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MEDS - giving them a go

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Posted 3/18/2013 5:23 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Everyone

A few of you know my story now, i am suffering with anxiety due to a fears over my heart health which i have now been given the all clear apart from minor periods of tachycardia on my holter which i am sure was due to panic while i had my holter on the doc is more than confident my heart is helthy and i need to focus on my anxiety and not on heart worries, and i trust in my doctor as he has been my doctor all my life and my mums for most of hers and knows my family well.

anyway i was given a beta-blocker propranolol 2 weeks ago and after reading the leaflet i chucked them to the back of my cupboard absalutely terrified and horrified that my doc would have prescribed such devils they medicine caps adreniline and slows heart rate which in someone with anxietys mind that sends alarm bells that your heart would stop or something .. god even writing this i know i sound crazy, some people take up to 160mg of this stuff and im terrified to take 10mg haha!... so after mowing this info over for 2 weeks i have came to this conclusion, this medicine has been prescribed by the doctor who knows my full journy with these problems and who i trust very much, he has priscribed me a very small dosage 10mg 3 times a day, and although i have accepted my anxiety and feeling so much better now that i have i feel my anxiety symptoms are still lingering, i try to relax and on some levels i am improving but i do feel i need to consider meds to help with the more frightning symptoms that are holding me back like the adreniline rushes and flutters and palps, feeling irritated and tense. they still set me back even now i can still tell myself with confidence i am not going to die and these will not hurt me i cant help but feel disheartened and upset by the setback, and lastly mainly i found a thread where a number of people said this drug helped them massivlly so i am feeling brave enough now to give them a go :)

So guys have any of you ever tryed a beta blocker for anxiety and how did you find it?

Is this common to have this fear of taking this step of trying meds?

Jenna x

Posted 3/18/2013 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Jenna,

I do not have personal experience to share, but I can tell you that you are not alone.

We have had many posts on this subject. In fact, many people suffer pharmacophobia. There is a good self-help site..informative and practical in helping one get over this fear of taking medication. I will post it if I haven't already for you...just let me know.

Many members here have tried beta blockers, so keep checking back for more on this from someone with experience taking this sort of Rx.

Best wishes,

S.C.
Posted 3/18/2013 3:55 PM (GMT 0)
this sounds exactly like me a couple of months ago. I am terrified to even drink coke in case the caffeine makes me feel more anxious!! but i do take pronanolol 40mg once a day now and it has done absolute wonders for me. I went from not being able to go out of the house to doing almost anything now. I thought all the things like it's going to slow my heart down, what if i have low blood pressure and i die, what if i can tell i've taken it but i could not tell at all. At first, i was really nervous about it and when i took it i did everything i could to be in a busy place so that i was distracted. after a few days i started to feel like my anxiety had was lifting and i didn't have that horrible dreaded fear in the pit of my stomach all the time, i didn't have the hot flushes and the panic rushes. so please please try and take them, because if i did then you can too!!
Posted 3/18/2013 4:00 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for sharing SO1a!

Welcome to HW! I hope you feel among friends here and receive the support that you are seeking. You are certainly giving some great encouragement.

Please feel free to post with us here in the A/P anytime!:)

Scaredy Cat
Posted 3/18/2013 6:09 PM (GMT 0)
Jenna,
The reason Dr's prescribe beta blockers to us who suffer panic/anxiety is to prevent what I call the runaway
heart, during a panic attack our brain will give us a shot of adrenalin and our pulse rate will jump up
a beta blocker tends to not necessarily slow down a normal heart but to keep it from acceleration.
A rapid pulse from adrenalin in our blood is not necessarily bad or dangerous but it sure is uncomfortable.
The med should give you a more manageable panic/anxiety until you learn how to bring it down with resources
here on this forum.

You are going to be fine, I promise!

Larry ***
Posted 3/19/2013 5:01 PM (GMT 0)
Jenna,

Great post by Larry and he has the right answer even putting it into layman's terms..........Thanks Larry !

I have been on Inderal for many years, mostly for a hand tremor that gets worse with anxiety.  Beta blockers tend to be used most frequently in situations where there is performance anxiety or public speaking anxiety situation and they work primarily by actually blocking the physical manifestations of anxiety, so they have very little effect on the emotional sense of anxiety.

But what they do do is help with things like tremors and palpitations and shortness of breath, and sweating and the physical symptoms people experience when they're in anxiety inducing situations. So in that way they can actually make people much more functional, much more able to tolerate these types of situations that cause a lot of anxiety for them.

I take my med daily as it always helps with the hand tremors for me.  It would be worth a try if you feel you want to take the medication.

I wish you the best.

Kindly,

Kitt

Posted 3/21/2013 1:33 AM (GMT 0)
s01a thank you so much for sharing your experience i am day 2 in and i don't feel too different but defiantly less rushy haha no one understands me when i say that but i know my anxiety suffering friends here will be able to relate.. did you experience heart palpitations? did this help? i am still getting palps but defo they are not as scary probably because when i feel them terror washes over me things like rapid heart and adrenaline but without that there not stopping me in my tracks and have me running for home like they normaly do. anyway i am so glad you have something that works for you
and as always thanks to cat and Larry for your inputs ... hugs to you both

j x
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