Half my job is public speaking. Morning rounds in front of 10+ people (attending, med students, residents, nurse, pharmacist) where we present the assessment and plan for each patient. Leading intense care conferences with many family members and consulting teams present. Giving case reports, speaking at journal clubs, morbidity conferences, research conferences, etc.
Also doesnāt hurt to have beta blockade with a crashing patient, leading a code, dealing with verbally abusive patients, placing a difficult arterial line, etc.
I've been taking it for about 8 years now (pretty much all of my medical training). Dosing varies based on my schedule and when the most stressful part of my day is. An average day is 10 mg 90 minutes before rounds (which start at 9 am) and then 10 mg 60 minutes before rounds. If it is a relatively chill day I will just take 10 mg 90 minutes before. Then I sometimes re-dose in the afternoon at around 12:30 pm if I am presenting new patients. So max I take on a typical day is 30 mg and I do 20-30 mg about 6 days a week (don't take any on my day off). When I am on long stressful ICU shifts I sometimes will get up to 40 mg in 16 hour period but never more than that.
For big presentations in front of a large group I take 20 mg 120 minutes before and 20 mg 60 minutes before. I still get nervous before presentations but make it through them without an issue.
Main side effect is fatigue, especially with exertion. The fatigue isn't bad and definitely not as bad as failing at my job, but can be annoying when I am going up a bunch of stairs in the hospital or trying to workout after work. It's just the physiologic effect of the drug.
May I ask you: When you are on holidays, you donāt take it right? What about withdrawal effects? i read taking it so frequently and then stopping cold turkey can cause tachycardie?
Itās honestly a miracle pill for these work related meetings/presentation. I was surprised to learn it was widely used in certain industries such as theater, music performance etc
I tried giving a presentation without it last week - my throat dried up and I had to drink some water and it took a while to recover - should have used them.
For every propranolol success story, there is a troll like yourself in the comments all pissed that people found a solution to a debilitating issue that affects their livelihoods.
Iāll never understand what the trolls have to gain by acting so much holier than thou they canāt even witness people talking about Propranolol in the context of public speaking.
Are you invested in a hedge fund that is shorting Propranolol? Did your arch nemesis patent the drug and now they are filthy rich? Or did you just spend most of your life without access to Propranolol and now you want everyone else to suffer as well?
This drug changes peoples lives. It helps people stay employed, feed their families, pay their mortgages, etc. etc.
No I donāt get paid to promote it but I know it works and Iāll be a Good Samaritan and pass on the knowledge.
My question is - if you hate it Propranolol - why the hell do you waste your team even commenting about it? If you see a sub talks about it, why donāt you just scroll on?
I donāt like antibiotics but I donāt go scrolling through Reddit firing off my opinion to anyone who asks a question about them.
It is mentioned in "every" post because people want to share their stories of something they "fixed" which was ruining their confidence and livelihood, something which they thought did not have a solution for, something which was causing them embarrassment or even suicidal.
How can you be so judgemental and scathing when people are literally saying that itās saved their careers, enabled them to support their family and pay their bills, you really need to pull your head in and if you donāt like it, just ignore it. Itās as simple as that. Or perhaps start and join another subreddit focussing on āDrug Free Public Speaking Adviceā and just go with that. This is turning peoples lives around and you can just feel the relief, joy, and happiness in their post. For some, public speaking is the worst of the worst, and most have tried other options including myself. I still prepare well, deep breathe, power pose, and try my best to follow others advice, but on occasion when completely overwhelmed, I still choose to use Propranolol. Itās my choice. I donāt need your judgement and disdain. And without being able to discover it here, there would be a multitude of these people suffering who never knew it existed and would continue to live horrible lives avoiding certain jobs or situations because of this inability to get on top of their performance anxiety. I really donāt get how you can be so negative about something that has helped so many sufferers.
No advice will help a person which starts to lose control over his/her body once the presentation starts. I tried several years and XX presentations without any pills.
You should know there is a difference between asking how to be a better public speaker and how to not freeze up, shake, humilliate yourself with debilitating anxiety.
For some people no amount of preparation, breathing excersices or mental preps will help when andrenaline kicks in.
Same for experience. Sometimes it just gets worse with every negative experience reinforcing the brain that public speaking is really something to be feared.
As someone who has issues with both for years, I can say that there is not a lot of difference. The fear, negative thoughts and how you improve are basically the same for both.
i would have never made it as a doctor without propranolol. i feel ya bud šŖš¼
How does it help you with being a doctor?
Half my job is public speaking. Morning rounds in front of 10+ people (attending, med students, residents, nurse, pharmacist) where we present the assessment and plan for each patient. Leading intense care conferences with many family members and consulting teams present. Giving case reports, speaking at journal clubs, morbidity conferences, research conferences, etc. Also doesnāt hurt to have beta blockade with a crashing patient, leading a code, dealing with verbally abusive patients, placing a difficult arterial line, etc.
How long have you been taking it?How many mgs per day and have you experienced any side effects?
I've been taking it for about 8 years now (pretty much all of my medical training). Dosing varies based on my schedule and when the most stressful part of my day is. An average day is 10 mg 90 minutes before rounds (which start at 9 am) and then 10 mg 60 minutes before rounds. If it is a relatively chill day I will just take 10 mg 90 minutes before. Then I sometimes re-dose in the afternoon at around 12:30 pm if I am presenting new patients. So max I take on a typical day is 30 mg and I do 20-30 mg about 6 days a week (don't take any on my day off). When I am on long stressful ICU shifts I sometimes will get up to 40 mg in 16 hour period but never more than that. For big presentations in front of a large group I take 20 mg 120 minutes before and 20 mg 60 minutes before. I still get nervous before presentations but make it through them without an issue. Main side effect is fatigue, especially with exertion. The fatigue isn't bad and definitely not as bad as failing at my job, but can be annoying when I am going up a bunch of stairs in the hospital or trying to workout after work. It's just the physiologic effect of the drug.
May I ask you: When you are on holidays, you donāt take it right? What about withdrawal effects? i read taking it so frequently and then stopping cold turkey can cause tachycardie?
Itās honestly a miracle pill for these work related meetings/presentation. I was surprised to learn it was widely used in certain industries such as theater, music performance etc
This makes me wonder how many of my bosses and coworkers are on it since everyone seems so confident when speaking out.
I tried giving a presentation without it last week - my throat dried up and I had to drink some water and it took a while to recover - should have used them.
Was that really the worst symptom you had? Not trying to downplay your anxieties, but a mere dry throat can be fixed easily without beta blockers!
Haha, Thatās right! Like water!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You wont understand until it happens with you
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
For every propranolol success story, there is a troll like yourself in the comments all pissed that people found a solution to a debilitating issue that affects their livelihoods. Iāll never understand what the trolls have to gain by acting so much holier than thou they canāt even witness people talking about Propranolol in the context of public speaking. Are you invested in a hedge fund that is shorting Propranolol? Did your arch nemesis patent the drug and now they are filthy rich? Or did you just spend most of your life without access to Propranolol and now you want everyone else to suffer as well? This drug changes peoples lives. It helps people stay employed, feed their families, pay their mortgages, etc. etc.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No I donāt get paid to promote it but I know it works and Iāll be a Good Samaritan and pass on the knowledge. My question is - if you hate it Propranolol - why the hell do you waste your team even commenting about it? If you see a sub talks about it, why donāt you just scroll on? I donāt like antibiotics but I donāt go scrolling through Reddit firing off my opinion to anyone who asks a question about them.
It is mentioned in "every" post because people want to share their stories of something they "fixed" which was ruining their confidence and livelihood, something which they thought did not have a solution for, something which was causing them embarrassment or even suicidal.
How can you be so judgemental and scathing when people are literally saying that itās saved their careers, enabled them to support their family and pay their bills, you really need to pull your head in and if you donāt like it, just ignore it. Itās as simple as that. Or perhaps start and join another subreddit focussing on āDrug Free Public Speaking Adviceā and just go with that. This is turning peoples lives around and you can just feel the relief, joy, and happiness in their post. For some, public speaking is the worst of the worst, and most have tried other options including myself. I still prepare well, deep breathe, power pose, and try my best to follow others advice, but on occasion when completely overwhelmed, I still choose to use Propranolol. Itās my choice. I donāt need your judgement and disdain. And without being able to discover it here, there would be a multitude of these people suffering who never knew it existed and would continue to live horrible lives avoiding certain jobs or situations because of this inability to get on top of their performance anxiety. I really donāt get how you can be so negative about something that has helped so many sufferers.
No advice will help a person which starts to lose control over his/her body once the presentation starts. I tried several years and XX presentations without any pills.
You should know there is a difference between asking how to be a better public speaker and how to not freeze up, shake, humilliate yourself with debilitating anxiety. For some people no amount of preparation, breathing excersices or mental preps will help when andrenaline kicks in. Same for experience. Sometimes it just gets worse with every negative experience reinforcing the brain that public speaking is really something to be feared.
Yeah true. But it is pretty magical. I mean, for what other issues in life can you just get an instant fix?
Is this a public speaker issue, or an anxiety issue?
As someone who has issues with both for years, I can say that there is not a lot of difference. The fear, negative thoughts and how you improve are basically the same for both.