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Anxiety medication and caffeine

Hi, I have been given some Propranol tablets by my GP to help me deal with anxiety and I'm wondering if drinking coffee and caffeinated products would counteract the medication. I'm a massive coffee lover but I limit my intake to one/two cups a day.
Would it still be okay for me to have coffee or should I try to cut it out of my diet?

Thanks :smile:

*Propranolol

Hi,

I wouldn't recommend having caffeine on propranolol (or in general). The idea of you taking this is to reduce your anxiety, however caffeine will actually make you feel more anxious and so you might not feel the benefits of the propranolol if it is having to try and counteract not only your baseline anxiety levels (which I gather are quite high) but also the added effect of caffeine.

In my personal experiences, when I'm feeling anxious I avoid caffeine all-together as I know that it tends to elevate it and makes me feel worse. I have taken beta-blockers before, however I never took them with caffeine, so in that sense I can't give you my experiences on it.

This is just my view, but if anyone is more informed then feel free to correct anything I've written.

Reply 3

SteWatson

Original post by Anonymous

I agree with the comment below. Caffeine spikes adrenaline so it will inevitably make you feel more 'on edge'. Have you tried regular exercise? if not start with moderate exercise 3 times per week and work towards more intense exercise progressively, helps with my anxiety a lot.