Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 80)

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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This med almost killed me.i was sitting at the table playing bridge and suddenly everything went black it lasted a split second, my friends said i was white.the color came back quickly, i was lucky that i was on a low dosage. 1.25 once a day but in some respects i feel better but it has caused my. Hypoglycaemia to get worse.
I cannit understandoq why it is still available.

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Has anyone been to see an endocrinologist for this adrenalin problem...is there any way of halting or resetting the adrenal glands with hormones, etc.

I have also read that tumors on the adrenal glands also can cause the same symptoms as those we are experiencing with beta blocker withdrawal.

I went to the ER yesterday because I have not been sleeping and my son came home and I broke down into depression and crying. It is 76 days now.

They checked my blood and everything was fine but my heart rate and blood pressure continue very high. I was told 76 days is ridiculous, that I should be through withdrawal by now and referred me to a psychiatrist.

He told me this condition just happened to occur with the beta blocker turn and withdrawal, that nowhere in the medical books should it last as long as mine, even being on it 20 years. He likened it to coincidence and that I should take a beta blocker. He compared it to the incident where his three year old son clapped in a mall and the fountain turned on. Look, dad, I made the fountain turn on.

Ripped inside as he had woken me up, but I wanted out of the ER, cause they were not going to help me, or worse yet put me back on a beta blocker.

They are not getting this and if you do not fit their med book memorizations, then they cannot handle any outside the box problem. Engineers, they are not.

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Yes I have done the urine, saliva, blood, overnight evaluation, and just had a ct scan on tummy Saturday with the dye which was horrible, some of my results came back high, some normal. I waiting to here back, and yes this is definitely some type of imbalance in us which the beta blocker did, so our cortisol levels are thrown off Matt.

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And yes u right a lot of doctors don't talk about adrenaline issues,I went to a naturopathic Doctor who refered me to a Endocronologist!

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Matt, about this part:
"They checked my blood and everything was fine but my heart rate and blood pressure continue very high. I was told 76 days is ridiculous, that I should be through withdrawal by now and referred me to a psychiatrist."

This is my second attempt of quitting BBs.
My last dosage was from 4 to 2 Mgs of Metoprolol (that's a dosage when you transform it to Metoprolol's dosage, since I am taking a different BB).

Anyway, I dropped from 4 Mgs to 2Mgs 8 weeks ago, and I still don't feel alright.
I couldn't walk at all yesterday (while I had 4-5 very good days with lots of walking before that).
First 3-4 weeks it was too high HR, dizziness, anxiety, nausea.
Now it is medium-level of anxiety and a few bad hours (of a too high HR) per day.

I am trying to wean off very slow this time since I didn't make it the last time when I tried to do it faster. So, you see, I dropped from 4 to 2 Mgs and I am not ok even after 60 days. I will stay on this dosage for at least 30+ days until I will feel fine and ready for even tinier dose and for a new withdrawal.

Look, you never had a high HR in your life.
So: before Beta blockers, you had a normal heart rate.
During BBs, you had a normal or lower heart rate.
After BBs, you have a too high heart rate.

Doctors will tell you that you have a new disease now, right?
Well, you don't have a new disease.
Isn't it strange that you found out about a new disease (too high HR) exactly in the moment when you stopped taking BBs?

I have been taking BBs only for 2 years, and my body needs months and months to readjust even after tiny drops in dosages.
If I were taking BBs for 20 years, I would probably need 1-2 years to readjust.

I hope you'll make it, but this is a withdrawal in your case.

Also, have you noticed a decrease in at least some symptoms? When you look back at a day no10, and a day no30, are you feeling better at least in some aspects today, after 70-80 days?

Good luck Matt

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Matt, one more thing.
I had breathing problems (a feeling as if my lungs are sleeping and as if they forgot to breathe) during BBs. I had these problems (too slow breathing and too shallow no matter what I do) all the time during BBs.

I told to my doc that I never had these problems before BBs.
He said: no, it can't be. You probably have some lungs disease.
Then I went to all tests for Months, and my lungs are fine. But I still couldn't breathe normally.
A few Months later, I stopped taking BBs and my breathing was 100% fine, like before BBs.
My doc replied: strange, It was such a tiny dose, BBs shouldn't create these problems.

When I said that I am extremely tired on BBs and that I can't walk longer than a few minutes, he said again: maybe you have problems with hormones, some blood disorder etc.
I did all tests, and everything was fine.
When I stopped taking BBs, I could walk again normally, as before BBs.

I don't know, probably 8 or 9 out of 10 people don't have any problems with BBs, especially on lower doses and this is why docs don't believe to our stories.
But you can find 100s of people here with more or less EXACTLY the same side effects even on lowest doses of Beta blockers, and again, 100s of people with EXACTLY the same withdrawal symptoms, like too high HR for weeks or for months, anxiety which they never experienced in their life, dizziness, strange nausea, headaches etc.

Majority of docs will say: withdrawal will be gone in 2-3 weeks.
But please, read again this thread from a page no1 and you will find 10s of people who had withdrawal issues for 3-6-12 Months.

Either all these people are crazy or each person is different and some people have much bigger problems with BBs and with quitting them.

I trust more to people on this topic who were actually taking BBs for years and who then had to survive a withdrawal.
If your withdrawal, too high HR and strong anxiety lasts for 3-6 Months, docs will usually say: you are crazy and you have a psychological problem.

Well, then this is a topic with a lot of crazy people with exactly the same withdrawal symptoms...

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Yes you're right Bob they look at you as though your crazy or sum it all up to anxiety,my latest element is gastro issues,still spikes of anxiety,and the feeling of something is stuck in my throat certain times of the day

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Monique, did the endocrinologist test you and help you with any symptoms?

I am not sure they will do much do me but it will give more insight into what is really going on.

Bob,

You are correct, my nausea was really bad during the first month, better now thanks to decaf green tea, no coffee or soda. There are some bad days when stressed, but they are better. Sleeping is difficult with such a high HR in the AM.

With a high BP, that scares me but I think that has to do with lack of vigorous exercise and withdrawal, so I am keeping it calm exercise for a while.

What was really funny was the shrink told me it was not a good idea to get back surgery for pain, just weakness in the legs....well I had both and he was only 20 years too late. Lots of help there. If these people move away from the specialty, they know nothing...and even within their specialties they are incompetent.

No more ERs for me....just anti-anxiety pills for me. I find any new medication has bad side effects, so I do not want to change the landscape. It is a difficult withdrawal, because it effects mind and body.

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Monique, about anxiety, I have the same problem.

Before BBs I was somewhat scared about Spvt episodes, but I never had anxiety. Now after BBs, it seems that I am 10x times more scared about everything. But it is getting better each new week, though.

About anxiety and feeling that you have something in your throat, I have figured out that I have three spots where I feel anxiety the most:

No1 is in the throat, the same as majority of people, feeling as if you have some huge ball or something in the throat. Or in some hours, as if someone is trying to strangle you with an invisible hand. Or sometimes I have a feeling that it is very hot inside of my throat. But not a heartburn-like, a different feeling.

No2 spot is in the middle of the abdomen, roughly in the middle between heart/lungs and a belly button. On that spot, I have similar pain/anxiety problems as in the throat. Again, not like heartburn-related problems, since I had those problems a few years ago. This kind of pain/hotness, from with BB's withdrawal feels much different.

No3 spot is a few inches lower than a belly button. I feel hotness, flushes and as if someone is strangling me also.

On days when I feel the worst and when anxiety in killing me, I have pains and adrenaline rushes on all 3 of these spots. On days when I am better, I have adrenaline rushes and pains only in 1 out of these 3 spots, usually in the throat or around belly button. On good days, I don't have pains/rushes on any of these spots.

Also, about anxiety, from time to time, you get a feeling as if someone injected a bottle of adrenaline in your blood and for no reason, you feel as if you have too much energy, you are suddenly scared, nervous, your heart starts beating slightly too fast for no reason (for hours) etc. Typical adrenaline rushes, but for no reason.

Monique and Matt, once again, BBs were blocking adrenaline in our body, so our heart and brains were exposed to only like 80-90% of total adrenaline. Now when we stopped taking BBs, heart and brains are exposed to 100% of adrenaline and our body is in a shock.

A feeling is probably the same as when a normal person takes some illegal drugs like "xtc", speed and similar on which you have more adrenaline. Those illegal drugs have effects for a few hours, but we have those effects for 2-3-4 Months.

About your case, Matt, I really don't understand how can doctors tell you that your heart will be fine after 2-3 weeks, when it was beating only at 80% of it's strength for 20 years? It will need a lot of time to strengthen and to readjust to new requirements. The same as our hormones and brains, because BBs blocked our adrenaline and now we exposed to a regular levels of adrenaline in our body. Again, I don't see how a person can simply readjust to new levels of adrenaline in only 2-3 weeks (especially someone who was taking BBs for 1-2-5-10-20 years). I mean, after a regular flu, you will need a few days to get back to normal and to feel completely fine. So, for a flu which lasted 4-5 days, you will need 5-7 days to get back to normal levels of energy and strength, while after taking BBs for 20 years, you should be fine after 14-21 days? That's just totally insane, sorry.

Docs know a lot, but I am not sure that they know everything about side effects and withdrawal of these very, very strong drugs.

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I never would've have made it through my withdrawals and rebounds with my Xanax. Everyone's different and chose or not to, to start another drug on top of getting off of one but I can actually function on the Xanax. It made me tired at first but it affects your whole central nervous system, so it literally (and quickly) calms your whole body down. They tried me on Prozac and Zoloft prior but they didn't help much but the Xanax got me through much easier. Especially waking up to a pounding heart early morning, I would sit up and take my normal dose and sometimes an extra half of i felt nessecary and in 30 min or so, I would be back to sleep and with a "normal" heart rate. It certainly wouldn't be pounding out of my chest anymore.

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That was supposed to say without** my Xanax. Not with. It really helped so much.

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Hey Matt not at this time because they're running the different test to see what could be causing it,I don't think I have a tumor I just think the adrenals were off in my case if I have I high cortisol there are supplements I read online you can take to lower them,depending on how bad they are depends on the length of time it takes to repair,but they are definitely repairable,but I'm currently waiting on the results of the ct scan,my heart rate when I stand in the am still fluctuates a little high but quickly resets itself to normal,and I was told that's when the cortisol hormone releases between 6am to 10am so if we have to much in our body that' would make your heart faster then normal trying to keep up with the flight or fight thing,I will say the Tranquiline pills I've been taking for the last month has helped me a bunch,it says two a day I've only done one,helps with anxiety and it has all the b vitamins that's needed for the body to reset itself,because guys that's all we have is an imbalance from this pill we took nothing's wrong with the heart,it's reacts on how we feel and what's going on in the body

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Like laying here typing this message to you I just checked my heart rate Its 85,so I don't even know what's normal anymore for me

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Thinking way back to when I first started taking metoprolol after a heart attack in 1995, I was very tired and sluggish the first few weeks. I had difficulty sleeping because they took me off an anti-depressant, which means at low dosages was used for headaches due to bruxism, grinding of my teeth at night and when I was unaware of the stress I was under at work during the day. I am thinking now that may have been due to getting on to the metoprolol.

After a triple bypass a few years ago, they raised my metoprolol to 100 mg and I started getting faint, so they quickly reduced it to 50 mg over time. I had unusual spikes of anxiety during that period, some of them debilitating and I really never paid much attention to the fact it might have been the movements up and down in the dosages. I thought it was anxiety over my heart problems. I was also very depressed in the hospital after the bypass with my blood pressure extremely low in the ICU where I was so anxious. That had to be the metoprolol.

I never was a calm person, because I am a type A, but I never felt the calming effect of the beta blocker that most people feel.

For that matter I used to get so wired on narcotics that I refused them on most major operations, even my triple bypass or I got off them as quickly as possible.

Maybe a trip to the Mayo clinic would help, because there they take up anomalies like the people on this board who are paradoxes to the norm, those who get anxious on a medicine that is supposed to be calming.

I have also been waking up anxious while on metoprolol over the last few years, and did not understand why. Metoprolol, maybe?

So many unexplained things seem to be popping up as I have read this board that can be answered by the side effects and withdrawal effects of metoprolol.

Now, how much longer can I stay strong and fight the army of doctors who cannot believe anything that is not memorizable.

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The metoprolol made me SEVERELY depressed and anxious. That was one of the major side effects that caused my dr to immediately discontinue my use and then it got 10 times worse when she stopped me and that's when I started the Xanax. Probably saved my life. My dr actually told me to put metoprolol on all of my allergies forms so they won't ever give it to me again. I we on it for just over a month, lost 20lbs in about 20 weeks (and I'm a little person, 5'1, 120lbs BEFORE the weight loss) my hair started falling out, I slept like 3-4 hours a night and when I did sleep I'd wake up in a panic attack from night terrors. I had major problems breathing and the more they gave me in the hospital the harder it was to breathe (but because my oxygen levels were remaining normal, they said it was fine.) since when is not being able to breathe fine? It would actually cause me to have panic attacks (fight or flight). I started losing control of my limbs, especially my arms, they were constantly numb and week. It was awful. Then the withdrawal and rebounds were no better. In the end, my problem was outside of my sinus node so they really shouldn't have given me the beta blocker or CCB because they don't work for where my rhythm malfunction was. They were actually making my symptoms worse being on them. My heart rate was out of control. I was off of them for two weeks when I finally seen my electrophysiologist and she had caught on my original holter monitor that I had atrial tachycardia in my right side and not the SVT or palpations that the hospital was medicating me for. Not even a regular cardiologist could give me an answer. I had an ablation 5 days later after she told me that CCB and BBs don't work for the kind of rhythm problem I had. That was 6 days ago and I feel almost back to normal. Electrophysiologist are where it's at. lol. I asked her about being evaluated for some kind of adrenal tumor and she said that someone who has one, their blood pressure is very high and I have really low pressure. So if you were thinking about an adrenal tumor, if your BP is normal, it's not likely at all. There's actually a 24 catecholamine U/A your dr can perform that could tell you though, maybe if you bring it up to them?

http:/­/­www.healthline.com/­health/­catecholamines-urine

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Matt, about how much longer can you go this way, please, do something like this, let's say from today:

-Measure your HR (resting HR) in the morning, noon and evening, and write it down on paper or into a computer file.
-Measure your BP twice a day.
-Also, write comments about each day about these things:
-Anxiety: 10/10, bad today (your subjective feeling)
-Nausea: 5/10, average today
-Headache: 2/10, a good day
-How much I was able to walk today: 0 minutes, 2 minutes, 5 minutes

Try to do something like this and then in 30 days, you can look back onto notes from previous days and you will be able to say: My HR dropped from 87 to 83 on average (it means that you are improving). My anxiety dropped from 8,50/10 on average (per week) to 7,00/10 on average (per week). My ability to walk raised from 12 minutes in total in the 1st week to 24 minutes (in total) this week.

That way, even if you'll still feel horrible in 30, 60, 100 days, you will still see that it is getting better slowly. On the other hand, if all your withdrawal symptoms will be exactly the same (of the same strength) as today, then it could be something else. But I don't believe that it is possible.

I am doing the same as written above, I have my own diary of a withdrawal, and even though I am still not well currently, but when I look back at my diary from 40-50 days ago, I see that my problems were waaay, waaay bigger than today. So, if I am at 5/10 level of pain currently, I was at 10/10 level 50 days ago.

So, whenever I feel bad, I just look into that diary and say to myself: ok, I am progressing slowly. It is extremely slow, but still, I can see a progression and that will give you strength and motivation to continue.

If you don't write things on paper, it is easy to forget how bad you felt 60-90 days ago. This way, when you are writing things, please write notes to yourself: Wednesday, day 28: this was the worst day ever: huge anxiety, I can't walk, huge pain in the abdomen, I couldn't sleep at all, I was nervous while talking to my wife, etc.

Again, when you'll look back later at this diary, you will surely say to yourself: oh yes, true, I don't feel THIS bad anymore like I used to feel back then.

Cheers

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Thanks to all of you,

It is my blood pressure that I really worry about because it is high, except in the AM when I take my losartan....it rises to 160-180/90 in the PM.

I tried using a calcium channel blocker for a while and it did not improve my blood pressure. It started to depress me. So what is causing that?

My nausea went away for a while; it comes back, is around for part of the day.

They gave me Zofran, which I stopped because it really did not help that much except to constipate me. Green tea has helped. It was much worse while weaning and the first few weeks, but it can come back vigorously on occasion, other times mildly.

I am glad you are back, Tabitha. It is nice to hear success stories.

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Bob I have been keeping a journal since Day 42, especially of my BP and HR because it is accurate, my readings at the cardiologists are always much lower and
inaccurate, taken by the nurse. THe readings in the ER two days ago confirmed I was correct.

The nausea can feel as bad as dry heaving or just lurking back there.

I have Type 2 diabetes and that might play a role.

As for your warm spots, Bob, mine are facial, specifically the forehead to the top of my head. They were awful when I first switched from metoprolol to atenolol, and they are still around now. This "flushing" (a feeling similar to a mild sunburn or blushing without turning the skin pink/red) seems to have weakened in intensity but it is still there most of the time, especially when I lay down.

Most people on the board have low blood pressures; otherwise my symptoms are pretty consistent with most others' here with the exception of chest pain, which has not been a problem for me, so far.

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Matt, ok, if you are doing a journal, do you think that things are slowly progressing in your case?

I see that you still have some huge problems, but then, on the other hand, lately you can walk on some days, you have been able to sit for longer on your computer etc.
I guess that nausea is weaker and that HR is slightly lower (or that episodes of elevated HR are shorter than in the past, right?)

HR will slowly get better.
Nausea will be gone.
Anxiety will last for long, sadly.
Random pain in your body will be weaker over time.
You will be able to walk more and more.
You will be able to do more and more "regular" stuff around a house in upcoming weeks.

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Bob,

Very, very slowly progressing, but not enough for me to feel a major difference. I notice that a new drug introduced, a calcium channel blocker Cardizem, causes depression. Sleeping is very difficult still.

It is hard to get excited about improvement, but I carry on.

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