Hello!

So I recently made a promise to myself and my gf that I would try propranolol tomorrow as I've been putting it off for about a year now and my anxiety problems still persist. The reason I've been putting it off for so long is because I have a horrific fear of taking medication, I even chicken out when it comes to paracetomol! The fear has nothing to do with swallowing pills or anything it's more around the fear of having a terrible reaction on it or having an allergic reaction to it.

I know that Propranolol slows your breathing and heart rate down and lowers your blood pressure. One of the scenarios I keep playing in my mind is that I'll take it and it will lower my blood pressure too much (already have low blood pressure), slow my heart down too much, make me extremely dizzy (already been dizzy for three weeks now) and make breathing difficult. Is this likely to happen? I'm on the lowest dose at 10mg but this doesn't make it seem any less scary.

The other concern I have is that for the last three days I've had the occasional episode where I begin to feel breathless with mild chest pain and my heart races a bit. I'm aware that this is most likely anxiety but my wind pipe sounds like it's narrowed a bit when I breath in during the breathless episode and you can hear this weird tension in my voice.....This has never occurred during my two years of constant anxiety. The reason I mention this is because I remember reading that you shouldn't take propranolol if you have asthma or a heart condition as it can be dangerous.....so basically I'm worried that I might have one of these conditions undetected and If I take the tablet I'll die.....Trust me, I know how dramatic and insane that sounds. I just want to know what you would do in my shoes?

Finally, is it okay to drink alcohol about four hours after taking the tablet?

I've had a few people say to me that, at 10mg, I'm unlikely to feel any different at all.....is this true? Any replies are appreciated and very welcome.....I'm pretty damn scared about this!