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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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While I have been on the Coreg my migraines seemed to cease. I have only had 3 in the last 2 years and a few months.
An herbal treatment for them is called Butterbur. I take it as it opens the vascular system. Please check with your doc before starting on Butterbur to make him aware of your desire for a more natural method for helping yourself.
Hello and thanks for the reply. They cut it in half for 3 days and then nothing for 2 days before the procedure. Then 3 days after they put me back on the full dosage and I've had 5 migraines in the last 2 weeks from the pills. Now the breathing issues have started. I'll try to be patient because I still have my ICD in as insurance.
Randy,
I urge you to be patient. Consulting your doctor is important. First try the lower dosage method. Then in a little while wean off.
I have not ever had that high a dose, but it was still hard for me to wean off in the manner the doc said. This time I am reducing it one dose per week and seem to be ok. I can climb stairs now without breathing too heavily and my heart rate does not spike up to 128 from 62 when climbing stairs, so I would urge you to reduce the coreg slowly.
It has now been 3 weeks since I started the slow process, but am confident it will be over within 11 more weeks.
well, right now since I've been back on the Carvedilol 12.5 mg 2x/day I'm starting to sleep lousy again and my chest feels heavy and it seems harder to get a deep breath. I'm contacting my doctor to see if I can wean off these pills. I was put on them to stabilize my heart rate because of my exercise induced V tach.
I hate being on any meds because of the side effects and I'm supposed to get off of these when we know my ablation worked.
Hi @randypape,
Thanks for the update; we wish you all success. Do let us know if you have any questions or suggestions, too.
Hello, i had it last Monday. We now will see how successful it was down the road. Im taking it easy this week and have follow up tests scheduled in a few days.
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1 ReactionHello @randypape,
Did you have the ablation for your ventricular tachycardia? We would love to get an update and hear back from you.
Years I was on the Coreg CR. for years.
FGFMSN
I see a good cardiologist. This was over about a 3 week period. Family doc was out of town etc.
FGFMSN
@fgfmsn
Why not make the switch in the Doc who cares for your heart? There are many out there who do not prescribe that amount. Carvedilol is a tricky drug that can help. It caused my migraines to get under control. Have endured only 4 over the last 2 years. Could not figure out which drug was stopping them and when I tried to go off the stuff they returned, BUT I think it was the manner in which I had tried. I got some advise on this board about doing a much slower wean off and am trying that approach.
My dose has always been the smallest, 3.125 Mg 2X daily. I talked to the Neurologist about the migraines and she told me I would only be able to switch to Metoprolol, which is an even more evil drug, due to my heart condition. So... with the consent and support of my Cardiologist, I am now reducing the Carvedilol one dose per week, so each week I skip one more dose. Will see how it goes over the next 12 weeks.
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