• Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Questions and Thoughts on Beta and Alpha Blockers

Blue_Velvet

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
2
Location
boston
Hi,
I'm not sure if this should be in Other Drugs or Health but I'll be damned if that stops me from posting this. Anyways I figure that there is a greater interest in phamacology in this forum. I am not takeing beta blockers or alpha blockers, my experience with them comes from a few month stint with Inderal (propranolol) at a low dose (20 mg. twice a day). I am asking these questions out of curiosity, hopefully some other Bluelighters will find this thread interesting as well, or better yet helpful. I have searched Bluelight (there were some very interesting threads on the issues below), as well as Medline, and Deja News so I think these questions should be valid.

The first thing I'm curious about is the fact that the beta blocker Inderal is known to potentate Xanax. I imagine that there is not much, but a little, of additional sedation when any beta blocker and benzo is mixed but I'm referring to a much stronger interaction which occurs between Inderal and Xanax, the Xanax becomes stronger but more importantly longer lasting. Why does this happen? Do the two drugs compete for an enzyme to be metabolized? It's not because of Inderal's effect on the GABA system because the above affects don't occur when other beta blockers and benzos are mixed (this is a BIG assumption)?

My second consideration is toxicity. People with cardiac problems would be taking the most, correct? What's the typical high end dose? More interesting are the reports of toxicity when beta blockers and amphetamines are combined. I don't mean people overcompensating for the dampening effect beta blockers would have on speed or the beta blockers blocking warning signs of danger. There seems to be concern over an additional danger that presents itself when the two are mixed that I haven't found an explanation for. Beta blockers are not indicated for amphetamine overdose, right? How about beta blockers and coke?

My next question regards a common off label use of beta blocks. Sometimes beta blockers are used to combat situational anxiety, many classical musicians use the drug this way. I know the goal here is to block some of the effects of adrenaline. Continuing in this direction is someone on beta blockers physically weaker or unable to reap the full benefits that come with increased adrenaline. Would a beta or alpha blocker possibly make someone less violent.

A few years ago for a short time I was put on the beta blocker Inderal as a propalaxive for migraines. Anyone know why the M.D. thought this had a chance in hell of working? I figure she gave it a shot because a low dose of inderal is more benign than an anticonvulsant, the obvious choice to prevent migrains. I'm thinking either Inderal is vasioconstrictive, which I doubt, or her theory was that a lower blood pressure would yield less migraines.

I'm very interested in comments from people who have taken either beta or alpha blockers, esp. how they made you feel mentally and if you or anyone noticed a change in your personality. Would these drugs have an affect on antisocial behavior? Have they ever been used this way? They are much kinder than most drugs used for that perpose.

I know asked a lot of questions and am all over the place. I also doubt if there are clear cut answers to all these questions, but if you have any pertinent information it would be much appreciated.
 
i honestly couldnt tell you why propranolol potentiates the effects of xanax. Both drugs are metabolized by the Cytochrome P450 family of enzymes, but by different enzymes so in theory this should have no effect. However propranolol is a quite unique beta-blocker in that it is metabolized by a number of these enzymes so perhaps there may be a slight interaction here (clutching at straws... :\ )
xanax certainly is one of the benzodiazepines more prone to drug interactions. But yeah you wont find many pharmacology textbooks listing propranolol and alprazolam as a significant drug interaction... i wont pretend to know the answer to this one

Beta blockers are mainly used for the treatment of hypertension which is not necessarily cardiac based - for a long time they werent used in patients with congestive cardiac failure because as they reduce heart contractility, this may lead to total cardiac failure. Its only recently (within the last year) that beta blockers have been used in CCF treatment because of its effects on noradrenaline like you alluded to.
Dose wise, for migraine, propranolol is normally given 40mg twice daily and titrated anywhere up to 160mg daily - for hypertension, doses range anywhere from 120-320mg daily

with regards to the interaction between amphetamines and beta blockers, i cant really add much to what you've already said. The biggest danger i can see is that if a person taking a beta-blocker to reduce heart activity to reduce blood pressure - if they then takes an amphetamine then although their heart rate may not increase due to the beta blocker, their blood pressure will due to peripheral vasoconstriction
-meh

i wouldnt say a person on a beta blocker is physically weaker in say a normal situation where their beta receptor stimulation would be low anyway. However in a situation of high stress where you would normally see an increase in adrenalin flow, increase in heart rate etc... maybe then they'd be "weaker" as compared to how they'd be without the beta blocker.
Its an interesting thought... beta/alpha blockers in the management of anger...

Beta blockers are actually commonly used in the long term prevention of migraines and the most commonly used one for this is propranolol hehehe. The mechanism of action for this is actually unknown -

:)
 
Top