It would have been helpful for me to have been started on a beta blocker like propranolol 38 years ago because my heart rate has been abnormally rapid for that long, and in my mid 20's my heart was skipping beats due to what doctors would say now, is "increased circulating chatecholamines" (adrenalin and others produced by the adrenal gland in the "fight or flight" response). I knew it at the time that anxiety was causing my symptoms, and NOT the other way around, but nobody would listen to me. I had all this testing done for mitral valve prolapse, which I did not truly have, according to the strictest criteria. Since my blood pressure was fine, nobody would start me on a beta blocker.
Eight years ago, I had a hypertensive crisis in response to falling apart emotionally and losing my job and apartment. Finally I was started on metoporolol, also a beta blocker, which definitely has helped. I can only imagine that my heart and blood vessels could have been spared a lot of wear and tear by starting on it much sooner. Does anyone know if there is any advantage to propranolol over the other beta blockers, in terms of helping PTSD symptoms?
I was also briefly on the alpha blocker Prazosin for nightmares, 2-3 years ago, but it was stopped because it didn't change anything.
A little more recently, following a bad job on a hip replacement, I was started on Suboxone to help me wean off high doses of narcotics needed for an extended time because of so much pain. In addition to doing what it was supposed to do, Suboxone improved my mood remarkably, and also helped to reduce the number and severity of hot flashes I was having.
These hot flashes started when I was 41, right as I left a coutroom after hearing an outcome that I perceived as unfair and disastrous. They have been perimenopausal, but worsen with emotional upset, which is typical. At times they have been absolutely disabling, but the suboxone really helped them. When I tried to wean off it, it was the return of the really bad hot flashes, rather than sweating due to withdrawal, that made me stop weaning off it. I'm now planning to remain on a lower dose of it, just because of hot flashes. Has anyone else experienced this?
Something very interesting that I read just last week is an article about research done linking women who were abused as children, with worse menopausal hot flashes. I'll return in a moment here with the particulars of the study, which was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh:
Childhood abuse or neglect is associated with increased vasomotor symptom reporting among midlife women. Thurston RC, et al. Show all Menopause. 2008 Jan-Feb;15(1):16-22. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA 15213, USA.
[email protected] Comment in Menopause. 2008 Jan-Feb;15(1):1-4. Ab
