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I take them only on days I need to like for big presos or flying, and have been for almost 15 years. They don’t work on your brain like the typical Xanaxes and Prozacs of the anxiety meds world, they only ‘block’ adrenaline to reduce your heart rate and blood pressure. What you get is your full mental faculties in tact, but the inability to physically react to your situation - no shakes, sweats or stammers. Can’t recommend enough.
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I know a formidable CEO and agency founder who takes a beta blocker before they go on stage for a big conference. I have seen them in action in front of thousands of people and they just seem calm and collected, not spaced out.
Pro
No, total different person
If your main physiological symptom of anxiety is that racing heart tight feeling in your chest, it will help. But if your anxiety is more in your head, ie racing thoughts, or feeling mentally foggy, it wont do very much. As someone who is more of the mental anxiety type, klonopin/xanax etc works better.
Used to take them before I perform on stage (classically trained musician here), it works and all musicians know of it, many take them, not a secret. Presentations aren’t usually as stressful as those old conservatory days so haven’t touched them for at least a decade now
Chief
My wife takes them. They seem to work well and I have heard the same things from others. They are also fairly benign as far as drugs go. They go in and out of your system fairly quick, and you only take them when needed.
Pro
They have been an absolute life saver for me. Or a career saver. They work by placing a governor on your heart. When you’d normally get nervous, panicky and want to leave the room… this stuff stops all that!
But as another has said- you can’t physically exert yourself after.
I probably got served the same ads and tried them. Can confirm they do work like a charm if you take two as needed! I don’t take them often. I took one at first and thought it was BS until I gave it another try with two. I also have ADHD and take Adderall, and I feel like it helps with some of my ADHD symptoms too. I don’t forget my train of thought. It helps me focus and articulate my thoughts more clearly and succinctly.
I take them for good old-fashioned congenital arrhythmia.
I can’t speak to performance enhancement, but they are great if you have AFib and are having flutters or palpitations. Yay bisoprolol.
I took them for a bit when I was having panic attacks. Helped a lot. Some of it was probably placebo. Like a safety net that helped me relax.
One downside is they keep your heart rate low so I couldn’t exercise the same day. Even long walks felt unpleasant at times.
How did you wean off? I’m in a similar position where I’m taking a low dose just to get through a panic episode.
I used to take them for sleep, at a very low dose. I couldn’t imagine trying to be sharp in a professional setting on a beta blocker, but that’s just me. There are lots of supplements that can create a sense of calm without resorting to beta blockers. I take magnesium for sleep and the rest of the next day I’m so much calmer. Nothing bothers me that much, yet I’m fully clear headed.
Ahhh, nope. You sure you’re not confusing betas with benzos?
I worked with an opera singer on breath control for presenting and asked her about them since they’re widely abused in her industry.
She was like “yeah, you can do that and never learn to control those emotions or you can just learn how to use them to make you better than the people taking the beta blockers.”
Her take makes sense to me. The feeling becomes something you can use. You can channel it into excitement and enthusiasm, which helps make things alluring.