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Stopping Carvedilol (Coreg): When will the effects wear off?
Hi everyone,
I am glad to be a part of this community. Please foregive the long post. I was wondering if anyone has had a hard time while being on and going off Carvedilol (Coreg).
I am an active 45 year old mom of a young child. I have always tried to eat healthily and keep in shape (I do yoga, pilates and, run about 5k 2x per week). My BP has always been pretty good, but since my 40´s it has gone up a bit (heredity factors play a role). My BP and heart rate also "spike" when I get stressed or anxious, but for the most part are pretty level during normal times. I do have anxious moments, but I would not say anxiety has been a major life problem. At my last check (Feb 2016), and after wearing a 24 hour BP monitor, my cardiologist suggested I start Carvedilol 6.25 1x per day (quite a low dose) for the spikes and to keep the heart from getting too excited. I agreed that maybe it was a good idea and started over two months ago. Other than stimulating rapid bowel movements, I did not notice any side effects at first. I would say about three to four weeks into taking the Carvedilol, I began not sleeping well. I also noticed my heart pounding, like a bass drum, slowly and steadily, at times. Then the heart pounding began to wake me up at night (it turns out my HR was down in the high 40s at night). Some nights I even felt my chest muscles vibrate, as if a phone on silence mode was on top of my chest. I started to notice this more and more and then I would have a few normal nights, so I figured I would just talk about this at my next cardio check (booked out in June). I also noticed I was getting more and more anxious. I wasn't too sure why little things were beginning to bother me. I thought it was hormones, PMS, whatever, and started looking for someone like a therapist to talk to.
The previous week was bad. I woke up from a few nightmares and I started to panic in bed, just woken up from sleep. I had three nights of waking up to panic attacks and body shakes. The experiences made me very nervous. At this point I started looking into the side effects of Carvedilol and I was seeing not only chest pounding, but in rare cases reported effects of nightmares, visual disturbances, tremors, anxiety. I also know one does not simply stop a beta blocker, so we talked about tapering down. I tapered down for four days, and then I got in to see another cardiologist on Monday and he said just stop immediately. The effects are rare, but they have been noted. Going off this medication has been frightening. I feel weak and shaky all the time, and I get sporadic periods of pounding and muscle tremors in my legs, anxiety and fuzzy vision. I frequently get so cold I begin to shake. Yesterday I went back to the clinic for an EKG (normal) and some blood tests (including thyroid) and everything was normal. I am just assuming this is my body reacting and readapting itself after being on beta blockers. It has only been five days, but I am wondering if anyone out there has had similar experiences. How long did it take you to feel normal again? I ran a 5k just two weekends ago and yesterday I could hardly take a walk. Thanks for listening.
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It's been 4 weeks since I've been off I was taper down to 6.25 per day and then taking off. I'm still going through after 4 weeks what you went through in the first 5 days it's absolutely terrible.
It took me 2 years to figure out how to wean off. Thanks to this connect chat I found a way and am sure glad I did. That was a year ago and have not looked back except in horror to the days I was enslaved to Carvedilol. The nightmare of having returning migraines when I attempted to wean off quickly were over when I did it slowly.
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2 ReactionsHello. In my effort to understand why I am having such side effects with Carvedilol I have been reading the various posts but have not seen any mentioning leg and joint pain. I am 74 and I had been having fluctuations in my heart, like a fluttering, so went to a heart specialist to get checked out. He had me wear a heart monitor. When results came in he said at one point my heart beat really fast 17 times in a row. He felt I needed a beta blocker to prevent that from getting worse. So I agreed and began with a low dose and finally a 6.25 tabs twice daily. My side effects only started after several months of first 3.15 twice a day then 6.25 twice a day. I am a side sleeper and the pain has become so bad I cannot sleep on my left side. Tylenol helps very little. I had no joint or leg problems before starting on Carvedilol. Now my leg is aching all the time. I had to purchase an elastic knee brace to help with my knee pain through the day. When I discussed these effects with my doctor he more or less said that it had nothing to do with Carvedilol. I told him that before I came to him and got on this drug I had no joint pain in my knee and hip. On top of that I have terrible insomnia making day to day activities harder. Has anyone else had severe joint pain from this drug? I am now cutting pills in half to try to wean myself off this beta blocker. He also had me try Bystolic at one point, but it did not work for me. Now he wants me to try Atenolol. I do not see the point of another beta blocker as apparently my body does not like them. I am a person with several drug allergies. There must be another solution. Thanks for any suggestions.
Different medications are metabolized by different genes. I am not sure what gene metabolizes Carvedilol but I think it may be the same one which metabolizes a drug I had problems with - Metoprolol. As it turns out, even though everyone has the gene (CYP2D6), I had a particular variant which meant I did not effectively metabolize Metoprolol. The net result was that, instead of being absorbed and processed, it continued to circulate in my blood stream and could build up as more doses were taken. Thus the effects were multiplied. I had to be given a different drug which worked fine. This may not be your problem, but if you have not had a genetic test I would recommend one. I had my own testing done and had to convince my cardiologist and pharmacist that the drug was not appropriate for me. In fact, I am convinced that doctors and pharmacists should insist that genetic test be done to ensure that medicine can be tolerated by patients.
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2 ReactionsThanks so much @jimana I will consider that. I have thought of switching to a different cardiologist as well. One who is open to other ways to treat irregular heart beat. I am also on new diet and exercising hoping that may help. Appreciate your response.
I am going through the exact same thing now ( 6-06-2019 ). I started carvedilol march 8, 2019. It progressively turned me into a stressed out maniac. I just got out of ER today. It has been 6 days and I can barely walk, breathe, sleep, or even talk. My heart is pounding and I feel as if I am going to die. Nobody will listen nor do anything at all, not even give me an Ativan. Nothing at all!! If you can get any help at all, please let me know.
@plantspec I assume a cardiologist gave you this.Before my heart operation the Dr gave me Coreg wow One night I knew it wasn't right for me terrible nightmares so called Dr.he said stop it .For you advocate for yourself ask him how to stop it.When I couldn't take it Dr gave me Nitro patches when needed. Stay strong
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1 ReactionSo @plantspec, I have been on Coreg (Carvedilol) for many months and without any noticeable troubling side-effects. I have discussed such problems with several dozen other Coreg users. Dosage level is a crucial factor. So is the condition that prompted your doctor to prescribe Coreg, as well as realizing that most patients do better when dosage is increased or decreased gradually over a period of weeks (that includes considering an initial dose of 6.25 milligrams per day). I hope your relations with your cardiologist leads to your full confidence in your treatment. Martin
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2 Reactions@predictable Very good thoughts, Martin. Titration (increasing/decreasing dosages) is very important when starting a new med and especially heart meds.
@plantspec, if you don't mind sharing a bit more, what dosage of Coreg were you taking when you had these side-effects?
I had a quad bypass done. That is when the Coreg was started, March 8, 2019. It was only 3.125 MG. My BP went to 200/154 in 10 minutes. I had a similar problem with Propranolol after taking it for 20 years with no trouble. I still feel as if I'll die, I can barely walk or talk and sorry but I am quite sure that doctors can KMA. No offence or disrespect intended to you at all. Doctors and I are not on good terms right now.