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I started propranolol today and I'm supposed to take 10mg 3 times a day. So far, I have taken my morning and afternoon doses, but have been really scared while taking it. I get scared and have a panic attack before the propranolol can properly start to work. I was just wondering if anyone knows if I can skip this dose today as there's no one in my house to calm me down if I have another panic attack. Also, why do I need to take propranolol before bed if I'm just going to be sleeping? x
Hi. It appears that your physician found that you were suffering from what is called General Anxiety. This a medical term for what a layman would refer to as 'anxiety all day long through out the day'. Propranolol works outside the brain, so even a non-specialist doctor (GP) can prescribe it for it only controls (lowers) heartbeat (down). Since all anxiety is always associated with a physical response of the human adrenaline system (so-called 'fight-flight' response to stress) and since propranolol is able to decrease this physical response, there is the assumption that your calm and composed physical state would help your brain think, over time and experience, that your physical part of anxiety is relatively non-existent, hence the emotional/psychological anxiety should go as well (if you like yourself a bit). Does that make any sense what Im trying to say?
The bedtime drug dosage is to avoid so-called 'troughs' which is another medical term when medication wears off for it dissipitated away from your body over the so-called drug half-life (4-6hrs for propranolol tablet) which is half the whole presence of the drug inside your body after you swallow it. There is a specific medical convention in regards to this half-life because only half of the entire duration of one drug is deemed to have some noticeable effect in one person. The second half (same duration) is almost not noticeable and can lead to the trough (effect wears off) if not supplemented accordingly and in time.
The other thing not to forget is that when patient feels that the medication is wearing off or that it wore off, then some patients can re-develop the anxiety by way of the so-called rebound effect, which is undesirable, because the body would flush the body pipelines with adrenaline (no propranolol, hence body tries to normalize what it though was a decreased heart function when the propranolol was in; propranolol blocks the effects of adrenaline in our body since adrenaline is what causes heart palplitations, triggered usually through physical or even emotional trauma or everyday stress).
You may wish to bear in mind that the major anti-anxiety effect is not immediate and that it arrives after several weeks of experiencing, learning and understanding the effects of this medicine.
If you feel any positive effects about your medication. you may ask your doctor to prescribe you with a long-acting one, ie. whole day propranolol called either by brand name Beta Progane or Bedranol. My best experience was with Beta twice daily, once in the morning and once around 8pm (ie. 2x80mg or 2x160mg if needed be). These were allday capsules and your current dosage (you have 30mg) does not correspond entirely, so you may discuss your doctor before experimenting with.
If you do not feel any response, or if you feel that your anxiety keeps overwhelming you nevertheless the all day propranolols, you may ask for a relatively efficient and modern anti-anxiety medication called Lyrica (pregabaline is the active substance of this drug).
Finally, if your problems are not acute but long-term, you may wish to see a psychologist privately for around £50 to find out if there wasnt some other underlying problem which some people may also have, eg edgy personality, trauma on the background, learning problem, ongoing depression and a few other things, most of which have got a psychological basis.
I take 10mg Propranolol 3 times a day as well. In my experience the effects of the Propranolol only last for about 6 hours so if you wanted to be able to have less anxiety at that time of the morning you would probably need to take it around midnight to 1a.m.Also it might take a few days for you to see the effect but hang in there it helps at least for me.
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