What was your Metoprolol withdrawal experience?
I was on metoprolol 25 mg (hypertension) for 9 days and had terrible side effects, most worrying a drop in hr. My Dr say stop taking it and no need to wean since it’s a low dose and only nine days. Well, I’m on day 10 of no dose and it’s hell! The hr rate spikes when I do any movement has me chair bound. I’ve never had hr issues before and was very active prior to Meto. My Dr says it’s normal and should pass in a couple of weeks. But day nine and it’s been 2 days forward then 1 or 2 days backwards. I want my life back. Please, I would like to hear experiences from those who went thru withdrawal. Your side effects, how long it lasted and how you dealt with it.
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Yesterday was honestly one of the toughest days I’ve had through this whole thing. I’m on Day 20 now, and I had what I would consider one of the strongest surges so far. It hit pretty hard out of nowhere and felt almost like a full-blown panic attack—my heart was pounding like it was beating out of my chest, I got really flushed, shaky, and lightheaded. Even after the initial spike passed, I didn’t bounce back quickly like I have on some other days. Instead, I was stuck in this long drawn-out comedown where the shakiness, flushing, and especially the lightheaded feeling kept coming in waves for hours.
On top of that, my body just felt completely drained afterward, like I had nothing left. My right side tightened up pretty bad—especially my shoulder—which even caused my hand to tremble, while my left side felt weaker or less engaged. My legs filled up again and felt bigger through a lot of the day, and I even started noticing some Raynaud’s-type symptoms in my fingers. Mentally, it hit me pretty hard too. After that surge, I found myself checking every little sensation in my chest, questioning everything, and just feeling completely worn down and honestly at my breaking point with it all.
One thing I did realize is that these symptoms are very similar to what I felt when I was actually on metoprolol, except back then it was constant, and now it comes and goes in waves. That inconsistency is what’s making it so hard mentally—just when I start feeling like I’m getting back to normal, I’ll get hit with something like yesterday. I’m still recovering from it today—still flushed, still a bit shaky and drained—but it does seem to follow the same pattern where it eventually settles. I just really didn’t expect it to still hit this hard this far in, and it’s been tough to not question everything after a day like that.
I'm going thru this now. However, I feel lucky. I requested to break my 25 mg in half just to try it out. I took it 5 days and felt like a tournicate around my chest was getting tighter and tighter. No one told me not to stop. Day two of stopping, I experienced everything similar. Severe night palpitations, weakness, shooting pains. Finally took nitro in afternoon which helped but after some research, I find out stopping could cause a heart attack, I went to ER, was observed and tested. No heart attack enzymes. Weaker than a wet rag! Odd feelings in my chest. I couldn't call my cardio, not in, 100 miles away. My primary care Dr called me and calmed me down. He said my dose was small and short lived but I would have a couple more rough days. He's right! On my 3rd day I watered some outdoor plants and made a meal. Cannot walk my dog. Today I'm so thankful I only took half a pill and for only 5 days. I'm so sorry you're going through this. I took it for night palpitations and they are coming back already. My heart tested perfect for a Female 76 year old. Don't know yet what Holter Monitor results are. I just want the right BP medicine!!
There seem to be people for whom sudden discontinuance is a problem for others is no big deal. I was in the latter category, taking 25 mg Metoprolol extended release for 5 years. Earlier this year I was instructed to discontinue without titrating. I didn't notice any effects at the time or since (other than an increase in resting heart rate,