Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 50)
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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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I never noticed anxiety. Guess I was lucky. I am on cymbalta also though for depression and anxiety.

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Just getting on here to say that I am currently in a hospital bed at this moment after having an ablation done today. My electrophysiologist said I should be between 85%-100% better and she highly thinks I won't need another procedure, but only time will tell. So no more beta blockers for this lady! (I am 26 by the way) I'm about two weeks off with thrho of Xanax and will hopefully be weaning that next. Thanks to everyone in beret that has helped me heal through the withdrawals and rebounds. A word of caution to any one being put on a beta blocker for tachycardia, I would see an electrophysiologist and go from there. I didn't need beta blockers, I needed an ablation. And now I can go back to my normal life in 10 days.

Matt, Anxiety was definitely the number one thing for me during my withdrawal which is where I came to be on Xanax. Most people on here say not to start a new habit that you're going to have to withsta form again but I believe if you talk to your dr first, you might have luck. I took the risk of addiction and started taking them because I made a plan with my dr to be monitored on my weaning and even start counseling to help get through it. (Getting more help from Drs with benzo withdrawals and not the crappy metoprolol they put you on. Ridiculous) I actually add metoprolol to my drug allergen list anytime they ask. I will never take that stuff again!

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For those who are starting to feel well again or are feeling well again, what was the most significant change for you, i.e. what symptom(s) started to disappear or alleviate....quality of sleep, ability to move without worry, nausea/headache ease off or were there changes to your symptoms, something replacing something else?

I know we are all different, but anxiety seems to be the common denominator from what I have read.

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Thanks for your experience and support, Bob

You must have been taking extensive notes on your own withdrawals. I had a decent day yesterday. Got on my Apple Laptop for the first time in months and was actually able to do some tax estimating for the 9/15 due date.

I started a journal beginning on Day 42.

I have been sleeping better which is a plus, but I woke up very anxious today.

My PCP says she does not want to fill my lorazepam anymore, that that should be supervised by a psychiatrist. Well it was my last psychiatrist that was experimenting on me with a switch to atenolol that kicked this whole awful experience off..

Day 67......they just do not get this...but obviously there are quite a few out there who probably are questioning their sanity who did not find this board and its fellowship for beta blocker withdrawals.

I surveyed my Facebook friends, mostly from high school, but some from college, and there were quite a few of them on metoprolol, one or two, on atenolol, and all of them seemed to have no problems. One did have a shortness of breath problem, another who knew when she had missed one dose, because the palpitations would commence immediately.

Headache seems to be a common withdrawal symptom....and I have had more of those in the last 67 days than in my last 30 years.

It seems most doctors just memorize the script (pun intended) for X or for Y and when an unusual problem like ours comes along, they cannot improvise, so it is up to us to handle our problem ourselves.

This board has been invaluable, but everyone here has to recognize that everyone of us is different and everyone's withdrawal or experience on beta blockers is not the same, although there are a lot of commonalities that we can draw upon.

If I can make it through this, than so should all of you. Keep fighting for your old life.

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Matt, about your good hours, it means that you are slightly improving.
At first it starts with 3-4-5 hours on some days (not every day), then it starts to be a few hours every day etc.
The same as bad periods: at first you are feeling bad 24/7. After some time, you have 4 good hours and 20 bad hours, and eventually it goes to 12:12, then 16:8 etc.

Of course, you will still have bad episodes, for example, you can feel good for 3-4 days and you'll think that it is getting way better, and then for unknown reason you can have horrible 5 days in a row again.
But then, you'll again have 3-4 good days and the next time you'll have only 2-3 bad days after that.
It goes up and down all the time, but on larger samples, each new week is slightly better and better (on average when you sum all problems and their strength).

So, if you'll suddenly experience a few horrible days after this, don't fall into a depression, these ups and downs happen to all of us.

About nausea, this is my 2nd attempt of quitting BBs and I have tried to quit 2 different BBs in each attempt and I had nausea both times.
So, nausea is 100% from a withdrawal.

Also, Beta blockers mostly block B1 receptors in heart, but these drugs are not 100% cardioselective and they are blocking 100s of other actions related to B1 and B2 receptors in our body. So, BBs interfere both with B1 and B2 receptors.
(BBs mostly try to block only actions of B1 receptors, but the medicine isn't that advanced yet, so they are blocking lots of unwanted B2 mechanisms also).

For example, these are some mechanisms controlled by B2 receptors, which are altered by all Beta blockers, like:
1. uterus, Gi tract, urinae muscle, bronchi, blood vessels, tremor, glucose mechanisms
2. heart and vessels
3. eye
4. digestive system, insulin secretion from pancreas
5. Inhibit histamine-release from mast cells.
Increase protein content of secretions from lacrimal glands.
Increase renin secretion from kidney.
Receptor also present in cerebellum.
Bronchiole dilation (targeted while treating asthma attacks)

So, basically, while taking BBs, all of these mechanisms are altered to some extent and to some percentage.
And when we quit BBs, these altered mechanisms are trying to get back to their original state (before BBs).

So, about nausea, Beta blockers have some impact on digestion mechanisms, and digestion system is also experiencing a withdrawal from BBs.

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The two meds you mentioned cymbaltaand lyrics I think I have depression and anxiety can't get my pcp to write xanaxx for it I was originally given it when my hperthrohroi was diagnosed because my heart beat so fast I would wake up feeling as if I was dying and having them during the day.I have depression due to having half my breast taken off.I see young ppl at doctors and they get their meds no problem but I'm going on60 yrs old and should at least stay out of pain and these panic attacks is not living now.

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Linda Gail

Metoprolol could "calm" your nerves, but for nerve pain there are two drugs I know of:
Lyrica and Cymbalta.....be careful however, because both have serious side effects like depression and anxiety.

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Well what I'd the purpose of metoprolol cause my doc gave it to me for nerve pain in hands and oh my goodness nerve pain in leg due to so many epidurals and any thing they could think of.I have had nerves burned also but this medicine didn't help with this pain.Any suggestions to help nerve pain I could tell my doc please the pain is dibilitation thank you

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Bob and Tabitha,

I agree....the regular cardiologist just told me that my average heart rate was 87 while on the holter and that there were no irregularities.

The motion sickness is peculiar in that I have never had that since trying to read in a car as a kid....

Today at Day 65 after several days without nausea except for the trip to the cardiologist, I have some this AM, accompanied by some flushing or warm feeling in my face and head.

I started trying to walk more in the house as I had a shot in an arthritic knee last week. I notice that I have been sleeping better as I am more active, but I still fear driving a car or going for a sustained walk.

I do notice that there are periods, not necessarily whole days, when I feel pretty good. My wife thinks the nausea is due to something else, but I do not think so....I take Prilosec twice a day and it really does not work on this nausea....and it is usually accompanied by other withdrawal symptoms like slight headache, some sinus congestion, flushing and just an overall ill feeling.

I am going to see a GI doc, but That is to satisfy my wife's worry that there is something more dangerous lurking.

How are your nauseas reacting.

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Matt, about that part about 3 to 6 weeks, doctors don't know too much about this.

In the last 7 weeks I am having huge problems with adjusting to a last tiny dose of 0,10 Mg of Nebivolol (I have dropped from 0,20 Mg to 0,10 Mg of Nebivolol. That is around 4 Mg to 2 Mg in Metoprolol's dosage). That is a tiny dose and only a small drop in the dosage, but I am having: elevated HR a few hours per day (it is getting better and closer to normal numbers with each new week, though), nausea all the time, pain in abdomen and all around the heart, lungs, neck, lower abdomen (sometimes I have a feeling that someone is sitting on my heart and lungs for hours), feeling sick/flu like on some days, feeling slightly breathless on some days, inability to speed up during (slow) walking on some days etc. While on some days I feel more or less fine. As the time goes by, there is more and more good days and bad episodes are shorter and shorter.

Docs would just reply: that's impossible. That is a low dose, you shouldn't feel anything or the symptoms should be gone in a few days.
Well, I was taking BBs only for a year and half and I am way younger than you (in 30s), I can only imagine how it must be for you after 20 years on them and being much older.

So, once again, just remember that your heart was pumping with 70-80% of it's strength and pace during the last 20 years, and now you are suddenly forcing it to pump with 100% of strength. So, 20 years of a deconditioned heart (due to Beta blockers) should be cured after 3-6 weeks? Your heart as a muscle surely needs some time to get back in a shape.
(Again, just imagine your legs if you hadn't run at all for 20 years.
Would you get in shape for sports suddenly after 3 weeks of training?)

Imo, 3-6 Months would be a much better estimation, and even that is a huge "if".

You can listen to docs who say that a withdrawal is not a big deal, or you can listen to your body and to people on forums who experienced the same problems.
I am pretty sure that 99% of those docs never used BBs and that they especially hadn't quit them after 1-2-20 years of use.

Plus, I have found this article on one medical site about Beta blockers and their effects on muscles and activity:
beta-Adrenoceptor antagonists influence the metabolic responses in man at rest and during exercise. Impaired working capacity and muscular fatigue have been reported in patients on beta-blockers and this could be due to an altered substrate supply to the muscles. The results from several studies show that the main effect of beta-blockade on metabolism is decreased lipolysis, with less fat available to the muscles. This results in an increased carbohydrate demand to maintain an unchanged aerobic metabolism, and liver and muscle glycogen stores are more rapidly depleted. beta-blockade also results in decreased lactate release from the muscles, probably due to a membrane effect and/or changed perfusion. It is concluded that beta-blockade a) decreases fat metabolism in the muscle, which secondarily increases the use of carbohydrates during exercise, resulting in earlier hypoglycaemia and/or depletion of muscle glycogen with reduction of the working capacity, b) impairs lactate transport from the muscle but does not cause lactate accumulation within the muscle which could be responsible for muscular fatigue.

So, Matt, your body was altered because of BBs for 20 years, and you had 100s of altered mechanisms in your bloodstream, all cells in your body, in majority of organs, muscles etc.
And that should be fixed over 3 weeks?

That's impossible.

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Monique,

From what I understood from the cardiologist is that most any stimulants can trigger an arrhythmia but she did also say that most people that have some sort of arrhythmia are actually born with it but don't notice it until their bodies can't manage it anymore for whatever reason and then the symptoms and attacks start to appear. For me, she believes it was the change of my medication ultrams switched to tramadol (same thing, ones just generic) and it being raised to a higher dose that brought on my initial attack. My attacks got much worse after I started the metoprolol and have calmed down majorly since I've been off of it but I still get then occasionally. My heart rate is just always around 110-120 unless I am laying down for at least 20min. And sometimes I even wake up to it racing slightly but I have been on Xanax for about a month and it calms my heart down to a decent pace and keeps me from getting worked up and making it worse. I was skeptical and kind of bummed to start another medication while trying to get off of the metoprolol but it actually helped and my dr also agreed to help me wean down when I'm ready and also offered me counseling to get through the withdrawal process when it's time, so I decided to take them and they have made a huge difference. I only get an attack every couple days or so but the constant high heart rate is all of the time.

Matt,

Have you been to an actual electrophysiologist or just a normal cardiologist? I had several tests done and went through a lot, even seeing cardiologists and all it took was for one electrophysiologist to read one of my holter monitors to find the problem and prepare a solution. Also, I never had motion sickness while I was on metoprolol but I did develop sudden motion sickness, especially in vehicles, right before I started having my attacks.

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Saw my cardiologist yesterday...told me the normal withdrawal off M is three to six weeks. LOL....I am at nine weeks and there is no sign of its disappearance yet.

My holter monitor readings were OK....average of 86 Pulse.

The nurse read my pulse by touching my wrist. She calculated 76; I calculated 94.

She told me of two other patients who had troubles with beta blockers...one who wanted to hurt people while on it, the other who was depressed, while on it.

I do not think the docs get it.......

anyone experience motion sickness as a withdrawal symptom?

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Oh ok well it seems fixable that's the important thing,Did they say if something may of caused it or it just happens? And does it happen daily the episodes or just that first time when u were going outside in the storm?

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What I have (atrial tachycardia) is an abnormal cell in my atria (on the left side, I believe) that is sending out rapid signals instead of the normal beat causing me to have an accelerated heart rate and SVT like attacks. SVT. is found inside the sinus node, from what I understand, but mine is outside of it. It can be triggered by anything and was found on one of my holter monitors that I wore.

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I'm glad u have an answer Tabitha,but actually what is that and what causes it ?

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Finally had my appointment with my electrophysiologist and turns out I have atrial tachycardia and go in for my ablation on September 6th. Hopefully all is well after and the problem is taken care of. Wish me luck!!!

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Sandra,

The leg ache could be a symptom of the sciatic nerve being aggravated in your lower back.

Have you been moving around less? Your back may need some strengthening from the inactivity due to withdrawal.

I am at Day 62 and still get flushing in my head, but it is constant for a length of time, not a flash, both of which are annoying. Likely the adrenalin surging on occasion.

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I have had a couple new symptoms turn up. 8 months off the beta blocker. My right leg constantly hurts. A constant leg ache. I am also getting bad hot flashes the more i get up and move around. Pretty annoying stuff!!

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Jules,

Bob, who posts here often, talked about switching among different beta blockers over a period of several years....he described probably what you are having, not knowing whether they are side effects of the drug you are back on, or withdrawal from the one you just stopped.

Your story is similar to mine in that I was on metoprolol for twenty years with some dizziness and lightheadedness, but there could have been other side effects like persistent nausea, anxiety or feeling like I had the flu, but I did not attribute them to metoprolol, just thought I had a virus or some stressful situation.

However, at year 18 on M, I had a triple bypass and I noted a change in my anxiety level after recovery and saw a psychiatrist, who changed my metoprolol, which crosses the blood brain barrier to atenolol. When that happened my anxiety went ballistic and I could not think straight, "weirdo head" serious back pain, sweating, etc. So I attributed that to atenolol, not even considering it might be metoprolol withdrawal. Atenolol does not cross the blood brain barrier. I also passed kidney stones at the same time as switching to atenolol, so there were so many variables occurring.

The thing to watch is whether any of your symptoms match what you had on atenolol over the 18 years and to consider that once certain beta receptors are unblocked while off atenolol, they may have morphed for the time you were on M and so atenolol might not be the same for you anymore.

When I went back to metoprolol after three weeks on atenolol, metoprolol side effects had changed and I was having extreme anxiety, something I never experienced before. It did not go away, so I had to start weaning off M quickly and as soon as I did, I felt the anxiety diminish to a more "normal" level, not gone, but tolerable and able to be treated with anti anxiety Meds, which had no effect while on M, after I returned to it.

So be aware that the side effects you had long term on atenolol may have possibly changed by the switch to M and then back to atenolol.

Many of the atenolol side effects that I experienced over the three weeks I was on them disappeared rather quickly once I was back on M..like the extreme sweating, weirdo head, cognitive abilities diminishing, but the extreme anxiety remained and it was the M's fault, not atenolol's.

Your brain and nervous system change as you age. So your "allergic" reaction to medicines involving the central nervous system, as these head-heart beta blockers drugs are, may be brand new to you.

Just something to consider.

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I'm not on the metoprolol anymore now but they checked my thyroid 4 different times in the ER and it was clear every time. I guess I can still mention it to my dr tomorrow though at my next appointment.

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