Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 17) (Top voted first)

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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Travis... you sound exactly how I was :-( I been off this awful drug since June (My story is below somewhere) and I am still having trouble driving because of dizzy spells and bouts with anxiety. I believe this drug triggered some kind of panic/anxiety in me to come out 10 fold. I am still trying to calm down 5 months later :-( I do not think I am dealing with actual side effects anymore BUT I am dealing with the anxiety and panic that this drug caused.

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Thanks R. This was very helpful. I'll discuss it with my cardiologist.

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I've been off of it for a few months now. I only took it for a month but I still have tightness in my chest. The doctor doesn't think it's from that but I never had that before. It does raise triglycerides and my blood pressure went way up also when trying to wean off. The blood pressure is better now.

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I feel good seeing that i am not alone but sure feel bad that so many are experiencing it.
I got on it last November for High BP along with Benazepril and Amlodapine. I was a zombie. Got off Amlodapine 2 months ago as it has the worst side effect reports. Some palpitations over 2 weeks and my head was a thinking a bit better but still Brain fog and tired. So i got off Benazapril next...easy and didnt notice anything at first but started getting anxiety more and more until it was really bad. Thank God i had some Ativan to calm me down. Now when i say anxiety it was different than what i would call anxiety before the pills. This was a different beast all together. It didn't start with my head but with my body. Eyesight gets weird, Depersonalization, tremors...then my mind starts to freak a bit wondering what the heck is happening. Ativan would calm me right down. So i started to get off 50mg 2x a day. Cut up pill to take 3/4 or 37.5 - 2x per day and started to get palpitations as it wore off. After 5 days i went down another 1/4 to 25 mg - 2x a day and palpitations are crazy scary as it wears off or i wake up from sleep. I started taking half a Benazapril again as i read that Metoprolol suppresses adrenaline but that if you have a strong body it can send signals to pump more adrenaline and the ACE inhibitor Benazapril tells it not to pump it up. It does help some but if i didnt have it i would go to the ER...so i feel for you folks. It makes the anxiety worse because it scares the crap out of you. And ear ringing can be brutal.
So my question is how much longer do i take to get off this demonic drug. It is hard to make a decision when your afraid the wrong decision can make you die from this black box drug ( you can die from stopping it too quick)? I hope i can Heal and get better as i have never experienced this stuff before and i have been in some pretty extreme situations in life....but this tops it. Comments and ideas are welcome!

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I started taking metoprolol 20 years ago and Prozac . I had a bad itchy rash, but didn't realize I was allergic to Metoprolol, so I just kept taking it. I think I developed many of the bad side effects, now I have developed lupus. Dr. just put me on RA meds.I am not going to take them. Dr's don't listen to what you say. I am slowly weaning myself off the metoprolol. I was wondering if my symptoms will go away.

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I was given a EKG after seeing two doctors, was in AFIB with failing heart beat. (I had been suffering with this for at least 3 months maybe longer off and on) Primary doctor was no use, after I got to the hospital, and my heart rate was converted through electric shock I was prescribed Diltiazem ER 240mg with Amiodarone 200mg, and Xarelto and told to come back in 3 months after many shocking side effects, was told to come in then was given Multaq 400 mg one for AM and one for PM. That was almost as bad, but still could not tolerate, then was the given Metoprolol scc er 25mg. still felt like my heart was struggling to beat, short of breathe, bend over to pick something off the floor, felt like blood was going to pop through my head. Blurred vision, dry eyes, heart hurt, short of breathe, When I would take my blood pressure it was high, 165/94 but heart rate 53. Doctor was trying to hit two birds with one stone. What is wrong with this picture?? Doctors just keep prescribing till something works, meantime your body is going through hell trying to keep up.

All of this stuff is poison, and I believe your body will get used to it, someday, maybe, but in the mean time it's killing you. Former smoker and I remember the first time I smoked a cigarette, I coughed my head off...made me sick at my stomach, but the more I tried the easier it got. Yes your body does adjust, but just like cigarettes, it's killing you and your quality of life. And of course we will see a lot of legal suits in the future, Your body is telling you something. I don't know how some people can take this stuff, and the doctors, well they just keep writing prescriptions. (Notice all the drugs ads everywhere) Find another way if at all possible. Diet, yoga, exercise..no alcohol, sodas, sugar.

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I had a headache, upset stomach, dizziness, depression, irregular heartbeat and chest pain when coming off this stuff.

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Stopping was worse for me! Be very careful and listen to your pharmacist.
I took over 2 months to get off it and had side effects the whole time and even two weeks after i was completely off of them.
Nasty stuff!
Good luck Michael!

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3 weeks off the meds, things continue to get better. SOB 90% gone and when I do, the spells don't last as long. Less fatigue, more stamina, and less anxiety. Scary chest pains gotten less scary when my body goes onto an anxious state.

New symptoms I notice (prolly had them before but so sick with other stuff I didn't notice): I get mild palpitations when I eat badly, like fried foods. I feel yucky when I eat sweets (donut, cookies) on empty stomache.

For rehab, start of August started excersize at a heart wellness center 2x a week and I feel like its really helped. Specifically 30 min on the elliptical working slightly above my comfort level. Also getting a Swedish like massage weekly, not sure if this helps but my hope is to get the toxins out of my system faster, AS WELL AS getting my body adjusted at a relaxation state because I get more palps when my body transitions to restful state.

A physiologist tried to explain to me about palps: something about my bp wanting to lower, and since I'm still young (forties vs sixties) my body reacts quicker, but metoprolol has enlarged (or smaller?) my arteries, so the heart compensates and that's when I feel the palps. Can someone explain this better?

BTW, I did get depression like I've never experienced before while on this drug. At times I felt like my brain was thinking on its own and making me feel hopeless about life, while my rational side was battling those thought because I knew I was physically getting better. It was exhausting and was equally scary as the syncope. I bring this up because of the passing of Robin Williams. And I strongly encourage anyone getting to that point with any drug, get medical help as soon as you can!!! If I could do-over, I should have proactively complain about the intial physical side effects before it affected my brain physically. My girlfriend is on metoprolol and is doing very well on it, so unless you complain doctors will think you are fine. At this stage for me, much of depression is gone. ??

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Annie
Please let me know what they tell you.

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Been off Metoprolol for 2 weeks now. Still have the side effects. short of breathing, light headed, headache sometimes and cant think normally..anyone have the same symptoms after stop taking metoprolol?

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Quitting toprol is complicated, there is much more than just withdrawal from the drug itself. Toprol suppresses all kinds of processes, like kidney, heart, adrenalin, hormones & many more. It takes them all and puts them in a jar, then puts a lid on it. When you quit taking it, the lid comes off the jar and all these things come out like fireworks going in their own direction, they have forgotten how to communicate with each other & this takes time to relearn. I have just found out the hard way of this, my surgeon did not realize how much I was taking and the length of time. It has been 5 weeks now and just taking one makes me as sick as not taking it, so for three days now, I have been cutting 25 mg pills in to fourths, when ever I feel everything getting confused, blurry vision, to much adrenalin, I chew 1/4 pill and wait a while, I am trying to keep the lid on the jar just enough to get through. If I take a full pill the lid closes all the way & that is just as bad or worse. I'm trying to stay in the middle & suffer through it.

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Hi Anne, I had very bad shortness of breath after going off it, especially in the mornings. It did get better. I'm 2 months off of it, and do not feel like I have sob anymore. But I still experience minor respitory issues every day.

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I have been off metropilal for 9 months now I only took it for 2 months. I've finally only now learned to deal with the anxiety. Before all of this I was perfectly healthy I was give the pills for one episode of svt. This has been the hardest year of my life. I pray for all of you...

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Yes, you have opened the jars to the crazies. I don't care what you're doctor says, but after 10 years of any dosage of toprol (or any other medicine for that fact), you should not get off it cold turkey. Some take it okay, others don't. I don't think doctors get enough info on quitting drugs, they just know how to prescribe them.

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Travis, I feel for you as I have similar story - 2 months on the drug for an episode of sinus tachy, I have been 2 months off now. I'm sad to hear you still aren't the same after 9 months...are there any success stories out there? Has anyone gone back to normal?

Boggles my mind how much damage its done in a short period of time (and I was on a low dosage).

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Jane, I was on it for 2 months only, low dose. The weaning process was horrible and the withdrawal symptoms torturous! 2 days after being off it, I thought my heart would stop. I felt like a yoyo, good hours then bad hours.

Everyday got a little bit better, and i just kept telling myself that I survived yesterday, so I will get through today. After a month off symptoms were more manageable.

I continue to progress slowly. I pray that you hang tough and get through the worst of it.

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Please see my post #203 for explanation of what is going on with you. I was taking toprol for 10 yrs, and when I quit cold turkey I was up to 150 to 200 mg. per day. Been two months now and I have good days and bad days & today was a really bad day, lots of stuttering, finding words, balance walking, vision, sweating & an emotional roller coaster. You will not find many doctors, even in emergency, that understand the long term effects of getting off this drug, go to you're heart doctor or an emergency that can do heart problems, not all have this ability and not all that have, will understand what is really going on.
Ray

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Bee ~ don't know why you started with Betablocker metoprolol ... but maybe if I tell my story and the route I am struggling on it may help a little. My A-fib started soon after I tripped and fell hard and had emergency surgery (April 2014) for broken right femur...so for me it was a double whammy. And I was moving long distance ... alone, after ending an engagement to be married. Anyhow, I was convinced that stress had brought on the A-fib. And within a month of being on the Betablocker, I knew I had to find a way off of such a strong med.
Fast forward to now, October 2014: I went to 3 cardiologists in my new home town trying to find medical partner to be free of the debilitating side effects everyone here talks about. Then, against all expectation of finding an experienced acupuncturist in this small SW city -- remember I am unable to drive and have no friends or family here -- I found one.
Here I must say that on and off over many years I have consulted acupuncturists for various reasons. The first time in London 1973, a time when British MD,s wrere beginning to investigate acupuncture and use it in their practices.
After my last session, I had an interesting experience that along with my pain being reduced in leg and hip, my gas and bloating diminished, appetite improved and I was urinating less often and with less urgency...and my heart calmed. I now know that we are on the right track...and altho I continue I take my daily 12.5 mg...when these kind of results get stable, I will know that I can drop the Metoprolol entirely.
PS i also have been housebound, feeling more dead than alive since May when I started the heart meds. Lately I did not know how much more of it I could take...
I just keep knocking and seeking and following my heart and gut to get the healing and help I need. I also just had an MRI to see if my spine might have been injured with that fall in April...but no one looked at that before...
I find that a combo of western med and eastern experience often works for me.
-luvpunita in my first chat room ever

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Dorian.. wow you only took them for one month and you are having these problems. I would love to start a group for alternative healing.. This way less trips to the doctors who are giving out meds like candy and they don't even listen to us.
Anyway; That is one reason I am doing this as slow as possible and I still have side effects..............For anxiety you can try Gabba or Camomile tea, google other natural cures. oh; meditation has been helping me along with EFT. emotional freedom technique .. Tapping on certain meridians on the body following a script from utube. .......you can also look into 5 htp or Rhodiola., magnesium.

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