Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 88)
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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 actually had a patient who asked if she could have the Xanax 2mg tablet and bite off a1/4 of a tab (0.5mg) or LESS when she needed to do so. No, she didn't want more than the usual month;s supply, but this worked better and the dose didn't quite stay static — but she never took "too much". Hydroxyzine (Atarax and Vistrail) aren't worth much as tranquilizers; the drug is an antihistamine, but if you're sensitive enough to experience some of the effects/withdrawal syndrome reported,you can give it a try. Remember that even though it FEELS like you're withdrawing from an addicting drug, you're NOT, so while Xanax would help in most sedative withdrawal (and some antidepressant withdrawal syndromes where we cannot taper off the original drug; it happens on occasion), the Vistaril relieves your symptoms, it's worth a try. Both Xanax and Vistaril come in extremely low dosage forms (Xanax goes down to 0.25mg and Vistaril is available as 10mg caps; however, Xanax is a pretty strong benzo; the 2mg tab [highest strength] is, in my opinion, considerably stronger than it's alleged equivalent, 10mg of Valium. I'm assuming BRAND NAMES, btw.) Hope this helps.

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Maybe it's because we've discovered that nearly all psych drugs have a withdrawal period and we need to taper, but I'd look closely at beat-blockers before I discontinued them. FYI, Ayerst, (now Wyeth-Ayerst) the developer of INDERAL (propranolol), the first b-blocker, emphasized in their advertising NEVER to stop the med abruptly and always to taper. I remember seeing this in drug ads (in med journals) when I was in college! In the 1970s! I never imagined the problem could be so large and sous. I today directed my physicians to check patient charts for beta-blockers and ensure that what might have been perceived as psych symptoms might actually be withdrawal suggested by a dumb doctor! I learned a lot from your posts. guys, and it brought back my early training. I don't personally review every patient's Hx and although I technically OK all admissions, all of us "Service Chiefs" tend to go along with the decisions made by trusted subordinates. But what if one of my assistants sin't sufficiently knowledgable? This is one of those things thatch easily slip through. I conference-called a few of my counterparts at other hospitals. We had a good talk. All knew of this and some had seen it in patients originally scheduled to be admitted to psych wards. I'm still technically out sick (serous accident followed by Degenerative Disk Disorder)m but I'm still the boss. I rarely issue mandates and try to govern by consensus, but I was very clear in this directive. Review all your patient's charts and he's for beta-blocker use and/or withdrawal. Thank you. Having a couple of doctorates doesn't make me or anyone else "above" learning from our patients. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!

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Thank you BEE and Lauren! This is the craziest ride ever!! Hoping 2016 is my year. ;-)

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Sandra.
I can understand what you are going through.. It took me a year to get off of the (M) and It was a nightmare.. I have been off now since last April.. my body was so addicted to this stuff........Anyway; I did it very slowly.. Instead of cutting the pills I would extend the time I took it.. LIke lets say I took 25mgs. at 9 am I would extend that to 10 a.m. and that was a horrible struggle.. I would just let my body tell me what to do.. I kept extending the time I took the 25 mgs. until I felt stable enough to cut down.. that is why it took me a year.. and I still had horrific side effects.. I even had to back track a few times it got so bad.. If I was on 50mgs. and cut back and I was having issues I just went right back up to the 50 until I felt stable.. I don't know what dust is but have you heard of titration.. you have to look It up. I think it means you mix the dust with water but look it up
I also took magnesium, theanine, things for my nerves, I did EFT and even went through videos on utube on how to get clean of drugs..
Hang in there and find ways that work for you.. try a bunch of things and see what works.. I couldn't even walk two feet without my heart pounding.. I was basically in the house for a year and just did some shopping and minor things.. but it was so worth it..
Good Luck

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Sean, slow down. Slow way down on detox pace. Sandra, my doc said lick the pill every few days. Seriously! Also you can try Visteril instead of xanax. Xanax is itself difficult to get off of.
Something about this drug seems to bring out the WORST in hypersensitive folks. It's so annoying and frustrating . Don't give up.

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Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Today is real bad. Got the head zap thing going on. Took a small amount of "dust" 4 days ago. Cant believe my body is so sensitive. Is it the beta blocker that makes us sensitive or is our body just sensitive?!

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Sandra, My dr prescribed me xanax (alprazolam) I know, another drug. but it helped me tremendously the first 5 months. and i have been slowly tapering off from xanax since my anxiety has lessened. I was taking 1/4mg 2 to 3 times a day. I'm down to 1/4 before bed. Sometimes i go a day with out any at all. the anxiety hasn't subsided completely and last week was horrible with a rebound of withdrawals 7 months later. This week however i feel a lot better. I'm also taking ashwaghandha which helps. I was also feeling so fatigued (a side effect of the anxiety) and took a supplement called activi-t by life season and it helped my energy levels. Also taking magnesium daily by Natural Vitality and it helps regulate my heart rhythm.

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Sandra I'd say maybe you might see your practitioner for some help. Sounds like you're having such a difficult time. Sorry to hear that. There are other medications that can be prescribed. If your doctor isn't a help maybe try to seek another opinion. Please let us know how you're doing. Wishing you à better 2016. Also sending a shout it to all my fellow posters on this page wishing all a blessed, happy, healthy 2016!! Keep the faith!

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I am taking dust, literally Dust! I cant get off this stuff! I cant go any slower. Im taking dust every 5 days and cant go any longer in between. My heart races, head hurts and anxiety is bad. I want off this stuff. Been trying for 6 months. Any advice for me?? Please!?

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I went to the er with a panic attack recently and the er doc, seeing my bp assumed hypertension and prescribed metoprolol xl 50mg 1x daily. I've been on metoprolol xl 50mg 1x daily for 5 days, 3 at full dose and then 2 days with dose cut in half after explaining to my pcp that it's making my panic attacks worse and wound up in the er this past Monday with even higher bp and felt like dying. With the dose cut in half, I still get panic attacks about an hour after taking it but I've been doing breathing exercises to get out of a full blown attack. My pcp said that I'd only have to split the dose for 2 days and then I could stop taking it. Today was the last half dose day. Does that sound right or should I do the cut back over a longer period of time?

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Bravo Ed and Jimbo! Well said Sirs! Today is a bad day, vision issues, racing system, wonky head- all this of course equals anxiety! I'm on vacation from work thank goodness. See the doc next week again next Tues. I have also decided to forgo 99% of supplements until at least mid February, I can't seem to take anything without a hyper sensitive reaction. Keep at it all.... we WILL overcome this poisoning!

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No problem. Dissenting opinions always welcome here. I've taken Toprol-XL 200mg QD for < 10 years, no problems. I take it because of my open heart surgery and as an adjunct to other BP meds. Definitely, once someone loses enough eight to experience a significant BP reduction, the doctors nee to do their homework and reduce, or cut down and DC. That's just good medicine, My older bro is a Interventional Cardiologist and when psychiatry started using beta-blockers to mask the signs of anxiety (hand tremors, sweating, etc.), Big Bro took me aside and said, "You do know NEVER to stop Inderal [propranolol —that was the drug of choice] abruptly, don't you, no matter how small the dose." Well, maybe I might not have with small doses if my bro hadn't clued me in. I like to think I know my drugs and I've always been pretty familiar with beta-blockers. Thanks for you input and, of course, no hard feelings.

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Look into aspartame causing heart palps. I had palps for 7 years until I stopped using aspartame and now I have none for 1 and 1/2 years.

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Exactly what I experience. SVT. Usually triggered by a bending movement or sometimes even jumping. Thanks for posting. Glad I'm not alone!

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Ed, we are behind you 100% and we all know what you are going through. It is real. I don't think the prescribing doctors (mine anyway) gave much thought to telling me about this drug and I don't think the designers of this drug intended for people to get off it. It seems to be so powerful that once you're on it...getting off isn't an option. Especially if you gave a heart condition , how could you trust your body with the erratic palps and anxiety? Unacceptable for the medical profession to be so careless and reckless with these strong medications. My advice is to go slow... Very slow. Wean off it as slowly as you can. There is no rush and the smaller steps down, the less intense the side effects. You can do it.

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Great post, Ed! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I agree wholeheartedly about this so-called shrink guy that we see on occasion. I'm sure several others feel the same. I like your idea of beating these issues with Metoprolol, too! It's very difficult to understand unless you've been there.

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Thanks for this thread. It is good to know you aren't alone.

My doctor gave me clearance a while ago to stop Metoprolol. I have a rapid heartbeat (diagnosed as SVT) occasionally. A few times before the cause was known I was in the ER with my heart pounding for no obvious reason. All cardio tests have been done, echo, EKG, stress test. Basically it's not sever or frequent enough to call for ablation, which is the only "fix" for the problem.

To give a bit more detail on my SVT rhythm issue, I have found that with compacting of my abdomen (like crunching down, straining hard to poo type of a motion), this has sometimes triggered it. This is interesting since this type of vagal maneuver is often suggested in the event of a noticed arrhythmia, and to stop palpatations in some cases. The effect has been the opposite for me, to which all the docs over the years throw their hands in the air and say "don't know (shrug)". In my case I've been able to sometimes stop the rapid beat by stretching out my abdomen. At any rate, it's probably vagus nerve related. Who knows exactly how.

So back to Metoprolol. I'm in pretty good shape. I let myself go in my 30s and now @ 40 I'm ripped 155. At my worst I was 265. I had lots of problems from the extra weight, and the SVT was worse while out of shape. I was on the max metoprolol dose for most of the last 2 decades, but as I've got myself together in recent years the dose has been lowered. Weighing so much less, I was having very very low blood pressure with high does of Meto. As of the last discussion with my doc, I was @ 25 mg in the morning and 25mg at night.

Even with this low dose I was still getting some drowsiness. And I'm very focused on heath now, I eat what I guess is a pescatarian diet, which is basically a vegan diet but I also eat chicken and fish. Anyway, the idea of taking a man-made drug forever is concerning. When you look at the official data about meto, it says clearly that they don't really know what the long term effect is of taking it for years and years. So I decided, alright, let's do this.

So last evening I didn't take my 25mg. Again I was free to do this any time per my doc. Everything seemed fine. Slept ok. No issues to speak of this morning. Went to lunch and went to WalMart this afternoon. Had a cart full of stuff and was in the check out line, and my chest feels like it's pounding. This was not a SVT incident. I was a bit dehydrated after the big lunch, which will make my heart feel like it's beating harder. But guess what else metoprolol does? Dampens your adrenaline. Did I mention that I used to have anxiety disorder? Yeah. Boom. Full blown panic attack at the check out of Wal Mart. My mind says "Well you don't have any meto with you even if you wanted to take it. You don't have any aspirin. Are they going to take you out of here in an ambulance??"

I take a bottle of cold water from checkout cooler, back up out of the line and push my cart, looking for somewhere to sit down. Ended up in in the shoe department sitting on the bench, trying to quell the panic attack. I succeeded. Tried to look as normal as possible while doing it, employees and customers walking around. Awful. So to this guy saying he's a psychologist, and talking down to people referring to metoprolol as though it were "methadone", take a hike pal. If you even are a real doc, then you know people don't like the idea of a drug controlling them or being dependent on it, and you also know that anxiety is real, and often irrational. So yeah, take a hike, and that's putting it MUCH more nicely than I'd like to. Does this scene I described above from earlier today sound fun to you?

Anyway, I beat my anxiety disorder via an awesome therapist who is an expert in EMDR therapy. EMDR is amazing, and it has changed my life. It has been shown to get people with even severe warsone-level PTSD back to a functioning state in as little as 6 sessions. Seek it out if you have anxiety. And this experience today, this was first panic attack in I don't even know how long, brought on by my no longer having that "adrenaline protection" that metoprolol gives, as far as I can tell. I've had two more since. Not fun.

So yes, getting off metoprolol is a big deal. It is not easy. But YOU are STRONG. Say it out loud to yourself RIGHT NOW. I - AM - STRONG. I - WILL - WIN!

And I am. And so are you. And we will win. Follow your doctor's instructions, and plant your feet. You will get through it.

A couple other things to share.

I found this earlier. I have been wanting to get into more meditation. This is very entry-level and I find her voice soothing. She is also an EMDR practitioner I noticed. It costs $3 on amazon for the mp3: "Guided Relaxation for the Body and Mind" by Heidi Minnick, Ph.D.

I have tried every imaginable calming breathing technique, and I find Dr. Weil's 4,7,8 technique to be extremely effective:

drweil.com/drw/u/VDR00112/The-4-7-8-Breath-Benefits-and-Demonstration.html

I wish you the best. Be strong.

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Danny, of course, I can't be certain if what you're feeling are still side effects from Metroprolol, but if you're highly sensitive to the drug, as many of us are, I wouldn't be surprised if it still had a grasp on your system. I've been off since June 10th, and I still get mild heart palpitations as well as fatigue from time to time. The fatigue is a mystery to me, for it comes and goes without warning, but it'll only last for about three or four days at a time. Thankfully I'm over the anxiety, but I know I'm not 100% yet.

Toonces......I hear ya! In many ways we were in the same boat. I only lost about 35 pounds before going off the M, but it was enough to make a significant difference in my blood pressure.

And, who in the heck signed my last post as "Frank?".......LOL.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Jim

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HI everyone. I've been off metoprolol since May 2015 (after 10 years). Didn't know if I would make it to December but I did. Thanks in part to the support on this thread.
November and December were good months. The waves of anxiety, depression and fatigue were getting shorter (sometimes only lasting a couple hours, the most 2 days). and I felt a lot better (still not 100%) for most of these months. However, I'm on my 2nd week of bad symptoms. Anxiety, depression, in varying intensity,This weird fatigue when I eat or sit down. Where I wanna almost faint. Idk what to do. Are these still withdrawals? It's lasting longer than usual. Am I doing something else to myself or could have some other disease? I'm worried because I was feeling so much better. Anyone else experiencing this. I take Xanax on occasion to help the anxiety,m

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I took Metoprolol for about two weeks... I stopped and it's been 7 days off the medication but still having slide side effects...they say it can take 3 weeks for the medication to be out of your system.

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