Propranolol (Inderal LA, Hemangeol, InnoPran XL): online prescription management for anxiety

With Talkspace Psychiatry, the first step toward getting help with your anxiety is to complete a brief assessment. You’ll then be matched with a psychiatric clinician that can help you best. Following the match, you’ll have a live video session where you’ll share your anxiety symptoms and how you’ve been feeling. From there, your provider will work with you to create a treatment plan. If that includes a prescription (such as propranolol), you can organize for it to be delivered straight to your pharmacy.

Depending on your mental health condition and the treatment plan prescribed by your provider, propranolol is taken in different forms, dosages, and frequencies. Propranolol comes in immediate-acting pill form, liquid, or long-acting capsule. Make sure to swallow pills whole and avoid crushing or chewing them. If you’re using propranolol to manage anxiety symptoms, it’s most common to take the medication ahead of an anxiety-inducing event.

It’s important to take propranolol exactly as prescribed by your clinician. Side effects of propranolol can include dizziness, fatigue, diarrhea, constipation, and others listed on your medication information. Seek immediate medical attention if you experience difficulty breathing, facial swelling, skin irritation, irregular heartbeat, weight gain, or a feeling of faintness. These side effects are generally mild and should not get worse. If they do, make sure to contact your doctor right away.

Propranolol is usually prescribed for controlling and preventing high blood pressure, heart issues, and migraines. However, it has been prescribed “off-label” for the treatment of performance-related anxiety and social anxiety by psychiatrists. An off-label prescription simply means that this medication isn’t officially indicated for an additional use but doctors have found it a safe and effective use for anxiety. If you find yourself struggling with severe physical anxiety symptoms (sweating, shaking, nausea, and rapid heart beat) before work presentations, interviews, or other social situations, propranolol may be helpful in reducing your symptoms.

Propranolol works best for anxiety symptoms that are primarily physical – it won’t help with mental anxiety symptoms. It is also more suited to short-term anxiety situations like performance-related or social anxiety. It likely won’t be prescribed for long-term anxiety like general anxiety disorder. 

Propranolol typically starts to work in a few hours for anxiety symptoms. However, there are two types of propranolol that release at different paces in the body. In the case of propranolol prescribed for anxiety, standard-release or immediate-acting propranolol releases the medication in your body quickly after the first dose. How quickly it works may vary from person to person, but your psychiatric clinician can help you figure out when to take it in various scenarios.

There are several different medications your psychiatrist may prescribe for anxiety.

Other medications for anxiety include:

• Paxil 
• Escitalopram 
• Fluoxetine
• Buspar (buspirone) 
• Zoloft (sertraline) 
• Lexapro (escitalopram)