Betablockers for anxiety. Did they work for you?

[LordyGoodness]

Just that, really.

I'm not depressed (anymore!)...just very bad generalised anxiety which gets worse in social situations. Its crippling me at work at the moment, and none of my usual tactics (exercise, meditation etc) are helping.

GP has prescribed betablockers (20mg propranolol per day). Due to start taking them tonight. Have read the leaflet enclosed, but would appreciate any experiences good or bad.

tia

Yes, I took this for a month when my teenage daughter was driving me crazy. I didn't need to go back for another prescription as I was okay by then. It did really help, but tbh I didn't notice an immediate difference. I was on the dose you're going to be on. I noticed after three weeks that I felt completely normal. I took the rest of the dose and then continued feeling alright afterwards. It's fantastic and I really recommend you take it - I didn't have any side effects at all.

They work for me, im ment to take 10mg 3x a day but only take 1 in the moring and they keep the heart racing away but still get other symptoms, i have health anxiety and panic disorder, so im really cautious about tablets but they seem to be working well been on them for 6 weeks now

yes, they work for me. They take away the physical symptoms of anxiety (but don't touch the thoughts IYSWIM). So if you're bothered by eg, shaky hands, racing heart, sweating when anxious, they can sort that out.

They don't have a build up effect like other meds of anxiety and depression, so i just have them to take on special occasions when I now i'll feel anxious, like for public speaking.

CBT has helped me manage the thoughts a million times better.

They weren't a good experience for me. My anxiety became depression. Of course that might have happened anyway and not be as a result of the propranolol.

However, my friend didn't do well on them either. Her husband came home from work and found her staring blankly at a wall with tears running down her face. Apparently she'd been like that for several hours.

I hope you have a better experience and are feeling better soon, but forewarned is forearmed and you can keep an eye on yourself for any unfavourable reaction.

No, not for me. Made no difference.

I found Citalopram made the most difference.

Thanks for all your responses. Interesting to hear other peoples experiences.

I have had major depression in the past, but been OK for over a year now. So its just the anxiety now thats a killer (which strangely, I didn't have so badly when I was depressed...). Hoping this eases it a bit.

I have had CBT and do mindfulness meditation daily, but lately I get these huge adrenalin-rush anxiety feelings and terrible physical symptoms that are just crippling, especially at work - heart racing, shaking, dry mouth, voice goes funny, blush excessively - so really hope this will help with those.

I did try citalopram when depressed, but no antidepressant ever really worked for me - and I've tried a few!

I have been prescribed these for chronic migraines, rather than anxiety. In addition to dropping my number of migraine days to one or two a month from 18+, they also mostly eliminated my crippling anxiety. Completely changed my life. I'm on a much higher dose than you though, because it is at least nominally for the migraines. I'm sure the fact that I'm not constantly tense and anxious is helping the migraine situation too though!

Good luck Lordy, hope you get on well with your medication, and you start feeling some relief soon!

Betablockers helped me enormously during two long-term episodes of anxiety. First time when I was having major panic attacks and couldn't physically get on with my job; second time was after having DS2 and was having panic attacks every night, which meant I was chronically sleep-deprived.

I liked the fact that they helped me to become much calmer, and removed the crippling physical side effects of extreme anxiety. This then gave me the ability to start addressing the reasons why my anxiety levels had got so high.

I still think exercise/fresh air, a good diet, and talking to someone I trust were vitally important in helping me to get through these episodes, but betablockers definitely played a part too. I didn't suffer any ill effects from them.

If you're 'just' left with the anxious feelings, that's good in a way (bear with me )

The thing is that we don't want to get rid of anxiety completely - it's a really useful mechanism (fight or flight) that keeps us safe. It's what makes us study for exams or dodge out the way of an oncoming car. It's just that yours (and mine!) is on a bit of a short fuse and is triggered too easily.

So, the point is to be able to get to the point where you can notice you're feeling anxious and say to yourself, 'oh look, there's my anxiety, oh well', instead of, 'there's my anxiety I MUST GET RID OF IT!'

And it's good to triangulate the fucker, come at it from different angles:

meds (SSRIs/betablockers)
thoughts (ie challenge unhelpful thoughts)
mindfulness
relaxation
exercise
diet
sleep patterns
behaviours (you've probably talked about this in cbt)

Tbh, it sounds like the perfect situation to try BBs

Don't forget, you've come out the other side of major depression, and that is no mean feat! Give yourself plenty of credit for that

Good luck OP

I've just been prescribed these for Anxiety..I really hope they work.