Hi Everyone, Sorry for the long post, I am new here so I hope I am doing this post correctly. I am just looking for some questions answered / advice from someone who has taken Propranolol before. Background : I was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression around 12 years ago when I was around 15 years old. The reason I am anxious all the time is that I fear death, I don't know why, I just always think something is going to kill me, and the thought of no longer being here scares the crap out of me. Due to this fear most of the time I seem to feel pains in different places which makes me think I have a lot of different death-causing illnesses, and then have difficulty breathing, I have had panic attacks for years. I have been through counselling doing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which didn't help and am currently on the waiting list for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Whilst waiting on this the Doctor has recently taken my blood pressure/heart rate, said everything was fine then prescribed me with Propranolol. The dosage that the doctor has given me is 1 10mg tablet 3 times a day. The issue is that after seeing the potential side effects I am now scared of taking it incase it kills me. Questions: 1) Have you experienced any side effects? If so what were they? 2) If you take one when not having a panic attack what would happen? Would my heart just stop? 3) I have had this anxiety for so long its is like my normal state, I'm not even sure when I'm anxious anymore. I feel like crap 90% of the time and always feel like I'm dying, will Propranolol help with that? 4) Since Propranolol slows your heart rate does that mean you can't exercise anymore because that would increase your heart rate? what would happen if you did take it then ended up doing exercise? 5) When you take them does it feel like your heart has stopped? That would really scare me. Thank you in advance for taking the time to look at my post and for any replies I might get. I appreciate it very much. Kind Regards, Colin L
propranolol can be used for anxiety . Some people take it for several months or years. There are also other medications you can take for long-term for anxiety and depression that are very safe. Sometimes you have to try different ones if one of them doesn’t work for you. but they do take a good 6 to 8 weeks to take affect so you have to be patient.
i think your best bet to get your questions answered would be to speak with a pharmacist or psychiatrist because those are the two doctors that know medications very well.
im sure you know by now how anxiety and fearful thoughts can take over someone’s thinking and life! . It’s important to become aware of that so that you know. 99% of the time what we are fearful about never happens but it’s the negativity and overthinking that can control us .
also, talk to your doctor about your concerns. That’s what they are there for and what they get paid to do! You shouldn’t have to wonder about all of this. Other people have different experiences with medications so no matter what anybody else tells you, you may not have the same experience.
for me, The worry, fear, anxiety, and just general miserable feeling day after day after day and year after year is way worse than trying something that might help me.I figure I’m just miserable anyway without doing anything and that’s a horrible way to live. I do hope you feel better soon