Celayne
Well known member
Has any had experience with these drugs, specifically going off them?
I was put on atenolol after a doctor visit where my heart was racing. I was suffering from extreme anxiety at the time but no one identified it as such.
I took it for 3 -5 years (I don't know when I started as I dumped all my medical records this summer). After I learned about TMS and its equivalents, I stopped taking it as it only masked my TMS-anxiety and had some side effects (foggy brain & fatigue, mostly).
At first, felt better but after a month or two off it, I started to have an anxiety level that was off the charts. I started to get obsessed with the heart rate monitor on my FitBit, as it seemed that my rate would skyrocket at times that mostly coincided with feelings of anxiety, so no surprise.
This morning, I toyed with the notion of starting the atenolol again, just to get me through the anxiety. My next thought was wondered if my extreme anxiety had anything to do with stopping the drug, a drug I was assured by the prescribing doctor would "help you and it certainly won't hurt you!". So I googled "how long does atenolol stay in your body?" (I know, I know ,about searching for symptoms and I haven't done THAT for months...) Got some interesting answers.
First, its half life is something like 7 hours so it doesn't stay in your body all that long. The next link I clicked was a health chat board and there were several messages from people who had a very tough time getting off this 'innocuous' drug. The most recent message was from 2012, but the information still seems current. Racing heartbeat, elevated blood pressure, hair loss and other symptoms were reported. Someone said that because the beta blockers interfere with adrenal receptors, once the drug is gone the body is trying to find normal and therefore can go all over the map. The people who commented seemed to have been prescribed other drugs to help get them through the rough parts. I'm not interested in doing that. But, it can take months for the body to stabilize.
Since my underlying problem was always TMS related anxiety, I am taking this information as something that's good to know but it's not stopping me from working on this as a TMS healing issue. Rather, it's strengthened my resolve to stick with TMS healing methods and not run back to a doctor.
I've been doing things that helped with anxiety in the past, even though then I was taking atenolol and Zoloft, which basically just made me numb. Yoga, mindfulness, movement. Alan Gordon's program is a new thing for me that is very helpful. Knowing that "this too shall pass".
I know that Dr. Sarno reminded us to always think psychological, not physical but for me right now, knowing that there may be a physical reason for this -- basically, a drug withdrawal -- has helped me a lot and made it easier for me to stop fearing and get on with healing.
I was put on atenolol after a doctor visit where my heart was racing. I was suffering from extreme anxiety at the time but no one identified it as such.
I took it for 3 -5 years (I don't know when I started as I dumped all my medical records this summer). After I learned about TMS and its equivalents, I stopped taking it as it only masked my TMS-anxiety and had some side effects (foggy brain & fatigue, mostly).
At first, felt better but after a month or two off it, I started to have an anxiety level that was off the charts. I started to get obsessed with the heart rate monitor on my FitBit, as it seemed that my rate would skyrocket at times that mostly coincided with feelings of anxiety, so no surprise.
This morning, I toyed with the notion of starting the atenolol again, just to get me through the anxiety. My next thought was wondered if my extreme anxiety had anything to do with stopping the drug, a drug I was assured by the prescribing doctor would "help you and it certainly won't hurt you!". So I googled "how long does atenolol stay in your body?" (I know, I know ,about searching for symptoms and I haven't done THAT for months...) Got some interesting answers.
First, its half life is something like 7 hours so it doesn't stay in your body all that long. The next link I clicked was a health chat board and there were several messages from people who had a very tough time getting off this 'innocuous' drug. The most recent message was from 2012, but the information still seems current. Racing heartbeat, elevated blood pressure, hair loss and other symptoms were reported. Someone said that because the beta blockers interfere with adrenal receptors, once the drug is gone the body is trying to find normal and therefore can go all over the map. The people who commented seemed to have been prescribed other drugs to help get them through the rough parts. I'm not interested in doing that. But, it can take months for the body to stabilize.
Since my underlying problem was always TMS related anxiety, I am taking this information as something that's good to know but it's not stopping me from working on this as a TMS healing issue. Rather, it's strengthened my resolve to stick with TMS healing methods and not run back to a doctor.
I've been doing things that helped with anxiety in the past, even though then I was taking atenolol and Zoloft, which basically just made me numb. Yoga, mindfulness, movement. Alan Gordon's program is a new thing for me that is very helpful. Knowing that "this too shall pass".
I know that Dr. Sarno reminded us to always think psychological, not physical but for me right now, knowing that there may be a physical reason for this -- basically, a drug withdrawal -- has helped me a lot and made it easier for me to stop fearing and get on with healing.
