Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 23)

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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I've had a few bad days. About a week ago I probably over did it in my workout. Had some irregular heart beat, so I made the bad choice to take 6mg (M) that night and again the next morning. So I have started over with the side effects after being off of (M) for 15 days.

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Todd, I feel for ya! I wish I could offer some help or advice, but it seems as though everyone reacts to this drug quite differently. About all I can say is to hang in there and do the very best you can to get off this miserable drug. I might add, though, that I have taken Bee's advice about taking some natural supplements. The Hawthorn in particular seems to be helping in keeping some of my symptoms to a minimum to some degree.

I'm currently on day 6 of being Metoprolol-free, and I'm still experiencing many of the side effects as well, particularly some heart palpitations, some slight chest pressure from time to time, and an occasional BP spike along with 100+ pulse rates. I felt great on the first day, but by day 3 the rebound effects of withdrawal seemed to kick in. I'm just waiting to break that barrier, and while I've been tempted to drop the dreaded pill on rare occasion, I've done my best to resist. Hopefully I'll get past this soon.

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Bee how much sea salt are you taking? Haven't heard of it reducing BP. From my medical background Todd and Jumbo be very careful with withdrawing from M. It's got some serious rebound side effects that I'm sure you all are aware of. Enjoy the follow up here since this thread began non 2010! Keep well hydrated for sure especially when exercising. Thanks to all for sharing.

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Thanks, DJS! I think I'm doing okay. I weaned myself pretty carefully off of the drug, and the last 10 days of weaning started at 6.25mg and reduced to about 4mg for the last three or four days. While my rebound effects have definitely been annoying, they haven't been strong enough to warrant all that much concern.......certainly not enough to visit the ER or to see a doctor. I guess you could say that I'm just trying to ride out the tail end of the storm.

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Has anyone talked to there doctor on the pros and cons of the natural supplements? I see my doctor tomorrow, so I plan on asking. I did start taking magnesium and omega-3.

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Todd, I spoke with my doctor about the pros and cons of taking natural supplements, and she seemed a little apprehensive about it. However, she did say that if I did go that route that there was a local nurse practitioner who's also a nutritionist that I might want to see. I haven't done that, but my doctor also warned me to be careful about certain supplements that might interact with blood pressure and heart rate. It seems that L'Arginine and Hawthorn can potentially lower your BP and HR even further if you're at all concerned about your numbers being too low. In my case, I no longer needed to be on BP medicine since my BP and HR were already too low, so I decided not to take any of these supplements until I was absolutely certain that my numbers were in a safe region to do so. I monitor my BP and HR daily, and once my BP was averaging around 110/70 or 115/75 with my HR at around 60 or 65, it felt safe for me to start taking the supplements. I didn't dare do it when my numbers were 90/60 with a 45 BPM pulse. Of course, everyone is different, and many of us are on this drug for a variety of reasons, so I highly recommend that you speak with your doctor before jumping into the supplement route. While I'm fairly certain they can be helpful to some people, I'm quite sure that one size doesn't fit all in this regard. Hope this helps!

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DJ
I cant say how much sea salt I take. I might put l/8 teaspoon in a large glass of water. maybe some days I don't use it at all.... I was using it to lower my heart rate when I had the awful side effects from (M).. sea salt in water stops palpitations very quickly....so does the herb Motherwort.. So when I would wake from withdrawel with the worse palpitations I would down a glass of water with sea salt and then take some Motherwort herb (liquid) and my palps would stop right away.. I was able then to fall asleep..........You can check the site the water cure on utube ..
or go by how you feel.. I do know certain people cant use sea salt or they just sprinkle it on their food.........Like I said check google or utube for the Water Cure if you haven't done that already.

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Todd,

Doctors don't want you to take natural supplement because then they cant sell their life threatening drugs to you.................Look up things on your own.. If you want to take supplements... or see a naturopathic doctor... I do know that magnesium totally helped my heart when I was the (M).. I have not had a palpitation in months.. I doubt fish oil can hurt you unless you take a truck load. Just follow your heart and gut and how you feel..............I don't tell a doctor anything anymore. and I take about 700 mgs. of magnesium a day or I use the magnesium oil. Magnesium is a magic mineral and as we age gets depleted in the body.. look up the pros and cons on your own and see.. Unless you have a certain disorder I don't think magnesium is harmful.. Look up Dr. Stephen Sinatra on utube.. he will talk about the awesome foursome. COQ10, magnesium, L Carnitine and D-Mannose...

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Bee thank you for your kind reply. I definitely think magnesium has significant benefits! The four supplements mentioned are good ones. I do take CoQ10 and have for years! I will definitely do more reading. My medical primary has ordered a magnesium blood test for my next visit this fall.
Enjoy this thread and the good comments. Very helpful! Thanks for the time taken to post replies!!

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Just to add a couple of thoughts to the last two posts, I have to admit that I'm becoming a true believer in magnesium after taking it for the past two or three weeks while weaning myself off of the dreaded M. It really does seem to keep the heart palps to a minimum. There seemed to be a noticeable difference when I neglected to take it for a couple of days. I'll likely start taking the CoQ10 as well.

Just to clarify that we're on the same page regarding my last post and my thoughts about L-Arginine and Hawthorn, I'm really beginning to believe that these two supplements can be very helpful as well. I only wanted to emphasize that they can potentially mess around with your blood pressure as well as your heart rate, so perhaps unlike magnesium, calcium, fish oil, CoQ10, and others that we're discussing here, some serious caution should be considered when taking L-Arginine and Hawthorn in conjunction with BP medicines.

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DJS and Jimbo
I feel as if we all are in this together and the way we share is priceless .. We all need to stick together in this world ...;)... and fight Big pharma and put more emphasis on natural healing.. Of course a good diet and exercise come first.
okay off soapbox lol

I love being informed and informing others of all of the natural things but yes we need to be proactive in what works for us and what doesn't..

xoxo

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Yeah, Bee, I'm in full agreement with you about the pharmaceutical companies, and there's no doubt that I could be very long-winded with my thoughts regarding them.......LOL......but I'll leave that for a political thread. I'm not very fond of many doctors, either, especially the ones I came across during this last ordeal. I'm just thankful I found this site when I was looking for help. Most of the other threads were either non-active or just too old to comment on, so here I am! The information I've found here is indeed "priceless!" Perhaps most importantly, I found some good folks here who basically have the same issues in common, and it really helped to give me the confidence I needed at time when I pretty much felt all alone, or, perhaps that could be better worded "when most of the doctors thought I was nuts." All I knew for certain was that I needed to get off this drug, and you people gave me the strength to do just that! I really can't thank all of you enough.

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So wasn't feeling good last night Dizziness and heavy legs. Still just not feeling right after going back to (M) for two 6mg doses seven days ago. My blood pressure was up at lunch to 143/98 which is high for me since I've been staying in the 120/80 range. Today was doctor day and the nurse got a BP of 163/103. Talked to my Dr. About what systoms/side effects I'm having and he stats he's never heard of side effects like that with(M) espicially a week out. I told Him I had the same thing coming off the 25mg. He didn't think it is the (M). So I am getting a monitor tomorrow. My wife is looking for me another doctor. I'm all for checking to make sure nothing else is wrong, but I still think it's the (M). It took me 14 days the first time to feel normal after taking 25mg for 2 months.

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The doctor is correct. Those are not typical symptoms of metoprolol but not unheard of. I think follow up any unusual feelings with professional care is always best. You never can be too careful.
Every responds somewhat differently to certain drugs, so u never know. The most important thing is to correct your Bp and let a professional examine you further.

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Todd, for what it's worth, I'm currently on day 8 of being Metoprolol-free, but it hasn't been a cakewalk by any means. Day 1 was a good day followed by worsening symptoms for each day that followed until day 7 (yesterday). Days 5 and 6 were pure hell for whatever reason. Maybe it was the M's last gasp of letting me know how angry it was for not allowing any more into my system, but upon awakening yesterday morning, it felt as though the M had finally given up. Yesterday was the first good day I've had since day 1, and so far today I'm feeling pretty good. Of course, I'm still skeptical as to whether or not I'm truly over it all, but if Tony's experience as well as my own are any indication of how this withdrawal process works, I'd have to agree with Tony in that your situation doesn't seem quite right. On the other hand, I've probably read the majority of posts in this thread, and if I recall correctly, some people continued to experience the side effects for a few months. It only leads me to suspect that this drug may have different reactions on people depending on one's individual central nervous system and how it reacts to the chemicals we feed it. I guess I'm just saying that it could possibly be the M that's still causing the effects you're still feeling, but it's likely going to be difficult to know for certain until you're finally beyond it. "Time" is probably the key word here.

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And Bee, I wrote a rather sentimental message yesterday in response to your last post that didn't get posted for whatever reason. In short, though, I merely stated how wonderful this thread has been for me in getting beyond the horrible experience I've had with this drug. For a few weeks I was quite afraid that I'd never feel normal again, and the support I found here was second to none. I found this site at a time when I pretty much felt all alone in this world with nowhere to turn, and it certainly didn't help when nearly all of the doctors I saw in during my three visits to the ER and numerous clinic visits only to get the feeling that they thought I was nuts. With that being said, I'd just like to thank you and everyone else for all of your support in helping me get beyond this. I honestly can't express how grateful I really am!

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As a result of reading what people suggest here, I've been taking the Dr. Sinatra "awesome foursome" for the past few weeks. That is: Magnesium, CoQ10, Acetyl-L-Carnitine, and D-Ribose. It's Dr. Sinatra's view, supported by a good amount of medical literature, that blood pressure and heart rhythm problems are connected to problems producing adequate ATP in the heart tissue. I've had no recurrence of M withdrawal symptoms, and in general I feel normal/good. I also use Hawthorn, so I guess that's an awesome fivesome.

As for palpitations, I still get them once in a while, but I try not to fixate on them. I find them to be more likely given certain triggering conditions. One is sleep deprivation. Sometimes I wake up too early and don't fall back to sleep; on such days I'm more likely to experience palpitations. Another factor is alcohol. The day (or two) after even moderate alcohol consumption, I'm more likely to feel palpitations. By "moderate" I'm talking about, say, two beers. This is particularly the case if I have those two beers two days in a row. Heart rhythm problems after heavy drinking are well documented, but I guess as we age we become more susceptible to this, at lower dosages. I'm not talking about lots of palpitations; just a few, but enough to notice. If I were to drink more, I'm sure it would be more acute, but the days of having more than two drinks are long behind me.

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Not sure if I'm rebounding or what is going on. Nurse is suppose to call me today to come to the clinic for a monitor. BP this morning was 143/97, which is still high for me since I've been running in the 120/80 range for about a month. Anxiety is starting to kick in so that could be affecting my BP. My symptoms are still like what I experienced my first time off (M) just not as severe, except I really didn't have much BP problems. Any encouraging words? :)

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TCM
Are you still on BP meds? Or just the awesome foursome? Any known side effects taking it with BP meds?

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@Todd

I'm still taking 25 mg of hydrochlorothiazide, the diuretic. I'm still significantly overweight, and I suspect I'll need that until I am able to get my weight down. Obesity seems to cause fluid retention.

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