So like, i was given the lowest dose of propanolol by a cardiologist. He found skipped beats & blamed them on anxiety because all my other tests & blood pressure was perfect which is understandable. I have sinus arrhythmia but that's completely normal. I know it's a beta blocker but like, is it also used for anxiety? (Generlized Anxiety Disorder)
I haven't taken it yet & it was given in November šš
Kind of. Propranolol belongs to a group of medications called beta-blockers. By binding to the beta-adrenergic receptors, it inhibits the normal action of adrenaline and noradrenaline on a human body. This decreases the heart rate and also decreases the blood pressure ā these two effects are very important in patients suffering from hypertension, which explains why this particular drug is frequently prescribed by cardiologists.
As one of the symptoms of anxiety (GAD, social anxiety, agoraphobia, etc.) is a pathological increase of the heart rate (causing dizziness, tiredness, palpitations, trembling or shaking, excessive sweating, etc.), propranolol may be used to control the physical symptoms of anxiety. It is not an antidepressant in a traditional meaning of this word ā it does not cure depression and it does not interact with neurotransmitters responsible for mood, or with their transporters. However, due to its ability to decrease heart rate, it makes life easier for patients suffering from anxiety.
I take propranalol 40mg when my anxiety is bad on a morning with tremors and heart racing my dr said take 2 then if it doesn't settle take 1 more but only take 3 in 24hrs I feel they help but not all the time
Greaaatt explanation, thanks
Hi jessixa I am prescribed slow release propanolol for generalised anxiety disorder and it really helps with the physical symptoms of anxiety. Iām starting setraline 50mg tom to help also. I hope this helps
X
Yes it helps lol now I know I'm not the only one who was prescribed this for anxiety
What about if you wanna workout, and do cardio? How does it affect you then?
Hi Sam,
To be honest I am not aware of any studies on this topic. However, I would expect propranolol to act in the usual way and decrease the heart rate. This would result in a smaller amount of blood being delivered to muscles. And because blood carries oxygen which is necessary for any kind of aerobic activity, the anaerobic metabolism (leading to lactic acid) should kick in sooner than in a healthy person. So... I don't think that it is a great medication for workouts, I think it would make you feeling tired / exhausted and decrease the muscle power in a noticeable way. If you use a heart rate monitor and have a specific target (e.g. 70% HRmax), you would need to determine HRmax again, while on the drug.