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How did you wean off Metoprolol?

Posted by kenny48 @kenny48, May 11, 2018

Hi,
I've been taking both flecainide and metoprolol now for eight years, as a prophylactic for Afib. I recently moved to North Carolina and have a new Cardiologist. Have had a lot of PVC's this past two months, and had to wear a heart monitor for an entire month. He said that although I had a lot of PVC's I didn't have even one PAC! He also noted that my BPM was low in the low fifties most of the time. He asked why I was taking metropolol. I told him that the only thing my previous doctor had said was " it makes the flecainide, work better". He suggested I stop taking the metoprolol to see how I do without it. Unfortunately I read a lot of information on the internet. I read that it can be very dangerous to stop taking it. I take 25 mg metoprolol succinate, split in half. Once in the morning with my flecainide, and then again in the evening for a second dose. He wants me to take half in the morning and skip the evening dose for two days, then stop entirely. Has anyone else stopped taking this drug in a similar manner? I'm worried that the cut off is too soon.

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singitsoft | @singitsoft | May 8, 2019
In reply to @healthytoday "I take 3 (500mg) vit C with three meals daily. Also with VitC take HeartBeat Cardiovascular..." + (show)
@healthytoday

I take 3 (500mg) vit C with three meals daily. Also with VitC take HeartBeat Cardiovascular support from Health Food store. Magn, potassium in morning with first VitC. I take metoprol to slow heart rate due to afib and leaky heart valve. Why do you want to go off of metoprol?

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So the magnesium and potassium supplements haven’t caused any interactions for you with the metoprolol? I read about BP medications and supplements so another reason why I wanted feedback from others

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2 replies
alwayshope1 | @alwayshope1 | May 8, 2019
In reply to @singitsoft "So the magnesium and potassium supplements haven’t caused any interactions for you with the metoprolol? I..." + (show)
@singitsoft

So the magnesium and potassium supplements haven’t caused any interactions for you with the metoprolol? I read about BP medications and supplements so another reason why I wanted feedback from others

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For me yes It has. But I was also prescribed 1 Mg of Valium for 3 1/2 years so the Metoprolol increased the effects and I experienced tolerance/with drawl symptoms. I took care of myself and took vitamins and supplements but after a while it didn't help. Now Magnesium, Vitamin D, Vitamin B cause withdrawl symptoms. Monitor your intake and talk to your doctor.

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healthytoday | @healthytoday | May 8, 2019
In reply to @singitsoft "So the magnesium and potassium supplements haven’t caused any interactions for you with the metoprolol? I..." + (show)
@singitsoft

So the magnesium and potassium supplements haven’t caused any interactions for you with the metoprolol? I read about BP medications and supplements so another reason why I wanted feedback from others

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My cardiologist said the vitamins were fine with Eliquis and metoprolol.

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healthytoday | @healthytoday | May 8, 2019
In reply to @singitsoft "Definitely don’t plan on quitting cold turkey wanted to taper off (half a pill) for a..." + (show)
@singitsoft

Definitely don’t plan on quitting cold turkey wanted to taper off (half a pill) for a few days then , be off, been eating super healthy and cut sodium , metoprolol didnt seem to be helping palpitations, so I’ll try supplements, 💗

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One of the Mayo Clinic cardiology team members who took care of me three years ago said something very useful. If I experience pain in the heart area (which I rarely do), it means the heart muscle is not getting enough oxygen and to take some deep breaths. I do this and it works well. I was wondering if this would also help with palpitations. I have some of these but not many, and I just tell my heart to calm down. I don't think they are that bothersome in my case.

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healthytoday | @healthytoday | May 8, 2019
In reply to @alwayshope1 "Thank You. That's great advice. The only positive in this is that Benzo tolerance with drawl..." + (show)
@alwayshope1

Thank You. That's great advice. The only positive in this is that Benzo tolerance with drawl forces a healthy diet because certain and most unhealthy foods hurt, cause pain and send me into a tailspin.

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My husband is currently at a health retreat in San Diego. They are teaching him diet, exercise, nutrition, massage, colonics, emotional and mental release etc. This is all so great. He's acting like it's the first time he's heard these things. I've been talking about them for about 30 years in the marriage. I feel abit frustrated with his dissociation from my wisdom, but what the hell. I'm so glad he is finally hearing holistic health.

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alwayshope1 | @alwayshope1 | May 8, 2019

One last response. I had to research Metoprolol to understand why I was experiencing my health decline.That to slow the heart rate the medication has an anti-anxiety portion to it and can "act like a benzo" in the system. That's why you can' just quit cold turkey. I believe that (for me) I'm very sensitive to it and can't take this type of medication. As you will see in the blog/posts some people have been taking Metoprolol for years with no problems.

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1 reply
sue225 | @sue225 | May 8, 2019
In reply to @alwayshope1 "One last response. I had to research Metoprolol to understand why I was experiencing my health..." + (show)
@alwayshope1

One last response. I had to research Metoprolol to understand why I was experiencing my health decline.That to slow the heart rate the medication has an anti-anxiety portion to it and can "act like a benzo" in the system. That's why you can' just quit cold turkey. I believe that (for me) I'm very sensitive to it and can't take this type of medication. As you will see in the blog/posts some people have been taking Metoprolol for years with no problems.

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I've been on Metoprolol for 2 years to control vtachycardia. After this length of time if you'd stop cold turkey, you risk a serious CV event.
After a month, it should be relatively easy to get off the drug.
My cardiologist has patients who take magnesium to control arrythmias. (the less threatening atrial ones Not atrial fibrillation).

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alwayshope1 | @alwayshope1 | May 12, 2019
In reply to @rezon8r "Anyone who wants to ween off beta blockers should read my story. I had a heart..." + (show)
@rezon8r

Anyone who wants to ween off beta blockers should read my story.
I had a heart attack July 2015 and was placed on beta blockers (metoprolol). I was on 25mg to start, half a pill in morning and evening. Over a few months my pulse was dropping to 43 bpm and my BP was very low. My doctor recommended cutting the dose to half to see how I did. It helped a bit. (12.5mg) once a day.

About 2 months later - out of the blue, my heart started racing 155 bpm and my blood pressure spiked to 180/100. I had chest pain, difficulty breathing, sweating, dizzy... was positive I was having another heart attack. Off to the ER. They did ecg and trope, X-ray... all was fine and my symptoms abated over a few hours.

The next attack happened about 3 weeks later. Same thing. They gave me a hotter monitor and nothing. This went on for a year. I had several stress tests that said all was good. They prescribed lorazepam and told me it was anxiety attacks.
Sometimes my heart rate was 170+ and bp 225/130.
I was in hell. Doing vagel exercises and holding my breath in a bowl of ice cold water. The attacks started to get worse and more frequent. Sometimes waking me up at 4am. The lorazepam did nothing to abate - but still 4 cardiologists, a heart specialist and maybe 25 different doctors wrote it off to anxiety attacks. Yet, after almost 3 years of this, I had strong suspicion it was a rebound effect from the beta blocker.

I tried to ween off it very slow for 2 years. Once I was off for 3 1/2 weeks and then BAM, massive attack that actually registered a tiny trope test. So I had to go back on.

Finally, my heart specialist said let’s switch beta blockers- that metoprolol is a twice a day drug and I was only taking a small amount once a day. So we switched to bisoprolol 2.5mg (half a pill) once a day. This was in August 2018.

The attacks stopped completely. What was happening, yet nobody will admit, was the metoprolol was wearing off every evening before I took my next dose, or shortly after... my body started to produce adrenaline again, and since I had developed billions more adrenal receptors (from being on beta blockers - bodies reaction to the drug), my body would flip out and I would have a hypertension/tachycardia attack.

2 weeks later on the bishoprolol and I felt like crap. Dizzy, no energy, insomnia... but no attacks. Bp and pulse were low so we cut dose to 1.25mg. Felt like crap for a month... then started to feel a little better.
This January, I had had enough of feeling dizzy and no energy. One night my pulse went down to 40bpm and my BP was 190/110. Off to emergency I went. They did all the tests and nothing. So we decided to cut my dose to ween off. I was told by several doctors to just go off cuz it was such a small amount. But having read so much, I thought I should ween. So .65mg tiny thing.

It has been 2 weeks now and I’ve been to ER with crazy high BP twice - but it always comes back down after a few hours on its own. I keep having these attacks again and I’m 100% sure it’s caused by the beta blocker.

This time I’m going to power through even if it kills me. This is a nightmare drug and after almost 4 years of pure hell - I have had enough.

My understanding is although I may be off the drug for months at some point- there is still the physical manifestations of the extra adrenal receptors that will eventually deteriorate as my chemistry normals.

Couldn’t imagine doing this without God. Good luck everyone who is fighting this battle.

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Hello @rezon8r, I thought I would follow up regarding your post. It was really helpful because this is really tough. I'm in the middle of a withdrawal and with God's grace with my slow taper, I should be off Metoprolol by the beginning of June. How are you doing?

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alwayshope1 | @alwayshope1 | May 13, 2019
In reply to @singitsoft "Hi All, recently went to hospital with very high blood pressure (for me) 168/98 almost fainted..." + (show)
@singitsoft

Hi All, recently went to hospital with very high blood pressure (for me) 168/98 almost fainted , diagnosis was very low potassium and long qt syndrome , was put on metoprol by ER doctor (only a month of the prescription) I’ve cut way back on salt past month, changed diet, need to exercise haven’t been, but have lost 8 lbs, the medication was also supposed to help with my constant palpitations, realized it hasn’t made a difference though my blood pressure has dropped, I have about 4-5 pills left , so I’d like to half them and wean off it, Cardiology said my heart was normal and that palpitations could have been from low potassium, I’m still having them though?? Which causes even more anxiety. I’m going to wean off this metoprolol because with my diet changes I think I can manage, and try vitamin supplements such as cq10 , potassium and magnesium. Anyone else do this? Would love to hear your insights thankyou ,

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Hi, @singitsoft,@afrobin @soliloquized,@heathytoday et. al, I saw an online seminar today regarding our condition(s) and potassium and magnesium shortage. Has anyone been prescribed magnesium or potassium or tried in their heath care routine? Thanks

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elizabeth1941 | @elizabeth1941 | May 21, 2019
In reply to @1943 "Does anyone experience shortness of breath with afib? Can,t walk across the room without not being..." + (show)
@1943

Does anyone experience shortness of breath with afib? Can,t walk across the room without not being able to breathe . Don't know if it's from afi B or side effects from meds? On metoprolol 50 mg twice a day , diltiazem 60mg, twice a day ,digoxin 0.25 mg. Once a day

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It can be from either or both. I was put on a beta blocker and had serious shortness of breath and until that time had not had that problem. No longer on meds but have shortness of breath with moderate movement which is from the afib. Will be getting an afib ablation soon which hopefully will take care of that

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