Propranolol

Anyone else take this for anxiety? I was just prescribed this today because of my history my doctor won't give me benzos so this was the next best thing he could think of. Anyone have any luck on this? How fast did you notice a difference?

My son is on it for aggression. He is autistic and it is really helping him.

yes. i do! Um, I think it started working pretty quickly, like within that first week. It definitely helps now (like 3 months in)

It didn't work for me unfortunately. Like most of the drugs I have tried taking there seemed to be an improvement for the first 3 weeks or so then right back to the same old ***** no matter how much we upped the dosage from there...

Do you find it sedating at all? Does it make you drowsy?

I have taken propranolol as needed for years, for me it helps fantastically for physical symptoms of anxiety and that can be very calming as someone who struggles with the physical part sometimes, though that said it does not actually treat the “feeling” of anxiety.

No, this one does not make me drowsy. Other meds have, so I can definitely say this has not, so thats a plus.

This part is very interesting. It's like you still can get anxious, recognize it, but it doesn't overwhelm your body and "hurt" as much. Would that be fair to say?? (Im going by my experience. Not always easy to put into words though or words that others would understand)

Hmm, I'm not sure about hurting, everyone can experience anxiety in their own way, but what it definitely will get rid of is things like rapid heart rate, rise in blood pressure, shaking hands/knees/etc, maybe sweating and stuff like that too. If the "hurting" is caused by your blood pressure going up when anxious then yes it would relieve that.

Like you might still FEEL scared/avoidant of something mentally and emotionally however your body will not get all worked up like it might if you were not taking propranolol. That's how it has been for me so that can be a big relief.

oh that's what I meant. Painful emotions, which turn into physical sensations and the propranolol removes the physical sensations. We're saying the same thing, I'm just butchering it, maybe.

Anyway, I can definitely say it's working, but I worry it might not be working enough. I seriously either need to remove some triggers (and I'm not quite sure how to do that) or I might need a higher dose. hmm

I take metoprolol which is a similar beta blocker. It helps attenuate the physical anxiety symptoms. Without it I would get more anxious because of the physical feelings of anxiety and it was harder to get my mind off it when my body kept reminding me. Now my anxiety doesn't feel quite as overwhelming.
I'm in the same boat with benzos... Almost 6 months sober from alcohol so benzos would be a terrible idea. Some other alternatives for anxiety are SSRIs, Buspar, and gabapentin. If your doc hasn't mentioned them then they might be worth bringing up.