part of what the medication did. I wish I would have known what my normal Hr patterns were before. I mean when we were in Ireland right before the first episode I didn’t feel any of this and we were out all day everyday. I would have loved to known what my averages were then. When I’m awake and just sitting it can be in the 90s and into the 80s but also it can just hover right at 100. I’m really interested to see what my cardio says in September after this 3 month mark of looking at it every day. I’m also really hoping that the longer we are off the meds, the more it starts to normalize even more.

I’m having my gallbladder taken out next week laparoscopically and I’m a little nervous. I did come across a few articles that said an inflamed gallbladder could cause an elevated HR because it can lean against the vagus nerve but I don’t know. I guess we will see if everything lowers once I get it out. This is also so frustrating. I’m also trying to not look at my watch too much because at the beginning I was checking it so much that I think that was giving me subconscious anxiety

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Re: Juliya (# 1991)

As I sent that I went outside and it’s really hot where I live so I ran back inside because my feet were on fire lol and my heat rate jumped to 140. It goes back down fast but some days when it’s more normal, it doesn’t do that. I did just eat too and I feel like when I eat it can be higher after. I came inside and sat down after the 140 and now it’s back to 100. It’s all so weird and frustrating, especially Because every day is a little different.

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Re: Juliya (# 1991)

Looks like today will be a high HR day. :( just up and about walking around the house it’s jumping to 125. Don’t know if it’s becuase I just had some cereal and milk doesn’t really agree with body or if it’s just a high day. So frustrating. Yesterday it was good, even walking around.

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Re: Txcandy1 (# 1994)

Have you tried a different beta blocker? Atenolol doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier, at least nowhere near to what metoprolol/propranolol do. I have a sensitivity to most medications & caffeine, but I’ve done well taking 12.5 mg of atenolol twice a day.

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Re: Uberchap (# 1995)

I haven’t. Honestly after the ordeal with metoprolol and the channel blocker I just asked to be off but after this 3 month follow up and then the 6 months follow up I would be willing to ask about that if he really thinks a beta blocker is necessary.

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Re: Txcandy1 (# 1996)

Yeah my bad days go like that too. If it’s a bad day my heart rate is generally high 90’s but fluctuates to 115 after I eat. Can be anywhere from 125 to 149 with walking. What’s been your heart rate on good days??? I just saw an endocrinologist today to rule out any hormonal issues like the high adrenaline that may have come from this medication. I get the blood work done tomorrow. My heart rate also gets to 120-140’s in severe heat. It’s been over 100 everyday here in Baltimore so far I can’t even walk to the car my heart rate gets so high in the heat. I’m hoping to start having some good full days here soon. I feel like I’m dying over here. Haven’t been able to eat all day due to the severe adrenaline rushes. I’m wondering now if our cardiac nets receptors are now just super sensitive from this medication. I dunno. Keep me posted Txcandy1. I’m enjoying our conversations and I would love to continue to hear about your progress and results as well as we can both support each other on bad days.

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Re: Uberchap (# 1995)

I would only touch another beta blocker only if it were life and death. It lowered my blood pressure to 80/40 and heart rate to 43. It was trying to kill me when I was on it and now it’s trying to kill me while withdrawing. ??

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Re: Juliya (# 1998)

It’s a tough call, for sure. But some beta blockers are different than others. It’s that way w/ all medications, of course. But if you’re having issues w/ your heart rate, which could be due to anything, then it’s something to consider even if you ultimately stay the course.

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Re: Juliya (# 1997)

Yeah that’s very similar to mine. Today it finally evened out and stayed about 115 walking around and low 90s/high 80s when sitting down. I felt a little weird today. Like weirdo head and a tad headachy but nothing compared to Sunday night with the adrenaline rushes. Since you have a Apple Watch, if you don’t mind me asking what’s your heart rate variability in the app? If you go to your phone, and click the Health app go to browse and then click heart. It will be the 3rd average down or so

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