Metoprolol Withdrawal (Page 15)

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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Bee, I pray and hope you get the help you need to get off this drug or get the help you need to get better. The anxiety I felt while on this drug and during the "withdrawal" period felt like I was going to die (to put it bluntly).

I know I'm better now, because now when I have anxiety, the worst I feel is like I'm going to faint and confident that if I did, I will wake up from it.

If anyone knows of any resource that can physically help folks get off this drug, it would be good to know in this forum. After what I went through, I really wished I could have some kind of hospital\medical care that could have monitored and help me through the worst part of the "withdrawal" period.

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I have been off Toprol since Sept after taking it for over 10 years.Eating foods that have a lot of magnesium has helped tremendously.

Pumpkin seeds, seaweed, almonds, cashews, kidney beans, avocado, spinach, etc. I feel better and better each day as my body and brain heals..

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thanks Joyce but I am basically off the (M) now.. I started taking 6 mgs. every other day and its been 11 months now............and yes the horrific side effects you mention have been insane.. I did manage to test the waters one day and went out for awhile .. Came back home and did not have any episodes.. One day though I had panic attacks all day so I am trying frankensense oil and the Bachs rescue remedy.. I already do magnesium and everything else to calm the nerves. I have no idea what else to do about the episodes but I feel so much better.. worse comes to worse I will get Xanax if I need it for nerves. right now sticking to meditation and EFT tapping .. Not sure If anything is working or will work because like I said I limit my outings until I can feel safe and secure enough with no side effects.. I would love to start walking again or doing exercise but I am afraid.... only thing is that my heart does not race anymore and my heart rate seems to be stabilizing.. Oh; I have added Hawthorne to my bag of tricks also and it seems to keep my heart rate down .. Its just like you said that insane adrenaline rushes and anxiety that I would love to not have ever again.... thank You so much

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oh; As soon as I didn't take my 6mgs. for three days omg. two nights of racing heart, that adrenaline rush and the nervous thing.......I am afraid to sleep at night. been trying all kinds of natural things to diffuse it .. I did at one point drink some sea salt and water and took some hawthorn and then some magnesium.. but nothing really works that well......My friend says to take 3mgs. a day.. what? that isn't even heard of but I might try it.. I am assuming its the detoxing and withdrawel but I am shocked because I did this so slow and took 11 months to do this and I still have this horror show......I was very careful and did all the right things.....I was suppose to stop at 12 or that is what the doctor and pharmacy guy said but decided to do 6 which was okay but now this.. I have tried all kinds of things to lessen this but I am assuming one has to detox this stuff.

I also am meditating and doing energy work ..

I am so glad I didn't listen to the doctor and do it the way they told me.. Like yeah; you can be off in three months.. not me and they didn't even believe me..

I feel like I got hit by a mack truck...

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I really feel for you Bee. You have been doing really tough. Have you tried taking "M" every 2nd day?
Also increase your magnesium and taurine. I was taking it 3 to 4 times a day the amount that you said you took daily. It helped me. When it was really bad I took extra hawthorn.
I have now been off it almost 5 weeks with no real withdrawal symptoms to speak of.

Keep going. You will eventually get off them.

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thanks Jane.
well I don't have any M left and that was my plan to do it every other day but for some reason I didn't... I don't have much left and I am trying not to go to the doctors again .. Plus I really don't think 6mgs. means much at this point. It doesn't really do much..

Well I take about 900 mgs. of magnesium and I also use the spray oil... Should I take more of that? I did take 1,000 Taurine today instead of 500 . Is that okay?

And I do use Hawthorn about three times a day whatever it says on the bottle. Should I do more?

Thank you

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I would take an extra dose of moth magnesium and taurine especially if things get really bad. Try to avoid going to the doctor if you can possibly avoid it.

The only reason I was put on M was because I was getting tachycardia. The tachycardia I worked out was only caused when I ate certain foods containing MSG.
I worked out that M never stopped tachycardia so it was totally wrong ever being on it.
If I dont eat MSG foods NO tachycardia hence NO need for M.
I am 61 and I only became sensitive to MSG about 3 years ago. That was also how long I was taking M.

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okay Jane.. I will up my magnesium.. I am taking 900mgs. a day now but will do more.. I will try 1,000 Taurine and If I need more I will take it... last night I took a crumb of M but not sure it really did much...............I did sleep all night but I took some Hawthorn and Magnesium and I took 1,000 Taurine.. will keep tweaking as I go.............no episodes and I slept all night.

Well I do have high blood pressure so the doctors gave me the M but it made me worse.. It only had dropped my bp a small amount so after I changed my diet and exercised and lost weight my bp came down.. Then I discovered all of the natural things so I figure why do I need this crack lol...plus yes it gave me palpitations and made me sick...plus all the horror shows I read about it.... and right I cant do msg or a lot of sugar or chocolate............I look at it like this I will try every natural remedy first in the book and then worse comes to worse can always go back on meds but I am going to try and avoid that like the plague just like doctors.. I just started hawthorn but so far its really helping calm my heart.. I do have some anxiety but I keep that controlled with meditation and EFT tapping.

I so appreciate you're help............thank you so much

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Mike, yes it is withdrawal, the getting off the drug part lasts 4 or 5 days, the other part can last many months.
Other part: Toprol takes the management systems of the body (as hormones, liver, adrenaline, etc. all of them), puts them in a jar, puts the lid on & does not let them communicate or make decisions. You stop taking the pills, off comes the jar lid and they all burst out like fireworks, not getting along together & it will take a lot of time to learn communication again, sorry to say, but people die getting off this drug, do not belittle it and don't expect any emergency room people to understand the problems getting off this drug, the first thing they say is it only takes a few days (they don't know about the jar effect). I was taking 6 pills a day before ablation for svt and the doc said just stop taking them & it has been the worst 6 months of my life, by the time they realized how much I was taking, my body would not let me go back on again, no vision is going bad, my eye doc is talking with heart doc on what the hell. At all cost, do not underestimate this drug, I needed it for years, but please think twice about giving it up completely.

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Ray.. this post that Mike wrote is from 2010 .. Not sure if he has written anymore posts.. You are so right about this drug.............if I would have listened to the generic formula three doctors gave me on weaning off I don't know what would have happened. Instead I came off as slowly as possible.. I was taking 100 mgs. for two years Of (M) and been weaning off for a whole year... yes a year of my life taken away because of horrific side effects.. I was afraid to go out a lot of times because I felt it was easier staying in and getting this over with and safely.. My story is long so I will spare the details..

I am so sorry this happened to you............I feel like suing someone because of this drug.. do you have a lawyer ? I would be filing a legal case................

right now I am upping my magnesium and now have added L Theanine which seems to be working.. haven't taken a pill in a few days and feeling okay so far but last week had some horrific side effects.. I even went out yesterday and did fine but I wont take it for granted.. Still be cautious..

many prayers and blessings to you.............

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Hi everyone - ah yes metoprolol . I to hate it. Was giving this from a specialist for hyperthyroidism . He said I was to hyped up and needed to calm before surgery . Did experiance palpitations caused by over active thyroid caused by a noduel that needed removed along with the left side of my thyroid . Started on 50 mg twice a day - had my surgery 2 months later . Been weening off for the past 3 months Since my surgery . Cut in 1/2 each time .first 25mg twice a day then 12 mg twice a day then 6mg twice a day . Now today will cut again down to 6mg once a day . -I hope . Worried and scared of course because each time Is bad in one way or the other .- Headache ,irritated , blurred vision , high BP , high pulse and extreme anxitey - all of which I have never had trouble with before All this mess . I'm trying real hard and I will do this . I will never take another medication without alot of checking all the effects . I never should have been givin this or agreed to take it but I was scared and needed help and this is what I got . even worse then the problem I began with .I dont see the dr. for another 3 months so he dont care what im dealing with now .never mentioned anything about anything Such as side effects or withdrawl . just said take it till surgery .My reg. doctor has helped me through this weening process and specialist also gave me thyroid medication after surgery that caused a overdose effect because still have a functioning right side Thats trying to work and doing fine . but why wait to see if it works just give me some more medication .not a happy camper and thinking about it hurts . Really don't feel most doctors care at all about the long term stuff we have to deal with when they write a prescription . Good luck to all and we will be ok and can do what we put our minds too . thank you to all for your stories and theres strength in sharing with others who feel the same .

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I am a 31 y.o. female with history of PAC'S when in my early 20s. Went on metoprolol for a while, quit smoking, they went away, I came off the metoprolol for a few years. Suddenly December 2013 I started having atrial fibrillation with RVR above 160 that came and went. Also PAC'S that happened almost constantly that were symptomatic. I tried just about all cardiac drugs over a 10 month period. Had big side effects on all but ended up back on metoprolol at high enough dose to stay out of the ER. Finally had an ablation in November after it became so bad I couldn't drive anymore and was constantly anxious and feeling like my heart would stop from being so sore from the RVR episodes. After they said I had a perfect Holter and I could come off my meds. Now I'm in a new hell. Coming off the metoprolol feels like I am jacking myself up with diet pills. I get constant anxiety that guys worse before the next dose and better when I take it. I get panic attacks. I weaned down to 12.5 mg twice a day which seems low but then its chaos in my body when I go lower. I was having episodes of tachycardia waking me up at night in the 150s. I had hot flashes while everyone else was freezing. I talked to my cardiologist and he switched me to cardizem. Today is day 2 off metoprolol and on cardizem 30 mg twice a day. I keep having tachycardia, panic attacks, anxiety, my bowels feel like they are full of acid, my sinuses and throat feel like I'm fighting a virus, and I'm getting hot flashes. Also feel a little drunk in my head. After the high HR I feel kind of "hungover" with chest soreness and tremors for a while. Seems like the soreness doesn't want to go away except with ibuprofen but then comes back. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I don't know if it makes a difference but I do have PCOS and prior to all this arrhythmia stuff I never had anxiety problems. Is this withdrawl/side effects or am I crazy?

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Tonyia.
I have had a horrible experience with (M) . it took me a year to get off of it . I have had horrific side effects. I was taking it for hbp and it didn't even work at times..

Anyway; I am wondering have you tried any natural remedies such as magnesium , taurine, L Carnitine CoQ10.. I would suggest finding Dr. Stephen Sinatra or Peter Glidden on utube and watching them.. Dr.Glidden suggests that Afib could be a condition caused by the spine and back and nothing to do with the heart. At a young age I cant imagine going through this .. but doctors seem to be of no help. I would also look into Hawthorn but it does conflict with (M) so please be careful.. unless you are off (M) I am not sure you can use Hawthorn . I started using the tincture when I was down to 6mgs. of (M) and I am doing find.. It seems to help with racing heart and all..

Also I wouldn't come off of (M) so fast no matter what any doctor says.. this stuff to me was like crack and I had to lengthen the time I took it and wait in my house to see what happened.. so instead of cutting it I just lengthened the time I took it. it was rough for awhile but I did it.. after lengthening the time for a few weeks then I would cut it down but not too much.. I went down very slowly.. I did not do what the doctor told me but instead went down more slowly and yet still had horrific side effects but it was way better than what the doctor told me to do.

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I am going to attempt to go off Metoprolol starting tonight. I have been doing the research and I can't believe that the problems I have had the last 5 years of my life could possibly be explained by the list of Metoprolol side effects- and no Dr.s picked up on this! I began it during my last pregnancy and it was around that time that I began having uncharacteristic social anxiety to the point of agoraphobia. My libido is gone, my thyroid went high and then low. My hair was falling out, and I had diarrhea for almost 2 years. I am weak, tired, and low energy. My joints ache. I also have had issues with my white blood cells and anemia. I am excited to start the road to freedom from Metoprolol but I know the road will be rough, still, if even a couple of the symptoms eases it will be worth it. I hope this will end my era of terrible health issues. I will try to update with results.

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Bee,
Thank you. I will check into the supplements. I have been off (M) for 3 days now since that was the instruction. I have been on cardizem. Dr. Told me the cardizem would slow the side effects of coming off the (M). It seems to be better today. He said coming off a calcium channel blocker was better than a beta blocker. Not sure if I'm trading one evil for another but the plan is once I have gotten off metoprolol then I'll wean the cardizem. I have still been having anxiety and high HR but today seems a little better. I am mentally exhausted. Currently I am iced into my house but once it thaws and I can get out I'll get some of the supplements. Thank you.

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Tonyia.
okay.. when you get a chance also check out amino acids .. look online or ask someone in the health food store.. when I was having the anxiety I found an amino acid called L Theanine.. it is good for stress and anxiety.. not sure what to call the adrenal rushes I had but hey sent me straight to the bathroom in the middle of the night.. I am trying things to see which works the best.. You can do.. I don't put too much faith in western medicine anymore..... but doctors don't want to hear natural cures..
so also when you get to the healthfood store ask about natural things for anxiety..

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Bee,
So I haven't tolerated coming off well at all. I can barely sleep for waking up with bursts of adrenaline and anxiety for no reason. Dizzy and short of breath with pending heart when I walk any distance more than like around the house. And I keep getting these weird chest cramps/slight pains. Doctor said it doesn't have anything to do with this but I think it's where my heart muscle is sore from the runs of tachycardia since ibuprofen seems to help. I also have a sinus infection right now which I hope is the reason I feel even worse in general. I have ordered some if the supplements since I am either working or snowed in this week alternately and the stores have been closing due to weather. Cardiologist told me to cold turkey all cardiac meds since I was having such a hard time by Sunday and take (M) as needed. I've had to take it 4 times in 24 hours but I'm taking 6.25 mg (1/4 tab) to help symptoms. My hope was that as I heal from the infection I wouldn't have to go back to a regular schedule and a higher regular dose but it doesn't seem to work. I started a protein shake with aminos in it 2 days ago but I'll look for the last one you mentioned when I get home. I hope once I start the supplements it will help. I have an appt for my old PCP Friday to get some labs drawn to check thyroid and such since I have a history of nodules and PCOS just to make sure I'm not jacked up from the bouncing around meds and all the problems that come with. Thank you for all your advice. How long did it take you to see improvement on these supplements and what doses are you taking of each?

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Oh; Rats Tonyia.. I feel for you............. When I was getting off of the (M) I was having the same symptoms as you.. I walked a few feet or even got out of bed and my heart would race .. I lost a year of my life staying in the house most of the time trying to figure this out.. I even got the angina, headaches, loss of breath, shakes, tremors, nightmares, palpitations, etc.etc. What I did was I came off as slow as possible.. I started at 100 mgs. and then I cut down to 75 which seemed okay but then I decided to do it more slowly so instead of cutting I lengthened the time I took the dose.. so if I took a dose at 10 am I sat in my bed and waited until 11 am .. and then I kept extending the time each and every day I took 75mgs.. After a few weeks of this my heart seemed okay so only at that time I cut down to 50mgs.. Then I would extend that 50mgs and then after a few weeks I would cut that down a bit.. Not much but only to 37 mgs.. This went on for months and I still was having side effects. I couldn't do much but I wanted to stay in and get it over with.. The key is to stay on one dose as you go down for awhile or until you feel stable.. I was on 50mgs. for three months. I was on 37 mgs. for a few months and so on and so on .. this took me a whole year . I took my last pill three weeks ago and even tho ugh I did it slow I am still experiencing tremors, shakes, racing heart and getting up in the middle of the night and having stomach issues but now the racing heart goes down rather quickly. praise God.. In the beginning I couldn't even get out of bed but now.

What I would suggest is going down slower or if you have to go back on the (M) and go down way slower. At one point I had a setback when I reached 75mgs. and then went down to 50.. it was too fast.. All kinds of horror stuff so I went back up to 75 again for a few months.. You will know how you feel.... when you feel stable cut back...You don't even sound like you are on a lot but this drug is like crack as I call it.. The body wants the drug. Its called detox and the body is used to this drug and its needs to become clear out of the body and that could take months or even up to a year.. I have been drinking lemons and someone also suggested to me to buy something called Limonene to clear out the liver.. look into that..

I am sorry as I don't know what else to tell you.........but again all I know is that we need to come off of this drug as slow as possible. Don't believe your doctor. Its your and your body and you know yourself.. Also I have read and heard that many people such as us are highly allergic to drugs and this drug is probably on that list and that is why we have so many problems.. Do not do this cold turkey.. I repeat do not do this cold turkey.. I had two episodes this week at night.. racing heart and ran to the bathroom with the runs... but atleast the racing heart stops but that was two nights without sleep.... Oh; when you get the racing heart get some celtic sea salt and put a teaspoon in some water and drink it down really fast.. if you need more salt then do more and more water.. or get a glass of water with ice in it. very cold ice and drink that down really fast or you can put your hands in a bucket of ice that will help also.........Uh!!! I hope I made some sense... let me know...

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Hi again Tonyia, I forgot your first post so I went back and re-read it and wanted to say that did the doctors know why you had this issue when you were 20 and then 30 ish..? then I was thinking you even had an ablation and that didn't correct the problem and then the doctor gave you more drugs? Why didn't the ablation cure the problem? How many drugs were you on and how long?

Anyway; I also forgot to mention that organic unsulphured blackstrap molasses helps with heart issues and racing heart... when I feel my heart is going bonkers I swallow a tablespoon of black strap molasses. That and like I said in the other post sea salt can help... I read and learned that the heart needs iron and minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium.. Have you checked your electrolytes.?.. I would suggest when you see your doctor for the thyroid they check your electrolyte balance.. If that is out of whack you may get heart symptoms. personally I only use magnesium and get my potassium from food and calcium I don't really get much of but if you are going to the doctor anyway then check the electrolytes.. some people drink pedialyte to get their electrolytes.. I would think you need to find the causes of your issues and then go from there.. and don't tell the doctor what you are doing.. Just get the info... they don't believe much in natural cures .. and also be careful what you are taking as meds and even natural cures interact with each other. you can check interactions on the web.. also do you eat chocolate or sugar .. that could also raise your heart rate along with MSG and certain foods and chemicals.. Can you also tell me the amino acid powder drink you are drinking? you have to be careful of sugar and caffeine.. I had to give up caffeine and chocolate as it did not help with the racing heart ... So also look at your diet, what you are eating and drinking..

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Many years ago, in my twenties,I was briefly on Inderal (another beta blocker) and my lipids went crazy. A few months after discontinuing the medication, my numbers were back in normal range, with my total cholesterol having dropped 97 points.

For the past few years, I have been on metoprolol and experienced similar cholesterol problems, though no doctor would admit that there's a possibility that metoprolol is causing the jump. I recently started working with a new doctor, who immediately suggested a connection, especially in view of my experience with the prior medication, and have phased off of metoprolol.

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