Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 43)
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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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Danny, if you are still reading,

How long did it take you before you felt the anxiety effects start to lessen and was it and off and on process as many here describe, feeling good for several days or weeks, then feeling poorly again?

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Thank you to Bob and Matt, your feedback helps so much; pretty scary experiencing these side effects. It's been 8 days now since I stopped the Beta Blocker. I still have a nervous tick on my shoulder, keeps jumping and pulse starts pounding whenever I get up and start moving or walk to the mailbox, but that too is easing. I am scared to start exercising again. I thank God that I found this site; it is so comforting and helpful.

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Jan,

I had those headaches during the early months of withdrawal and I never had headaches before. It is one of many withdrawal symptoms, probably tension headaches. Tylenol helped some, but they eventually disappeared.

If you are experiencing anxiety, the tension headaches could be part of that, too.

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Jan, hi. Yes. Headaches, dizziness, high heart rate, high blood pressure, nausea, pain in muscles/body are most common withdrawal symptoms.

I have stopped taking a drug 2 months ago, after weaning off for months, and I still have some episodes of dizziness, breathing problems, elevated heart rate, anxiety, headaches.

2-3 days ago I had a strong headache and I usually never have headaches. Beta blockers have made your blood vessels in your whole body wider and your body readjusted to those conditions (with wider vessels). Now when your vessels are normal or narrow again (especially in the brain), it takes some time until your body readjusts again to these new conditions.

Also, even when you quit a drug, it remains in your body and organs for a few more weeks in small doses, especially inside the blood-brain-barrier. So, it takes some time until your body gets clean from a drug (especially for people who were taking it longer) and then it takes some time until your body fully readjusts again to a life without drugs.

Anyway, in short: headaches (often together with dizziness) are perfectly normal and one of the most common withdrawal symptoms.

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Bob, I am having daily headaches...pressure behind my eyes and back of neck! Could this be a side effect of stopping the beta blocker cold turkey after only 1 month using it?

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Matt, about lungs, maybe you have started to walk more and do more activities now and now your lungs are "growing back" to their normal level.

Remember that your whole body and all muscles have atrophied during the time on BBs and returning to a normal state takes a lot of time after 15-20 years on BBs.

It could be related to this or maybe those are some other medical problems, unrelated to Beta blockers. I hope that you will be better.

Can you walk and do more activities now?
Is anxiety getting better?
Elevated heart rate is probably gone by now also?

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Bob,
At eight months and I have some new symptoms. When I breathe deeply, as when a doc is listening to your lungs with a stethoscope, I get pain from the bottom of the breastplate up to the throat. Also a lot of phlegm in the morning.....no cold or virus. Been going on a month. I had a chest xray which was negative. Thoughts??

Hope you are well.

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I don't do well with Meds in general; had horrible allergic reactionin in 2011 with z-pak antibiotic! Thanks for your input Bob!

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About the original and generic drugs, they are around 90% the same but 10% different. They could be slightly different in strength, duration, peak times etc.
But also, they do have some different ingredients and fillers and they can cause different side effects in different people.

But about Beta Blockers, I tried a few of them, both the original drug and generic versions, and I had problems on each version (although slightly different side effects on each version).

About your case, my opinion is that your problems weren't because of a generic drug, but because of Beta blockers in general.
Some people (majority of us on these forums) don't tolerate Beta blockers well and that's it.
You would probably have the same problems both on an original drug and on generic versions.

Good luck

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Bob, I hear you! I think the generic drugs can be a problem especially for older people like me; A nurse told me that they use different fillers in generic drugs and many people have allergic reactions to them and older people like myself cannot tolerate them!

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Bob, you are right; typing error! It was metoprolol tartrate 25 mg!

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Jan, are you sure that it was only 2Mg?

About cold turkey, you can go cold turkey after only 1 Month on a drug. You will usually have mild or none withdrawal symptoms. Even though some people had a few rough days/week after taking a drug for only 1 Month, but in general you should be fine.

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I have been on metoprolol tartrate 2mg for 1 month for mild spiking BP; stress related! Side effects were horrible so I stopped cold turkey 4 days ago. On the 3rd day after this, my doctor put me on amlodipine besylate 5mg; I took 1/2 a pill that night and could not sleep all night and the diarrhea was back in the morning and had bad cramps in both feet so I haven't continued that one either! My BP was 121/70, pulse 69 upon waking this morning. 118/62 BP and pulse 69 after going to the bathroom. Went up to 138/76. Pulse 75 after breakfast and 150/71 BP / pulse 86 after I started going over bills and getting ready to go shopping! I notice my heart speeding up when I am moving around now and breathing, exercise brings it down. I am going to try to keep off of these drugs as I cannot seem to tolerate the side effects. I am a 71 yr old post menopausal woman with osteoporosis. Other than that I am pretty healthy and my blood work is very good. Anyone out there having success getting off this drug cold turkey?

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Took metropolol for 9 months 50 mg daily it was off and on with this pill some good some bad very unpredictable side effects finally I said enough the doc is weaning me off 1/2 the first week then one on one day off the second week and now off totally for 12 days and still feeling side effects to some degree .
Awful medicine

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Thank you, Bob....

You have really been a "good listener." And I thank you. I completely understand what you are saying. I think its all a conspiracy .A way for our government to keep us( .If you will.) And a way to make money. I never implied the medicine didnt work. I just know I've had a lot of side effects. From nausea, hair loss, weight gain, fatigue, and the list goes on. I just wanted to thank you. And I hope the best for you as well....

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Terry, the thing is that these drugs are good for probably 8 out of 10 people. So, majority of people don't have side effects and it is a wonder drug for them. Also, when trying to quit a drug, some people also don't have any problems. My doc said that she used one Beta Blocker for one year and didn't have any side effects. Then she stopped using it later and had zero withdrawal problems.

Then, when I came and said that I have 10s of side effects, she didn't believe me too much or at least she thought that I am exaggerating. When I tried to quit and ended at ER due to heart rate 160 which didn't want to go down, she again said: you either have anxiety or you need Beta blockers for your original disease (the original disease caused this high HR).

I don't know, maybe really only some of us have problems, or maybe other people are not reporting their problems to their docs.
Or maybe a majority of people when they quit Beta blockers get a high heart rate, but then they think that it's their original disease and not a withdrawal symptoms.

Also, I have been to a few docs and all of them said that a withdrawal should be gone after 2 weeks. I really don't know what is the right answer. Whether docs are lying, or drug companies are giving false results and aren't telling too much about side effects and a withdrawal, or people don't report their side effects and a withdrawal too often (so it may seem that only some of us have problems, which is not true), or people think that their main disease is causing all these problems.

But still, as you can see, there are 100s of people with bad side effects and horrible withdrawal symptoms which last for Months, and not only 2 weeks.

Good luck

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Thank you Bob... I am trying hard to wean myself off the metoprolol tar. But, the rapid heart rate and high blood pressure honestly is scary. I can't hardly sleep at night. I'm awaken with my heart beating out of my chest. What i dont understand is why? Why do these Drs prescribe these meds knowing that it's hard to wean off? I mean i have never done drugs. I dont smoke cigarettes or drink. I barely take Tylenol. And here I am "addicted" to this? How is this fair? Is there no such thing as patient's rights? I mean really, do we not have a say when it pertains to our well being? This is all confusing for me. I just want to feel normal again.

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I have been taking metoprolol for about 2 yrs for HBO and heart fib 50mg 2in the morning. 1 at night I notice my face is getting bigger could. the. pill cause it

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Terry, those are classic withdrawal symptoms.

I had a high HR for a few weeks which later comes on and off in waves.
Rebound high blood pressure.
Nausea in the first few weeks after quitting.
Headaches, dizziness (especially after some activity).
I also had pain in abdomen, as if I was lifting weights or something for too much (which I haven't). It would hurt all day long for a few weeks. Also, I had some kind of a strange pain in lungs (my guess is that since we had lower HR and our breathing was slower, our lungs have also atrophied to some extent, and now when you quit drugs, they are "growing" and getting back to old levels. It may hurt, it seems).
Remember: your body and it's mechanisms are now trying to get into it's original shape, which were altered a lot by these drugs.

Also, remember 2 strange phenomenons:
Good and bad days will come randomly, but you will have more and more good days as the time will go by.
For example: 5 bad days, 1 good day, 5 bad days, 2 good days, 3 bad days, 3 good days, 5 bad days again, 4 good days, 3 bad days, 3 good days, 2 bad days, 5 good days, 3 bad days, 5 good days, 1 bad day, 6 good days etc
Bad days will return randomly even after 2-3-4-6 Months, but they will be weaker and weaker and more rare over time.

The 2nd thing is that the symptoms won't kick you in the same time.
For example:
Week 1 when you quit: high HR, high BP, pain in abdomen, nausea, feeling sick
Week 2: the same
Week 3: HR gets better, BP also. Nausea also. But now you suddenly have dizziness and headaches.
Week 4: Dizziness still
Week 5 and later: huge anxiety

Anxiety sometimes kicks later, and for a lot of people, other symptoms will pass after a few weeks (Heart rate, blood pressure, nausea, dizziness, random pain) but anxiety stays for 3-6 or 12 Months in a lot of cases.

A lot of people here reported problems with anxiety on bad days even after 6 or 12 Months after quitting.

Good luck

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Has anyone had luck with their body not being sensitive to every medication anymore? Can our bodies heal after all this? I am a year off and trying to take meds for Crohns but have severe sensitivity to meds now so its kinda a dilemma.

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