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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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Do you also have heart failure? My comment was intended to convey that Coreg was probably not a first line treatment for hypertension unless you also had systolic heart failure. Many people have hypertension but do not also have heart failure. If that was the case,
Coreg would likely not be the first drug of choice. I said nothing about side effects.
I've been on it about a yr and it caused me issues with sugar blurry vision fatigue so bad i didn't wanna shower some days. Then he just kept throwing more pills to me telling me im now diabetic and need pills for that so i stopped going and am weaning off fast but i feel like total hell. I'm done work drs and tons of meds btw my sugar is back to normal. I too wondeted how long to get it out of my system. Id rather take my chances without it. I hate taking meds they always seem to have side effects that they want to treat with more meds. For me anyways its been like this. They also had me taking xanax for bed they i know cause swelling cause when i stopped taking it went away in case anyone's on benzos and having that issue. Good luck to all and any help on this coreg withdrawal would be great
Yes, Coreg sure has side effects when withdrawing from it! I feel like I went thru hell for weeks! I guess it was only 3 weeks until the internal shaking stopped! I felt awful! My neck felt like I was being strangled! My upper arms/shoulder/neck hurt! My legs were weak..I was weak! My hands are still trembling! I took Xanax before when I was getting a repressed memory. Oh my! That is a MAJOR TRANQUILIZER! I stopped that as soon as I could and advise others to stay away from it! Julie, I am so sorry you have to go threw this! Maybe after its all out of our systems..we will feel great! I hope so!
Thank You tyt! This makes a lot of sense to me!
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1 Reactionhow long have you been going through withdrawals? My doctor didnt think that I would still be having issues after 4 weeks, but I am. And I didnt have the adrenal surges that wake me every morning, until I stopped carvedilol.
Wondering how your doing?
Well...I have been off Coreg now since the last of November? 2021. I am still feeling the vibrations , shakiness, and inner palpitations. It has calmed way down now..but I am still concerned over my shaking! I've never shaken like this. Both my brothers have Parkinson's. I hope..NOT ME! Oh my! My voice even shakes! I have 4th stage COPD and I can breathe better being off Coreg! I read that people with breathing issues should NEVER be on Coreg. I was on them for 21 years. But Heart problems came first. Breathing problems came later.I go to my heart Doc at the end of January. I will ask why,, after I stopped Coreg...That I shook and I am still shaking! Inside and out! Milder than it was!
I'm sorry your still having problems. I was only on carvedilol for 6 weeks and off for 7 weeks and I'm still struggling. I have inner palpitations and tingling. I also have adrenaline surges while trying to sleep. Hopefully, we'll both get some relief soon.
I'm 80 years old, had open heart surgery 4mo ago, they put me on carvedilol 3.125 MG, just to mention I've never had high blood pressure before or taken any medication for it. Has any one had these systems from it, like legs throbbing and hurt, feet feel like cement blocks and hurt, and calves and ankles have swollen. My husband just told me I must of had a bad dream and woke him by screaming, I don't remember anything, as far as I know I slept good thru the night. This is strange to me. Only other medication I take is thyroid, plavix, 81MG aspirin,10mg Pravastatin, calcium. Has anyone else had any of these systems.
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