beta blocker

[lolly]

hi has anyone ever taken atenelol or tenormin syrup only iam up the wall with weteher i should take them i have been taking atenelol half of 25mg i have been cutting them in half the dr went mad so he give me tenormin to take 12mg i have just read the patient information lefleat and now iam SCARED i havent had any palpataions for 2 weeks but i feel my head feels funny like its to heavy for my body? iam i going mad please some one answer lorraine:(

[Trev]

Hi Lorraine,

I was given 25mg Atenolol for a few months by the neurologist. I also started cutting them in half!! It didn't work very well as they didn't cut well and so I took them whole.

First thing to say is that 25mg is a very low dose. It's more to "take the edge off" and make your body relax slightly.
I also read the leaflet and scared myself. They put lots of stuff in there just to cover themselves.
Lots of people take Atenolol in much greater doses so don't worry.

I can relate to how scared you are of them. I used to sit there deciding whether to take it or not.

It seemed ok for me in the end. Can make you a bit sluggish and dizzy. The thing I wondered all the time was what is down to the tablets and what is down to me with regards to dizziness etc?
For this reason I decided after 3 or 4 months to come off them and tackle the anxiety "on my own" if you like. At least then I knew what feelings were down to me alone.

All in all, don't worry. They are ok.
Just use the time on them wisely and educate yourself as much as possible about the mechanisms of anxiety and panic so that you can deal with it when you come off of the medication.

All the best,
Trev :D