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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 am related to all these symptoms you going true
I don’t know what to do I explain myself I bought everything that I’m feeling I am not a sin happy mean I don’t see the grace on things I lost my smile I feel lost EKG Stress nightmares anxiety afraid
Good day everyone. God bless you all. 🙏
Anyone having occasionally shortness of breath (urge to take deep breath) after stopping Carvedilol?
I am on my 11th day off it (cold turkey) and still experiencing SOB, nervousness and anxiety. 😥 quite a constant battle for me everyday.
Anyone experiencing this before and long until it start to ease?
I also have coreg (carvedilol) I have not had those side effects, But It good to hear from someone experiencing side effect of blood pressure medicine. I have known several in my life 56 at the time and I also have a 2nd medication of Losartan potassium. I have had side effects from other blood pressure medications. Sometimes I wonder is it all worth it. Yes it can be very scary. I understand, My body goes through a lot. Hopefully you will find the right one. Thank you there are experiencing side effects is all I need to know. It hard to explain to the PCP and your family.
I’m new to this site but would like info coreg . I’ve developed sob and I’m think coreg is causing constriction in my air ways. Anyone experience this
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1 Reaction@jazmineperez1996
I've been on it for 11 days and am having such bad panic I can't sleep it's awful, my PCP thinks its this med but cardiologist doesn't
Hi @jenniferh882003, and welcome to Connect. Having panic severe enough that you can’t sleep sounds difficult enough, and I can understand why it would be confusing when your PCP thinks carvedilol may be contributing but your cardiologist doesn’t.
You’ve joined a long discussion where a number of members have shared different experiences with carvedilol. Since you’ve only been taking it for 11 days, what has your PCP recommended you do next? Have you been able to tell your cardiologist how severe the panic and loss of sleep have become?
@diart26, have you discussed this side effect of shortness of breath and feeling like your airway is consticted with your doctor?
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1 Reaction@colleenyoung I have discussed with cardiologist and recently he put me on Cardizem 30 3x day. My bp is all over the place, heart rate increased, it’s only been a week.
I was taken off coreg no tapering. It only been about 6 days but I’m ready to go back on it, my anxiety is off the charts. I have chronic pain so I took hydrocodone close to the new med Cardizem and it caused increased dizziness, confusion. I’ve reported to my doctor but they are slow responding
All the pills similar to COREG Are horrible. It took me 2 to 3 weeks to wean off and then you have to watch that you don’t rebound for another 2 to 3 weeks. I started going to the gym every day just focusing on cardio and I seem to be controlling it. I understand this is not for everyone, but my one cardiologist told me just stop it suddenly I was only on one a day. I told him I tried that and I immediately had tachycardia incident, and my primary care told me the pill couldn’t be causing the swelling above my knee in my leg the limping the low energy, no energy days I could not get out of bed before the pill I was having episodes, but I could live life. I will pray for everyone everybody is different so we can offer all the advice we want, but we are not cookie cutter. You have to find your way, but you have to be very careful if you’re coming off of it. Any signs of any bad side effects I was having headaches my gums started to bleed which they never did before and have stopped since I stopped. Yeah never ever again. I’d rather take the option of death than to take a pill that depletes what life I have left in the way this did. But that’s my feeling. I’ve had an amazing life that most people wouldn’t believe I’ve been very fortunate, God has been good to me. With that said, I’m still young enough to want to live and enjoy life. However, again, I will say this pill stole whatever life I had in me for about three months. Also, I know most are saying oh only one pill I was supposed to be taking 3 however, just two made me so sick I couldn’t do it. So I stayed on one a day for three months sicker Then I had ever been before. Since I have come off my life and my energy has returned, and my quality of life is back to normal. I’m not saying I haven’t had episodes, but they have been minor under three minutes and rare Been off the pill about a month and a half. Good luck to all of you. 💙🙏🦋