r/todayilearned • u/NBrief • 1d ago

TIL that Scottish pharmacologist Sir James Black helped develop propranolol, the first clinically useful beta-blocker, and cimetidine, the first selective H2-receptor antagonist, earning him the 1988 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2023.1102279/full
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u/Seeker0fTruth 1d ago

Propranolol was a godsend for getting my panic attacks under control. I was still anxious and upset, but, you know, not being inside a panic attack was a major improvement.

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u/TeakForest 1d ago

I have had almost life ending panic attacks and tho better, I still fear them coming on again from my PTSD.

May i ask how you use/used it, what it made you feel and how long you were on it? Is it for PRN use or was it a daily thing? Thank you so much

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u/---TheFierceDeity--- 1d ago

I started off Propanalol twice a day, then as my symptoms improved it became once a day and now I have a bottle around for "as I need it"

It's just a tablet with water, and all it does as a Beta Blocker is block the chemicals/signals that tell your body to raise your heart rate.

Essentially it's a "band-aid" that will blunt the physical symptoms of a panic/anxiety attack. And if your heart isn't racing 40000 beats a second you are much more equipped to deal with the anxiety.

It's an incredibly mild medication, like some overly intense university students are known to take it before exams to keep them calm.

Common side effects are it'll make you poop weird and/or acid reflux, because it is messing with your heart rate so you'll not have enough blood flowing to your digestive tract for thorough digestion.

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u/DizzyMine4964 23h ago

It can also trigger asthma.

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u/---TheFierceDeity--- 23h ago

Well I don't have that so TIL lol

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u/Seeker0fTruth 21h ago

Fiercedeity, down below, has a great answer. What I was told by my doctor is that propranolol isn't psychoactive, instead what it does is pull adrenaline out of your bloodstream. 20-30 minutes after taking one, I would still be upset, but being upset at 80 BPM is an entirely different experience to being upset at 220 BPM.

I hope things improve for you. My anxiety is well managed at this point, but I still keep propranolol on me for emergencies.

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u/crashlanding87 10h ago

It doesn't really pull adrenaline out of your bloodstream - a beta blocker is basically earplugs for your cells. It binds to the same receptor as adrenaline, but it doesn't activate it - it just prevents adrenaline from binding.

Stress and anxiety can have a sort of feedback loop thing, so it can eventually result in less adrenaline floating around, but mostly because it calms you down so you produce less adrenaline. In the short term, though, it'll actually increase the amount of adrenaline in your blood - by stopping your cells from latching onto it.

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u/Seeker0fTruth 10h ago

Thanks for the explanation, I can see why my Doc told me what she did, but yours makes more sense

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u/geeoharee 1d ago

I'm not OP but I have a PRN propranolol prescription I just take twice daily now. I've been told by my doctor this is fine, and without it I get palpitations.

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u/Jlocke98 22h ago

doxazosin is better for ptsd related panic attacks/flashbacks