Posted by WhatToDoNext on July 27, 2008, at 14:44:48 [reposted on July 27, 2008, at 20:51:14 | original URL]
I posted about severe anxiety from the Transfer of Xanax XR to fast acting in another post. This transition was done within the last week.
My symptoms were Severe Shortness of breath at times for no reason, and alot of fidgeting around, couldn't sit still. Was feeling the Anxiety real bad in the chest.
I went to 2mg bid on my Klonopin as directed by my MD, (was previously on 1mg bid). I stopped the Xanax XR 1mg bid completely and started on the fast acting Xanax 0.5-1mg x 4 day. For the past few days, my anxiety has been out of this world. I have been short of breath, dizzy, headache, very very anxious (much more than baseline). II've been eating Xanax 1mg at a time with no relief at all, just major sedation. The only other med I'm taking is Zoloft 50mg daily. I stopped drinking coffee about 4 days ago and thought maybe I was having Caffeine withdrawal, so I drank two cups this morning, got a little relief from the shortnes of breath, but it soon returned to a rate of about 40 breaths per minute. I have had this happen now about 4 times over the past few days. When it happens, rush to my med cabinet and start taking doses of meds I recently came off of. The only two meds I recently came off of were 1. Buspar 45mg, titrated down to nothing over about a two week span, but I was only on it for about 3 weeks total. The other med I had stopped was my Propanolol, which I had taken for years, but my Cardiologist said to switch over to Calan, a Calcium Channel blocker, as I the Propanolol didn't seem to help my anxiety anymore. I'm trying to eliminate meds, as I'm only 39 y.o. and feel like maybe the meds are makiing my anxiety condition worse.
S0, the past few days have been hellish, as the sympstoms persist all day. I sit by the phone and contemplate calling 911, but don't want to wind up in a psych ward as my mind is intact and I just have extreme anxiety which no other med has helped in the past.
So today, I started thinking hmmmmmmmmmmm. Maybe I should look up about the Propanolol, didn't think much of it as I've been off of it for about two weeks, but I decided to take it and see what would happen. 20 min. after ingesting 20mg of propanolol, my Shortness of breath subsided and so did the intense anxiety that was like a constant panic attack sensation.
I've googled all over the place and read about rebound tachycardia, and headaches, dizzyness, rebound hypertension, and I found a few sites that said possible anxiety, but I couldn't find anything about shortness of breath or labored breathing.
I think I have found the fix now out of process of elimination and hopefully saved myself a trip to the ER and the Psych unit, where this would have been overlooked, and I would have been pumped full of tranquilizers I'm sure. I've never been hospitalized, but I've read and I don't want to wind up there at all costs.
So my big question: How the hell could being off Propanolol cause shortness of breath and the severe anxiety I have had x the last 3-4 days ?
I have read that when starting a Beta blocker, people can develop this symptom, but nothing, and I mean nothing about this happening when coming off.
Thanks in advance for anyone who might have insight into this knowledge.......
Regards,
Steve
poster:WhatToDoNext
thread:842480
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080727/msgs/842480.html