New challenge. Since doing my admin still does not ‘work’ I might as well do something that I think/thought I am good at: quitting. First time in my life I will try to do this by moderation. I’m not so good at moderating (haha) but the enclosed paper says that I should take at least 2 weeks of moderation before quitting. Quitting cold turkey may lead to sudden death -> not good. But luckily that counts for people with heartproblems and I think I only have high blood pressure.
My blood pressure has been just within the boundaries of normal for about 2-3 months now so I thought I would quit my beta blockers. I have this whole schedule where I moderate. Yeah, schedule, plan… pffff.
I had 1 pill of 50mg a day. Now I take 2 of 25mg. But it is actually very uncomfortable to live on the halved dose. I hardly slept last night because of the pfffffffrrrrrrr things in my heart, like a butterfly caught in a jar. Which made me anxious and that got me in a funny circle; anxious, heart palpitations (is that the word?) -> more anxious -> more palpitations. And the cat did not like it either, she became anxious too and ran through the house like crazy for at least 2 hours. And only when I calmed down she did.
I rang the pill factory for some advice. They say it takes 4-5 days to get used to a new dose.
I finally did find out that taking deep breaths actually immediately works calming. 🙂 Oxygen is good, calm is good. And now I need to get out in the rain and bike 8 km to a place where I have to do stuff. Let’s say: good, oxygen, movement :-).
I am wondering how much of my lack of anxiety while quitting was covered up by the beta blocker. We shall see. 
I will go back to my old dose if I think quitting the pills endanger my sobriety. Which would actually mean that these pills, over the years, have become a substitute addiction and that bothers me. 😦 Well, I bother me, that is the issue. Note to self: stop moaning.
If anybody has any info on quitting beta blockers I would be delighted to hear about that. 🙂 Thanks in advance.
Happy that I quit, not happy today with what I do or what or why or whatever. Tired.
feelingmywaybackintolife 
I wouldn’t quit them without Dr’s oversight. If you are getting palpitations that needs looking at too. But you’re probably right that the beta-blockers managed your anxiety in the early days of giving up booze perfectly 😉
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Yeah, it is with a doctor. Not going to do scary things. The paper says that if I quit them immediately it could kill me (well not me, but people in general). That’s why I want to quit them. Don’t want to be dependend, I want to be me, I want to get rid of the poisons, see what’s left. I guess I HAVE to do sports every day now in order to control the palpitations :-). I will take care.
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I agree with Lucy. You need a dr.
If the beta blockers are helping with generalized anxiety, you might need a plan for dealing with it on its own. I take a SSRI that i started when i was deeply depressed, but has also helped with generalized anxiety.
I dont look at is as swapping addictions, but instead as finally accepting i need to take care of my mental health in a way that foes not include self medication with booze.
Heart palpitations suck! Poor you and poor cat. Animals are so interesting!
I have found some natural anti anxiety remefies. Aside from yoga (amazing) i occasionally take gaba. But again, chevk with your doctor!
We need you around here!!!!!!
Anne
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Thank you Anne. Yes, doctor is aware and next week I will have a check up. I found on the internet that beta blockers partially regulate anxiety by reducing the need for oxigen in the heart. So getting extra oxigen is a counter thing, whatever that is called. So yoga and being outdoor. I am going to let the quitting determine my need for excercise and meditation. I seem to only take care of me if I have to, so I might as well have to.
I biked 16km of which 8 straigth against the wind and it feels great! 🙂 No palpatations.
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There are huge correlations between diet and anxiety. Many people find relief by going grain-free. It seems to be a mood stabilizer, so It may be worth checking out. Google “grains and anxiety” to find some cool info. I’m no doctor, but I always see taking meds as a very last resort.
http://parkinglotpushups.wordpress.com/
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Hi PLPU,
Thank you, I will look into that! I have an issue with alcohol and sugar and I guess sugar lows and anxiety. Grains could easily fit into that list.
I dislike meds very very much and I would not have taken these when I would have known they were addictive. But doctors don’t say that. When I wanted to quit earlier the med supplier said ‘nobody ever stops with these’. Scary… I hope to prove them wrong :-).
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hiya. I don’t know what a beta blocker is but a doctor does sound like a good plan. take it easy. rooting for you here.
hugs from nz
lisa
http://www.thecword-compassion.com
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It’s not a failure to need a beta blocker. They do good things, help your heart contract more efficiently, lower your blood pressure, which lowers how much your heart has to push the blood out against, which allows the heart to use less oxygen….if a beta blocker is all you need that’s not a failure! if you were quitting drinking and were diabetic and needed insulin, is that a failure? sometimes drugs are GOOD
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🙂 I get where you come from and I do partially agree. But I had/have high bloodpressure because I took bad care of myself… so…. I’m going to try to get rid of them. See if/how I can make that work.
By the way: I have been reading up on the side effects of the betablockers, in the long term they actually cause high bloodpressure in themselves. 😦
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