I take beta -blockers for my anxiety – and many of my friends are also numerous. Is this a problem? | Health and well-being

I First there are beta-blockers two years ago, when I was asked to praise. Terrible to speak in public during a good day, not to mention the funeral, my first instinct was to refuse to do so. I had made a speech during the marriage of a friend 15 years ago and my legs trembled so violently that I thought I would collapse. This is not a case of overexploitation or dramatic: I find almost impossible to stand in front of a crowd and to speak. It is an event, for all the people involved – or it was before taking beta -blockers.

Beta-blockers are a prescription drug that blocks adrenaline and therefore temporarily reduces the body's reaction to stress. Rardishly given to patients with hearts and circulatory conditions, including angina, atrial fibrillation and high blood pressure, as well as to prevent migraines, they are also prescribed for certain types of anxiety. Some doctors suggest taking them regularly, at certain times of the day. Others suggest taking a specified dose when you feel needing it. “They work by reducing the effects of adrenaline on the heart, so that you do not have this heart rate feeling, you could not breathe out or sweaty, and they can reduce the symptoms of a panic attack in its own right,” explains the doctor and diffuser Amir Khan, who has been a GP in Bradford for 16 years.

The prescriptions of anti -annual drugs have skyrocketed in recent years – led mainly by increases between women and young people. According to a study in 2022 of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bristol, which examined the prescriptions issued for anxiety between 2003 and 2018, for each man prescribed beta-blockers, there were 2.33 women. The reasons for the increase in prescriptions are complex – but GPS interviewed for the study suggested that women and young people tend to be more open to anxiety. In addition, beta-blockers are generally considered to be a lower and faster risk than other anxiety drugs such as benzodiazepines, which are known to be addictive, and antidepressants, which can have side effects. Patients did not consider beta-blockers as “mental health drugs”, revealed the study, and therefore perceived them as “less stigmatizing”.

There has also been a cultural change – celebrities, including actor Kristen Bell, Khloé Kardashian And Cook Prue Leith all talked about taking beta-blockers. When Robert Downey Jr went to recover his Golden Globe to Oppenheimer, he told the public: “I took a beta-blocker so it will be a breeze.” The writer and actor Sharon Horgan said Louis Theroux on his podcast recently: “They do something very practical, physically, but I think that the kind of mental stuff that goes with it … has a real calming effect on me, and in situations that would normally terrify me.”

He was a friend who suggested that I try beta-blockers for funerals. She had taken them and jostled them for years, although it was the first I had heard. “I'm not ashamed to take them, but I don't need to have it announced,” she says. “I guess I fear that people do not think that meant that I do not face life. I don't know. But most people keep their medicines largely for them, isn't it?”

Well, yes, but once I said to a few people that I thought I would take beta-blockers, it was like a domino effect, with more and more revealers that they had taken them, either for specific events or from time to time.

“I never leave the house without them,” said another friend. “I bet I am far from being the only frantic mother at the doors of the school who has them.”

Someone other than I know takes them for a perimenopausic anxiety, instead of increasing its HRT, which could be another way to remedy the symptom. She says: “I also try wild swimming, yoga and meditation. I am really proactive, not only to jump into drugs. But beta-blockers work well for me.”

Despite anecdotal evidence, the study of the University of Bristol says that there is “no conclusive evidence” of the effectiveness of beta-blockers for anxiety. They do not appear in the advice of the National Institute for Excellence of Health and Care (Nice) on the treatment of anxiety. So why do the doctors prescribe them?

“Although beta-blockers can help some of the physical symptoms of anxiety, they do not treat biology behind it,” says Khan. Instead, he says, Nice recommends a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin recovering inhibitors (ISRS), which work by increasing serotonin levels – called “happy hormone” – in the brain, in parallel with speaking therapy, in particular for those who suffer from a generalized anxiety disorder.

“By saying this, many general practitioners and prescribers use beta -blockers for a situational anxiety – when you know that you will be in a situation where you are likely to become anxious,” explains Khan. “So,” if and when “rather than in the long term.”

When I spoke to my general practitioner, she said that she often prescribed beta-blockers, to people who had to make great presentations at work or to lawyers about to make their closing speech in a trial. She advised me to operate a practice rather than trying them for the first time on funeral day. In the 10 minutes after taking them, I felt like me, but calm. When I praised, I was as good as anyone could be in these circumstances.

Like most drugs, beta-blockers are not suitable for everyone. Dr. Adrian Hayter, medical director of clinical policy of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “General practitioners adopt a holistic approach to assess their patients and propose treatment plans, in conversation with them.

The side effects of beta-blockers include fatigue, dizziness and difficulty sleeping And they are not suitable for asthmatic people. Taking more than your prescribed dose may be dangerous and you could end up in an urgent treatment in A&E. Khan says: “Beta-blockers are not addictive, but if you take them in the long term, you cannot stop them suddenly.” You have to wean them. And he adds: “Interesting, they were linked to higher depression rates, so I did not prescribe them to anyone suffering from depression alongside their anxiety.”

Khan says that in the wider image more and more patients in contact with mental health services, he notes an increase in the number of anxiety patients, and in particular work -related anxiety. “I do not think that I specifically prescribe more beta-blockers, but I certainly treat more people for anxiety overall … I think life becomes more and more difficult for so many people that it manifests as an anxiety.”

Last November, I lost the job that I had been doing for 20 years, due to budget cuts. While I was working as a freelance, there was no redundancy payment, thank you just, have a nice Christmas. From the moment the bomb was abandoned, I felt constantly on the verge of a panic crisis, as if a blind terror instead of the blood crossed my veins. As a already anxious person, a blue call for blue that broke my family's financial security in an instant did not improve my state of mind. After a discussion with my doctor, I now take beta-blockers three times a day. They help make my life manageable while I sail in my new standard.

We have rather talked about antidepressants, which I have taken in the past, but they didn't feel like the right way to do it right now. The anxiety that I felt was a reaction to my situation, to circumstances independent of my will, rather than a longer -term problem.

And while they are working for me right now, I hope I will not need to take them indefinitely. Hayter says: “As far as possible, general practitioners do not want patients to count on long -term drugs, and most patients do not want either. The best practice is that drug reviews are held at regular intervals, where general practitioners and patients discuss the opportunity to reduce dosage or stop taking medication.”

At one point, I am sure I will feel able to stop taking beta-blockers as regularly. But if another stressful event in public speaking returned, I can be returned to my doctor.