Silk Road forums
Discussion => Drug safety => Topic started by: findingcure on August 08, 2013, 04:13 pm
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Fast question here. If i would take Propranolol 20mg 5 days in a row, how it would effect to my health? Could it bring down to my blood pressure and physical effects of stress? Does it otherwise block my emotions and or make me numb?
Thanks :)
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Inderal is a beta-blocker, intended to lower your blood pressure. Prescribed off-label for anxiety conditions.
5 days in a row isn't all that significant, unless you're very sensitive and/or blood pressure is a health concern for you.
Some use it on an "as-needed" basis for stuff like combating stage fright. But it's not all that powerful.
If one were to take Inderal daily for a prolonged period of time then abruptly stop, might experience a temporary spike in BP.
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Fast question here. If i would take Propranolol 20mg 5 days in a row, how it would effect to my health? Could it bring down to my blood pressure and physical effects of stress? Does it otherwise block my emotions and or make me numb?
Thanks :)
Hey, I recently have used Propranolol in conjunction with my stimulant ADHD medication to reduce the PNS effects such as racing heart, trembling hands, etc. and it's worked wonders, especially when I know I might be in uncomfortable social situations such as meeting a large group of new people or when I might experience being the center of attention. It also helps increase my endurance with some sports where sustained muscle strength is necessary. It seems that propranolol increases the muscle tolerance before it gets "pumped" with blood and then becomes too weak to continue. I don't use propranolol too often, but from time to time it is quite helpful and actually has helped me get over the hurdle of social anxiety by allowing me to feel comfortable physically while I am mentally comfortable. I hope this helps! :)
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I see. Thank you :). I was wondering the effects of short period, because of the prize of the medicine. It was my intention to help stabilize by body's stress tension with temporary medication(that would be "safe" for short term everyday use). And Propranolol seemed promising. Quite interesting that it might cause BP spike after long-term use.
Happy to hear positive experience zipstyle. Im sure it helps to relax, when you are actually able to feel calm.
Hmmm....
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As a beta blocker taking propanolol will certainly affect you. It basically blocks your body from increasing heartrate and blood pressure, despite the cause. It will limit your ability when in comes to physical force, running up a flight of stairs for example. If you normally are perfectly able to do so, you may find that you are not when taking a beta blocker, because it blocks the required increase in circulation required to do so.
I know some people that take beta blockers when giving a presentation they are nervous about, as it prevents blushing and such in those situations.
However, it can also be fairly dangerous. In itself, they are unlikely to kill you when taken in normal doses, but consequences could. For example, you can find yourself unable to ride a bike up a hill or run across a traffic junction as you normally would. This could cause you to fall off the bike, or drop down in the middle of the road gasping for air while the lights turn green for the cars waiting to run you over. These scenarios may seem absurd, but being unable to perform as you are used to can be dangerous in many other circumstances.
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However, it can also be fairly dangerous. In itself, they are unlikely to kill you when taken in normal doses, but consequences could. For example, you can find yourself unable to ride a bike up a hill or run across a traffic junction as you normally would. This could cause you to fall off the bike, or drop down in the middle of the road gasping for air while the lights turn green for the cars waiting to run you over. These scenarios may seem absurd, but being unable to perform as you are used to can be dangerous in many other circumstances.
I think these scenarios are only viable if the person takes a massive dose of propranolol. If taking around 20 mg it won't have such an extreme effect.
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Be careful taking propranolol in conjunction with amphetamines, you can stop your body from reacting properly to increased HR and BP, causing serious problems / permanent damage / death in high doses.
Propranolol does not block your emotions, it will however help diminish the effects of adrenaline dumps.
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However, it can also be fairly dangerous. In itself, they are unlikely to kill you when taken in normal doses, but consequences could. For example, you can find yourself unable to ride a bike up a hill or run across a traffic junction as you normally would. This could cause you to fall off the bike, or drop down in the middle of the road gasping for air while the lights turn green for the cars waiting to run you over. These scenarios may seem absurd, but being unable to perform as you are used to can be dangerous in many other circumstances.
I think these scenarios are only viable if the person takes a massive dose of propranolol. If taking around 20 mg it won't have such an extreme effect.
They are partly far-fetched i must admit. But even taking a dose of 20 mg a day would impair your ability to deliver physical performance like running to catch a bus, or more importantly, pass a crossing before the traffic lights turn.
Usually you will not just drop on the spot, but just feel out of breath to an extreme degree, as if you had aged decades in condition. If you live a comfortable life that does not require running and such, you may actually note no difference at all. Things like working behind your desk, walking to your car and driving home would probably not be affected at all as they require little physical effort.
Propanolol and other beta blockers are designed with this effect in mind: you can do most ordinary things in life, yet they limit how far your blood pressure and hard rate can rise under duress. This is perfectly sensible as a strategy to prevent cardiac arrest and such, but if you are healthy to begin with, you should not take beta blockers unless there is a very good medical reason to do so. They have zero recreational value.
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Hey, I recently have used Propranolol in conjunction with my stimulant ADHD medication to reduce the PNS effects such as racing heart, trembling hands, etc. and it's worked wonders, especially when I know I might be in uncomfortable social situations such as meeting a large group of new people or when I might experience being the center of attention. It also helps increase my endurance with some sports where sustained muscle strength is necessary. It seems that propranolol increases the muscle tolerance before it gets "pumped" with blood and then becomes too weak to continue. I don't use propranolol too often, but from time to time it is quite helpful and actually has helped me get over the hurdle of social anxiety by allowing me to feel comfortable physically while I am mentally comfortable. I hope this helps! :)
Be careful with that, buddy:
Be careful taking propranolol in conjunction with amphetamines, you can stop your body from reacting properly to increased HR and BP, causing serious problems / permanent damage / death in high doses.
Propranolol does not block your emotions, it will however help diminish the effects of adrenaline dumps.
remoulade is right in his warning, abd it's worth mentioning some more detail (also, it may do the opposite of "diminishing the effects of adrenaline dumps"). From what I've heard, propanolol and other beta blockers ARE often able to counteract with little danger the negative side effects of stimulants IN MODERATE DOSES. However, beta blockers are generally contraindicated with [alpha-adrenergic] stimulants. This includes amphetamine, and it seems logical to assume that the contraindication could cover ALL phenethylamines. Now, Shulgin was known to take propanolol (sometimes he referred to it by one of its US trademark names, Inderal) to suppress agitation before trying certain substances, and I'm fairly sure he mentions doing this in both Tihkal and Pihkal. (I can't say anything on the effects of beta blockers on tryptamines or even ergolines.)
Wikipedia has most of it down:
Beta blockers must not be used in the treatment of cocaine, amphetamine, or other alpha-adrenergic stimulant overdose. The blockade of only beta receptors increases hypertension, reduces coronary blood flow, left ventricular function, and cardiac output and tissue perfusion by means of leaving the alpha-adrenergic system stimulation unopposed.[28] The appropriate antihypertensive drugs to administer during hypertensive crisis resulting from stimulant abuse are vasodilators such as nitroglycerin, diuretics such as furosemide and alpha blockers such as phentolamine.[29]
So, to a layperson like myself, it seems that a beta blocker can be *too* effective in doing what it does when used with an a-adrenergic substance, and with the beta all "blocked off," so to speak, all that body load could be redirected to the a-adrenergic system instead. (Is the reverse possible if you take an alpha blocker, I wonder?) Anyway, I have no deep understanding of this--I was prescribed beta blockers at one time; when the same doctor decided certain ADHD medications were necessary, she withdrew the beta blockers because of such concerns. My personal blood pressure problems were nearly gone by then and the beta blockers mostly helped with generalized anxiety; so instead of beta blockers she prescribed low-dose benzodiazepines for small, day-to-day bouts of panic and slightly increased blood pressure.
I might not have any idea what I'm talking about above, but my general conclusion that strong doses of stimulants with beta blockers is something you should ask your doctor about, and if you don't want to do that then it's something to avoid. It's also one of many good reasons to be straightforward with your doctor, or with ER staff, about your drug intake--if they were to administer beta blockers for a stimulant overdose, it could produce deadly results.
Some beta blockers, metoprolol for one (I don't know about propanolol), are reported to cause weight gain. General tiredness is not uncommon either, at least for the first week or two (but this can persist).
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I take them on the reg with amps and they help a great deal with the heart racing and jitters. I run 1-2 times a week with them in my system (40mg or less a day) and have no problems. Just be cautious until you've learned how it effects you.
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Plenty of people get prescribed stimulant medications with medications like Inderal (or other BP medications, like Tenex/Intuniv or Catapres - though these work via different mechanisms).
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I take them on the reg with amps and they help a great deal with the heart racing and jitters. I run 1-2 times a week with them in my system (40mg or less a day) and have no problems. Just be cautious until you've learned how it effects you.
Exactly :)
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What you are, or are not, able to do on beta blockers varies with person and dose. If dosed properly they will not reduce your phyisical ability to that of a granny, and if prescribed by a physician at a particular dose that usually is tuned not to limit your abilities yet provide some safety against overloading your heart.
You should be very careful self administrating beta blockers though. They can certainly curtail heart racing conditions when drug induced, but they will do excactly the same when your heartbeat needs to be high due to required performance of your body.
In rest this is not a problem at all, but when you need to take a sprint to catch a bus or want to run up several flights of stairs you will find that you cannot do so as quickly as you could without the beta blockers. You may just miss a bus due to that and be perfectly fine, but if you literally need to run for your life, realize that you cannot at full physical potential.