Have you been prescribed beta blockers for anxiety?

@zelenkobooks I was on Effexor XR for a long time. I also tried Prozac. Effexor was quite the experience to get off of. I stayed off antidepressants for a long time. I got sober, and that helped, but then I have had some pretty tragic things happen in my life. I know what hopelessness feels like, and I would wake up with that. I also have some physical pain as well as anxiety (which I believe comes from complex trauma and survival skills I learned growing up). I started on the lowest dose of Duloxetine 30 mg. in the morning. It has helped with anxiety, depression and I believe some pain. I only take the propanolol if I need it for anxiety. Gabapentin, I take as well for pain and as a mood stabilizer. I hate having to take so many medications, but grateful to have them. Hang in there.

I used only Inderal for anxiety and it really worked for me. It was prescribed originally for heart irregular heartbeat.

@penelope5678 yes. Its actually is propranolol which I was just prescribed for an occasional rapid heart beat

Years ago I tried a beta blocker for my anxiety/ depression, but it gave me insomnia and I had to take Ativan. Now there are many choices. And I decided to try again. I wonder if I can come off Ativan or even take less of it.

@zelenkobooks
What dose of propranolol? I'm on 80 mg for anxiety/palpitations/blood pressure Helps with the palpitations but makes me feel depressed and exhausted. Also nightmares. I hate it.

@esikora 25 mg.

@zelenkobooks - I have found my primary care provider over the years to be very willing to help tweak my prescriptions for mental health or other medications, as I felt it was needed and explained to her my reasoning.

It would be a worthwhile question to ask your doctor about going down on your lorazepam (Ativan) or even tapering off of it.

Are there other choices for anxiety medications you are interested in asking your doctor to consider for you instead?

@lisalucier my primary physician doesn’t seem to be interested in my psychiatric medication. But my nurse practitioner whom I found after my psychiatrist retired is willing to try to lessen the dosage of my Loreev and Remeron. I was successful with Loreev last year, but it didn’t last. Now that I am taking beta blocker I will try to tamper again. Not sure when.

@diverdown1 I'm really happy for you that you were able to get sober. It makes such a huge difference. I suspect you've noticed.

I went through a three year period of extreme depression that nearly cost me my life. It turned out to be mediation-driven (I flipped on Effexor, an uncommon but not unknown reaction). During the worst of it I self-medicated nightly with heavy alcohol and weed consumption ( I live in a legal state). I'm quite confident that the combination furthered my already severe depression substantially.

Getting off the Effexor pretty much immediately ended my self-harm spiral. A medication change (Lamotrigine) essentially erased lifelong depressive cycles (I was diagnosed bipolar 2 in the hospital and it tracks so well with my history that I feel it's accurate). But stopping weed altogether and reducing alcohol down to all but nothing rather than guzzling vodka nightly has also, in my view, been key. I don't wake up feeling physically awful. When I was drinking heavily my days started out in an amplified depressive state just from that.

I'm really glad I was able to quit without treatment. I feel like I dodged a bullet given the amount of alcohol I was putting down. Vodka at up to half a bottle a night is kind of a one-way ticket to alcoholism. And I was using cannabis sodas for mixer. Self-abuse like that doesn't make things better. And then there's the nagging guilt about it to add to the mental struggle.

So congratulations for your success at getting sober. You're mental and physical well-being will only be served by it. I hope you're able to stay on track. It takes resolve. Alcohol permeates our society. Stick with friends who don't depend on it. It means it won't be there for easy access anymore, and won't be as strong of a temptation.

Hi. As I said previously, I'm on 0.50 mg Ativan for 10 years. One of my Doctor friends told me today that I can taper Ativan by halving 0.50 for a week and then half that dosage for another week and half it further for another week and then I can stop. I'm 63 years old. What is your input on this. I am really surprised but also very cautious to go this route.