Toprol or Lexapro

[center7355]

I have the type of personality that may make my heart beat a little faster in certain situations. (ex. flying, heights, crowed rooms,etc. )  Last June i had a rapid heart rate and to be safe i went to the er.  all the tests came back fine and the doc thinks it was caused by stress/anxiety or something i ate.  i am on a low dosage of toprol xl 50 mg 1 a day..  my question is this.  since it happend only once am i better off staying on toprol or taking a anxiety medicine like lexapro daily or taking xanax just when i need it.  it seems kind of weird to me taking toprol when nothing is wrong with my heart.  any help???

[Itschuck2c]

New beta blockers will not help with stage fright..older beta blockers such as Inderal were indeed called the speech makers drug and would knock down stage fright. They are called a non selective beta blocker.
Now Toprol is a selective beta blocker and safe and effective drug that will cause the heart to beat less forceful. I doubt a doctor would prescribe it unless there were other risk factors other than just a factor in which it induces a flight or fight response (heights, flying, crowds etc etc.) because toprol will not help with that response.

[Jack54]

Quote on you: "I have the type of personality that may make my heart beat a little faster in certain situations. (ex. flying, heights, crowed rooms,etc)".

Hey, probably 90% of all of us do that. What you need to find out is if you have tachycardia, or pathological rapid heart beat, most times of unknown origin, except for nicotine, caffeine, amphetamines, arrhythmias, etc.

Toprol is a beta blocker with all kind of side effects, especially when used long term. This is a serious heart medicine fellow! Your dose isn't that high but....Also you cannot abruptly stop taking any beta blocker!!!

Lexapro is an antidepressant. It is one of a class of drugs known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) that increases your serotonin levels to treat depression.

Xanax is an anti-anxiety medication and is addictive they say.

Yep I have heard of singers/actors who pop a beta blocker for stage fright. People read about this and think they are for anxiety.

I would talk to whomever prescribed the Toprol and see if I really need to take it. If your pulse is >105, I believe, then you have tachycardia and a real need to take it. There aren't many medicines other than calcium channel blockers, and they are not good at it, that can slow the heart rate.

Hope you make the right choices and may luck be wif ya :)

Henry

[jim62]

I thinks I'd go with the lexapro instead of the toprol xl.  It would seem that that would be treating the cause rather than just the symptom.  Personally, I have better results with welbutrin.