Advice for anyone looking to taper a beta blocker

[[Th...]]

One of the items we had lingering after my wife jumped from her Klonopin (on 11/16) was how and when to taper her off of her Beta Blocker (12.5mg of Metroprolol).  My wife was particularly nervous about this after reading many scary stories about it. So I planned, asked around (including in here) what the best method would be.  Her cardiologist recommended that she just do a skipped dose taper for 2 weeks then jump off, which I wasn't comfortable with.  So this is what we did, which has had good results. I share it in case anyone else finds themselves in this scenario. 

 

1. Give your body time to adjust from your benzo taper. If you just went through an arduous taper of your benzo as my wife did (12 months), then it is best to give your body time to adjust.  My wife was ready to get off as soon as possible, but I was able to negotiate with her to hold off for 2 months.  I think this helped. It helped her body stabilize a bit from her taper off of K and it helped us find a way to seperate any potential symptoms that may come from tapering the beta blocker from what symptoms she was experiencing because of the taper off of the K. 

2. Microtaper it the way you would taper your benzo. What we did which worked well for her is a 30 day microtaper to taper her off of her dose of metroprolol. It wasn't a big dose, she was taking 12.5mg each afternoon since she began the benzo so with that dose, we decided 30 days was a reasonable period to get off of it. I've been shaving 2mg of the pill each day which removes 0.375mg of the metroprolol daily.  This has been sufficient for her, especially given her metroprolol is an extended release and gives her body a bit more time to adjust. 

The overwhelming fear she had on tapering off the beta blocker now seems to be gone and she has just 14 more days of tapering to go.  So far, there have been no symptoms while tapering her metroprolol.  She still does get some symptoms from her klonopin withdrawal, but they aren't as bad as we expected.  Hope this helps someone out there

[[ns...]]

10 minutes ago, [[T...] said:

One of the items we had lingering after my wife jumped from her Klonopin (on 11/16) was how and when to taper her off of her Beta Blocker (12.5mg of Metroprolol).  My wife was particularly nervous about this after reading many scary stories about it. So I planned, asked around (including in here) what the best method would be.  Her cardiologist recommended that she just do a skipped dose taper for 2 weeks then jump off, which I wasn't comfortable with.  So this is what we did, which has had good results. I share it in case anyone else finds themselves in this scenario. 

1. Give your body time to adjust from your benzo taper. If you just went through an arduous taper of your benzo as my wife did (12 months), then it is best to give your body time to adjust.  My wife was ready to get off as soon as possible, but I was able to negotiate with her to hold off for 2 months.  I think this helped. It helped her body stabilize a bit from her taper off of K and it helped us find a way to seperate any potential symptoms that may come from tapering the beta blocker from what symptoms she was experiencing because of the taper off of the K. 

2. Microtaper it the way you would taper your benzo. What we did which worked well for her is a 30 day microtaper to taper her off of her dose of metroprolol. It wasn't a big dose, she was taking 12.5mg each afternoon since she began the benzo so with that dose, we decided 30 days was a reasonable period to get off of it. I've been shaving 2mg of the pill each day which removes 0.375mg of the metroprolol daily.  This has been sufficient for her, especially given her metroprolol is an extended release and gives her body a bit more time to adjust. 

The overwhelming fear she had on tapering off the beta blocker now seems to be gone and she has just 14 more days of tapering to go.  So far, there have been no symptoms while tapering her metroprolol.  She still does get some symptoms from her klonopin withdrawal, but they aren't as bad as we expected.  Hope this helps someone out there

TheSunAlsoRises hi, interesting topic. My husband is on metroprolol. He needs to taper. He had an aneurysm in his upper aorota and we received an incredible gift. The aneurysm is gone! My husband has been reluctant to stop.the metroprolol, his doctor is discouraging him, dragging his feet if u will. So hubby is afraid to do it without his cardiology guy. I'm curious how this will go for your wife. He's not on a benzo so it's a little different but still he knows he has to taper off to stop the medication. 

I'll look forward to this post as your wife goes thru her taper ad I'm grateful you posted this. I hope she does well with her benzo taper as well! 

Thanks so much

Ns

[[Le...]]

I would taper by a small amount, wait to see how my body would react.

Maybe some get harsh symptoms from tapering, but they are nowhere near benzo withdrawal in most cases.

I wouldnt read any horror stories and instead "just" go with how my body feals. I wouldnt recommend skipping doses. 

I dont have much more to say, other than i wish you both well and all the succes you desire in life.

Edited February 2 by [Le...]