Inderal & Insomnia?

[WritersBlock]

My doctor put me on Inderal yesterday. I couldn't get to sleep until 7 o'clock this morning. Does anyone else have any experience with this medication? Will the insomnia wear off?

[TexasBushwhacker]

1. Be careful if you start feeling depressed

Inderal is a beta-blocker and they have a STRONG association with depression, even in people who've never had a problem with depression before.

Here's the write up from drugs.com:

http://www.drugs.com/inderal.html

I don't see insomnia listed as a side effect, but there are a lot of contra-indications. Look through the list of drugs that you CANNOT take while taking Inderal.

[WritersBlock]

3. Thanks.. I'll look through that list. I hadn't found that one yet.

This could be interesting. He put me on this (very low dose) for anxiety instead of Zoloft because it was making me dizzy.

[havocmom]

2. Give it a few more days and if you still have trouble, talk to the

pharmacist for info then call your MD. Some people get atypical reactions to some meds and the pharmacists are generally more up on reaction info than most MDs in my experience.

Inderal didn't keep me awake, but it sure made me wander around aimlessly, forgetting why I went out to do errands. Found others who had the same forgetfulness problems with it. We were quite the gang, roaming around lost and confused. But hey, the headaches were better. Well, I think they were better, don't really recall much from that era. ;)

[WritersBlock]

5. Hell, I wander around aimlessly anyway ;)

We've got a good pharmacist. I'll give him a ring tomorrow if this doesn't get better. Thanks!

[kslib]

4. From Drugs.com

"Other side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. However, check with your doctor if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome:

More common

Decreased sexual ability; dizziness or lightheadedness; drowsiness (slight); trouble in sleeping; unusual tiredness or weakness"

The general rule of thumb is to wait two weeks for non-life-threatening side effects to disappear, then talk to your doctor. However, 7am is not cool, and if it continues to be that severe of a case of insomnia, I would ask your doctor if there is a different med she could put you on. Also try: No stimulating activities for 30 min. before bed (i.e. no TV, arguments, scary books), instead engage in quiet activities (listen to music, pet a kitty!, read a book), no food for 3 hrs before bed (speeds up your heart-rate), no caffeine after 12pm (caffeine has a half-life of 6 hrs). After 20 minutes of sleeplessness, get out of bed and engage in 15-20 min. of quiet activity, then try again.

Hope this helps!

[WritersBlock]

7. Thank you. That's all good advice, and I will try some of them.

Don't think I could last two weeks like this. Especially after getting a phone call at 9:30 and being up again since then. I'm too old to function on 2 hours sleep.

[kslib]

6. Staying in the Beta-Blocker

vein (for anxiety), maybe you could try Tenormin. Same theory of anxiety reduction, different drug. Just a friendly suggestion, your doc. may have already tried/thought of this.

[WritersBlock]

9. Thank you

If this doesn't clear up within a few days, I'll have to ask him to change it again.

[Cadence]

8. Have any of you

seen this article. It's good research about the direction medications for anxiety could be going.

http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0008F53F-80F7-119B-80F783414B7F0000

[WritersBlock]

11. Very interesting.. thanks for the link! n/t

[pamela]

10. It makes be sleepy.

I take it for public speaking occasionally. It works great for that.

[WritersBlock]

12. OH man, wish it did that to me!

I can't blame all my sleeplessness on the Inderal. I was having trouble sleeping before this, but certainly not to this extent.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. WATCH OUT FOR DEPRESSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It hit my dad like a ton of bricks and he already had a depressive personality.

[WritersBlock]

14. Thank you for the warning.

So far I'm not too keen on this medication, and it's only been one day. We'll see if I get any sleep tonight.

[Nikia]

15. I thought betat blockers usually had the opposite effect

My doctor was concerned when she first put me on a beta blocker because drowsiness is a common side effect and I usually become drowsy from medications that would make anyone drowsy. Come to think of it, I was less drowsy when I first started taking it. It lowers the oxygen demand of your heart, heart rate, and blood pressure so I suppose that if you rely on being physically exhausted in order to fall asleep, you might have insomnia. I didn't get insomnia. I was just less exhausted since I didn't have periods of time where my heart rate and blood pressure would stay high for hours because of anxiety.