Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 81)

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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Tabitha,

Thanks for that information....When your doctor told you that one of the adrenal tumors symptoms was high blood pressure, how high was she talking about?

My systolic has been high in the PM, sometimes 160-180, but lower in the AM.

I was tested for a carcinoid tumor, which can be found anywhere in the endocrine system..it was a two day nuclear test and it proved negative. The U/A test I took was negative also, but it was not a 24 hour test and it tests for serotonin, not catecholamine..... And a carcinoid tumor is different than an adrenal tumor. They are usually found in the small intestine, but they can appear in the lungs, anywhere in the GI system, or the brain. I was scanned from the waist to the head for that nuclear test. The symptoms of nausea, high heart rate and sweating were similar to the symptoms for beta blocker withdrawal, thus the test to rule out a carcinoid tumor....that was scary.

I have an anomaly, a horseshoe kidney, tied together at the bottom. The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys. During my craziness while on atenolol, I also had two kidney stones pass from the kidney into the ureter...a first for me. Since they were very large, they had to be lasered so they could pass through my system. They compare the pain of passing a kidney stone to the pain of child birth....I can only vouch for the former.

That is done; but the withdrawal symptoms from M continue 4 months later.

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Matt,

She didn't say how high because we didn't get much into the conversation since I have low blood pressure, but I'm assuming anything above normal and what's normally considered high blood pressure. Did you open the link at the bottom of the post about the Catecholamine U/A I put on there? It has all the information about it there like how it works and symptoms and stuff. They are super rare but someone has to have them. You know? I would read that link if you haven't and then bring it up to your dr. Also, this might be a stupid question but have you had a CT done for any blood clots? Blood clots will cause fluctuation of heart rate and blood pressure (which anytime your HR goes up, it causes your BP to follow) for example I have never had high blood pressure in my life (my normal is like 94/59 but when my HR would get over 120 my BP would go up to like 129/85 or so and the higher the HR, the higher the BP but it would be normal any other time. Id watch for that and see if yours is the same or if it's constant.

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Tabitha,

I read the link...my BP and HR seem to move in opposite directions...an inverse relationship...as my BP rises through the day, my HR drops, at rest.

I do not have blood clots.....but I do have chronic pain, which is usually good for 20 points up on the systolic, where my problem is.

Day 79, looking for some sign of relief.

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My Dr took me off metprolol and on cardizim next day. My rate did go up to 103 at one point took a few hours for it to get in the 80's

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My Dr took me off metprolol and on cardizim next day. My rate did go up to 103 at one point took a few hours for it to get in the 80's also my Dr gave me Metropol knowing I had asthma my next check up 6 months later he said to me you have a slight wheze I said I have asthma he then said I have to change your metroprol to cardizim don't know if I like cardizim as of yet

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I went for an MRI on a knee today and to renew my license (CT now puts a sales tax on renewing your license) and I was exhausted just standing up for that long a time. My back felt great lying under the MRI on a flat surface, though.

What are your thoughts on a the fact that I had a triple bypass two years ago? So the heart that has been dealing with metoprolol is not exactly the same heart that has been pumping away for the other eighteen years. New compressor bloodlines but the old compressor itself.

Day 82, so much worse than the withdrawal from nicotine, but then I was 27. What I really miss is the feeling of those endorphins kicking in after an hour on my elliptical. I wish I could bottle some of those hormones, the best pain medicine made by man.

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Bob,

How are you doing with your weaning process. Do you expect to have no withdrawal symptoms once off the Bystolic?

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Hi, Matt

When I tried to quit BBs (it was Bisoprolol the first time), one year ago, I didn't manage to make it through. Conversion table says that 1.25 Mg of Bisoprolol/Nebivolol is equal to 25 Mg of Metoprolol. I weaned from 1.25 Mg to 0,90, then 0.60, and then after 0.30 I have stopped weaning and stopped taking that drug. After around 60 days of high HR and anxiety, I had to go back. So, I didn't manage to make the final step from 6 Mg to 0 Mg (in Metoprolol's dosage).

Then I switched to Bystolic (Nebivolol) after that, I was taking it this year, but the side effects are very similar on all BBs which I have tried (Bisoprolol, Nebivolol/Bystolic, Atenolol and Metoprolol), so I tried to wean off for a way longer period this time, in my 2nd attempt. I was taking only 0.60 Mg of Bystolic this year which equals 12.5 Mg of Metoprolol. Since May of this year, I started to lower my dose from 0.60 Mg to 0.50 Mg (or 10 Mg in Metoprolol's dosage), then 0.40, then 0.30, then 0.20 etc. In July I was at 0.20 Mg and I was feeling somewhat ok. Then I lowered the dose to 0.10 Mg (or from 4 Mg to 2 Mg in Metoprolol's dosage) and I needed 8-9 weeks to recover from that "drop". I think that I am feeling better in the last 2 weeks, I can finally walk for 10-ish minutes without too much problems (with a nice pace), which I wasn't able to do in these 8 weeks.

So, since I tried to wean off in both ways (faster and way slower), my experience is that it hurts both way. But this way (when you go slower), it hurts less. In numbers, when you quit cold turkey or from a higher dose to 0.0 Mg, you will have a pain with strength let's say 100% for 2-3 Months. If you go slower, you will have pain which will hurt like 30-40%, but you will have that pain for 5-6 Months since you will wean off that long.

So, you can have: insane pain which will last shorter, but which can be more or less deadly in some cases, or you will have to go back to BBs because of a painful withdrawal. Or you can feel the lesser pain for longer period of time.

If I will (for some reason) have to go back on BBs one day, and if I will try to wean off for the 3rd time, I think that I will again pick the 2nd option. It is a less horrible experience in my opinion.

Anyway, since I am on 2 Mgs of Metoprolol (or 0.10 of Bystolic) currently, I am slightly tired of weaning off for already 4-5 Months, and I think that I will stay on this dose for some time. I am tired of that feeling of new anxiety (each time when you lower the dose), elevated HR all the time and weaning off all the time. Currently I would like to relax a little and try to live on this small dosage for a few weeks and get my physical strength back and to kick out anxiety from my head/body. Then I will slowly try to lower the dose to 1.5 Mg, and 1.0 Mg etc...

I was walking for the past few days, and while walking, I was thinking: wow, this is so weird. For the first time in 2 years, I don't feel any pain while walking. I can walk and I can breathe very deep and without any problems. My lungs are not ruined by BBs anymore. Or, I can walk, and I am not feeling (that) dizzy anymore, like on BBs. Or, I am walking and I am not dead tired, out of breath and out of energy after 5 minutes of walking.

I was feeling like my old, normal self, how I used to feel while walking two years ago. It was so strange. I was so happy, and said to myself: I don't need anything else in my life. I am just happy to be able to walk and do normal things again.

And I don't have mental strength in this moment to lower my dose again and experience new 8-10 weeks of elevated HR, new anxiety, inability to walk etc. I want to finally relax and enjoy a little and then, over the next few Months, I will try to lower this tiny dose from 2 Mgs to 1.5, then 1.0, then 0.5 and 0 eventually.

But again, I am totally mentally exhausted of 2 years of this hell on BBs and of Months of weaning off. So, I can't continue currently.

Current dose is only causing some minor dizziness and some "weirdo head" feeling, you know that feeling as if you are not in your body or in your head, or in general, a feeling that a BB is causing some strange mental sensation in your head and you don't feel 100% normal, as if you are slightly slower in thinking, or dumber.

About you Matt, what does your diary say? Are you feeling slightly better? (Oh, my nausea is gone, pain in the abdomen is gone. Or if the pain is here, it lasts only for 1-2 hours instead of 24 hours like in the past. Anxiety is still here, but lower. It is getting better as I am walking every day, going out, talking to people whom I meet while walking etc. So, you see, it can get better. I hope that you will get there also eventually.)

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Bob,

I am lost. My anxiety does not seem to be getting much better. The nausea comes and goes, but is always lurking and I am 12 weeks today. I have cut out caffeine and chocolate.

I get anxious over almost anything, but especially when something different occurs like my sciatic pain escalating over the weekend and my standing in line to get my driver's license renewed. I have not driven since I stopped M... or just any break from my routine.

A shrink they sent to talk to me in the ER last week to get tested for any infections suggested I go back on beta blockers. The doctor that sent me to the ER said absolutely not. He suggested that I have the paradoxical effect where what you take for medicine does exactly the opposite, i.e. Beta blockers are used as surrogates for anti-anxiety pills, but they make me and others on this board anxious.

I do not sleep well and, when I do, it is not restful sleep. I get up tired whether it is a couple of hours or six or seven hours of sleep.

How is everyone else doing?

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Are you all cured? I hope or at least feeling somewhat better or more like your old selves.

I am approaching 3 months, Day 87, and have found a new symptom, constipation. Has anyone else experienced this?

Since it is apple season, I am feasting on MacIntosh's. The pectin in the skins supposedly provides the laxative effect.

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I've been doing much better but I was only on it for just over a month and then I had the ablation done which helped the main problem and the rebound problem. Have you tried doing something daily like culturelle or miralax? Also prune juice daily. A glass of prune juice with a dose of miralax or culturelle should keep you pretty regular daily.

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My stomach hasnt been the same since I got on and off this stuff. I just got out of the hospital after a hole had blown into my intestine. We assume from constipation. My bowels are not regular. I have had so many problems. I literally feel broken. And it is a new symptom every day it seems. Im 8 mo off.

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I've haven't been right since beta blockers benicar amlodipine etc. I stopped in June '16, had upper and lower endoscopy and colonoscopy done, blood tests over and over, ct scans had upper GI with barium swallow. I've lost 35 lbs since May of '16. They still can't figure out what's wrong. I even changed doctors. At least my new one is sending me for more tests, getting a second opinion from another gastro dr., going to neurologist and rheumolgist. Still have nausea every day. Certain foods make me real ill, trouble sleeping, get weak feeling often, on and off constipation, just in general feel like s*** every day!

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Sorry to hear that, Sandra, but glad you are home and patched up.

Was it your large intestine? And were you taking anything for the constipation?

Could the constipation have been a result of something you started taking, like a supplement, after you stopped the M?

Also, you complained of pain down your right leg. Is it still there? The constipation may have been the cause of that, pressing against a nerve in your back, where you were backed up.

Is the nausea still gone?

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Day 88: I was moved up to three lorazepam a day and am sleeping much better...that helps quite a bit. But I still wake up anxious.

My 97 year old Dad, who had never been a patient in a hospital, slipped at home and is now in one. He is a 100 miles away and I am very anxious that I cannot get up there, because I get nauseous just riding in a car. Difficult to manage from a distance and stress is high dealing with the medical profession.

Nausea comes and goes as I approach three months...last M of 12.5 mg was June 29. 20 years on M. Some people take it forever and feel few side effects. When I was younger, I never felt anything but some lightheadedness, but over the last five-seven years on it, I had bouts of flu symptoms, tiredness, insomnia, nausea and anxiety, that I attributed to other things. Now I believe they were signs of M stating to turn on me.

I watched a few YouTube tapes on Magnesium as a vital mineral for its laxative, anti-anxiety, anti-depression, anti-inflammatory and many other benefits. I started with magnesium citrate but switched to DiMagnesium Malate.

Any thoughts on how to get Magnesium best absorbed?

Tried some L-theanine, but I have to say lorazepam, although very addictive, works much better.

Symptoms at day 88, nausea (especially with dairy products like yogurt and skim milk) anxiety, back pain, knee pain, constipation, High heart rate, still persistent high blood pressure, throat issues like tightness and swallowing difficulty along with bad tastes (maybe reflux) poor appetite, facial/head flushing without turning red and motion sickness.

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Actually yes the leg pain was from the constipation. I am not on any supplements or other medication so we arent sure what caused the constipation. I am on a stool softener now and hopefully will keep it from happening again. The hole was in my small intestine.

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Hello everyone,and yes Sandra sorry to hear about your difficulties you've been having lately,I am now 4 months,I must say I've come a long way,I only take one a day vitamins for women,and fish oil because I had gastro issues and I hear they were good for that,and I'm a very spiritual person,so lots of prayer and talking to God has helped me tremendously!!????

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I hope everything is going great for every one. Dont loose hope sandra !!! I have been off about the same as you . I took lexapro for the anxiety and it has helped me alot. Currently weaning off it . It has been slow but good . Just remeber not everyone is the same but one thing that we can not loose is hope.

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JR-do you still get lightheaded or dizzy when you move around too much?

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I don't . I did at first but slowly started beter . Now feel alot better . The lexapro helped out alot . Now i am weaning off slowly from lexapro due to weight gain and it makes me sleepy . I am cutting down 2.5 mgs every 3 weeks so the tappering is going well.

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