# Weaning off Beta Blockers



## MIMAZOLCIAK (Aug 3, 2011)

I believe at my next endo app which will be on October 12th, I will start to be weaned off my betablockers. Anywho, for anyone who has been weaned how did your doctor wean you off? I spoke to both pharmacist at the pharmacy and they both offered different ways to wean.

However one made more sense in her explanation. The pharm said since I was taking BB it would be ok to wean down to 1 pill every other day (I take 60mg ER/LA Inderal/propanolol). She said my tachycardia was caused by release of excess thyroid hormone and if I am in remission or clearing the subacute thyroiditis, one every other day should be just fine for 2 weeks since I have no other conditions such as highblood pressure.

How did your DR. wean you off BB.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

MIMAZOLCIAK said:


> I believe at my next endo app which will be on October 12th, I will start to be weaned off my betablockers. Anywho, for anyone who has been weaned how did your doctor wean you off? I spoke to both pharmacist at the pharmacy and they both offered different ways to wean.
> 
> However one made more sense in her explanation. The pharm said since I was taking BB it would be ok to wean down to 1 pill every other day (I take 60mg ER/LA Inderal/propanolol). She said my tachycardia was caused by release of excess thyroid hormone and if I am in remission or clearing the subacute thyroiditis, one every other day should be just fine for 2 weeks since I have no other conditions such as highblood pressure.
> 
> How did your DR. wean you off BB.


You need to wean off very slowly and over a period of a month. You are on a fairly high dose and my opinion would be to lower your daily dose rather than alternate days.

If you begin to experience any palpitations then tweak up your dose for a few days then try again to lower.

Can you post the lab results of the tests reflecting your remission.

How long have you been on anti thyroid meds?


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## SnoodMama (Jan 11, 2011)

I was taking 40 mg in the am and 40 mg propranalol in the pm to prevent migraines. But one week before my thyroidectomy the anesthesiologist told me to wean off them. So I cut my 40 mg pills in half and dropped by 20 mg every 2 days or so. At the end I broke them into quarters and took 10 in the morning and 10 in the pm. I hope I'm adding this up right. It worked and my blood pressure went back up to normal (it had been low on the beta blockers).

Now that my thyroid is out I didn't start taking them again. But I'm feeling rapipd heart beat. It feels like my heart is galloping in my chest. Not sure if that is due to my thyroid levels or beta-blocker absence. I will talk to my doctor on Friday about what to do. The beta blockers were helping me with anxiety as well as migraines. I will probably go backonthem, but at a lower dose. I don't want to tweak too many things at once now while adjusting to thyroid hormone replacement.

I think doing a slow taper is very important. Whether or not you can skip a day in between and go to an every other day schedule depends on how long the drug stays in your system (the half-life) and I'm not sure, although that could probably be found in Wikipedia, if it is a fast clearing drug, then you don't want to do every other day because your blood levels would be like a roller coaster. But since a pharmacist recommended this, I'm assuming she must know it is a drug that stays in your system for a while. It also depends on whether or not you have the type of pill that can be divided up. Some extended release stuff can't be broken up, and since it stays around in your blood longer anyway, it is ok to go every other day. Talk to you doctor though because you shouldn't listen to some novice on the Internet.  good luck.


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## MIMAZOLCIAK (Aug 3, 2011)

> Can you post the lab results of the tests reflecting your remission.
> 
> How long have you been on anti thyroid meds?


I haven't had my labs. I have SUBACUTE THYROIDITIS which is self limited. The cycle of subacute thyroidits is hyper followed by hypo which resumes back to normal thyroid function, but in some cases a person may be left hypo for life. All of my symptoms have diminished and I feel back to normal. I believe my labs will be indicative of that, but I haven't had confirmation of that just yet!
I was never on Antithyroid meds.


> You need to wean off very slowly and over a period of a month. You are on a fairly high dose and my opinion would be to lower your daily dose rather than alternate days.


I am on the lowest dose of meds for the extended release/long acting poropanolol. There is no way to lower my dose or cut the pill in half it is extended release. If my doctor wants me to wean for a month I am fine with it.



> I think doing a slow taper is very important. Whether or not you can skip a day in between and go to an every other day schedule depends on how long the drug stays in your system (the half-life) and I'm not sure, although that could probably be found in Wikipedia, if it is a fast clearing drug, then you don't want to do every other day because your blood levels would be like a roller coaster. But since a pharmacist recommended this, I'm assuming she must know it is a drug that stays in your system for a while. It also depends on whether or not you have the type of pill that can be divided up. Some extended release stuff can't be broken up, and since it stays around in your blood longer anyway, it is ok to go every other day. Talk to you doctor though because you shouldn't listen to some novice on the Internet. good luck.


The doctor had also mentioned weaning me off by doing every other day, but he didn't mention over what time frame. I guess I will soon know.

Thank you both for the input!


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## SnoodMama (Jan 11, 2011)

Yeah we can ride this roller coaster together. Now I don't know if my funny beating heart is due to stopping the beta-blockers or starting the Levothroid. I guess I will know when I see what ny hormone levels are. I definitey have more energy than i did before the surgery and feel less depressed. Let us know how the taper goes.

Maybe you could get the doctor to give you the 40 mg pills that I have that aren't extended release, then you could control your taper really accurately. Or maybe it won't be that big a deal. I didn't really notice any effects of tapering at the time. I do have these heart palp things now, but that is coming on gradually after having thyroid removed, and didn't come on at all when I weaned off the beta blockers. Good luck.


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