How did you wean off Metoprolol?

Still feel there must be a more balanced approach to the treatment of disease. Science, research, pharmaceuticals, and physicians (and the Mayo Clinic!) will remain part of health's tool bix.

Hi Sue,
I just read that more than 1 in 3 gets cancer. Although not to be taken lightly, we may live longer and eventually we do have to die of something after all. If we don't die of heart disease, an accident or autoimmune disease or some genetic disease, cancer may be the default disease. I am guessing that if one lives long enough, cancer will develop.
Some diseases are on the increase. Look at autism...1 in 60. Allergies and autoimmune diseases have skyrocketed. Obesity and diabetes are rampant. There are many childhood cancers that are much more common today. Cancers are higher than ever in young adults, too. Then there's infertility. Since the 1950s infertility has doubled and men are much more effeminate. Our environment is poisoning us. We inject our beef cattle with 7 hormones...banned in Europe since 1986. Canada follows the US because Big Pharma has a strong influence on us, too. Then there are vaccines which have their place...in moderation. I am 70 years old. My generation got 6 vaccinations before age 7. Today American babies and young children under the age of 7 get 36! It may be more now because I think they are adding new ones like pneumonia. The adjuvents that are added to the vaccines are neurotoxins. Big Pharma admits this. How much can the brain of a baby take? I could go on but negativity and controversy is not something one wants to read about.

There are so many factors that lead to disease. Genes are a huge determinant. In my own family: grandmother, cancer, grandfather ,cancer, my mother had two different cancers, my sister has breast cancer and my brother has a blood cancer.
My mother was slim and exercised her whole life and believed in healthy eating
Sometimes childhood diseases affect your health in adulthood.
I know someone with post-polio syndrome. Thankfully we have vaccines today.
We live far longer today because of medicine. And this is coming from someone with a deep-seated fear of drugs and doctors!

Maybe I'm jaded but I've been around long enough to see the damage done to people whose doctors promote drugs over lifestyle in health management. I see so many health issues on this forum related to side effects...that the suffering people are largely unaware of. The cure is often worse than the disease. So many sicknesses can be eliminated by good nutrition, less food and exercise. Many if not most people seem to prefer to take the easy route and pop a pill. They are playing with fire...

Sometimes, no matter how great your lifestyle is, pharmaceutical and medical intervention is required. Lifestyle should be a preventative measure and be combined with the many benefits of modern medicine.

I am from Canada. We have a pretty good public transportation system. People leave cars at home and walk, take the bus, subway or commuter train. My daughter lives in the city (Montreal) and she pushes her 1 year old in a stroller for 38 minutes to work/daycare every weekday...often in the snow. People do go for walks. Yesterday my 68 year old husband went for a 35 km walk (maybe 25 miles?) and now he is out for a 12 km walk. We are amazed that in the US there are no people on the streets and that everyone drives. What is especially surprising is that 16 year olds expect a car. NO kids here have their own cars. They may be allowed to borrow Mum and Dad's car to go to soccer practice if they can't walk or bike or take a bus but not own one until they can afford to buy their own usually when they are well over age 20. Different cultures all around the world. Bottom line: move, eat well, ditch consumerism and avoid medications as much as possible and look to lifestyle changes to manage one's health.

Here in the Netherlands, people live in small homes or apartments that are furnished sparsely and they have as few belongings as possible because first of all there is no space. Secondly, I think it's a carryover from the Protestant Reformation where the Catholic church was noted for its excesses. The Dutch adopted plain, simple, modest clothing and a strict work ethic...like the Amish. The bicycle is king on city streets. There are red painted zones on the roads for bicycles. Cars and pedestrians must yield to cyclists and they do. They ride in bunches of 30 - 40 etc...at top speed! These people are fit and gorgeous which I think comes from good health. They are not raised on junk food and they eat far less than our children do. I am in admiration of these people. I bet they don't have the health problems we do.

Yes, I agree with you. We pay the price of poor health for our wealth of owning everything we possibly can. When last visiting family in LA, I was bemused by the number of autos everywhere. Few visible people, but autos.

It sounds like you have been through the mill, Always hope. And it all started with a fall. Terrible!
As we see on TV ads, drugs come with an alarming list of side effects. Resorting to drugs for one's health problems should be a last resort. Lifestyle changes are still best in dealing with health issues but doctors will reach for the prescription pad...which covers their &%$#@ if anything were to happen to the 'unmedicated' patient. So many health issues including high blood pressure, tachycardia, diabetes etc...can be CURED with dietary and physical activity changes that have as an added bonus; weight loss. There is no magic pill. We have to do the work ourselves...and I am one who admits that I am in the same boat.
As for how to manage weaning off any medication, I would ask the pharmacist. They are your go-to drug specialists. They know how drugs interact with each other and how they affect the body.
This is an aside concerning the Dutch approach to good health: I have been on holiday in the Netherlands for the past 2 weeks. I have never seen a healthier population of people. ALL are very healthy looking and slim. You do not see ANY overweight people. None! The children have rosy cheeks and are also ALL slim; not normal weight but slim. All teenagers are what we would consider skinny and very lanky. I can see why. ALL the Dutch ride bikes everywhere. The streets are crowded with bikes. Even mothers with 2 babies just put them in carriers on the bikes and off they go. The elderly ride everywhere as well. The Dutch eat much less than we do. In grocery stores, packages and jars of food are small. There are no fast food places anywhere although I did see a few McDonalds on the edge of a couple of cities but there are no other fast food chains here. If you get off at a town, there may be one proper, sit down, white table cloth restaurant. If we followed the Dutch model of eating less and exercising more, I am sure most of us would be slim, drug free and healthy.

My medical backstory: In 2014 I had a fall,(I was aprox 56 then) I didn't hit my head but fell hard enough forward that it somewhat knocked the wind out of me. A day or so later I was extremely dizzy to the point I couldn't function. A visit with a ENT diagnosed me with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (or BPPV) because the fall had loosened microscopic "crystals" in my inner ear.

Unfortunately, physical therapy including all vestibular maneuvers or all conventional medications didn't work so in late 2016 the neurologist prescribed 2Mg of Valium. 1Mg calmed the spinning it never completely goes away but I could work. By mid to late 2017my health was failing. And the falls from the vertigo have now caused Sciatica and that pain increased. In Dec of 2017, I was so weak, having hart palpitations, extreme anxiety, muscle pain and stiffness my mobility was diminished and after a visit to the emergency room, an EEG the ER doctor diagnosed I was low on potassium. In March 2018 my PCP referred me to a cardiologist who did a battery of tests said I have slight high blood pressure and I might have a small heart murmur and prescribed 25 Mg of Metoprolol Succ. along with the Valium.
I still had the vertigo but aprox July or August I felt the same prev symtoms coming back with a vengeance. I contacted my PCP, neurologist and cardiologist and they chalked it up to the Sciatica said I needed physical therapy or lumbar cortisone injections. I now know that I was and have been suffering from benzo tolerance and my body was going through with drawl (along with the Sciatica condition) I'm now trying to taper off the Metoprolol AND the valium.

I know the 12.5 Mg an 1 Mg of Metoprolol sounds like a small dose but it's the length of time I was taking the Valium added with the Metoprolol and 10 Mg of Benicar for my blood pressure. I am down to 6.25 Mg of Metoprolol,50Mof Valium and 10 Mg of Benicar and it's Hell. It's like I read in a previous post I read. I could not do this without God's help. I wish the doctors told me that I could only take both for a short period because after extensive research these meds are not meant for long term use.
Does anyone know if weaning off taking half doses for two weeks at a time is going too fast? Thanks