propranol

I really don't understand the logic behind this medication. I tried it for several months back in the 1980s. Several people have mentioned here that it works on the PHYSICAL symptoms of anxiety, i.e. the most horrendous sensation for me was slowing my heart down.

Well, what is the logic in that? So my heart CAN'T beat fast, literally, but that is a SYMPTOM of anxiety, not anxiety itself... if this makes any sense. I felt so uncomfortable on that drug. It was one of the few that gave me very bad side effects.

Not to scare anyone. It was just me.

1. It did absolutely nothing for me re: anxiety, DP/DR, though a few folks here have sworn by its reducing anxiety.

2. I was once in a near heavy duty rear-end collision while on this med. Several of us had to slam on our brakes. I missed ramming into the guy ahead of me by about 1 inch. Was ready to die.

Meantime this damned Inderal/Indural? sp? wouldn't let my heart beat fast when a MASSIVE WAVE of adrenaline hit. The adrenaline was normal, after the accident it's to be expected. But my heart couldn't beat fast. I felt like what I assume a heart attack feels like, or what I imagine one might feel like.

3. While going OFF the med, and occasionally while on it, I got a very irregular heartbeat, which is the opposite of what it's supposed to do. I was actually working in a hospital staffing office while on it and one afternoon nearly ran to the ER as my heart was so irregular.

The doctors hooked me up to an EKG machine and were stunned. My heart was jumping all over the place and they didn't know what to do. I forgot what they DID do, but my heart settled down. The symptoms -- all physical -- only went away when the stuff was out of my system.

That drug, and the MAOIs gave me the worst physical symptoms, and neither did a damned thing for me.

I really don't understand the logic. If you're feeling anxious, make your heart beat more slowly and you'll feel less anxious? It never made sense to me.

Sorry I'm a crab today.

I have heard a few positive stories about it, but as in this thread mainly negative ones.

Best,
D :mrgreen:
:?
Can't wait for the "Raymond" special. Simple pleasures.

Clarification:

The drug obviously has a positive use. My mother took it for years for a prolapsed mitral valve. I don't believe it's for high blood pressure but to regulate heart rhythm.

My mother's heart would be very irregularly, sometimes stop and she'd pass out. This was from a heart defect she was born with. Ticks me off (her too) that for years doctors told her the racing heart was anxiety! SHEESH.

Anyway, there were times I drove her to the hospital for IV propanolol sp? as her heart would not stabilize, even on the medication.

Also, it is used in patients with irregular heartbeats or when the heart beats far too quickly. The horrible sensation I had, that it does give you, is a SLLLLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW steady heartbeat, whether you're sleeping or dancing or being scared by a monster. Well, I didn't find that pleasant.

For someone with a real heart defect it is a tremendous med. My mother was so thrilled to get on it after years of problems.

I still say it's cart before the horse or as my mother would say, "Hind end to." ? In other words, it treats symptoms not the overall umbrella syndrome when used for anxiety. It does "control" an irregular heartbeat, by slowing the heart and keeping it in a normal rhythm.

What it did for my mother, and did very well, once she got on the proper dose.

D