Propranolol side effects

[Jux]

I have ms, and one the consistent symptoms I get is migraines and headaches. I have been taking Naramig for years, but as the migraines have stepped up over the last few months, my consultant has taken me off them and asked my gp to prescribe propranolol as a prophylactic.

I started taking them on Monday. 3 times a day, 10mg. I have had migraines everyday since then. I am having 'funny turns'. I get very faint, woozy, vertiginous, feel sick, exhausted. I get this sort of thing with ms anyway, but this is virulent and every day - up to about 6 times.

I think most of this is side effect, and wondered if I persist in taking them the side effects will go away. It may say something in the leaflet - which I have read - but can't remember, and right now I'm so knackered and sleepy I can't quite get up off my arse to go upstairs to look , sorry.

It's a very low dose, I know (my gp says I am quite sensitive to side effects, so we always start off very low and increase gradually). I am meant to take these for a month and then contact him; if all well he'll double the dose.

I was on Propranolol for migraine a few years ago, and had to take it again more recently to try to control a tremor (I possibly have Essential Tremor, but neurologist still hasn't ruled out Parkinsons or MS).

Both times I felt like I was walking through mud, felt very slowed down and tired and to add insult to injury I had more migraines like you.

My GP said the dose I was taking (same as you as a starting dose) was "practically homeopathic". My body told me otherwise. I did wonder whether having a neuro problem and being tired and dizzy anyway meant that the Propranolol added to that. I found that for me, the side effects were worse than what I was taking it for and stopped. My young dd had to take Propranolol at much higher doses for a heart condition when she was younger and coped very well on it, so I did feel a bit of a wuss.

How quickly did you stop taking it?

I have had bad side effects on new pills before, and found that I can tolerate them if I persist. When I started on pregabalin I went very peculiar for a couple of days, and then I'd be fine for a couple of days and then my doc would double the dose and I'd be weird again..... Went on for weeks until I was on the dose he wanted me on! (Was quite fun in a way, and I knew people usually paid through the nose for that sort of effect ).

These new migraines are a different quality, don't know how to explain it. Not getting more of them necessarily, but they're a different type.

Some people have an underactive version of an enzyme (CYP2D6 for fellow geeks) which metabolises propanolol (and many other drugs) so a small dose of it would have a stronger and more prolonged effect than in someone with a normal version of that enzyme. I'm one of those people and propanolol has the effect on me you are describing.

What did you do, and what do you think I should I do, ouryve, if I were one of those people? Did your body learn to tolerate it eventually? The 'normal' dose for migraine prevention is much higher than this. (I know you can't prescribe for me or really advise me, and I would go to my pharmacist tomorrow anyway.)