Posted by Racer on September 17, 2004, at 13:46:36
This is a very preliminary report, since I just took the first dose about an hour and a half ago, but I'm chuffed enough about the result so far to want to tell the world. Since I can't afford the billboards, I figured sharing with all here would have to do.
My anxiety symptoms are a little weird -- probably because I'm awfully good at hiding what's going on with me, even from myself -- and are mostly physical. I'm hardly aware of them as symptoms of anxiety, although I'm learning to recognize them as such now. There's very little psychological about them, not a lot of rumination, explicit worry, etc -- it's not as if I'm thinking about anything in particular, usually, and so it's very easy to miss what I'm experiencing -- beyond knowing that I'm quite uncomfortable. My chest and gut get tight, I get fidgetty, I feel agitated, but I'm rarely able to figure out what's bothering me.
Anyway, I haven't been thinking about the propranalol -- just took a pill a while back and forgot all about it. I don't know what I was expecting, really. A few minutes ago, though, I suddenly became aware that my chest wasn't so tight anymore, and that I didn't have that weighted down feeling that's been dogging me for weeks (or months) now. I felt almost relaxed!
This, for those of you interested in dosages, was 10mg of propranalol; the first dose ever; and I'll be continuing on 10mg for a few days to see how it works out, then titrating up to 20mgs -- 10mg BID -- if it works out. It may not, since my blood pressure is in the very-low-normal range to begin with. The doctor, when prescribing this, gave a very, very stern lecture on how to get out of chairs and out of bed, with a lot of reminders about "if you don't, you'll fall down!" (Since I'm a past master at *crouching* down to avoid *falling* down, I sort of smiled and nodded at him -- and tried very, very hard not to say, "Yeah, I know all that...")
Glad to be able to give a positive report about something, for a change.
poster:Racer
thread:392014
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040915/msgs/392014.html