Klarinet Archive - Posting 000454.txt from 2004/08

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Seeking Inderal users
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 18:38:01 -0400

On 15 Aug, Kenneth Wolman <kenneth.wolman@-----.net> wrote:

> At 03:15 PM 8/15/2004, you wrote:
>
> > Dear Friends:
> >
> > I'm writing a newspaper story on beta blockers and would like to speak to
> > muscians who have used it. Please email me at crimsons@-----.com if you
> > are interested.
> >
> > BTW, I am a professional musician who's used Inderal, though now very
> > infrequently, since the mid-80s.

> This must be public. I have written about this in the past, on this list,
> and shall do so again as the occasion warrants.

I'm sorry that you have had the experiences you describe below. But it would
be irresponsible not to point out that for the vast majority of people, in
particular for the vast majority of those people who have high blood
pressure, beta-blockers do not have the side-effects you describe, and are on
the contrary beneficial, and may even be life-saving.

I'm sure you agree with that statement.

> Beta blockers can be drugs from hell. Yes, musicians use them as
> calmatives. I took them for high blood pressure starting in November 1994,
> terminating in May or June 1995. Why did I terminate? Okay, what you saw
> from me last week was the result of intense stress. But it was NOTHING
> compared to what I was like early in 1995. I did not know I was living
> with bipolar disorder or that it was inhabiting me. That was diagnosed
> only some years later. The beta blockers magnified it. I was completely
> uncontrolled, nearly psychotic, and the change in me was gradual enough so
> I missed it until I felt like I was absolutely losing my mind. I had
> "suicidal ideations," among other things. It was terrifying and it took a
> sort of moment of clarity for me to guess that it was the drugs. Last
> garbage in, sudden behavioral alterations.

To any drug, there are 'common' side effects, 'less common' side effects, and
'rare' side effects. Human body chemistry is complex. Here is a web page
that, while insisting that it is not authoritative, makes this clear with
regard to beta-blockers:

http://www.tmc.edu/thi/betameds.html

> I was referred to a psychiatrist who basically said "Those things'll make
> you crazier than you are already." Duh.

You should make it clear that you intend this comment to apply to you, and
not necessarily to other people. For example, I am currently prescribed
beta-blockers for high blood pressure, and experience no problems of the sort
you describe. So they don't make *me* 'crazier than I am already'.

[snip]

> Where am I going with this? Very simple. If you are contemplating using
> beta blockers for performance anxiety, I beg you to know your CURRENT
> psychological profile beforehand: if you don't, get an evaluation before
> you start using these meds. They can take you to places marked "Here there
> be monsters," and you'll be the Monster King or Queen.

But be aware that although what Ken describes may be true for you -- after
all, it was true for him, or so it appears -- I am assured it is
statistically very unlikely; to the extent that if you have other good
reasons to take the drug, such as high blood pressure, you would be unwise to
resist using it out of fear of those consequences.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't report immediately to your doctor if on
taking beta-blockers you have experiences like Ken's -- as again, the website
makes clear.

> This message will be repeated every time someone brings up this topic.

This too.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

... Today is cancelled due to lack of interest.

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