Beta blocker/Bisoprolol withdrawal and breathlessness

Treatment and medication
61

Hi, Kim, this is a classic withdrawal.

In simplest, look at it this way:

If you didn't have some problems before Beta blockers, and now 1 year later you have some problems, there are only 2 options:

1. either it is a withdrawal from a Beta blocker

2. or you have some new disease with 100s of symptoms in the last few weeks

But, luckily, since majority of people are experiencing similar withdrawal symptoms, you will be fine over time.

When I have weaned off from Beta blockers, I had:

1. elevated resting heart rate for a few weeks, and it would come and go even later (but only for 5-30 minutes) and it was much milder and milder over time

2. anxiety which lasted the longest. I was scared of everything for no reason, and I never had those problems in my life before a withdrawal.

Also, apart from anxiety and being scared, I was personally too sensitive for a few weeks: to sunlight, loud noises, listening music or watching any movies which involved any action/murders etc.

Also, I would get too excited or too scared like 10x times more easily than in normal times.

If I would talk to someone over a phone for 10 minutes, I would need to relax and breathe deeply for 10-30 minutes after that to calm down (crazy stuff).

Or if I would watch some sport match, after 5-10 minutes, I would get too excited and I would need to turn the Tv off to calm myself down.

Also, if I would have an argument over anything with someone, adrenaline/blood pressure/heart rate would jump in a second.

Luckily, it gets better and better each new week, but it will take a few Months until your brain will be 99% normal again.

3. I had a lot of nausea also (Beta blockers do affect lots of mechanisms in our bodies. They also affect bowels and stomach, so when you quit BBs, it takes some time until this part of your body also readjusts.

Also, an upset stomach comes from both a withdrawal plus anxiety (again, due to a withdrawal).

4. dizziness for no reason and headaches are classic symptoms also.

About dizziness, sometimes you can have dizziness for days.

But sometimes, I would get dizziness if I would stand for too long, or walk for too long or do any activity (during a withdrawal).

I never had those problems in my life before a withdrawal.

Again, it will get better over time.

From your symptops, I had 4 out of 5. I personally didn't have weak legs, but I have read on forums that a lot of people had shaky legs and they had a feeling that they will fall.

About your doc, you can read on this forum that it happens all the time.

I am not sure whether docs really don't know nothing about a withdrawal (majority of people have the same problem) or we are 1 out of 10 or 20 people who have a withdrawal.

I really have no idea what is the answer, but people on these forums have exactly the same withdrawal symptoms over and over, and yet docs never know anything about it, or they usually say: you will be fine in 2 weeks, it's a tiny dose.

About a tiny dose, well it is a lowest dose, but still, it is a very strong medicine (and you can see that now when you have quit and you can see how much this drug has altered and readjusted 10s of mechanisms in your body).

Good luck. If you will have any problems or questions, just ask people here.

Or if you will have some bigger problems, always call your doc since people can get long episodes of arrhythmias, angina attacks or even more dangerous things in some rare occasions.

Good luck once again, I hope that you will be fine in a few weeks. 

62

Also, a few tips:

1. drink A LOT of water, it will help

(when we are well hydrated, our heart beats slower. So, currently when you have a too high HR due to a withdrawal, water will help to some extent)

2. magnesium helps in lowering heart rate in a natural way

3. take vitamins

4. try to sleep a lot during first few weeks so that you body will get more energy to fight with a withrawal

5. when you will feel better, try to walk and lo some light excercise more and more each new day to get back into a shape, that will return your heart into a normal state

63

Hi Rachel,

I stopped my beta blocker about 8 weeks ago. I'm still having bouts of anxiety and hot flashes from time to time and this was not my normal before beta blockers. How long did it take for you to feel normal again? Thank you for your help.

64

Hi Bob,

I stopped my beta blocker about 8 weeks ago. I'm still having bouts of anxiety and hot flashes from time to time and this was not my normal before beta blockers. How long did it take for you to feel normal again? Thank you for your help.

65

Thank you!!!

66

I needed 3 Months, but I have weaned off for a few Months before that and I was taking only "dust" for the last 3-4 Months and yet I still had problems for 2-3 Months after quitting those tiny amounts of dust.

So, when you sum everything, it was a 6-7-8-9 Months of a withdrawal and axiety for me (in total).

From what I have read on internet, some people are good after 2 weeks, some need 2 Months, some need 6 Months and some suffer even longer.

But for majority, it gets better and better each new week.

But let's say say that majority of people start to feel better between 2 and 6 Months.

Also, you will have some shorter episodes of tachycardia or anxiety even after 1-2-3 years, but then you will know what is happening and it will be easy to calm down yourself and "kill" the attack right away.

67

I was put on Bisoprolol at the beginning of this year. Right away I started telling people "it feels as if my lungs arn't working", "I feel like a drunk Zombie", "I have been turned into an old man overnight".

By February 9th I was on verge of collapse at work, the nurse called an ambulance as she could hardly detect my normally strong pulse, even after the nurse had been giving me oxygen, the ambulance crew found my pulse to be 40bpm. My work also told me as a result that they didnt want me back until I was better. I live alone so followed many weeks of depressing isolation.

Now I had been due to give up the Bisoprolol completely cold-turkey on the advice of St THomas' Hospital in a few days anyway as I was to have an EP study with a Catheter ablation if they found the cause.

By the fourth day however, I got such a long session of sustatained Ventriculat Tachycardia, (not sustained SVT but sustained VT),  that an ambulance rushed me to St Georges hospital. Unfortunately, they gave me dosages of Bisoprolol four times higher than my normal dose, even the following day when they sent me home, even when I told them I had to have it out of my system for the EP study three days later.

So I then went cold-turkey yet again, but didnt have enough time to get it out of my system so the EP study coudnt bring on my VTs and so they failed to find what is causing my arrhythmias..

Due to my intolerance of Bisoprolol, they now put me on Sotalol, this immediately gave me a terrible cough so after a few sleepless days my GP told me to stop taking this Beta-Blocker, another cold turkey.

My VTs became a daily event as I waited for my Reveal Linq monitor to relay the information my cardiologists required but then I had a 12 hour period of VT that was just getting worst and worst so had to call an ambulance so found myself in St Georges again for five days, this time however, they didnt fill me with more beta-blockers so were able to successfully map and ablate my heart.

I then went home to find the parents I tolerate from a very great distance had prepared a welcome home present by getting the Police to smash my front door in, my Suicide note read "Thanks mum, if only you had shown as much concern when I was a little boy and needed you". Unfortunately I was found though in a state of seizuring and vomiting.

I dont know how much of my decision to escape this horrible life was influenced by the way Bisoprolol still makes me feel like a drunk zombie, as if I am in a dream, or that the stress was out of proportion as a result of beta blocker sudden withdrawel, but I can report that even after a month off them, my lungs still dont work, I have to pause mid sentance to take a few breaths, it is especialy bad when I bend over, my feet and ankles are swollen now even when lying down.

Prior to beta-blockers I was rather healthy.

68

Forgot to say in the above post, my discharge notes state allergic to Bisoprolol/ anaphylactic shock

69

Hi: You say your ablation went wrong...can that actually happen that something goes wrong? I have HORRIBLE palpitations and just started taking 2.5 mg of apo-bispropolol but I am still getting palps....I was supposed to take 5 mg, but I am reading that people tend to have breathing problems and negative side effects with 5 mg's, so I am scared to take a higher dose. Doc mentioned ablation to me. Do you have any advice? I am 61 years old, female. Thank you!

70

Hi there: Why did you stop taking the BB? Thank you!

 

71

Hi: Bike riding for me is okay, but weight lifting is not. My palpitations get really bad when I lift. I just started 2.5 mgs. of Apo-bispropolol and don't care if I stay on this drug for the rest of my life (I am 61) although the posts here TERRIFY me and the reason why I didn't take the drug for a year!! My horrible palpitations have gone donw from 10 a day (not including the little ones) to 4 thus far today...and they don't last as long and aren't as bad...however, the anxiety they cause is still there...I find no issue with breathing although my dreams are pretty crazy and vivid. LOL! You say you feel better off the meds. How do you know when to stop...? when you will feel better not taking the med? Will my breathing be affected if I take this drug for a longer period of time? I get so scared reading all these posts...and confused...Thank you!

 

72

Hi Kim: Why are you stopping the meds if you are having issues without them now? Thank you!

73

https://patient.info/doctor/ablation-therapy-for-arrhythmias

74

Peter, that's from beta blockers, majority of your problems.

I was taking only 1,25 Mg of Bisoprolol for a year and a half and I needed to wean off for 8 Months to get to 0 Mgs.

And even after that, I felt bad for one more additional Month.

So, I felt bad for 9 Months in a row weaning off from 1,25 to 0,0 Mg.

I am feeling better now.

About feeling breathless, needing a breath, inability to walk, anxiety and everything, that's a withdrawal.

I tried to quit cold turkey in the past and ended at ER twice.

This is why I weaned off in a slow way in my 2nd attempt.

Today, I am back to a level of how I felt before drugs.

I do still have my original disease, but I can live a normal life now, without side effects from a drug and anxiety from a withdrawal is now at 10-20% how it has been a few Months ago.

 

75

Hi Bob - Your posts have been a life line to me.  I was put on 25 mg of atenolol (beta blocker) even though my 24 hour bp was fine and the doctor said I had "white coat syndrome". Within a week I was not feeling well but didn't make the connection. Then after 3 wks I was at the airport and suddeny felt like I was going to pass out along with feeling lightheaded and naueous. The next morning the same thing happened and I had to cancel my trip and fly back to Canada because I didn't know what was wrong with me. I made the connection to the atenolol and that night stopped taking it. That's when things went from bad to worse. I ended up in emergency 2 nights later with bp of 195/115 and my whole body was shaking - hot cold - tightness in chest and uncontrollable anxiety.  The doctors forced me on amlodopine (5mg) and all my bloodwork and tests ekg xray cat scan etc came back normal. By the time I saw my family doctor again (1 week) I had seen 3 other doctors and they all told me the drug would be gone from my body. My family doc said the same thing and that there must be something else going on. I transferred to a private doctor and essentially got the same thing from him - he thought I was just a very nervous person and that it would not be the atenlol and said I was a complex case. Many more tests later all negative with the exception of elevated cortisol AM and then low AM cortisol and slightly elevated TSH. Not one medical professional has acknowledged that I may be sufferring from rebound and not one medical professional has even mentioned that I should have tapered the dose.  I had 4 weeks of being incredibly ill - constant nausea, huge fatigue so unable to even walk, chills, loss of appetite, searing headache that would appear once a week, anxiety and body vibrations.  Then at exactly 28 days it felt like the eye of the storm had passed. I am now at 46 days and still not 100% - AM nausea - nervousness - jittery feeling in body and legs but the intensity and duration of the bad waves have lessened. So I am praying I can make it through this. I went off all bp meds despite the private doctor asking me to promise him I would take them. I had some very bad waves and my bp was very high but I toughed it out and now my bp is usually in the 130/85 range. I think from what I have read of your posts I am displaying the classic symptoms of rebound and cannot believe that something this horrible can be essentially ignored by the medical community. Hoping to have my life back soon but wanted to thank you again for your posts as they helped me believe that this was most definitely an adverse reaction followed by rebound to beta blockers - I must have read them 20 times. CAT

 

76

Cat, no problem.

I am glad that those posts will help to some people.

Your symptoms are 100% classic withdrawal symptoms.

What is worse, docs at least usually say: tapper a drug for 2-3 weeks.

In your case, they didn't say even that.

Luckily, nothing too bad happened and you survived.

I am currently at around 120 days off the drug, and I am getting more and more normal with each new week.

In the first few weeks, the biggest problems were elevated HR while resting, high blood pressure, nausea, dizziness, HR getting too high on any activity, feeling breathless on some days.

After some time, those things will slowly settle down (elevated HR will stay the longest), but then you will get anxiety which will last for Months.

It seems that heart (heart rate) and anxiety (due to Beta blockers killing/putting to sleep our receptors of adrenaline, and now you need a lot of time until those receptors which were semi-dead during Beta blockers, to readjust to adrenaline and to a normal life).

In my case, anxiety and being nervouss and too sensitive to everything lasted for some time, but I am now around 90% normal (the same as before Beta blockers) and it will probably go back to 100% in upcoming Months.

If you are better now, try to live a normal life.

If you get an anxiety attack or something, sit down, breathe, drink water, relax and open some pics on your mobile phone which relax you or open some music which relax you and try to calm down.

Attacks should be weaker and weaker and last way shorter over time.

Lately, when I feel a surge of adrenaline, it returns to normal state after 2-3-5 minutes, while a few Months ago, I needed 30-60-120 minutes to return to a normal state after any fight/argument with someone or after watching sports or something.

So, luckily, you have made it and the worst part is finished.

HR will be normal over time and anxiety and being too sensitive will also end soon.

So, if you'll have some bad days again (it happens, it goes up and down all the time during a withdrawal), just remember that you will be normal again in 2-3 Months and that will give you a strength.

If you are feeling better, try to "expose" yourself to more and more everyday situations which may cause some anxiety.

For example, if you are scared that your HR will jump if you'll walk one mile, then go out and walk half a mile.

If nothing happens later that day (my HR would always go slightly up 1-2 hours after walking during a withdrawal), then go out on the next day and walk half a mile again.

After a few days, start to walk 3/4 of a mile.

If nothing happens, start with 1 mile after 2 weeks etc.

You will be scared at first, but if nothing will happen, you will easily kill the anxiety regarding walking and regarding high HR after walking.

If you have anxiety regarding some everyday things (I had problems with loud music, couldn't watch sports, couldn't watch horror and action movies), then slowly try to do those things.

For example, if watching sport for 2 hours will get your HR jump to 150, then start with watching sport for 10 minutes per day.

Once you get too excited, stop it and turn off the Tv.

The next day, try watching sports again for 10 minutes.

Over time, your brain will relearn how to handle strong emotions again and your body will relearn how to handle your adrenaline while watching sports for 30 and 60 minutes in upcoming weeks.

So, you will be better and better in a natural way over time since your body will return to a normal state.

But since we are not people who had anxiety before drugs, feel free to slowly "force" yourself into situations that feel uncomfortable currently (due to a withdrawal and due to this chemically induced anxiety) and you will be stronger and stronger each new day and you will see that nothing will happen in those normal everyday situations.

And that way, you will "kill" majority of remaining anxiety.

About docs, don't fight with them.

Who cares?

If they say it is not a withdrawal, who cares?

You know how you are feeling currently and there are 1000s of people around the world who have been EXACTLY through the same thing (withdrawal).

So, you can't win that fight against docs.

The only thing that matters is that you are not talking drugs anymore, that you can (luckily) live without drugs and that a worst part of a withdrawal is finished.

So, concentrate only on your health and on your problems.

Also, we should take drugs only if there is no other options.

In some cases (your case), drugs do more harm than good.

If you'll have more problems or questions, just ask.

But I am sure that you will be almost completely fine in 2-3 Months.

Just drink a lot of water, take vitamins, magnesium, try to walk, do light physical activity etc.

Good luck

 

77

Bob! Well said! I am 100% focusing on getting better and am done with doctors and tests. All that does is raise the stress levels. I never had HR issues but when bad waves came through my bp would go to the 160 to 180/90 to 110 levels. After stopping atenolol I then went off amlodopine after 10 days. My bp started regulating except of course when I would go to the doctor and then it would shoot up. Next they tried to put me on an ace inhibitor. I did not take it and as I mentioned despite some pretty bad nights my bp started hitting 120/80 numbers 10 days ago and on average is now in the 130/85 range - I am fine with this as I am still in withdrawal. I wasn't on anything other than the beta blocker so my goal was to have nothing in my body to establish a true baseline without drug interference.  Just this week I have energy to increase from more than a 20 minute walk so I am going on my first bike ride this AM.  I am doing everything you mentioned including the water and vitamins. Oh I had the same sensitivity to light and noise as well. What a horrible horrible drug. Ciao! CAT

78

Oh, that sensitivity to light and loud sounds (I had problems with sunlight and needed to have curtains all day long for some time in the beginning. My family thought that I am crazy, of course, lol.

About your blood pressure, try to measure it at home if you have a monitor 2-3 times a day (morning, noon, evening).

If you'll have a normal pressure at home and a higher pressure at doc's office, then it is a 100% just anxiety.

 

79

Bob-

I am currently weining off 100 mg metroprolol that I have taken for a month with horrible side effects. The dr said to go cold turkey but I have been halving it every 2 days. I do feel better and tonight I am supposed to go to 12.5 but my Electrophysiologist said to get off now S I am having an ablation for 18000 pvcs soon like within 2 weeks and can't have any in my system. If i finish at 12.5 tomorrow is it reasonable it will be out of my system within 2 weeks since I only took it for 4. I had all the bad symptoms while on it and they seem to be lesssening as I am lessening the dose. Any help is appreciated

80

I was told to come off Bisoprolol 5 days before an EP study/Ablation, by day four I was in an ambulance to A&E for my Venticular Tachycardia so after four days the beta-blockers were no longer protecting my heart and so an Ablation would have been possible. Except that they put so much Bisoprolol in me, that they couldnt induce ny VT when I went for my EP study.

I imagine two weeks is easily enough.

This isnt to say however that the bad side effects go after a few days, here I am a month without beta-blockers and still feel as if my brain and my lungs are not working, I wonder if they have been permanently damaged?