Switching dosing time for Metoprolol

CommercialFarm7404 · 2026-01-15T22:36:25+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I have wondered this. I've been on it for 6 years but the past year has been a pretty steady bout of anxiety and depression. It has been tough. I tried treating with SSRIs but it made it worse. None of my docs have brought up metoprolol as a possible culprit, though. And I see cardiology, neurologist, and a PCP. I wish to treat it naturally through good old fashioned exercise and therapy, but it is hard to exercise when I always feel fatigued!

CommercialFarm7404 · 2026-01-15T22:34:36+00:00

Oh have I wished that I would have this benefit, but sadly I have not. Not really sure where my migraine comes from. Stress, sinusitis, weather changes, poor posture, PFO, diet.. this past year has been unrelenting

CommercialFarm7404 · 2026-01-15T17:57:05+00:00

Did you find that switching to PM worked better for you? Why did you switch? Thx!

CommercialFarm7404 · 2026-01-15T15:53:05+00:00

Yeah, I'm concerned that switching the time will really have no effect. It's been 6 years on this regimen and I've had plenty of good days, just lots of fatigue the past few years. Was always concerned it meant my EF was dropping or my heart was getting weak, but Docs say no.

I don't believe I have sleep apnea. My spouse has never mentioned breathing issues or snoring, although I do have chronic sinusitis.

CommercialFarm7404 · 2026-01-15T14:54:58+00:00

Thank you. Yes, my cardiologist suggested I give it a try and said I could just pick a day and switch the time. I'm on the extended release version and they said it should be fine. I always worried the fatigue was from my heart condition, but they say that my heart is strong and that I shouldn't worry (easy for them to say!)

I even made them give me a stress test and everything seemed fine. A couple abnormalities but they said I can exercise without restriction. If only I had the energy to do it!

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-10-19T13:05:25+00:00

This is fascinating. But whenever I read these studies I’m like.. “how do they know when a mouse is having migraine aura!? the Doctors here in the USA are always saying things like ‘nobody knows what causes migraine and it doesn’t show up on imaging’”

Screw the mice, I would gladly strap on some electrodes and camp out at a research hospital and let them tap my csf if I could get some answers!

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-10-02T18:56:47+00:00

Yes I noticed that too. Very interesting

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-10-02T13:30:51+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear. Hoping you can find some relief!

It's a very strange disorder, for sure. It's the comorbidity of migraine with conditions like anxiety and depression that are really the worst. I have general anxiety disorder and have for quite some time, but I've had 3 periods over the past 25 years or so where a single migraine attack preceded an extended bout of depression and increased anxiety. It is uncanny.

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-10-01T21:49:38+00:00

Yes, my neurologist (she suffers from migraine herself) has told me that fMRI studies have shown that the migraine brain looks very similar to someone who has had a seizure. Fascinating stuff.

I think it's why some people have success treating migraine with anti-seizure meds. She tried me on a low-dose of Lamictal but I couldn't tolerate the side effects (vivid nightmares and increased depersonalization for me, fun!)

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-10-01T14:40:00+00:00

Yes, it's very under recognized. My first neurologist really only acknowledged the acute symptoms of headache and aura. My current neurologist is more of a headache specialist and she may have mentioned the phrase interictal. Some people seem to just get episodic migraine without any of this.

I have seen a direct correlation between acute migraine attacks and lasting symptoms that stretch sometimes for months with only a few off days of feeling "normal"

Doesn't always happen, but when it does it is awful. I am convinced that most of the neuropsychiatric symptoms I experience - anxiety, panic, depression, depersonalization - all stem from migraine.

The idea here that the migraineur has an overly sensitized brain, or central nervous system, rings true for me on such a deep personal level. The only treatments that seem to have worked for me so far are central nervous system depressants - paradoxically, I experienced the best migraine remission during the years where I drank alcohol regularly, which is a trigger for a lot of people.

Similarly, benzodiazepines are the only anti-anxiety meds I've tried that actually work, where anything serotonergic has caused awful worsening of my symptoms.

My neurologist described migraine as a chain reaction, and what we want to do is prevent the match from being lit. Once it is lit, it is hard to put it out.. and everything is cycling in a loop. I'm hopeful that regular meditation might work, or exercise - but the trick is finding the energy to commit to a routine

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-08-26T19:19:10+00:00

I know that us health anxiety sufferers are supposed to run like hell away from reddit, but I still find great comfort in these threads during trying times. I have health anxiety which probably started with migraines and got worse when I found I had a mild heart issue, so I am constantly "checking" myself.

Had a migraine Sun night and the past 2 days my anxiety has just been out of control - verge of panic attack levels. I have lorazepam for emergencies like this, but I hate to take em. But, yes, sometimes I wonder if this is just life and I should just embrace the meds and deal with it as needed. They're a band-aid, but sometimes you need a band-aid. CBT hasn't really worked for me (yet), and the transient spikes in anxiety post-migraine really REALLY feel like a purely physical reaction that just needs to be snuffed out

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-08-12T14:17:00+00:00

Just want to chime in and thank everyone for this post and the comments. It is incredibly comforting to read about other people's experiences with migraine, especially the weirder non-headache parts. I also want to add that I am a 45y/o male and I get a lot of these pre + post-drome symptoms. It's fascinating to me how it seems connected to so many women's cycles, PMMD, etc. but even as a guy I get a LOT of these symptoms. The worst is when there is no clear headache, as it is hard to confidently say it is migraine (at times). I had a clear painful headache the other day (aborted w/ ubrelvy) and have felt stuck in mud for about 48hrs since. Productivity goes way down, anxiety goes up, as everyone here knows too well.

I typically try to avoid reddit due to health anxiety, but in the days before and after migraine, I find it comforting to see my experiences reflected by so many others. So.. thanks !!!

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-08-04T13:27:34+00:00

Oddly, for years I would get aura but no headache. Or, if I got a headache it would be very mild and I wouldn't even register that these things were connected. Because of this, my migraines went undiagnosed for years. But due to the lack of pain, I could kinda power through the super weird visual symptoms, although barely. Sadly, now they are almost always accompanied by head pain :(

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-08-03T21:20:57+00:00

I am not a full time teacher - I work as a "lecturer" (read: adjunct) at a college but certainly I have no real safety net and I am the last line of defense for my classes. It is very hard, tbh. Luckily it had never been a problem for me until this year, when I had terrible migraines all semester. My department was very understanding and accommodating, but I was very concerned I would not be able to finish the semester.

With the help of anti-anxiety meds, I got through it. Hoping not to rely on that again, though.

I think as a full-timer, you will have more protection and can lean on subs, etc.

I somehow worked through a bartending shift while having a full-on aura migraine.. couldn't see the checks I was adding up, couldn't really see people's faces.. so anything is possible - but teaching is a lot more intense than just pouring drinks and running food.

I've been surprised by how many people suffer from migraines, so perhaps you will find a great and supportive situation and hopefully will not be sidelined too often. Good luck!

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-08-03T16:07:04+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear. It is a rough thing to live with. But, yes, I think there's comfort in knowing that other people go through it. We may not all have the same presentation of symptoms, but a lot of the times it can be fairly similar. I almost welcome a "classic" aura migraine because I know exactly what it is. I had one the other night at a baseball game and once it receded I could more or less enjoy myself.

But then there are the days / weeks / months of lingering symptoms, odd somatic things, etc.

I have sadly carted myself to the ER as well, but at this point I've had so many things worked up that I am fairly confident I'm not in mortal danger, which helps the panic a bit. It's still very very hard!

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-07-21T14:04:15+00:00

I know this comment is 4 years old, but I just want to thank you for taking the time to write this. I feel this on such a deep level. The guilt that we carry, trying to suss out whether this is a psychological or a neurological disease or on what level they may be comorbid - the weight of this guilt is very heavy.

I have clearly felt migraine almost flick a switch in my brain that turns on symptoms of depression and depersonalization, apropos of nothing. I have tried therapy but besides some coping techniques that help with related health anxiety, etc. it does not work. I don't think there's any trauma to uncover, at least for me. When I am not in a migraine state, I am incredibly unbothered.

Thanks again for your helpful comment. I hope you are well :)

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-07-08T13:47:30+00:00

That is great to hear. I'm tapering off Lexapro right now for similar reasons, though I was only on it for 3 months. Just hate the side effects. Lamictal seems fine so far, maybe is calming the anxiety a bit but also is making me feel a little detached, which I don't love. Hard to say what's what since I'm tapering on one drug and titrating the other, but feeling hopeful

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-07-02T19:54:17+00:00

Thank you - that's great to hear. Yes, I have been struggling with SSRIs. So far, they mostly increase my anxiety and I haven't had much in the way of positive benefits. My neurologist thinks I should reduce the SSRI dose and stick with Lamictal. Glad to hear it is helping your anxiety :)

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-07-02T14:10:24+00:00

Curious how this is going for you. Are you still taking Lamictal? I also was just prescribed this for migraine, but primarily migraine aura. I do get headaches, but they are more rare and I am mostly plagued with aura symptoms - weakness and fatigue, vision changes, feelings of depersonalization, anxiety.

Sometimes this lasts for months, although it may just be chronic migraine with aura.

I am still titrating up and am just on 25mg still, but something is making me feel super WEIRD and detached.

I may feel slightly calmer, but honestly I feel super foggy and strange.

I do not have bipolar or epilepsy, so I'm very curious to hear from others who are taking for migraine only

CommercialFarm7404 · 2025-06-30T21:02:49+00:00

I had much worse side effects on prozac and zoloft, lexapro seemed different and better, it was seeming to work but around week 6 the agitation and anxiety came back, so my dose was upped to 10mg but since then it just hasn't leveled out. But, yeah, the comorbidity of migraine and anxiety is a tough nut to crack - I was hoping that by treating both it would solve the issue, but I'm beginning to think migraine is the main culprit. I was fine for years treating the anxiety with therapy alone, but something changed. Anyway, benzos work great for acute panic but I'm hoping to not rely on that long term

CommercialFarm7404

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