Beta Blocker (Propranolol) and lifting

Hi Drs,

My wife was recently prescribed propranolol due to stress and anxiety (10mg up to four times per day). As I understand it, one of their effects is lowering blood pressure and slowing heart rate. So, I’ve been wondering if she’s ok to continue training while using them?

She isn’t running a strict LP at the moment (mainly due to the effects of the anxiety), but she’s deadlifting, squatting and pressing 2-3 times per week, trying to increase the weight each session. She also swims and runs. She’s 37 and about 126lbs.

Thanks for your help.

I don’t see any issues with training in this situation.

With that said, if she has significant anxiety / stress coping issues I’d strongly suggest seeing a psychiatrist. Beta blockers like propranolol are not particularly effective for the majority of anxiety disorders (except for performance-type situational anxiety disorder).

Thanks Austin,

Good to know she can carry on training, that really seems to help her.

Thanks for the advice about the psychiatrist. My wife has a job interview coming up, which is I think why the GP prescribed her the propranolol. But I agree that seeing somebody more specialised would be good for her. We’re in the UK and I’ve heard that the waiting-lists to see a psychiatrist can be very long (several months), but we’ll see what we can arrange with her GP.

All the best to you.

Hi Cambrian,

Mental health treatment varies a bit between the US and UK. You are unlikely ever to see a psychiatrist in the UK unless there is a risk to life or psychosis involved. Even referral to a clinical psychologist is unusual. The usual course of action for depression, panic and general anxiety disorders is an SSRI prescribed by your GP. Tranquilizers are only prescribed in exceptional circumstances. But all is not lost…

Check out this website http://www.llttf.com/ It was started by Prof Chris Williams. He is an associate at the university where I work. I don’t know him personally but he has a very good reputation. It used to be NHS funded but the money’s now used to pay off fat cat bankers. There are still some free resources. Look for the audio files for Anxiety Control Therapy.

Your local NHS provider should also have free or donation based talk based therapies. Some of these may not be suitable; it depends on the type of anxiety. If the anxiety is cortex based (i.e. comes from worrying about debt, work, loneliness etc) then counselling may help, as will CBT. The latter is usually done by a clinical psychologist. In my area counselling is free but anything with a psychologist is 30 to 50 quid a session.

If the anxiety is amygdala based (i.e. happens apparently for no reason when things are going great) then mindfulness meditation may help. Again, your local NHS provider may offer some help. Some mindfulness is new age bull dust but I’ve found this one helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thYoV-MCVs0

There’s also an excellent book called Rewire Your Anxious Brain by Prof Catherine Pittman. If you don’t have a medical background (I don’t), it does an excellent job of summarising the research in this area.

Hope you manage to find something useful in all this.