Do you get used to beta blockers?

[FrickingFedUp]

I have important exams very soon and recently my brother, who is a heroin user, has been in hospital. Not surprisingly my body has responded with some rather worrying anxiety attacks where I get chest tightness and palpitations and basically feel like shit. Gp has prescribed my beta blockers at the lowest dose of 10mg 3 x day but they also make me feel like shit! I feel sooo tired on them and yesterday i fell asleep for the whole afternoon which is just completely impractical as I need to study for my exams. However if I don't take them I can feel my chest tightening up etc. I tried taking half a tablet at each dose the other day, but I still didn't feel great, think I was still getting some anxiety symptoms mixed in with the side effects! Part if me thinks I should try to persevere as I do not want a panic attack in the middle

Of my exam, but then part of me thinks maybe I should try and get back on an even keel without tablets that make me feel like a spaced out zombie - I have nothing against meds per se btw, but if these make me feel just as bad, I am struggling to see the benefit, unless someone out there can tell me that these effects wear off?

Fricking, I took beta blockers years ago to try to control my migraines, and they made me feel awful too. I also put on a lot of weight.

But, more importantly, you must not mess around with the dose! You can't just stop taking them, that much I remember. Please ring your doctor and ask for advice. You need to decrease them slowly if you want to stop taking them. I was taking 3 a day for six months, and I had to go down to 2 a day for a few weeks, then 1 a day etc.

I think it's ok primrose, the dr didn't give me any instructions for taking them and as I am a medical student taking my finals he did give me permission to adjust the dose to suit me - I think had I been taking them for heart problems etc it would've different but seeing as the anxiety is not going to actually kill me but just make me feel like crap it is ok! Plus I was prescribed them on Tuesday and haven't been taking the full dose so I think coming off them could only be harmful if I had been taking them consistently for longer!

So you didn't get on with them then? I was prescribed them for migraines and couldn't cope with the side effects then either, but I didn't take them for long so was wondering if they got better with time, but it seems not...

I persevered for about a year with them but didn't really get on with them. Unfortunately I still think that they triggered my insomnia and is now a complete vicious circle 3 years in where I now sleep for anywhere between 1 and 6 hours maximum every night

I would second the advice to only adjust the dose under ther direction of the dr. I was in the same dosage as you and also thought that advice onlt applied to heart patients. I just stopped them suddenly. I honestly felt like I was dying! Sweating, shaking the works! I had to restart them after a day and do it slowly over 3 weeks.

That's a relief! I guess you know what you're doing then.

They were good in that my migraines stopped, well not stopped completely, but were much less frequent which was fine. I usually get 2 or 3 a year, and started getting 2 a week. I couldn't work, look after my children or drive anywhere. It was awful.

The tablets made me feel very tired, sedated even. I struggled to get through the day, and I would be out of breath just going upstairs. I put on about two and a half stone very quickly, and it all seemed to be at the top of my body - face, shoulders, upper arms, back and chest. That was about eight years ago, and I still struggle with tiredness, and have been unable to lose the weight, despite working out with a personal trainer.