Hey everyone. Been a while since I've posted here so I hope everyone is as well as can be expected. I've been suffering from night terrors since taking propranolol for my migraines and it's starting to really get me down. Last night I was convinced my girlfriend was someone else harbouring a knife to kill me so I threatened to call the police.
I finally calmed down but it's really getting to me. Has anyone else experienced night disturbances?
I started taking propranolol a few months back after years of trying to avoid daily meds. It really did help with the frequency and severity of my migraines, but I had to stop taking them (only a week ago) due to similar reasons.
...I just didn't get a good nights sleep for months....my dreams were so vivid, it was unbelievable. Not all of them nightmares, just really really odd and vivid to the point of me waking up multiple times during the night and either bursting out laughing at how bizarre the dream was or panicking as I was being chased by aliens or similar(!). I would also find myself dreaming about things that happened years ago, then I would be thinking about these things the next day and trying to remember if they actually happened or if the weird affect on my dreams had influenced my memories of the events....it was at this point I decided to stop taking the propranolol 
The content of the dreams etc didn't bother me that much, it was fascinating....but I just wouldn't be able to sleep for more than two hours a time at night without waking up and not being able to get back to sleep for 45 minutes or so, then the cycle repeated until it was time to go to work....so tiring, which started to have a weird affect in itself.
It's a shame as I think they really were helping a lot with migraines. Other downsides are not being able to do any proper exercise, general lack of motivation to do anything (although this could just be due to the tiredness?)
Well I'm glad that someone else has experienced it - I thought I was going mad!
I'm on 160mg per day of Propranolol so I'm terrified of coming off it because I was getting 3-4 migraines a week minimum prior to taking it. I don't want to go back to that.
What did you switch to?
Hi, I've always had night terrors, extreme vivid dreams etc, I always thought it was because of the migraine, and family genetics, but I definitely noticed an increase when I started propranolol. However, the benefits of taking it made me reluctant to give it up! I'm now on the slow release capsule's, 80mg, and have found they are more tolerable. I often think I'd make a great Sci-Fi writer, some of the stuff that I dream about 😅
"sci-fi writer" - I was thinking exactly the same! I do almost miss the absolute vividness and complexity of the dreams I'd been having...I started to jot them down on my phone when I woke up during the night, they make hilarious reading in the cold light of day.
I had to claim a warranty replacement for a part on my motorbike the one day, you wouldn't believe the dream that small event spawned when I went to bed that night!
Well... one of the first times I stayed over at my girlfriend's, I woke her up in the middle of the night scrabbling around the bed. She asked me what I was doing and I said "trying to get rid of the baby ankles". Literally madness - no idea what the hell that means but she thought it was absolutely hilarious lol
Hi Bea.
Oh I know the feeling - I've been writing a scifi themed instrumental prog album since being on propranolol. Some of the ideas I've come up with are bloody crazy lol! I'm very reluctant to come off the propranolol because of how much it's reduced my migraines but I equally don't want these night terrors to escalate further. It's not fair on my girlfriend or me to have our sleep affected so much. Hate feeling like a burden as she has rheumatoid arthritis so doesn't sleep great either so the last thing I want to do is to take away any of the little precious sleep she does actually get.
Darthwilko - I haven't switched to anything yet, still weaning myself off propranolol - only fully stopped a few days ago, so thought it would be best to leave a short while to readjust before starting something new. The doctor recommended trying Topiramate if the propranolol didn't work out, so I guess I'll report back about that later
Ok buddy thanks. Let us know how you get on if you switch to Topiramate - I'd be interested to see if it's as effective on the migraines as Propranolol without some of those weird side effects.
Hi,
I'm late to the party here but, I've had both Propranalol & Topiramate. The Propranalol didn't agree with me, the Topiramate made me very aggressive and I had to stop it after only 4/5 weeks. I hate to say it, but I still have issues, like having a migraine on holiday and hearing my friends voices plotting against me. I locked myself in the bathroom for an hour!
Tom, I have the same issues with weird but sometimes realistic nightmares. There are times I wake up and am unsure if something is real or a dream! There are times I think I'm losing my mind!
So to all here, I have shared similar experiences, but since we're on different meds, maybe it's the migraines that are causing these issues. Each time we go through the cycle of a migraine it can be different, I know it is for me. This will be no consolation, but I haven't slept through the night for 11 years now.
Not sure if you know this but, Lewis Carroll suffered migraines, that's why migraine warriors often refer to the Alice in Wonderland syndrome! When I heard about Lewis Carroll, strangely a whole lot of AiW made so much sense to me! LOL!
Hope you find a balance and can get some normality guys. It's what I've been striving for now for years. Good luck.
Catmag
Also - I think Propranolol is well known (at least according to the internet) for causing extreme nightmares/vivid dreams...and even hallucinations. I knew this before taking them so I was kind of prepared which made it less worrying for me, I can't imagine not knowing beforehand...must have been scary for you both.
Yeah I was in that much of a tired, pained stupor when they first put me on Propranolol that I didn't look into it
Sorry to spam the thread, but this site is really useful: drugs.com/comments/proprano...
Have a look through the user reviews of Propranalol, you will see that many, many people report severe nightmares etc. You can adjust the filters to show users of propranolol for other conditions too.
No worries Tom, spam away - it's all helpful so thanks
Crikey! I've just clicked on that link! We're not alone then?!
I just did the same - we most definitely are not alone!
Migraines and working
Hormonal migraines help!
Migraine 
cinemas and migraines
Migraine during sleep
