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Is There Any Safe Way To Wean Off Of Propranolol And Resume Taking Natural Herbal Medicines For My Mental Disorder?

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Posted on Thu, 8 Feb 2024
Question: Hello, I am taking latuda, propranolol, buspar, and klonopin for schizoaffective disorder and anxiety. I decided to wean myself off of my meds because I want to try natural medications. I was taking 20 mg of propranolol three times a day but then reduced it to 20 mg twice a day. On Wednesday I took it three times but on Thursday I took it twice. Then on Friday around noon, I went out for a walk and ten minutes after I came back I started having a dull continuous chest pain. It radiated to my arms, neck, and back. So I went to the emergency room and had an ekg, heart monitoring, blood work, and chest x-ray done and everything came back normal. They rechecked my troponin levels two hours later and it was normal both times. I went home and I was still having some chest pain so I decided to go ahead and take my afternoon 20 mg of propranolol which I had skipped the previous day and my chest pain went away. I had chest pain again at night for two hours and then I took my nighttime 20 mg dose of propranolol and the chest pain went away and it hasn't come back since then. So since the propranolol relieved the chest pain do you think it was something serious because how would the propranolol relieve it unless it is something heart related. Do you think I could have strained my heart muscle when I took a walk and if so would propranolol relieve muscle pain or non cardiac pain or do you think it is something more serious and cardiac related like a clogged artery and the emergency room didn't catch it? I am a 36 year old female, am 5'2" and weigh 200 lbs. My blood pressure stays in the 120s and 130s and my medications cause an increased heart rate which the propranolol helps decrease. Without the propranolol, my heart goes as high as 130 or 140. It was 111 when I checked it on Friday. Also, the nurse said I may have to take propranolol my whole life because my body may not be able to tolerate the withdrawal. So is there any safe way for me to withdraw off of propranolol because I want to take natural herbal meds for my mental disorder and herbal meds interact with prescription meds like propranolol? What if I cut down the dosage of propranolol by 5 mg every week or two weeks instead of 20 mg?
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Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:

Detailed Answer:

Hi,

Regarding your concern, I would explain that Propranolol has many positive effects on the cardiovascular system:

- decreased myocardial oxygen consumption
- coronary artery vasodilation
- decreasing heart rate, thus lowering the burden of potential cardiac ischemia.

Besides the above, it may also exert calming effects on the central nervous system.

But, some preliminary precautions should be taken when someone considers taking propranolol.

When starting the drug or when deciding to withdraw it, it is necessary to follow some escalating dosing.

When the drug is stopped cold turkey, it may lead to withdrawal syndrome, manifested with excessive tachycardia and the opposite of many of the above mentioned beneficial effects.

Coming to this point, if you really need to stop taking this drug, I would recommend a very gradual tapering of the dose, not faster than 5mg per week.

Anyway, I would not recommend discontinuing it in your case.

Besides, if these complaints persist despite the very gradual tapering of the dose of Propranolol( like above recommended), I would recommend performing a coronary angio CT scan.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

Kind regards,

Dr.Iliri

Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee
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Answered by
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Dr. Ilir Sharka

Cardiologist

Practicing since :2001

Answered : 9536 Questions

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Is There Any Safe Way To Wean Off Of Propranolol And Resume Taking Natural Herbal Medicines For My Mental Disorder?

Brief Answer: I would recommend as follows: Detailed Answer: Hi, Regarding your concern, I would explain that Propranolol has many positive effects on the cardiovascular system: - decreased myocardial oxygen consumption - coronary artery vasodilation - decreasing heart rate, thus lowering the burden of potential cardiac ischemia. Besides the above, it may also exert calming effects on the central nervous system. But, some preliminary precautions should be taken when someone considers taking propranolol. When starting the drug or when deciding to withdraw it, it is necessary to follow some escalating dosing. When the drug is stopped cold turkey, it may lead to withdrawal syndrome, manifested with excessive tachycardia and the opposite of many of the above mentioned beneficial effects. Coming to this point, if you really need to stop taking this drug, I would recommend a very gradual tapering of the dose, not faster than 5mg per week. Anyway, I would not recommend discontinuing it in your case. Besides, if these complaints persist despite the very gradual tapering of the dose of Propranolol( like above recommended), I would recommend performing a coronary angio CT scan. Hope you will find this answer helpful! Kind regards, Dr.Iliri