atenolol vs remeron and/or ativan

I have been off remeron for approximately 5 months and was finally feeling pretty good when a couple of weeks ago, I got a flu and started thinking anxious thoughts again.  Not only that, my essential tremor has been acting up more lately.  To the point, when I went to the doctor and he weighed me, I couldn't stand on the scale without holding on to something.  My doctor, at that point, suggested I go on a beta blocker (atenolol) for the tremor with the bonus of it helping with anxiety too.  I've always felt that my biggest problem is that I feel off balance because of the tremor in my legs.  I've been on atenolol for 7 days and my tremor hasn't improved that much and my balance is far worse.  I told my doctor that I will try the atenolol for 3 weeks, but the way things are going, I doubt that it is something that I will be comfortable sticking with.  Since going off remeron and after a couple of months of detoxing, I felt pretty good other than fairly frequent  headaches.  I got my appetite back and was doing well.  I presently take ativan far more frequently than I did when I was on remeron but that means, no more than  one .5 mg  tablet two to three times a week.  I was making a huge effort to go out to dinner (very hard for me) and do other social things that I otherwise would avoid.  I now feel like I'm back at square one.  Because of the balance issue and a feeling of exhaustion when I exert myself, I'm not comfortable going out.  Should I consider going back on remeron or is it safe for me to continue taking ativan as needed?  I'm concerned about the addictive nature of this medication, but know that it works very nicely for me.  When I was on remeron, I took ativan VERY infrequently.  To the point that my doctor would give me 30 tablets and I would have 20 to 25 left in my pill box after one year.  What would you suggest I consider?    

[barfer]

Wow!  I'm really impressed.  Thanks for your input...a lot of great information and I will definitely look into switching to propranolol.  I think my doctor felt that I would not be as likely to take medication more than once a day and that is why he decided on atenolol.  Obviously that is not a good reason especially if it is not the right beta blocker for essential tremor.  What concerns me is that it seems he may not have know that they are not interchangeable.

You've been incredibly helpful!