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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 believe your correct. If you meditate no notjust the deep breathing is helpful but our minds are stronger than we know. I believewe can meditate/pray ourprobs away. Im finding i can manifest things i give thx for that haven't happened yet. Key is acting as its already happened with enthusiasm like rain if you want it to rain feel what it feels like when it hits you, smell it and give thx for it. If you pray for it your acknowledging there is no rain. Im saying i think we can heal ourselves. Im sick of meds trying to stop carvedilol now as it causes me to have sugar probs and nerve probs in my legs. I wish he'd have never put me on it.
Are you still having withdrawals?
My heart Doc said stop them and see how you feel. I wish he would have said ,go off them a little at a time! He did not. Complete cold turkey. I will Never do that again! Withdrawls...oh my! My whole body shook! Inside shook too! It felt like I was being strangled! My legs were weak. My hands were trembling. My arm pits hurt like swollen glands! My neck on the left side swelled up and made my shoulders ache! My sleep changed. But for the good..I no longer wake up with purple hands! I use to sleep like I was DEAD, don't sleep like that anymore! This was after being on Coreg for 21 years!
I still shook a lot yesterday. Head to toe. My tremors inside my body have finally stopped! The chest pains and heart pain has stopped. I am doing better today..one day at a time! I sure hope that shoulder pain doesn't come back! Someone said on here 4th stage COPD there is shoulder pain. Oh my ,I hope not! I am trying to regulate my Blood Pressure on 40 mg Benzapril twice a day. Its all over the place! The LOW is gone tho. I think I am thru the worst of it! All in all I am glad my Pulmanery Doctor spotted that because of my breathing, I should NOT take Coreg! So in the long run, this may help me! I pray!
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1 ReactionOh my! I just saw a note that said I stopped Coreg Sept 22, 2021. The withdrawal was so Intense, it felt like it would never stop! Hope the worst is over!
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1 ReactionI thought the came coreg is very strong. I was given it close to a yr ago he told me i had diastolic heart failure which i never had been told by hospital that he said he for that news from thru my records. Anyways i hate it causes my eyes to blur, muscle cramps, extreme fatigue and sugar issues. He just throwing more pills at me telling me im a full diabetic now. I've never had diabetes ever no sugar probs, its that dang coreg. I threw all that junk out and been weaning off coreg ever since. Im down from 12.5 2× a day to a qtr of one lil over 3 mgs once at bedtime. Im done with drs and pills creating more probs then putting me on more pills id rather live without then and take my chances. Sorry about that long reply. Yes toprolxl or metoprolol would have made more sense. Never had side effects with those
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1 Reactiondid you have morning adrenaline surges upon waking?
Is that what it is? Makes sense! Why am I getting them? Stopped finally for now, but I am shaking a lot for me.
From the research Ive done, the beta blocker is a cortisol blocker, so when you stop them the body has to adjust to the adrenaline pouring into the body. I just hope it all stops soon...driving me crazy.
This comment from @cynaburst is from five years ago. Had I seen it then, I'd have advised everybody that Coreg for hypertsion is not at all "a bit strange." I'm hypertensive, and my medical team has had me on Coreg for several years, with little if any of the side-effects mentioned in this discussion. Others have reported side-effects (or suspected side-effects that might not be that, but something else at work). In any case, Coreg is fine for some of us, and for those who think it is a problem for them, it's a matter for settlement with their medical team, not me or anybody else on Mayo Connect. One other thing that repeatedly comes up in Coreg discussions is FDA and medical care providers' advice to avoid abrupt termination of Coreg doses, since getting off the drug needs to be done in phases and in partnership with the patient's personal physician
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