Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 42)

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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Thanks for the advice Jumbo! I certainly appreciate it!

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I'm a 62 year old male, walk a lot and ride a bike in summer. I had a minor heart attack in 2001 when I was 47 and afterward went on 200mg Metoprolol, 10mg Ramipril, and Atorvastatin. Four years ago my resting heart rate was down to 38 and I felt sluggish. I cut my Metoprolol dose in half to 100mg (no gradual reduction, just day one: 200mg then day two: 100mg) with no withdrawal side effects at all and only told my doctor about it four months later. He said as long as I was fine, just stick with the 100mg, so I did. Foodwise, I was eating way too much bread, jam and fruit juice, gaining weight. A couple of months ago I started a healthy diet (low FODMAPS diet, no soft drinks, no juices, no wheat/bread, no sweets, no jam/honey, no caffeine; more fruit, oatmeal, low-fat yoghurt, olives, tomatoes) and I've dropped from 200 pounds to 185 pounds. Half way through the diet I noticed my heartrate was down to 45bpm and my blood pressure was running at 95/50. For a few months I'd also been having arthritis-like pain in my hands and blurred vision. I researched Metoprolol side effects and decided to get off it entirely. Three weeks ago, I reduced from 100mg M to 70 the first day, then to 60 on day two and 50 on day three. I took 50mg for three more days, then dropped to 33 for two days, then down to 25 for two days, then 12.5 for two days, then zero. Every day around 1pm I would get a bit woozy-headed, but I found that if I ate something it would go away in an hour. I carried some M with me all day in case I needed a top-up dose, but never used it. I've been at zero dosage for five days now. I am going for walks but very slowly. I don't plan to go at my normal pace for another 10 days, just taking it easy to give my heart time to adjust. So far no withdrawal effects (the opposite, in fact. The daily afternoon woozy-head actually *stopped as soon as I stopped the Metoprolol. It was as if remaining on the small 12.5mg was contributing to the woozy-head: at zero dose it went away). Note that I'm still on Ramipril for blood pressure, which is now running about 115/55. No more blurry vision, no more arthritis-like hand pains at all. Feeling good about being off the M. It can be done. (My tip: carry some with you (for example, a matching dose of 12.5mg in later stages of weaning) so you can top up later in the day if you need it. It helps reduced anxiety about the process to know you are in control.)

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Four days of relative normalcy, and today I'm getting zapped. I'm off M for a month now, doc says to give it a few more weeks. She says this drug does NOT like to let go. It IS getting better, but the more real normal days I have, the more disappointing it is to suddenly have an off one. DEFINITELY not as bad as even 2 weeks ago. You DO feel like you are losing your mind, you are NOT, just push on. DRINK water, tons of it, and push Proteins. Bee and Jimbo, you checking in and reiterating things HELP those of is who follow in your footateps! THANK YOU.

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You're welcome, Lauren! If you've made it a month so far, you're almost there! I'm sure that we've all had our "off" days, too, but they'll become fewer and further between. Just hang in there!

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I was on M for 4 months total. max dose was 50mg time release. It took me at least 4 months to wean off and I have been completely off for 6 months. I still get the occasional palpitation but the BP spikes have stopped. The anxiety is now gone. It is absolutely worth getting off this poison no matter how long it takes. There is life after Metoprolol and it can be good. I am convinced that this drug screwed up the electrical system in my heart in it's attempt to "control" my heart rate. Had I know that this was what this drug did I would have never put one pill in my mouth. My heart is trying to recover and I am trying to help it be healthy. I am walking on my treadmill, eating better, taking lots of vitamin C and I can see improvement. I am getting out and living again after last year, in which I was disabled by this drug. I had problems getting on it, off of it and then the weaning process took months. Those of you struggling, keep going forward...there is an end.

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Same here Lauren. I had a great day yesterday. Felt somewhat normal. Today my heart is racing and I have a horrible headache and just feel terrible. I am about a week and a half completly off (third time trying to get off) I think im gonna hang on this time and try to make it.

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Good for you Sandra! Stick with it! You can do it. I know it is a rough ride. I'm glad to hear that you are making progress. If you can take time to rest during the process it helps. I had lots of "bad days" where I just did the minimum and lay down trying to calm my heart. It is a scary time but your body will rid itself of this poison and begin to do it's own regulating. Drink lots of water to flush it from your body. I think it stores in the liver and is excreted in the kidneys so I drank water with fresh lemon juice in to speed up the detox process. I'm rooting for you!

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Thanks so much Anita! My anxiety is thru the roof today :( I keep thinking im gonna die the way I feel! I keep telling myself its just this stupid meds.

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Cardiology is based on physical medicine (surgery) and pharmacological interventions, along with adjunct alternative treatments. His vitae looks good on paper. Good physicians don't attempt sell you products — for any reason other than lack of availability in general, and that usually only applies to Controlled Substances, and we usually can't get "shortage" medicines any more easily than your local pharmacist, so that leaves legit MDs/DOs out of that game. Derms do sometimes sell hard to find hair vitamins, but I never met one who tried to talk me out of a script for Retin-A in favor of buying something he had for sale. They usually only carry a few products aimed as hair loss prevention and, from what I see, women buy them much more frequently than men. Sometimes they also have for sale some especially good OTC acne preparations, although the best txs are Rx Only (except for Benzoyl Peroxide 5%). The medical community doesn't think very highly of these docs who are invested in your buying their products. f they found anything revolutionary, a major drug company would have bought the rights, did some R & D and applied to the FDA and put the product through a series of clinical trials.

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Sandra it IS the meds. Try and think back to how you were before you started taking this stuff. You were ok then and will be ok again. If you are confident that you do not have a heart condition (I didn't) then you can be a little calmer riding it out. It's horrible I no longer have ANY anxiety, zero. It was 100% medicine. Just try and stay as calm as you can. Do whatever you can to calm yourself...herbal tea, theanine works fairly quickly ( i bought some "stress formula" by Sundown Naturals (L-Theanine). You can check online for drug interactions if you are taking anything else. I asked the doctor (the M pusher) about it and of course, he just laughed like "this won't hurt you" but won't work either. Then urged me to take Atavan. GOODBYE to him. The best thing is just ride it out if you can. I recall the bad days were usually just a day...and they got further and further apart. Take deep breaths. It helped me to write everything down and keep track of my BP and pulse rates. If you get into any dangerous zones, go to the ER. I went several times during the weaning process because I was scared and worried about my heart. I was fine every time. I didn't allow them to give my any drugs although depending on the ER doctor they had many suggestions, including "you should take Metoprolol" OMG!!!! Keep us posted on your progress. One day at a time and this will all be behind you.

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DON'T GIVE UP!!! It's WORTH it to reclaim your life. :) Visiting this site daily really helps!!! Tons of water and Protein!

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Thanks Ladies!! Today heart rate is 107 just sitting and anxiety is high. Lauren, what do you add extra for protein? Do you feel it helps?

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Hi, i have been of metoprolol for 3 weeks and still feel withdrawals . About how long does it usually take to feel normal again? Its getting better slowy but surely.

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A comptent doc can't "assume" you have Tachycardia and visible symptoms of stress. That's what EKGs, Echos and other tests (non-invasive) are for. It asp is what Highly qualified shrinks and neurologists are. What you stated reflects the the unsatisfactory practice of medicine —"plain and simple".

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Dr. Joey, not to be critical of your contributions here, but every time I read one of your posts, I have to ask myself "what is he trying to accomplish here?" I just think it's time to personally ask you this question because the vast majority of us here are trying to deal with the notion of getting off Metoprolol (or perhaps similar beta-blockers), and your contributions don't really seem to directly address this problem, in my honest opinion. My wife has suggested that you might be a pharmaceutical company "plant" of some kind in order to sway others from believing that it's the drug that's causing these issues, but you don't really come out and say this, either. The fact is, the people here are having very REAL ISSUES that are directly related to the effects of Metoprolol, but I have yet to speak to a doctor who fully understands what's going on here. Tachychardia, anxiety, high blood pressure, high heart rate, heart palpitations, dizziness, headaches, etc., etc. are all symptomatic rebound effects with weaning and withdrawal from Metoprolol (or in my case while on the drug as well), and like so many other folks here, I've had the very same symptoms only to go to the ER a countless number of times to find that my heart or any other suspected health issues are just fine. I sincerely believe that this drug fouls up our "electrical" systems and/or central nervous systems in such a way that doctors have become clueless in regards to knowing how to treat it once it's discovered that it's not working for us. This thread has some pretty good history (over five years worth), and it seems pretty clear to me that the only proven way to rid ourselves of this nasty drug is to slowly wean ourselves off of it while eventually having to go cold turkey, all while going one step at a time while also tuning into what our bodies are telling us at any given moment. Unless you've experienced this problem first-hand, you'd have no idea as to how horrifying of an experience it really is.

With that being said, I really see this thread as a support group where our contributions are to hopefully posted in order help and aid one another in ridding ourselves from this drug once and for all. Sorry for the rant, everybody, but I personally don't get where this Dr. Joey guy is coming from. Thanks!

JR, to answer your question about "how long it takes" to get off this drug, everybody is different. It took me about four weeks once I went cold turkey, but I had a setback for a few days about a week after I began feeling normal again. Since then, however, I've been feeling great! Some have needed a week or two while other have needed several months or more. The best advice I can give is to just hang in there. If you've already gone three weeks, you're well on your way! Wishing you the best!

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Well said Jimbo!! Thank you and thank you for always weighing in to help!

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Thanks jimbo !!! I have been struggling this week but i feel i can't go back . I also went cold turkey . I have some bad hours during the day and then ill do good. The only thing is that it makes it difficult to work out ..my goal.is to get off all meds . I currently take lisinprol/htz in the mornings and amnoldipine at night ..i just want off and be healty again!!!

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It's worth the struggle! My doctor was going bezerk adding more and more medicines to deal with the metoprolol side effects. It was absurd. Stick with the weaning process and then once your body is clear of the poison and has begun to moderate itself again, then you can see if you need anything for BP! I went from being health on one medicine, to 5 when the metoprolol was added (and feeling terrible plus being in and out of the er with side effects). Now I take 10 mg lisinopril and feel like a normal person again. It took me a month to wean off and another 4 months for the side effects to diminish. Stick with it!

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My experience was very much like Joyce (177, 179, 183, 201, 270). Tapering after relatively low levels didn't work for me either -- pounding palpations, shortness of breath, short term memory loss, and anxiety simply increased! So the only option was to go cold turkey off 12.5 Metropolol twice daily. Irregular heartbeat started 22 hours after stopping accompanied by light-headedness, and anxiety. I went for very long moderately paced walks and did slow deep breathing exercises at bed time. I'm on Day 4 and have just established a steady heart rate of 72 bpm after 90 hours off the stuff. At this point I am cautiously optimistic.

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Did any of yall during withdrawals have lots of headaches ? I am curreny having them i feel tension in the back of neck and headache. I also think it could be related to withdrawal and allergies . Please let me know if yall did . Thanks

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