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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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I share your experience coming off Carvedilol. I went from Carvedilol to candesartan in one day. Although my bp rebounded for a few days everything seemed fine until about three weeks later my heart would spike up to about 165-170 bpm during my daily walks. Ave heart rate is typically 107. Then one morning I noticed my Fitbit showed a spike in my heart rate for about 5 minutes where my heart rate was about 170. I’m a65 yr old male, who prior to my surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm 8 weeks ago was in excellent health/fitness. I’m being fitted today with a heart monitor. Any similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.
I would add that you appear to be on the right track -- sticking with what your cardiac surgeon recommends. The literature as well as comments from patients who write about their experiences are like two blunderbusses of information, because the range of conditions is so great and the range of options for diagnosis and treatment are similarly multiple. There is hardly any area of health care in which your own health care team -- including yourself -- is paramount to overcoming problems. Your questions to them and their answers to you are targeted to your unique situation and, in that, more promising than informal advice from others and literature. Good luck with your next consultation and decision. Martin
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1 ReactionOriginal prescription was written by the PA of my heart surgeon, for 4 month supply with the entire prescription set to expire in 1 year. But then in CVS the same prescription was listed under my general practitioner and apparently his request was for the 15-day supply. Tomorrow I'll know for sure what I'll get. For me, the treatment is for high BP and also some enlarged heart. Surgeon says it should help my cardiomyopathy or whatever the term is for enlarged heart, improve.
I've seen conflicting information online regarding side effects. So I'm going to stick with what the surgeon says. I even read that stopping it suddenly could lead to a heart attack since your beta receptors get flooded with adrenaline they're not used to processing anymore.
Thanks. In CVS portal it looks like one of my providers has requested a refill to be activated tomorrow.
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1 ReactionHi, @jdgreene2008. I hope I can be helpful. I've been taking Carvedilol for several years after a diagnosis of A-fib along with hypertension. Like you, I took it seriously that dropping use of the drug would be risky, and I have exchanged information with several dozen members here with experience with Carvedilol. It's puzzling that your "new prescription" would call for 15 days of pills (30 pills of 3.125mg?). Was that prescription newly written by your cardiologist or did you mean new delivery under your health insurance? Either way, I hope you can contact your pharmacist and your cardiologist for explanation of what is going on with your use of Carvedilol. I suspect that you'll be advised that stopping use of this medication (with a dosage of only 3.125mg) is unlikely to risk serious side effects (my dosage has been 25mg twice a day for many months, now reduced to 12.5mg twice a day). But don't act on the basis of my experience; be sure your cardiologist is in step with what you want to do. Martin
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3 ReactionsI was prescribed carvedilol last month after a bad experience with metoprolol (it exacerbated post covid asthma at night). At 3.125mg 2x/day carvedilol seemed ok but a week later cardiology increased it to 6.25 2x daily. It exacerbated asthma with exercise. Really really bad, like couldn’t breathe, wheezing - horrid.
Cardiologist stopped it immediately. I asked if I needed to wean off and I was told that metoprolol required a weaning period but not carvedilol. I stopped abruptly and it was a good thing for me. Post covid asthma hasn’t magically gone away like I’d hoped but it at least it isn’t flaring into attacks.
Hi @jdgreene2008, welcome. I moved your question about weaning off carvedilol 3.125mg twice daily to this existing discussion:
- Stopping Carvedilol (Coreg): When will the effects wear off?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/hi-everyone-i-am-glad-to-be-a-part-of-this-community/
I did this so you can connect easily with other members like @maryd @juliebrown @eileena @jfperrone @ronsharp @friz @piperscot @wgoodman @predictable who may be able to offer thoughts on your concern about running out of medication.
Did you hear back from your cardiologist, @jdgreene2008? If you're concerned about running out of medication before hearing back from your doctor, your pharmacist should be able to provide you with an extension prescription for a few days.
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3 ReactionsWeaning off carvedilol 3.125mg twice daily for 90 days
Hi. I was given carvedilol shortly after Bentall procedure and have been on it for 90 days. I recently got a new prescription but my provider only sent me one for 15 days. I am concerned that I will run out of my meds before next renewal.
I've been on 3.125mg taken twice daily for 90 days and aside from occasional dizziness have been tolerating it wonderfully. At such a low dose, are there any risks to abruptly stopping just in case I run out? I considered breaking the pills in half and trying to extend how long they last but at that strength the pills are not made to be taken in half a dose.
After reading about the side effects of suddenly stopping a beta blocker I'm concerned if it runs out. I've already notified my cardiologist and am awaiting a response.
I'm glad that people can take losartan. I've read great reviews about it. However, after reading many comments about the drug, I found my leg and foot symptoms actually listed on a Mayo website. Have been off it for about 3 weeks and no problems! Showed it to my doctor and we both agreed that everyone can react differently and that I should quit.
Drug is not a problem. Always taken BID and FYI I am a VA vet who is on 37.5 ml/bid. Sounds high and experimental but working well.