Stopping Carvedilol (Coreg): When will the effects wear off?

Update: Got back on Carvedilol last week and the crazy anxiety symptoms went away. Since then I've also figured out that the Carvedilol was masking the symptoms of a psychological issue that I didn't even know I had developed. The issue was that I had sub-consciously lost confidence in high speed high volume traffic over a short period of time. That has since been addressed - now all my anxiety/hyperventilation crap is gone. It never was the meds. The anxiety issue was with me.
Thanks all!

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I was recently put on Carvedilol for high blood pressure by my primary doctor. She started me out on a low dose and kept increasing it because my bp was not going down. At a check-up at the ER, it was increased also to 25mg in am and 12.5 in pm. I was actually found to have a really bad bladder infection going on for 2 weeks before it was found which is what I believe drove my bp up drastically and had a really bad case of gerd. Even though I had a heart attach in 2005, (a minor one) I have never had an issue with blood pressure. After I was on the carvedilol for a couple weeks, I started feeling very anxious and having tremors. It got to the point where I thought I was having a nervous breakdown. I went back to the dr. and she prescribed Zoloft and Ativan to help until the Zoloft kicked in. She also said to continue the Carvedilol 12.5 in am and 6.25 in pm. About 4 days into the Zoloft, I really thought I was going to have to be hospitalized. I stopped taking it but I continued with the anxiousness and tremors and continued to take the lorazepam .25 a couple times a day. Occasionally I would take 12.5 mg of benadryl to also help. I would then feel somewhat normal again and tell myself that it's just the medications making me feel this way. I don't believe I needed to be on a psych med but thought I'd try to see if it would help since it's used for anxiety also. It only made it worse. I am currently weaning myself off the carvedilol. I am going to make an appointment with a cardiologist to see what they would recommend. This has been an extremely difficult 2 months. I am 62 and never in my life have I had anxiety issues or panic attacks like I have since being on this medication.

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Thanks for the interest Colleen,
The same way I went after my manic-depression issues in the late 90's. I thought about it a CRAP-TON every day and took meds to help me thru work. That was then and I had a friend helped me with zoloft while I worked through it.

But not this time.
I am in really heavy traffic and fast moving thru atlanta every day, like all day. The back story is this: Every day for the last few years every time I got on the freeway (which here is MASSIVE and fast and crazy), I asked myself, at what age and when will I have to quit doing this because it just becomes too scary and ridiculous for me to handle it? I mean, you never see elderly people driving on these mega roads... This was a mental issue with me. Take it one step further, and age-versus-competence thing. It's like... Can you drive forever in these conditions as you get older? (Question to self). Apparently, I've not been paying attention that much, and as the calming effect of (25/50mg) Carvedilol wore off (because I didn't refill it), the symptoms that I were really feeling started to show up in true form in sub-consciously going into hyperventilation when I was driving! This was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to handle in my life.

This is such a new thing for me. I had no idea that the brain had 'switches' that could be turned off and on like this so quickly as I have done. To stop driving here would have taken me out financially and I would have become destitute.

To reiterate - and to acknowledge @predictable 's support of using Carvedilol, I gotta say - this drug, for all I can tell is one of the best things for CHF patients, but in this dosage, is very powerful, and has side effects. I take like 10 different things for my condition, most are supplements like potassium, magnesium (usual stuff for diuretics), and if you met me you would never know I was living with chf. It's a testament to my cardiologists and medical tech these days. 20 years ago I figure people like me would be half dead already. I'm not and I work my ass off every day. I enjoy it.

As an example my daily dose of 50mg which is 2 x 25mg Carvedilol, literally makes my stomach muscles want to churn/spasm or tighten up. I used to think it was the hydralazine doing this, but now I know better. It also put a huge clamp on my psycho-issues with driving fear. I am so used to this, since 2015.

Honestly, I am so lucky I think. I have spent the last week talking with other ppl that deal with panic and anxiety attacks and stuff, none which take the meds that I do - and I figured out that this kind of thing can happen to anyone.

For me, and I must say it was awesome that I figured this out so quick!

It almost sounds stupid! Yesterday I changed my habits in driving and I started bitching at the other cars and trucks on the freeway thru atlanta like I'm a Rock God on the road and everybody else sucks, are immature, and is probably texting and doing facebook, like I'm better than they are. Crap this worked. I drove 60 miles through heavy crap traffic and never had a single episode of fear, or even impending hyperventilation.

Today did it again - only this time, I paid much less attention to being an alpha male ass (I wanna kick trucker butt), and thought about other things. Drove 120 miles round trip through atlanta. My confidence was back. Not even a hint of stress doing my usual thing.

There is a lot to process here. 1 week ago I was passing out on the side of the road - either that or having to stop because I was hyperventilating. Today I'm back to normal. I thank God for the revelations that have enabled me to gain control of my life again.

At 58 years old, this is the most insane thing I have ever dealt with.

Thanks for listening. Hope everyone is well.

Jump to this post

Thanks for the interest Colleen,
The same way I went after my manic-depression issues in the late 90's. I thought about it a CRAP-TON every day and took meds to help me thru work. That was then and I had a friend helped me with zoloft while I worked through it.

But not this time.
I am in really heavy traffic and fast moving thru atlanta every day, like all day. The back story is this: Every day for the last few years every time I got on the freeway (which here is MASSIVE and fast and crazy), I asked myself, at what age and when will I have to quit doing this because it just becomes too scary and ridiculous for me to handle it? I mean, you never see elderly people driving on these mega roads... This was a mental issue with me. Take it one step further, and age-versus-competence thing. It's like... Can you drive forever in these conditions as you get older? (Question to self). Apparently, I've not been paying attention that much, and as the calming effect of (25/50mg) Carvedilol wore off (because I didn't refill it), the symptoms that I were really feeling started to show up in true form in sub-consciously going into hyperventilation when I was driving! This was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to handle in my life.

This is such a new thing for me. I had no idea that the brain had 'switches' that could be turned off and on like this so quickly as I have done. To stop driving here would have taken me out financially and I would have become destitute.

To reiterate - and to acknowledge @predictable 's support of using Carvedilol, I gotta say - this drug, for all I can tell is one of the best things for CHF patients, but in this dosage, is very powerful, and has side effects. I take like 10 different things for my condition, most are supplements like potassium, magnesium (usual stuff for diuretics), and if you met me you would never know I was living with chf. It's a testament to my cardiologists and medical tech these days. 20 years ago I figure people like me would be half dead already. I'm not and I work my ass off every day. I enjoy it.

As an example my daily dose of 50mg which is 2 x 25mg Carvedilol, literally makes my stomach muscles want to churn/spasm or tighten up. I used to think it was the hydralazine doing this, but now I know better. It also put a huge clamp on my psycho-issues with driving fear. I am so used to this, since 2015.

Honestly, I am so lucky I think. I have spent the last week talking with other ppl that deal with panic and anxiety attacks and stuff, none which take the meds that I do - and I figured out that this kind of thing can happen to anyone.

For me, and I must say it was awesome that I figured this out so quick!

It almost sounds stupid! Yesterday I changed my habits in driving and I started bitching at the other cars and trucks on the freeway thru atlanta like I'm a Rock God on the road and everybody else sucks, are immature, and is probably texting and doing facebook, like I'm better than they are. Crap this worked. I drove 60 miles through heavy crap traffic and never had a single episode of fear, or even impending hyperventilation.

Today did it again - only this time, I paid much less attention to being an alpha male ass (I wanna kick trucker butt), and thought about other things. Drove 120 miles round trip through atlanta. My confidence was back. Not even a hint of stress doing my usual thing.

There is a lot to process here. 1 week ago I was passing out on the side of the road - either that or having to stop because I was hyperventilating. Today I'm back to normal. I thank God for the revelations that have enabled me to gain control of my life again.

At 58 years old, this is the most insane thing I have ever dealt with.

Thanks for listening. Hope everyone is well.

Jump to this post

Thanks for the interest Colleen,
The same way I went after my manic-depression issues in the late 90's. I thought about it a CRAP-TON every day and took meds to help me thru work. That was then and I had a friend helped me with zoloft while I worked through it.

But not this time.
I am in really heavy traffic and fast moving thru atlanta every day, like all day. The back story is this: Every day for the last few years every time I got on the freeway (which here is MASSIVE and fast and crazy), I asked myself, at what age and when will I have to quit doing this because it just becomes too scary and ridiculous for me to handle it? I mean, you never see elderly people driving on these mega roads... This was a mental issue with me. Take it one step further, and age-versus-competence thing. It's like... Can you drive forever in these conditions as you get older? (Question to self). Apparently, I've not been paying attention that much, and as the calming effect of (25/50mg) Carvedilol wore off (because I didn't refill it), the symptoms that I were really feeling started to show up in true form in sub-consciously going into hyperventilation when I was driving! This was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to handle in my life.

This is such a new thing for me. I had no idea that the brain had 'switches' that could be turned off and on like this so quickly as I have done. To stop driving here would have taken me out financially and I would have become destitute.

To reiterate - and to acknowledge @predictable 's support of using Carvedilol, I gotta say - this drug, for all I can tell is one of the best things for CHF patients, but in this dosage, is very powerful, and has side effects. I take like 10 different things for my condition, most are supplements like potassium, magnesium (usual stuff for diuretics), and if you met me you would never know I was living with chf. It's a testament to my cardiologists and medical tech these days. 20 years ago I figure people like me would be half dead already. I'm not and I work my ass off every day. I enjoy it.

As an example my daily dose of 50mg which is 2 x 25mg Carvedilol, literally makes my stomach muscles want to churn/spasm or tighten up. I used to think it was the hydralazine doing this, but now I know better. It also put a huge clamp on my psycho-issues with driving fear. I am so used to this, since 2015.

Honestly, I am so lucky I think. I have spent the last week talking with other ppl that deal with panic and anxiety attacks and stuff, none which take the meds that I do - and I figured out that this kind of thing can happen to anyone.

For me, and I must say it was awesome that I figured this out so quick!

It almost sounds stupid! Yesterday I changed my habits in driving and I started bitching at the other cars and trucks on the freeway thru atlanta like I'm a Rock God on the road and everybody else sucks, are immature, and is probably texting and doing facebook, like I'm better than they are. Crap this worked. I drove 60 miles through heavy crap traffic and never had a single episode of fear, or even impending hyperventilation.

Today did it again - only this time, I paid much less attention to being an alpha male ass (I wanna kick trucker butt), and thought about other things. Drove 120 miles round trip through atlanta. My confidence was back. Not even a hint of stress doing my usual thing.

There is a lot to process here. 1 week ago I was passing out on the side of the road - either that or having to stop because I was hyperventilating. Today I'm back to normal. I thank God for the revelations that have enabled me to gain control of my life again.

At 58 years old, this is the most insane thing I have ever dealt with.

Thanks for listening. Hope everyone is well.

Jump to this post

The Carvedilol was prescribed by my primary. When I went to the ER because I was having other issues, he saw my BP was still high and said I could increase it to 25mg in am and stay at 12.5 pm. Like I mentioned, I believe my high bp was d/t my body fighting an infection but at the time it was not known I had the infection. (bladder) It was missed at my very first UC visit which was 2 weeks until it surfaced. I have since weaned myself off the carvedilol but am still having some tremors and anxiety but less hopefully each day. I am going to set up an appt. with a cardiologist as I really haven't seen one in several years. He basically gave me the all clear a couple years after my heart attack. This has been a terrible med for me physically and psychologically and I don't think I should have been put on it in the first place. I have had many blood tests since then, an upper gi, bladder checks, and everything is coming out good so far. I just need to shake this feeling I have. It does get relieved if I take the .25 of lorazepam. Hopefully that will lessen each day. Not sure how long the carvedilol can stay in the body. And my blood pressure seems to be coming back down to somewhat normal.

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