going off beta blockers

To anyone who has gone off them, after you took the last dose, how long did it take until you didn't have any effects? I know the meds themselves don't last long in our system, but I expect it to take some time for the heart to adapt again.

4 Comments

atenolol

by Tracey_E - 2016-04-14 01:04:06

I looked it up, within about 2 days it's all out of my system, and I took decreasing doses for 5 weeks before stopping altogether. I've read it can take up to two months for the heart to get back to its old normal, tho. Side effects are totally gone (and can I just say I LOVE having a clear head again!?!?!) but I've been getting racy and easily sob and working out has been interesting. I just took the last dose Tuesday so this is only day 3 without it.

Dunno wqhichBeta...

by donr - 2016-04-14 01:04:32

...Blockers you were taking, but...

Go on line & ask Google for the "Half Life" of the med.

All meds are detoxified by the body & the length of time it takes to detox them is measured by their half life. it's the length of time it takes for the blood concentration to be cut in half., Most half lives are measured in hours - typically 6 - 10. Some can go into the multiple days, so it varies from med to med.

Rule of thumb: It takes 5 half lives for a med to be reduced to a level where it is not effective at all. If you took it twice a day, its half life was about 6 hours, so in about 30 hours the side effects should be disappearing.

IF it was an extended release med, situation is different.

If you are talking miserable/unpleasant side effects, the symptoms may take a bit longer to go away, since your body may be more sensitive to the med.

Don

Coreg

by donr - 2016-04-14 02:04:48

Tracey: My wife was prescribed Coreg, another BB. Took the lowest dose - 3.125 mg BiD. After three days, she had terrible aching lower extremity joints - I looked up the side effects. Guess what!!!!! So she stopped taking the Coreg to see what would happen. In about two days, MOST of the bad side effect was gone. BUT some still lingered. Turned out that she had irritation problems in her S-I joint in the pelvis & an irritated Bursa on the point of her Femur that did not go away. Who knows what caused what effect? But we went to see our cardio yesterday & her BP was great, so she told her to stay off the BB & monitor the BP to see what happens.

Side effects can be messy. It appears that in Wife's case it caused inflammation that became self-sustaining & lasted after the original cause departed.

Know what you mean to be clear of fuzzy thinking & head! BTDT

don

?

by capecod - 2016-04-16 04:04:42

may i ask why you are going off them?

You know you're wired when...

You can hear your heartbeat in your cell phone.

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