New to the forums..Propranolol, HA, GAD and weird stuff

[nikkikl]

Hi :)  First post here but have been so reassured by what I have read so far.  Time is better spent on here rather than googling the latest illness that has popped into my head!

I have been diagnosed with Health Anxiety - when I look back, I have had this for a long time, but it has only recently surfaced in all its glory after an attempt to stop smoking which went horribly wrong after I overdosed on the nicotine patches...in the supermarket.  Since then I have been terrified of everything.  And just the same as everyone else here, I have imagined cancer, brain tumour, MS, throat closing, blood clots etc etc etc.  Now I am getting to the point, 6 weeks or so down the line, where I am starting to become convinced that I am losing my mind as none of it makes any sense. I know the foundations for the HA were laid when my Mum died some 5 years ago, got worse a few months ago when I had a humiliating and frightening experience at the dentists and then compounded when I OD'd on nicotine.  The OD was just one of those things, nothing I had done wrong, my body just suddenly decided it had to react. 

I have a lovely doctor who has me on CBT Therapy and given me Propranolol 40mg but I am finding that I might be reacting to them...totally weird feeling in my left leg and arm (although the arm is a lot better) and a weird thing where my body on the left cramps up suddenly for like 5-10 seconds when I go to bed...only when I first go to bed and only once or twice.  Having said that I am anxious about dying in my sleep so bedtime is never a pleasant experience...maybe the cramping/muscle spasms are anxiety too?  Anyway, I feel I need to change my meds so I will speak to him about that but now I'm worried that if I come off the Beta Blockers, I will have a heart attack instead :/

This GAD/HA nonsense is so debilitating, so upsetting and so not 'me'....it makes no sense whatsoever.  I am so tired, lethargic, totally uninterested in anything, I would even hesitate to suggest that I am leaning towards depressed.  I have never been depressed.

Anyway..has anyone else reacted to Propranolol with cramped/spasmed muscles or a numbness/tingling in the left had side of the body, particularly legs?  I am anxious now that it is either a Blood Clot or terrible circulation brought on by heart disease.  I even went to Accident & Emergency last night as I was worried it was a stroke.  They couldn't give me answers but suggested it could be the tablets, could be anxiety...they didn't know.

The reassurance would be that someone here has had the same side effects...so over to you...anyone?

Thanks for reading, thanks for a great forum :)

[shrublet]

Hi Nikki!

Welcome to our cohort of friendlies (and sometimes  :spineyes:s). I'm so sorry to hear about your nicotine incident in the supermarket... I can only hope that it wasn't too severe! That kind of thing is certainly enough to invite the anxiety beast to the table, though.

It is also good to hear that you have what sounds to be a very compassionate doctor. I am glad that he recommended CBT and I do hope that you find it helpful and continue to pursue it. You might want to post a new thread in the Medications board because many of the lovely people that check it may have experience with it, too. Also, one of our members Marc (I'm sure you've seen him around) has a wife who is a pharmacist and he is quite knowledgeable about beta blockers. So hopefully he'll have some advice for you, too.

We share similar fears, whether for better or for worse. I get anxious over blood clots periodically, too. Fortunately (or maybe not fortunately depending on how you look at it!) blood clots present themselves very obviously and are pretty hard to ignore. Same with a stroke. I do get periodic tingling, numbness and pain in the left side of my body and I do attribute this to anxiety... especially because my heart is one of my worry triggers. Sometimes I will play a "game" with myself (admittedly, a pretty demented game!) where I will try to convince myself that if it was REALLY serious, I'd have pain in the right arm. And wouldn't you know it, the pain will often switch sides. I can also sympathize with your fear of sleeping as this is still something I'm dealing with to some extent, though I am pretty nocturnal by nature. I actually am running on three hour's sleep over the course of 48 hours at the moment.  I guess the bonus is that I get to watch the sun rise every morning.

Anyways! Thanks for sharing your story with us. I hope you'll continue to post and I'd definitely suggest using the search function to search for Propanolol because I have a feeling others may have dealt with something similar. 

[nikkikl]

Hiyaz Shrublet, and thanks for your post.  It is an old chiché but it's so helpful to hear someone else is in the same boat and the madness is not suffered alone.

I will post in the Med Section and see what occurs..thanks for that advice.  My current anxiety is in limbo at the moment - I have this numbness/tingling in my thigh and calf (hard to describe) and finally rationalised myself out of believing it was a blood clot..now I'm worried about MS and some kindaof Neurological disorder.  A stroke..nahhh.  I don't know about you but I really struggle to go to the doctors about any ailment...I am so frightened of what they will find.  And the same for sleeping...terrified.  But that tiredness adds to the all to famous 'Vicious Circle' doesn't it?

Right now, the ill side of me see's no way out.  The rational side of me, thankfully, says differently

[shrublet]

Yeah not sleeping is an enormous part of the vicious circle. I actually was being unbelievable dense about dates today... I kept thinking it was the weekend. Normal for summertime, I guess, considering I am being a slug. But I will admit things such as Alzheimer's and the like did enter my mind. Because, of course, there are just so many twenty year-olds with Alzheimer's...

I'm glad you've gotten rid of the blood clot fear. I really recommend to everyone worried about MS that you read Pan's sticky (though perhaps you already have!) and even just read a lot of the posts about MS on here. Sixpack has some particularly good advice. It is also good to hear that your rational side is still alive and kicking. 

[sixpack]

hi and welcome nik

It sounds like you've been through a bit lately.  I am so sorry about the death of your Mom.  I lost my dad to a brain tumor.  He was 46 and I was 15.  I know that I've had anxiety or atleast had the personality type that tends toward anxiety all of my life but it was my dad's death that was my health anxiety trigger.

I've not taken propranolol so I  don't know if it causes cramping.  However my hands/feet/sometimes my shins/hips have cramped for years.  I do have some nerve impingement issues on my spinal cord that could be causing it.  However it is just as likely that my anxiety causes it.  Or hell it could be a combo of them all.  I know that since I've been given the all clear from the doc AND now that I truly understand that our minds can cause any kind of body pain, the cramps don't scare me and they don't happen as often.  I did copy my list of body aches I've had over the year's that are a direct result of my BEASTY mucking around with me.

check it out: 

 Here is a sampling of what I've gone through with my BEASTY:

 *muscle twitching--that's caused by whacked out nerves
*buzzing sensations---again whacked out nerves
*Headaches
*tingling/numbness in hands and feet--I have disk issues but I don't get the numb/tingling stuff until my muscles start tightening up in my back.
*tingling/numbing tongue/face/back/stomach
*muscle cramping feet/hands/shins/hips--when I get worked up, I get increased cramps.
*vision issues--all kinds of nerve anxiety can cause visual issues
*shooting pains down my legs/arms/fingers/toes
* sciatica is so much worse when I'm stressing/freaking out
*pinky or other fingers would tremor
*dizziness--extreme or lightheadedness
*stomach pain
*eye/hand coordination problems--grabbing handles on cabinets, holding utensils, typing
*off balance
*breathlessness
*increased allergies
*facial pressure--right side of my face/pressure and pain
*ear discomfort---ear feels plugged up more when I'm stressed
*teeth clenching resulting in jaw pain and tooth pain
*trouble talking--I can't get my words out--either the wrong word.  I kept mixing up words when I was trying to say scissors. 
*hard time swallowing
*bladder contractions
*lower abdominal pain
*bowel movements very loose or pencil thin or I'd end up with constipation
*trouble sleeping--can't fall asleep or wake up in the night and not get back to sleep
*jolting awake
*myoclonic jerks--body parts would just jerk for no reason---OKAY definitely a 'nerve' symptom. 
*tripping
*eye pain
*facial pressure
*racing thoughts
*forgetting what I'm trying say/can't concentrate
*very emotional.
*back pain
*random sore muscles
*itchy skin sometimes with a rash
*burning skin--sometimes a whole limb; sometimes just a patch of skin
*skin sometimes feels wet
*crawly sensations in skin--sometimes one spot other times large portions of my body

It has taken me years to realize that our minds cause these problems.  It was actually my most recent dance with my BEASTY, that I truly and fully realized this.  It was a lightbulb moment.  This forum and one other website are what really cemented it for me.  Over the years I'd always suspected it to be the case, but I could never find information or people who'd experienced such a wide range of pains.  For me the body symptoms scared me so much.  I simply needed to know it was possible that the BEAST is truly that wily.  So for me, recovering from HA is not going to be about not having physical symptoms when stress comes along in life.  And it isn't even that I'll expect I won't have anxiety.  It is about recognizing that my BEAST is trying to reel me in.  Then not succumbing to that.

So when you can finally logically and emotionally grasp/embrace the idea that it is your mind doing these things to you, the majority of your aches and pains will go away.  When a new thing pops up, you will be able to look at what's going on in your life---some kind of stressor will be there--big or little; happy or sad--and you will be able to recognize why it is happening and deal with it. 

I hope you enjoy this site.  I also hope that it can help you, as much as it has helped me over the last few months.  And finally welcome to the ZONE

[marc]

I talked to my wife who is a pharmacist about propranolol and she said that
you are on a very low dose and that beta blockers are usually well tolerated the
symptoms you are describing you are having are not typical. The chance of you
having a heart attack when stopping propranolol is minimal since; 1-you were not
on a high dose, 2-you had no heart disease before, 3-you have not been on it a long
time and 4-if you stop taking it they will probably reduce your dose over a period of
time. Hope this answer helps.

[nikkikl]

Hi guys and thanks for the feedback. 

I am going to see the Doc this morning to discuss the Propranolol issue as I'm becoming, it seems, increasingly agitated and maybe the weak left leg is just another anxiety thing.  Don't know about the spasms though...I didn't take a Propranolol before I went to be last night and I didn't have any spasms at all.  However, it does say in the leaflet that comes with the drug that numbness or tingling in the hands or feet should be reported to the doctor...so that's what I will do.  Maybe the tingling is caused by the drug which is turn kicks my anxiety into weakness in the same area...who knows.  This is the problem with Anxiety isn't it...you just don't know what's 'real' and what isn't.  That alone worries me more.

I have a tight chest today, lump in my throat, feeling a bit scared, left foot feels swollen (it isn't) and I really feel like I'm at the end of my tether with the whole thing.  I am anxious to stop smoking too...I had stopped for 3 weeks when I OD'd on the patches and the Doctor told me to stop them immediately and that we would tackle the smoking issue when my anxiety was under control...I don't want to wait to do that...but on the other hand it makes perfect sense to, as stopping smoking makes you so anxious in itself.

Marc, you mentioned Heart Disease - another fear, actually probably the biggest I have.  I don't know that I don't have heart disease and I'm too scared to ask the Doctor to send me for tests.  I'm of the mind that, if he suspected it, he would have sent me for the tests by now...but I'm not sure I am entirely honest with my symptoms when I see him as I tend to play things down, if that makes sense, just so they won't disagnose something horrific. 

Sixpack...thanks for that list...that's really helpful to hear such a diversity of symptoms as I can definitely identify myself in there.  There have been so many useful posts on here, it really has been a comfort.  Instead of googling, I try and come here instead as it makes more sense to hear that whatever I am feeling, it is being felt by someone else, rather than googling a symptom and finding thousands of articles on the scary stuff. 

So..off to the Docs...

[genius]

I take propranolol.  It lasts only for a couple hours.  It is used to get over something coming up.  Like I took it 40 Minutes before an interview and I was completely fine and got the job.  Then it wears off.  I haven't had many side effects except for kind of wobblyness feeling once or twice because it slows your heartrate. 

[Whiskas]

Nik! Amytriptiline (sp?) kicked off my left-side tingling. I took it for a whole 5 days for a specific nerve pain issue and the side effects were 'orrible!

I know it's a tricyclic not a B/blocker, but like you say, maybe it facilitated the anxiety to a point where the tingly nerve stuff began properly. It's still happening on and off now, six weeks since stopping the drug.

As far as my doc is concerned it's not classic MS presentation (he's actually said to treat the symptoms as a lifestyle thing, not an organic illness which has helped) and I have quite bad anaemia which has probably linked in with the panic attacks I was getting at Eater to trigger this whole thing off.
Hang on in there and keep posting here. There are some brilliant people on this forum!

[nikkikl]

Thought I'd report back on progress with this....

I stopped taking the Propanolol and I have to say, the tingling numbness has gone.  However, I think the tingling was a trapped nerve in my back/hip area although the tingling has gone at the same time as I stopped taking the Propanalol regularly.  I was on 40mg (or 80mg depending on how bad the attack was) three times a day.  I got my husband to prod around at my lower back and there was one REALLY sore spot.  This makes sense as I have been sitting in front of my PC..for up to 15 hours a day because I was feeling so miserable and didn't want to do anything.  I've only had one lot of palpitations since I stopped taking the tablets and that was tonight (hence being awake at 3am) and I'm suspecting that is down to smoking too much during the day.  Stopping smoking is the next trick but that can't happen till I have the anxiety under control.

This is what irritates the hell out of me about anxiety... I don't know if the tingling was down to the Propanolol or a trapped nerve now so really, I am no better off.  That happens all the time.  Still, I am grateful it has stopped, that's the main thing.

YAY!