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Topic title: Effexor I need your help asap I was on effexor 6 years and Gott off for 4 months and was great. Dr gave me prednisone for a chest infection. I couldn’t sleep, had panic attacks, anxiety bad. Doctors put me back on effexor 7 weeks ago. Cut down to 17mg because it’s making me really sick. i need to get off it or it will kill me basically. I’ve lost to much weight. how do I get off now?

I have panic disorder with General anxiety. I had taken mirtazapine 45mg and I think 60mg at one point over 10 years. Due to a big relapse of major daily panic attacks and severe nausea a Psychiatrist changed me over to escalitopran but left me on 7.5mg of mirtazapine for sleep. For approx 3 years I've been on 20mg of escalitopran and 7.5mg of mirtazapine but doctors keep asking to remove the mirtazapine. Lately I have been quite Nausea each day and wondering if its the two drugs interacting? I am now trying to remove the mirtazapine and cut the 7.5mg cold turkey and was awake all night not having it and severe panic attacks in the night and during the day with severe nausea. So now Im trying to take a 1/4 tablet of mirtazapine which is approx 3.75mg. How should I go about this? I do have a doctor appointment booked as I think withdrawal is already an issue.

im 47. Since 1992 I’ve been on all the so called anti depressants at some point . Amitriptline in 92 after a major car accident , for 4 years , then duloxetine for a couple of years , then citalopram switched to eicitalopram , then to fluoxetine , then to Effexor ( which actually was only one that helped apart from gave me non alcoholic fatty liver ) then switched to sertraline for 2 years , then next was venlafaxine 75 mg generic , then dr switched me about very quickly to roboxetine , which had me climbing the walls for 3 weeks , then at end of 2019 swapped me straight from robixetine to mirtazpine 30 mg along side venlafaxine 37.5mg . By. Early 2020, I felt like someone had put my brain to sleep . Did not have the get up and go mentally to do anything really . No interest in me life wife kids , just flat . Knew this had to be the mirtazpine . Dr said cut it in half , so 15mg for a week then stop . I said no , and dropped from 30 to 22.5mg . Felt very low for three months . But seemed to settle . But still felt mentally screwed . No Drive no excitement no anger no anything . I stayed put for rest of 2020.in 2021, I had to close my new business as I didn’t have it in me to run it . Bookkeeping . I then declared myself bankrupt . In June 2021,my mother passed away sadly . I had been caring for her when I could for 4 years . I hit a massive void . I have been out of work so I could be there to help her when needed . I was 3 weeks in to a too large reduction (33%) of my 37.5 venlalic when she passed away . I ended up in A and E convinced that I was dying . Drs increased venlafaxine to 75mg Effexor . I didn’t want it but I needed some immediate help . And it did. A bit . I began to taper slowly in august from mirt by 10% or less . I was on 22.5mg in august , I am now on 18.5mg . My last reduction of only .5mg ( 2.5%) two weeks ago. I have severe joint and muscle and tendon aches and cramps . I seem to have become intolerant to histamine ( if I eat a banana in am , 4 hours later I feel like I’m going to pass out ) but this only happens in morning . is this really all possible ? The pains in my joints are if I am100 years old . I’m 47 . And this has all come about since reducing mirtazpine ? Why is this at such small reductions ? How please can I get round this ?? I have crohnes disease and had a bowel resection 20 years ago . This has now flared up , no doubt due to the histamine and stress issues ? I can’t touch cod liver oil or vitamins as it makes me feel hot and anxious ?? What can I do ? No one is listening at the Drs or anywhere ? To add , since June ( at that point I was on 37.5mg venlalic and 22.5mg mirtazpine) I changed from tablet venlalic 37.5 to venlablue capsule in June with three tablets inside , and then tried to reduce this by 1 of the tablets , ( so, 33% for 3 weeks ) failed, so put back to tablet venlalic at 37.5mg. I was also diagnosed adhd 8 months ago . In July , they started me on various stimulants , elvanse 30mg for a week then 50mg for a week. I stopped as didn’t like how I felt . So they put me on dexamphetamin 5mg twice a day , and told me to start to also take the venlalic in eve with mirtazpine , so I switched the venlalic to eve straight away . Went through 2 weeks of feeling proper rough . Stopped the adhd meds as too anxious . Mid July So then I am back to the 37.5 Venlalic in a.m. 22.5mg mirt in eve . started to slowly reduce mirt 22.5 to 20mg. Got real bad due to grief and all, Drs upped venlafaxine to 75mg Effexor capsule in around September . since then done 2 more small mirt cuts so now on 18.5mirt and 75mg Effexor . im hurting . I’m aching everywhere . I can’t eat certain foods with histamine . have I gone wrong ?

Hi guysI'm new here. I'm a 33 year old female from the UK.I was diagnosed with depression when I was 19, and went through a couple of different anti-depressants, before settling on Venlafaxine. I took 225mg per day. I've quite small (only 5'1) so I was told that was the highest I should go to. I also used to have social anxiety, mild OCD behavior, and was very 'snappy' and moody, but depression was the main problem. I'd had all these problems since about age 12.Around the same time as that diagnosis, I was diagnosed with Reactive Hypoglycaemia, which I now control through diet, but vastly affects my mood when my blood sugar levels get low. It's pretty much under control now through a strict diet and regular eating, except for about one day a month when my hormones affect it.14 years has passed and I started to think that maybe my problem had always mainly been the hypoglycaemia rather than true depression. I've seen a lot of doctors about the hypo and they all have very little knowledge about it - I would end up explaining it to them! - and they don't seem to understand how much it affects my mental state. I'd avoided attempting to come off the meds for a long time as I've heard horror stories, but I tapered them very slowly since the end of November last year, and stopped taking them around the end of May this year.My depression seemed fine, everything seemed fine. I was the same me as ever, and proud of myself.But the last few weeks...stupidly I didn't write down the exact date I stopped them - but maybe a week or two later, I'm not sure, I started feeling anxiety gradually building. It's so hard to know to what extent outside life affects it, but all I know is that I have a knot of anxiety in my stomach, and feeling so on edge is making me snap at my loved ones so much. I'm feeling really fragile, wanting to cry a lot, and this anxiety is driving me mad.So my questions are, is this my brain readjusting to living without chemicals, is this likely to get better?Or is this just how I am... do you think I need to go back on a low dose of the meds?I was so pleased with myself doing so well coming off them, but I'm finding life such a struggle right now. If I know there's an end to this anxiety I can struggle through, but how long do I want until I know if this is just how I am? I'm so tempted to just start them again, but it would be such a shame if this is just a withdrawal symptom.Advice really appreciated. Thanks for reading.

I have been on Sertraline (Zoloft) over the last 11 years. These were prescribed by a physician in an effort to treat my GAD/panic condition caused from high stress levels in college. Prescribed within a 10 minute appointment. I was 20 years old. And with no information on how long to take it or how to stop taking it. "Take this, it will help." The medication seemed to work OK for a few years. However, my experience over the last 2.5 years on this medication and with the psychiatry system has been a complete mess. My symptoms of anxiety (and the addition of depression) were exacerbated with many new symptoms and side effects: heightened anxiety, suicidal ideations, uncontrollable movements, cognitive impairment, and many others. I continued to speak to my psychiatrist about all these symptoms and my deep sense that we were on the wrong track. In fact I showed up in tears to the office. I was told I needed to increase my dosage, as I had more than likely become tolerant to my current dose. So as a good patient would, I listened to my doctor’s recommendation- increase from 50mg to 100mg. I increased to 75mg, had a follow-up appointment and relayed that I was feeling ‘OK’, but not great. So, I threw out an idea. How about this? Since increasing isn’t making me “better”, I’m going to reduce and taper off. Do the opposite. My psychiatrist was hesitant, but agreed if I wanted to take that journey then she’d support my decision and want me to continue check-ins. Was I given any advice or direction from the psychiatrist on tapering? Not really. I researched myself. I read many testimonials and clinical trials about the challenges of tapering off medications. I was ready for what I thought might be a very bumpy ride and determined I would decrease slowly over many months. I made myself a plan. Make a reduction every 6-8 weeks, so I have time to acclimate in between reductions. So I did just that. I also journaled my symptoms- physical, mental and emotional feelings daily. It wasn’t a fun process (def had some issues), but it wasn’t all that terrible. The added global pandemic definitely did not help the situation (super great time to come off medication). My last dose taken May 31, 2020. Six weeks go by and I’m doing pretty good. THEN, like a freight train, I’m hit with delayed post withdrawal. The most horrendous physical, mental and emotional pain I’ve ever experienced in my life. Nerve shocks, body aches, headaches, cognitive disorientation, tremors, severe insomnia, panic, crying spells, chest pain, no appetite, extreme anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Overall I lost 10 pounds. I cried every day. The insomnia got so bad (only slept 2 hrs each night), I was put on Trazodone for a short period. I was in a tailspin. I felt so alone. This lasted a very long 3 weeks. And honestly without my support system, this forum, and my stubborn attitude I don’t think I would have gotten through it. After those 3 weeks, I could feel myself getting closer to the surface again. I still struggled, but each day got a little better. A little more healed. Symptoms still lingered, but things were subsiding slowly. My body working out the kinks. I started feeling real improvements and larger windows at the 6 month mark. Still some bumps in the road, the occasional stress induced anxiety symptoms, but overall better. Every day got a little brighter. I now genuinely know the medication was the culprit in making me ill- inflaming all of my anxieties. Today I have been 1 year 3 months without any medication. Last dose taken on May 31, 2020. I can wholeheartedly tell you it does get better. I feel the best I’ve felt in years. My symptoms have all subsided. I still have general anxiety, but it is very minor in comparison to being on the medication. I have learned so much about myself, my strength and the coping mechanisms/exercises that work for me. And I’m still healing. Everyone’s story and timeline is different, however I hope sharing my experience gives you hope. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. You can and will weather the storm and get through this journey. You may not see it now, but there is an end in sight. And it’s beautiful. Keep going. **On a personal note, THANK YOU to those of you that have also shared your experiences on this forum, as this undoubtedly helped me hang on during my journey of tapering and withdrawal.** XX Amber

Hey all. My name is Kelly. I’m new here, but I’ve also been apart of a few Facebook groups that led me here. I’m going to try to make a long story short. About 2 years ago, I was placed on 50 mg of Zoloft because I was tearful and told my OBGYN office that I was feeling overwhelmed and uninterested in sex with my husband. At the time, I just gave birth to my newborn twins, I had an 11 month old at home and a 4 year old step son. Life was very stressful and chaotic. I didn’t feel depressed or anxious before beginning this medicine. Fast forward about 3 months of being on, I and the people around me felt the medication was changing who I was. I was becoming angry and just not my normal self. I forgot to take the Zoloft for about 2 days and I felt like I was okay and getting back to feeling more normal. I decided to continue to skip taking the medication. About 5 days after abruptly quitting, I was going to lay down with my 11 month old in bed, and I got the fleeting thought of “What if I just smothered her right now and nobody was here to save her?” The scariest feeling came over my body. I was terrified of myself, am I actually capable of hurting my sweet and precious girl? Following this came many more intrusive thoughts about harming my babies, my husband and myself. I had thoughts and visualizations of me hurting others, cheating on my spouse, etc. I felt like I was going insane. I had crazy anxiety, I couldn’t sleep, heart palpitations, dizziness to the point I thought I was going to pass out, I felt depressed, easily angered, agitated, I was having vivid dreams, I had increased awareness of every noise around me, depersonalization, I would cry every single day because I didn’t know what was happening. I checked myself into the hospital where they tried to give me more medication and I refused it. I was lucky enough to have a nurse that googled for me “What happens when you abruptly stop taking an antidepressant”. I was so shocked to find just about every single symptom on the packet she printed me, I was experiencing. I showed the packet to the doctor and he agreed. I was released 3 days later. It’s been a roller coaster ever since then. I am now 19 months off of a cold turkey Zoloft and I feel so much better, but I still suffer with waves. When the waves come, the repetitive thoughts return and my brain feels so out of whack. I feel anxiety and feel down. I never experienced real anxiety and depression before until after coming off of the Zoloft. But it passes after a while when I go into a window. My life at home is so chaotic and I know it does not help. I am happy I am able to live a normal life now compared to when I first came off. I can tell I am healing, but it has just been so rough. It’s taken a toll on my relationship, I feel so much guilt from the thoughts that I’ve had about harm, cheating on my spouse, and more. I carry this big lump of guilt that mostly makes an appearance when I feel myself going into a wave. I will say that my husband has been my biggest supporter this entire time. He is actually the one that told me from the beginning when I got the prescription, “Kelly if you take that pill it’s going to mess you up”. I wish I would have listened to him. I guess I’m just writing here to get some support, to see if anyone has experienced something similar, and just to express myself. I had no idea withdrawal was even a thing from antidepressants until I went through it. I would have never touched these types of medications if I knew I was going to go through this. Any advice, success stories or anyone that can relate to me would be so appreciated. (At one point I went on Lexapro to “help the thoughts” but it made everything much worse and I decided to taper down. I even believe at one point I had an auditory hallucination after I abruptly stopped, but it was only one time. The rest of the time it was just intrusive thoughts). Thank you for reading if you made it this far!

I was put on 20mg of Seroxat in May 1996 (directly after two weeks of Valium). I was 19 years old. Prescription was for Panic Disorder, GAD and Mild Depression (although I had never felt depressed and explained that many times over the years to my doctor(s)). As were many, I was told I had a chemical balance which, just like a diabetic needs insulin, I needed seroxat. Since then, I have tried approximately 5 times to come off the medication (with taper of sorts - usually 10mg for a few weeks and then to zero). Each time, the anxiety came back, always with new symptoms (extreme nausea, vertigo, increased anxiety, obsessive dark thoughts). I also developed irrational fears (fear of driving on highways and over bridges, fear of ski lifts, fear of heights, fear of flying, fear of business meetings. In fact, pretty much fear of everything.). Each time I visited a doctor, I was told the same thing: you have a chemical imbalance and need to go back on Seroxat. Sure enough, a single tablet would have me feeling back to “normal” within a matter of hours. I used to joke about it with doctors “wow, what a placebo effect. This should take weeks to work?”. Now I realise I was (probably) in withdrawal. Two years ago, after being in a protracted depression for the best part of 10 years (something I hadn’t realised as it had become my baseline state), I had got myself down to approximately 7mg a day. The reason I was trying to come off was two fold: firstly, my wife and I wanted to start a family and I was concerned about both my fertility and damage to any baby I conceive. Secondly, I had made a huge effort to get fit, was running 40km a week and had dropped from 92kg to 78kg-I’m 178cm. This gave me the confidence that I was in the best physical place to achieve it. Soon after, I suffered what I considered to be a mental breakdown. I was ready to leave my loving wife and had developed a clinical apathy to everything. I became petrified I would commit suicide (I never felt this was realistic but the thought of it gave me panic attacks). Furthermore, I started wondering such thoughts as “will I jump off the balcony whilst sleep walking”. I had been seeing a psychologist for some time but talking about things seemed to make the situation worse. I also started seeing a CBT therapist. I would feel better during a session but on leaving, my mood would severely crash, like nothing I had ever experienced in my life. I knew I was in a bad place. The psychologist recommended me to a psychiatrist who was the most uncaring person I have ever met. How she medically practices, I have no idea. She wasn’t interested in my drug history, offered me barely five minutes of her time, and prescribed 50mg Trittico to be taken before bed. I took it for a few nights but decided that it was not right for me. She then offered me several other kinds of SSRIs. I declined them all and went back to 20mg of Seroxat. However, this time felt different. I was sure that seroxat was nothing more than the placebo (how could you explain the fact I got better after taking a single favor each time I had a “relapse”. As suspected, i had lost belief in the drug, and it did not bring the immediate relief like it had every time previously. I was petrified. To me, this confirmed my worse fears. It had been a placebo all this time, and now, because I was sure it wasn’t going to work, it didn’t. I was a lost case. This created severe anxiety and panic. All I could think was that I had been on a placebo for 20 + years and now I had uncovered this fact, ADs would never work for me again. I was destined to suffer dibilitating anxiety and depression for the rest of my life. Things improved slightly after being back on 20mg for a few weeks. But I was still anxious and depressed, and the mood swings were unbareable. During this time, i had had a medical for my work which showed I had very high cholesterol (7.99 in European measures) and the doctor put me on Crestor. At the time, the cardiologist told me “this is not the first time I have seen somebody at the surgery who has unusually high cholesterol following a long period of exposure to SSRIs”. This was the first time I considered what the meds had been doing to me over the years. My dark moods seemed to get worse during this period of being on Crestor. My cholesterol dropped by 50% in this time, but I could now barely function. I did some research into the link between statins and depression and decided to quit the Crestor cold turkey. My moods improved somewhat (at least I could hold a conversation now). I had also started to suffer from eczema on my arms, forehead and legs (first time in my life). Furthermore, I suffered from a bout of Diverticulitis (the doctor told me the main risk factor was constipaiton) and also blood in the urine (which after every test, scan, x-ray known to man, a cause could not be found). Further research made me realise that not only could all of these problems be linked to seroxat, so could my unexplained depression and mood swings. I made the decision to come off seroxat for good. That was in October of last year. I found a new psychiatrist who was supportive of my decision and recognized the importance of taper. However, he didn’t believe that my problems could be caused by seroxat, and thought taper over a month was perfectly acceptable. By this time, I had been on seroxat 22 years. I decided to taper for longer. I immediately dropped to 10mg per day as this is something that I had down many times throughout the years without too many problems. I would get the usual brain zaps but nothing I couldn’t handle. As I started to reduce mg by mg (1mg per week) using liquid, I could actually feel my constant depressive mood lifting somewhat (perhaps only by 10%, but there was something ). This encouraged me to go on. I sped up towards the end to 1mg per week as I just wanted to be off it. I took my last dose in the second week of January. Since then, I have been going through withdrawal. The first couple of weeks were ok (brain zaps I have suffered since 1996 so they don’t scare me). My general depressive level definitely improved. The hardest part for me was (and still is) the rapid onset of change in mood. One minute I am fine, the next my mood crashes. During every crash, I immediately think “the only reason I feel better is the placebo effect. The depression and anxiety is going to come back and get me”. CBT has helped with this catestrophic thinking and the moods seem to only last for a few hours (rather than days or weeks as previously). Every week, as a whole, I am seeing huge improvements. I have cried a lot (and it feels great). I am starting to look forward to things again. The apathy has lifted by 75%. I had a few days of panic and GAD earlier on that would seem to come out of nowhere. I would just wake up and feel down and have fear. I also started to wake during the night in a panic. But I stayed with it. A few weeks ago, I started waking more often during the night. 3 or 4 times. That developed into full blown insomnia for a few days. Last night, I slept without waking once for the first time in a month. The anxiety is now 75% better. Two days ago, I feel I had my best day for years and years. I am generally excited but scared. Since January, I have dropped from 86kg to 78kg. My skin condition has totally cleared up. What if me feeling better is a coincidence? Or the placebo effect? I have read that it can feel you are through the withdrawal, only for it to come back even harder in the future. How will I cope with that!? Now that I’ve felt well, I don’t want to go back where I was. I currently live in Zurich, Switzerland. I can find almost no support here. No doctor, psychologists, psychiatrist or therapist seems to have any idea about withdrawal. They are all desperate to tell me I have relapsed. I so truly want to believe they are wrong, that this whole thing is a drug induced nightmare, and that I will continue to get better. However, the devil on my shoulder is still there. During any period of weakness, he reminds me that the recovery is all in my head and it’s only a matter of time before I relapse. And so here I am. Hoping to be part of a support group that can help me with my withdrawal and keep me believeing. Even more importantly, I want to help others.

Hi everyone! I’ve discovered this forum and have found it to be a great resource, and decided to post as I’m in a bit of a tough situation and could use some advice/words of wisdom. I was on Lexapro 20mg for probably 6-7 years and Seroquel 150-200mg for about 8 months. I had been referred to a Psychiatrist and after our first phone call chat, she thought I might have bipolar 2 so she wanted me off both meds to try another med. That med reacting horribly with me so only lasted 2 days. I had no knowledge of the tapering process, withdrawals, or how long it should be. So because of this, I listened to what the Psychiatrist told me to do. I came off BOTH meds in 2-3 weeks. I thought that seemed a bit fast, but listened anyways. Fast forward to now, it’s been 2-3 weeks since I’ve been off those meds and I’m now just learning just how horribly fast that was. Especially for my length of use. So basically, I have no clue what I should do. Should I reinstate at a low dose? It makes things tougher that I’ve now been taking Ativan 1-1.5mg daily for 2 months or so, and as of yesterday had to make a huge cut to .5mg due to my circumstances. I’m truly so overwhelmed and anxious about all of it. If anyone could give advice on what to do, whether I should reinstate, etc, I’d really appreciate it. If reinstating is a good choice, I’m not sure what dose to reinstate with as I only have 20mg pills of Lexapro, and 25mg pills of Seroquel.

I suffer from mental and emotional dullness after using depression and delirium medications, so that I used intermittently and for a short period of time, ecitalopram and arpiprazole. I do not feel the same as my previous feelings. Please help me from someone who has experience on how to get rid of these symptoms, especially the problem of concentration and forgetfulness. Thank you very much.

Original topic title before reducing the length of it: I cold turkey’d too many things, the worst being Celexa, due to misdiagnosis and emotional blunting. I’m struggling. Let me preface this by saying I have had unstable mental health as far back as I can remember. I was an anxious and depressed child. I used to SH as a teenager and was put on Paxil, but I hated it and quit after a couple months. I did not use medication for any mental health reasons for at least 10 years after that. I have been told I’m bipolar by people close to me, and I think doctors eat that up and once you’re branded bipolar, that’s your identity. But that’s neither here nor there; the main takeaway from that is I was put on several different medications and hated the way I felt on all of them. My first return to psych meds was in the summer of 2015 with a diagnosis of GAD which turned into GAD and bipolar 2. I was put on Celexa 20mg. It was pretty good for a while. I was then put on Lamictal 150mg and took both, but the Lamictal made me feel like a zombie so I didn’t take that long. I kept up with the Celexa. After my gastric bypass surgery, the Celexa didn’t work as well. I was then bumped to 40mg and that’s where I stayed. I was starting to feel severely depressed, emotionally numb, and had anxiety creep back in so I was put on Wellbutrin 300mg and buspar 15mg on top of the Celexa. I took this combo for maybe a year but I was horribly noncompliant for the most part and it never really did much for me. I CT’d the buspar and Wellbutrin. I was to a point (and still am) where laughing felt like a chore. Crying is almost non existent unless it is a major sad event (death). Interest in things and smiling are difficult to come by. The only emotion I felt was rage. I was either apathetic or enraged. That’s when I was given the ultimatum to treat my bipolar disorder, as I was often verbally abusive to my SO and would have meltdowns. Jesus this is embarrassing. I finally gave in and started seeing a psych through telehealth. Big mistake, told them about my previous dx. That was enough to not even evaluate me, and I was started on some antipsychotics in addition to the Celexa. This was the beginning of a long spiral of multiple medications that ended with Latuda that made me so depressed I cried constantly. There was no tapering involved really, maybe just a two week period of dropping while introducing something else. I went through Abilify, Trileptal, Latuda, Abilify again, and Lamictal. My brain felt so fried at this point I said I’m done, and stopped taking everything except my Celexa. After stopping all of these meds I was so far depressed and anhedonic I decided I was done taking everything and needed a brain reset. I ended up taking 10mg Celexa a few weeks and then dropped to nothing after 6.5 years. After reading this forum, I realized this was probably one of my big mistakes. Now not only did I have severe mood disturbances, I felt physically sick. The physical symptoms went away after a few weeks. The last time I took Celexa was at the end of February this year. Now I am dealing with a whole host of other issues. It turns out I’m not bipolar, I have ADHD. Again, not knowing any better that I shouldn’t take anything that alters my brain, I’ve been on stimulants and back to Wellbutrin. NOTHING is helping. The anhedonia and apathy are killing me. I feel no emotion towards anyone. I am not interested in anything. Every moment is painful. ADHD meds are doing nothing for me. I guess I am looking for support. Advice. Anything. Something that tells me my brain damage isn’t permanent. Something that tells me I will feel emotions again, that I won’t think my favorite past times are a waste of time, that I will feel love towards my SO and family again. I felt emotional blunting with Celexa, but nothing like this. I don’t know what to do, and my doctor is useless when it comes to this.

Hello, thank you for reaching out. I’ve crashed in my tapering of Effexor and I am now in a extreme situation with daily anxiety, panic and severe gastrointestinal issues. I desperately need advice. Background: over the last year (since March 8 2021) I’ve been tapering brand name Pfizer Effexor XR by using the bead method under the guidance of a Facebook group. I’ve reduced from 75mg to 25mg using 10% reductions every 4-8 weeks. I weighed the beads while reducing all the way from 75mg to 25mg. Unfortunately, on Jan 13 2022 - just a week out from a 10% taper - I switch and reacted badly to a generic formulation (Sandoz venlafaxine XR 25mg) which I only took for 1 day and switched back to brand name with beads. From then on I decided to count instead of weigh. I settled on 91 beads. Things seem to go fine until Feb 16 I noticed I had unusual symptoms and I began to suspect I my dose was too high (nausea, vertigo, restlessness, anxiety/dysphoria); so I decided to check and see if 91 beads was a good average number for my previous pill weight of 83mg I had switched from. I weighted out 5 of my previous doses, counted the beads in each, and the average was actually 86 beads. So Feb 20 I began to take 86 beads. Things seemed go fine with the usual withdrawal symptoms I am used to. But on March 2nd and 3rd I experienced hypomania and anxiety which was unusual. On March 4 all hell broke loose and from the moment I wake up I start experiencing extreme anxiety, diarrhea, nausea, dry heaving, RLS in the morning On March 5th I decided to stop all supplements because I was afraid I was destabilized. My gastrointestinal symptoms became so severe (anorexia, abdominal cramping, nausea, dry heaving, anxiety and panic) that on March 6th I admitted myself to the emergency room. They did nothing for me but refer my to a gastroenterologist (I have yet to see). Since then I have been trying to hold it together but each day I wake up an anxious wreck with my stomach in knots and it doesn’t even began to ease even a little until the late afternoon. I’m terrified that I may have akathesia. On March 8th I saw my GP who prescribed Ativan 1mg just in case of panic attacks. I am so afraid I destabilized myself and scared to updose or decrease my dose or take the Ativan. I am getting desperate but I don’t want to see a doctor or psychiatrist because I’m afraid they will advise to go back to 37.5mg of Effexor or higher; CT me, bridge me or add more drugs. I don’t want to suffer an adverse reaction from going back up or on something else and ending up polydrugged. So I’ve been just holding but each day is a battle and I’m very scared. Please help me know what I should do! 🙏

Just doing my intro post - I've been diagnosed as having treatment resistant depression and have accepted now that any beneficial effects of the venlafaxine I've been on since January 2009 have ended. I also have some pretty debilitating anxiety disorders - both a mix of genetics (several members of my family have depression too) and life experience of childhood trauma from an abusive parent and bullying throughout school. The doctor has started my tapering with a month of taking 300mg (normal dose) one day, then 225mg the next, then 300mg again, etc. I've been referred to a new psychiatrist so hopefully we can talk more about withdrawing safely. I've been pretty sad lately, so it's kind of a miracle I managed to get to the doctor at all. So far, my withdrawal symptoms have been limited to bad dreams and stomach/gut pains - I know from past idiocy where I forgot to get prescriptions filled in time that diarrhoea is one of the fun side effects of WD, so I think that may be next. Or the sweating. The worst bit, though, is the dreams. They're really intense and horrible, and trigger my anxiety. It's like the drugs are angry I'm coming off them, and know all my buttons to press... or maybe these thoughts are always there and the lack of drug is just exposing them. Anyway, I'm also seeing a psychotherapist who is lovely, so I have an outlet once a week, and my best friend knows I'm doing this, too, and has offered her support. Sending you all love, peace and puppies x

I am writing this while I can function. It comes and goes. I have been off work since this thing started almost four weeks ago. I am very scared. Please help me. I've been on Prozac since late 2002. Prescribed because I was depressed. Initially at 20mg / day. Later the effect wore off somewhat and within a year or so it was upped to 60mg / day. I stayed on this dose until December 2013. While on it I sometimes reduced the dose to 40mg and sometimes skipped days to see what would happen if I come off it. After at most two or three weeks, I think I felt somewhat flat and took the full dose again. I suspected that the worse that could happen was that if I come off it I would feel depressed. I was led to believe this drug is safe for long term use. But I was in for a nasty, nasty, nasty surprise. In December 2013 I decided to fully come off it. Things went ok for a few weeks. I did notice that my muscles would lose power when exercising during January and early February 2014. By mid February I developed loss of appetite; nausea and brain zaps, muscle and joint pain and tiredness. This was followed within days with what appeared to be the worst flu that I ever had, exhaustion and fever. My blood pressure went down and my heart rate went up. I wondered if it might be related to the Prozac. So I took 40mg and waited. For about 1-2 hours. Symptoms were gone. By the next day I was back to normal. This scared me senseless as I realized for the first time what incredible power this drug has. Little did I know that the acute withdrawal was no big deal compared to what was to follow later. I started tapering in April 2014, reducing by 0.8mg / week over 50 weeks. When I reached zero mg by mid March 2015 it was *not* followed by acute withdrawal. There is one complication at this point. Between February and July 2015 I took about 35 doses of 100mg of Tramadol for chronic lower backpain. I was led to believe it is a mild opioid only. In early July I took it three days in a row. My vision blurred. I looked up Tramadol side effects and what I saw was scary. I learnt that in addition to being a mild opiod, Tramadol also contains two additional unwelcome guests in the form of an SSRI and an SNRI: "Tramadol provides analgesia through 3 mechanisms: mu-opioid binding (through its metabolite O-desmethyltramadol), serotonin reuptake inhibition (through (+)-tramadol) and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition (through (-)-tramadol). O-desmethyltramadol (which is formed from tramadol through O-demethylation catalyzed by CYP2D6) is responsible for theopiate-type effects of tramadol." I dropped the Tramadol there and then. Within a couple of days I was a weeping from sadness and melancholy. This phase lasted about two and a half weeks then improved slowly. Back to main story: Five months free and clear of Prozac and 7 weeks free and clear of Tramadol I slipped into a nightmare that I am still fighting as I type this. One night in late August 2015 I slept only half the normal time. 3.5 to 4 hours (Usually 7.5 hours) for two consecutive nights. This was followed with restlessness and then, akathisia (look it up - it is not bearable). I panicked and took 0.8 mg of Prozac. In about three hours the symptoms gradually faded out and I felt normal. At that point I thought I could just stay on a super low Prozac dose. Woke up around 2am the next morning with severe symptoms again. Took 0.8mg Prozac again, then every 2 hours until eventually I reached 6.4 mg for the day. It did not work like the day before. It might have relieved the symptoms somewhat for a part of the day. By the evening symptoms resumed. It then occurred to me that Tramdol might have something to do with it and not the Prozac. I took 1/6th of the usual Tramadol dose (1/3 of a 50mg capsule). Within an hour I was calm, but it is hard to say at this stage whether it was due to the Tramadol or not based on subsequent experience (I learnt that it comes and goes in waves through the day). At this point I decided not to take any further Prozac or Tramadol. I was now on a rollercoaster. (I am keeping hour-by-hour logs of what is happening and will post here maybe later in a chart or something.) Severe symptoms for hours on end, followed by a respite. Then the symptoms take over again. On some days it went on with almost no respite for two consecutive days. One unusual observation. One night ( a week in) I slept a full 7 hours or so. The next day I was back to normal. My relief was short lived, however, as I woke up with an incredible surge of fear in my chest and the symptoms returned, seemingly stoked on by the fear. After a week of this, I was desperate. I got a prescription for a beta blocker Bisoprolol (2.5mg). I took it and seem to have gotten relief as I was feeling normal later that day. But alas, at about 2am I was up again with the same symptoms. Tried 2mg of Diazepam. Nothing. The next day I switched the prescription to Propranolol. For the next week I tried the beta blockers on their own and together. At this point the Akathisia seemed to be easing off somewhat but in its place there was an absolutely paralyzing fear and anxiety that is hard to describe. "The Scream" by Edvard Munch comes to mind. At the beginning of this week my total sleep seemed to shrink to between zero hours(one night) and 2.5 hours. I took Midazolam sleeping pills a few times to try and get relief and some sleep. On the best day I got 3 hours extra. On the worst I got barely 30 minutes extra on it. Then I had three nights of 5.5 hours or so. That was followed by a 2 hour night. By this time the anxiety/fear was getting unbearable. I was getting exhausted. The fear and anxiety was ramping up in spite of the beta blockers. Throughout this time I had very little if any appetite. But I forced myself to eat because I needed energy to keep moving. The akathisia and anxiety compelled me to keep moving, moving, moving, pacing back and forth back and forth back and forth, sometimes without respite for up to 10 hours, starting between 2am and 4 am. My muscles were starting to indicate that they couldn't take this much longer. I made a rational calculation that I have only a few days left before muscle spasm or something sets in. I wondered if the "normal" day I had at the end of the first week might have been due to the 6.4 mg dose of Prozac I took at the beginning of that week. SO I decided to see if I could reinstate. I did not take this decision lightly. But after weighing it up for another day I took 4mg of Prozac. Symptoms eased off after that (but it could be coincidence as it comes and goes in waves). That was Friday. I took my last dose of beta blockers the day before (Thurs) and decided to stop beta blockers is I was going to re-instate. On Saturday morning I took 4mg and then 2 hours later anther 4mg. On Sunday morning I took 8mg On Monday morning I took 8mg. For the past few days things seem bearable between mid-day until I go to sleep. But early morning until the afternoon I get overwhelmed with panic and fear and I pace relentlessly. I still don't know if it was the right choice and whether I should abort reinstatement. I still cannot see a clear pattern of improvement, I do not know if I should up the dose or wait. I read the reinstatement page and also Eva's story (seem very similar to mine) on the edge of my seat. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/5715-eva-struggling-after-20-years-prozac-and-now-without/page-4 But it ends with a cliff hanger. She never reported whether her dose increase stabilized her. I am thinking if I can stabilize then I can regroup and plan the next step. Should I continue to try and reinstate or abort reinstatement? Will I be able to taper again if I can stabilize on this reinstatement? I have not been able to go to work for the past three weeks. I am now in week 4. I am very scared and need help. Please, please help me.

I had Bilateral Carotid Body Tumors (benign) removed in 2005. I developed numerous symptoms of Autonomic Dysfunction due to vagus nerve damage. Feeling down in 2016-17 and decided to try Escitalopram. Wasn’t really depressed or anxious, and should never have started. Went into a gradual mental decline. Developed a lot of negativity, cynicism, anger, fear, paranoia. Decided to come off Lexapro in late summer. Went from 10mg to 5mg to nothing over the course of 6weeks. Once off developed severe withdrawal symptoms. Current symptoms are mostly heavy anxiety. Went to ER once about 3 weeks ago. They prescribed me some Hydroxyzine to alleviate anxiety. Have been using them sparingly (maybe one every other day). Been using some CBD oil, Athletic Greens, Omega 3/6/9 over the last two weeks to reduce anxiety. It comes in waves for me. I don’t want to reinstate if possible. Are there other things I should consider to reduce anxiety levels? My timeline is currently at about 4-5 months since cessation. Thanks so much.

Has anyone tried a Stellate Ganglion Block (i.e. needle in neck) to alleviate severe anxiety/panic in protracted WD? I read a story on Beyond Meds that mentioned relief but for only 2 days, so it doesn’t sound like a viable option. I know there has been limited success with soldiers experiencing PTSD. Thoughts?

So I started taking 20mg of Prozac that my primary doctor prescribed me to hopefully help with anxiety. I was on it for about a week and a half before I came down with a case of the stomach flu/food poisoning (still don’t know for sure but leaning more towards stomach flu) and got the worst anxiety of my life. I was convinced I was going to die. Usually when I experience an illness like this I don’t get bad anxiety. I just let the sickness ride it’s course and move on. After getting this anxiety I decided to stop taking the Prozac cold turkey. I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to do this until I googled and discovered withdrawal symptoms. After I was feeling better from the stomach flu, I was feeling good for the whole week. Then, that Friday, I decided to hang out with some friends. I drank some alcohol, not a lot, only two 3% bottled drinks. I thought everything was fine until I woke up the next morning. I threw up bile, which I thought was normal since I just recovered from the stomach flu, and I also experience this due to frequent heartburn. I then ate some food but then I threw it back up about an hour later. I was going to a concert this day, so I had to convince myself to just push through since I thought this wouldn’t be a big deal. Then, at the concert, after force feeding myself some fast food, I projectile vomited in the bathroom. I told my friend what happened and we decided to leave. When I looked up Prozac withdrawals, I found that any consumption of alcohol will make it worse. By now it had been a week since I stopped taking the medication. Keep in mind I was only on it for less than 2 weeks. My mom thought I was pregnant, which was debunked when I took a pregnancy test and got my period. Saturday-Monday I felt like I had the stomach flu again. Puking in the morning, barely eating any food. This entire week I’ve been throwing up bile in the morning. Trying to force feed myself food but feeling nauseous whenever I try to eat. I’ll randomly start crying, wishing I could just go back to normal and feel the way I did before taking this medication. For a few days I was also experiencing dizziness and vertigo, but that has since subsided. I also have either been experiencing insomnia, due to a crippling fear that this isn’t withdrawals and I could be dying. Or I’ll be sleeping super heavily. I’ll sleep 10-11 hours a day and still feel tired all day. I have been feeling super out of it, almost like I’m not real. I’m looking to seek some support and help. I just want these symptoms to end. I am a senior in college and I just want to be able to finish this semester strong. I’m also supposed to be starting a job and I’m just worried these withdrawals will get in the way. I’m also scared of taking any medication that could help in fear that it’ll mess with the Prozac that is still in my system. please help

Hi. I’ve been awake since 3:40am, shaking, trembling and crying because of the mess I’m in. I’ve been experiencing lorazepam withdrawal after staying on it reluctantly, lonnger than I wanted, convinced by doctors. The rebound lack of appetite and insomnia was making me miserable and I started Mirtazapine. I asked the psychiatrist if this could be difficult to stop, if it would turn me into a life-long insomniac, and he said it would be “fine”. 😞 I should have known to stop trusting doctors at that point, I feel so stupid. Earlier this week, someone in the benzorecovery subreddit warned me about Mirta and I started researching and realising how difficult this could be to stop too. Since then, I have been waking up every night after 2-4 hours shaking and paralyzed with anxiety, feeling so sick and overwhelmed. I almost feel hopeless, like giving up. How do you guys deal with the anticipatory anxiety of tapering? I don’t know what to do, I don’t know who to ask for help. I don’t know how to calm myself down rn, I don’t know how to stop being afraid. I feel like I’ve screwed myself and wish I had just accepted the rebound insomnia. I know some people personally who have been on Mirta and stopped CT after 5/8 weeks without issues, another friend was on for 18 months and tapered for 3 months okay. However, what I’ve read here makes me feel like that even with a 2 year taper, I’m going to be sick, mostly at home, not having a life for years. Can anyone give me any sense of hope? Sorry for this ramble, I’m just feeling so so lost, hopeless and alone. I look at photos from 5 months ago and cry my eyes out, I just don’t understand how my life got to this point. 😭

I thought I should share something that I've been using recently which has been really great at knocking anxiety down a few levels, or even stopping anxiety spirals before they turn into full on panic. Its sold at every 711 here in Thailand, but I checked and you can get it on Amazon as well: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ya+dom+thai+inhaler&qid=1643096959&sprefix=ya+dom%2Caps%2C338&ref=sr_pg_1 Its called Ya Dom, and its a menthol smelling scent like Vicks Vapor Rub but more potent, that you either breath in through the inhaler, or roll-on oil you can put in or around your nose. I use the roll-on oil variety (different brand though not on Amazon) and apply a bunch of it inside my nose and then breath in deeply for around 15 minutes. It works amazingly well at reducing anxiety for me, so much so that it can even stop panic spirals. I now carry it with me all the time, but I try to use it as sparingly as possible and only save it for anxiety spirals or chest burning crushing anxiety, and once per day at most. I don't know if the roll-on versions sold on Amazon work as well, but the first 2 inhaler results work equally well for me. Maybe someone else here would find it beneficial. If nothing else, its cheap and trying it once is probably not going to hurt anything. The first review of the first result also mentions using it for anxiety. EDIT: I see that these are actually non-imported and US or other located people would need to pay additional shipping. Perhaps the other similar US based products might provide the same effect?

Hello, I started Lexapro in 2001 (10 mg) for mild anxiety and occasional panic attacks. While I was very stable on the medication with minimal side effects, I was interested in tapering off after 20 years. My goal was to eliminate my dependence on the SSRI and gain a sense of greater emotional vitality and range. On the advice of my physician, I tapered from 10mg to 0mg over 40 days in Aug-Sept 2021. I now realize that may have been to brief a period. My last dose was 2.5mg on 9/20/21. I felt reasonably good for the first couple weeks after stopping; then noticed heightened emotional reactions, including sadness, anger and increasing jumps in baseline anxiety. As the weeks have gone by, the increase in my baseline anxiety has become the main issue. On any given day, my anxiety is in the 5-7 range (on scale of 0-10, with 10 being worst). The anxiety makes me irritable, quick to anger and very uncomfortable. It's exhausting and saps my energy. I exercise regularly (indoor cycling), eat well and generally get good quality sleep. I'm working with a therapist, using the "Untangling Anxiety" app (MBSR approach) and meditating semi-regularly. I tried a CBD tincture for a few days. I'm not taking any other medications or supplements. It's been about 2 months since my last dose. I want these various interventions to work, but I'm not finding relief. I'm at the point where I'm not sure if I should go back on Lexapro or hold tight for another month or two. I'm also not clear if I'm still experiencing Lexapro withdrawal or just experiencing a return to the mild anxiety I had 20 years ago. It feels much worse. If this story rings true for you, or if you have walked this road, I'd really appreciate your thoughts or guidance. Thank you in advance!

Hello, I m Melany and I stopped Prozac 66 days ago. I ve been on antidepressants for 2 years now because I had a major depression and Gad with Ptsd and probably a personality disorder. I have some borderline tendancies and obsesive compulsive behaviour sometimes.Recently diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric disorder. But mainly I suffer from anxiety the most. I was on benzos for months and quit them and now I am trying to recover from antidepressants or my disease. I was never doing really well on prozac either , it was just keeping my panic atacks away. I was having waves till something happened in my life and got worse. Now can t get rid of ruminations. My doctor wants me to take trazodone at least for a week but I am afraid it will ruin my progress so far. Can you help me with an explanation please?? Is there a thing as a progress in brain recovery after antidepressants? Does it really have a hard time readjusting itself or it s turning back to it s original state before the pills? No one ever explained to me what happends. Need some medical explanations before I take a decission. Is there such a thing as brain readjusting or nothing will happen if I take some pills for a week? He says it s essential so it won t evolve in a bad way. PMDD treatment also involves taking prozac for 3 days a month. Please help!

So I dont know where to start, so i guess ill just jump right into it straight away. I'm a 21 year old guy and im in my 3rd year of university. I was prescribed Citalopram 10mg when i was 20 years old for anxiety. I never really had any depression or any other mental problem, apart from the anxiety, which kind of affected my life a bit. Nothing i couldnt manage, but still decided to try out SSRI's to see whether they would help. My doctor prescribed me 10mg Citalopram and it took a while for it to work, about 4 months. Honestly, i felt great after that period of time, i was still kinda myself, but without the constant worry and shortness of breath when i was in social situations, especially presentations and job interviews. Then, something went wrong. The anxiety was still under control and I felt very confident, but my emotions started becoming numb. I no longer felt happiness the same way, like i could still tell that i was happy, but it was like kinda meh happy. I stopped enjoying things i used to love, like gym, running, video games, writing music, etc. I kinda became complacent with everything, but not in a good way. I stopped striving for success, because i constantly had this fake euphoric feeling like everything is always gonna be alright, so i dont need to worry about achieving anything. Anyway, I went to my doctor again and got prescribed 20mg Citalopram after using 10mg for 6 months. That dosage didnt really do anything apart from introduce procrastination and anger. I became very snappy and always delayed everything until the last minute. (I used to be the type to finish everything on day 1 and then relax). That apathy feeling of not wanting do anything also increased. I just simply stayed patient, hoping that my brain will adjust to the new dosage. I waited 3 months and although i felt ok-ish, something felt off. Even my friends told me that i kinda became boring. I used to be this euphoric, overly excited class clown and then months later became this sleepy depressed guy. Also, got this crazy brain fog which made me really incompetent at things i used to excel at. Used to be a human calculator back in school, then after 9 months on SSRI's could barely do 7x7. My memory was impaired, libido non existent, ED, speech slur, and a bunch of other BS i never had. The worst part was that i could no longer write music. Before, i would be able to come up with lyrics in my head no problem, whereas after SSRI's, my brain was just silent, its like there was no thought processes going on in my skull anymore. Went to my doctor again, and tried a different SSRI. I got prescribed 100mg Sertaline and used that for 2 months, which kinda worked better than citalopram but when it did start working, i started experiencing withdrawals from Citalopram, which kinda oversaturated the effectiveness of this new SSRI. So I went back to doctor again and got prescribed 10mg Citalopram again, since that had the best effect on me in the first 4-6 months i started using them. Long story short, I started withdrawing due to minimising my dosage, so i kind of reached this F it moment and said "im done". I did a quick taper of 3 weeks. 2 weeks of 5mg and 1 week of 2.5 mg and i just quit. To make it clear, I did 6 months of 10mg Cit, 3 months of 20mg Cit, 2 months of 100mg Sert, and finished off with 10mg Cit again. This is where my visit to hell happened. Im going to keep this short for those who are like me and cant be bothered reading long paragraphs, so ill give you my withdrawal timeline. First 3.5 months - pure hell. Brain impairment, which included the usual things you hear. Crazy bain dog (I felt completely stupid, like an inexperienced 8 year old in a 21 year old body) All grades went down. Went from the brightest student, to an absolute abomination of a human. The worst symptom was irritability. The amount of arguments and things i broke in a span of 3.5 months is just crazy. Fought a bunch of men who tried dating my mother. Also started losing a bit of hair, which fortunately started growing back, and pretty much every other symptom you see here, like depersenalisation, dissociation, atpathy, etc. Around the 4 month mark, i started getting the windows and waves pattern. So there were days where i felt ok-ish and then other days where it was back to the pure hell experienced in the first 3.5 months. This lasted to about the month 5 month mark. Around 5 months, still windows and waves but now the windows were longer and waves shorter. Still experienced some brain fog and irritability. Around 5.75 month mark, my old personality started coming back. Irritability started vanishing. More positive outlook on life came back. IQ started increasing back up, so i no longer felt a bit daft. Actually started enjoying things again. Now, im around the 6.5 month mark, maybe 6.75 and i feel even better. I havent experienced that withdrawal feeling (YET). There are days where i feel a bit odd, like not myself but they only last a day, maximum two. To conclude, I feel like the major withdrawal symptoms are gone, because i felt good for the past month. Not a single anger outburst, or days where i have brain fog. One thing that i still struggle with is a bit of ED and low libido, but i feel like that will improve over time. I still have that voice in my head telling me that another huge wave might hit me down the line, which scares me quite a bit, but im already so far into this recovery process that i dont really give a damn. I feel like i have another 10-15% left to recover, but honeslty this will do, compared to what i've went through. Anyway, i hope this encourages some people, and helps you get through this atrocious mental state, because i feel like if the withdrawals lasted any longer, i doubt i'd still be here honeslty. I just wanted to share this for anyone losing hope like i did, when i watched a bunch of YouTube vids of people saying how their withdrawals were over after like a month, and then there was me just dying 5 months later. Ps. Ignore the horrible grammar, i was typing this super fast.

Hi, I was on meds for 8/9 years for anxiety. Initially I was put on mirtazapine to help me sleep as I struggled with tinnitus too. It helped sleep but looking back it lowered sex drive (I didn’t know it was the mirt then), I didn’t really care though as I was so focused on my business that I didn’t even have time to think about sex, I was just thinking about making money. After about a year and half I decided to come off mirtazapine as it was making me tired during the day, I then went on Citalopram. I remember the first few weeks I was euphoric! I felt absolutely buzzing for life and my sex drive was fantastic! Eventually this passed and I normalised, the cit worked quite well (apart from headaches) and I was content. About 5 years in I suddenly started having weak orgasms and low genital sensation, I didn’t know why and thought it was something to do with my prostate or drinking too much alcohol, god knows. I didn’t have a clue it might be the meds.. why would I? I’d been perfectly fine on them sexually for years! So I went to see a urologist and did a number of tests, he couldn’t help me. Then one day (after another 2 years on cit) whilst googling I came across RxISK website, it described the genital numbness I was feeling and then I realised it was from the meds I was taking! So I thought ok.. I will come off the meds and hopefully the numbness will go, I was excited and came off! I tapered off the 20mg daily I was taking over a couple months. This didn’t help my genital sensation at all and so i started googling what else it could be, low testosterone came up as a cause of genital numbness so I did tests and found out I had low T! I started TRT (hoping it would also help my fatigue) which I’m currently still taking! It didn’t help anything and now I’m stuck on it as apparently coming off is a nightmare and I’m not ready to go through the stress of all that! Plus.. my T levels will probably still be low and I’ll have to go back on anyway 🤯 My post SSRI problems - Genital numbness, lowered sex drive, Fatigue, less enjoyment of things, less passion in things I used to love, tinnitus. The main thing that bothers me is lack of pleasure from masturbation/sex, it is starting to drive me insane! I’m constantly thinking about it now! In the past I believed time would heal it but it’s been nearly 3 years now and now I’m worried this is it! It’s starting to depress me! Something to add - Over the years I’ve taken a number of antibiotics as I’ve had a few operations etc. Also at one point I took finasteride, maybe like 6 months before I went numb, I can’t remember exactly - I do sometimes wonder if this caused my problems as I was fine on SSRIs for years but I’ve always just had it in my head I suffer PSSD. As it’s now coming up to 3 years and I’ve stopped believing time will heal me, I feel I’ve waited long enough and now need to try taking something to help my genital sensation OR my OBSESSING over it! I am sick to death of being on my phone all day and night reading forums, chatting in groups about it and constantly googling it 😩 I’m currently thinking I want to try either buspar (as it’s not an SSRI) or SJW (although this is like an SSRI). These could also hopefully help my anxiety. I need to try something! If anyone could help me with my decision and advise what to try that would be greatly appreciated! Thank you JP

Hi been battling with depression since my early 20's and now 45. Initially I would get what I consider now minor bouts of SAD which I regret starting meds for. If I could go back in time like so many here I'd totally never start. Anyways throughout my 20's depression and anxiety were mild until my mid thirties. In 2011 I started to get panic attack at works and thing got worse until I could barely leave my house. I was ok though alll things considered as I could work from home and get food delivered to my nyc apt. Instead of trying to let it pass I decided to go on mirtazapine which after a couple days gave me total insomnia. My psychiatrist swore to me it was my illness and not the mirtazapine as its supposed to help sleep. Until that moment in life I never experienced insomnia at all nor did I have suicidal ideation. However after 3 months of almost no sleep with heavy benzo/z-drug usage included I was ready to take my life and to this day I have PTSD over the whole episode. Thankfully I stopped seeing that doc and stopped taking my mirtazapine. In 10 days I could sleep very well but i was still on paxil and slowly tapered the benzos till I was off. From that point I was told it wasn't worth it for me to come off SSRIs anymore so I didn't for years until 2017 when I just felt I could do without so i did. Everything seemed fine for many months but then I went to mexico and got a stomach bug. I should have just let it be but I took flagyl and ver the next couple months I was alright but i kept waking up earlier than usual etc (i believe the flagyl did it). 2018 I decided fine lets do the paxil again but this time it gives total insomnia. I stop it but its too late I can't sleep and I need to work. My PTSD from not sleeping in 2011 comes back and i'm taking a bit of kloopin to drift off at night. In a couple weeks i'm hooked. Doctor gives me trazadone which helps and i'm back on paxil with klonopin until the paxil hopefully helps. It does six months later once I reach a high dose and i taper of klonopin and trazodone. Sorry for dragging this out but I'm not sure what else to put here. 2021 now on lexapro because paxil raises my liver enzymes. Feel fine and sleep fine. April go in for first covid shot moderna. A few weeks later I can't sleep without trazadone and lexapro seems to be causing anxiety all of a sudden (this is the first time I had problems with sleep while on an SSRI). Please understand I am not anti-vax and in fact am very for it however I believe it is what triggered the episode I am in which has taken over nine month now. Anyways I switched to paxil until last month when it began making anxiety worse and now on 100mg luvox + 150-200mg trazodone. Sleeping but lightly with lots of dreams and having bouts of anxiety during the day with lots of suicidal ideation as I feel SSRIS can't help me anymore. This makes feel like I'm at a crossroads in my life. Do I start taking benzos again knowing that if th SSRIs don't work I will never come off and eventually kill myself once tolerance set in which it always does (I know I would, I want to do it now and I'm not going through benzo withdrawal). Or I dunno just stop taking luvox and trazodone and brace myself for hell now? Will I ever sleep again? I know my PTSD about not sleeping will kick in and everything will be so much worse. Will I come out on the other side or will I have anxiety and insomnia for life? (which would pretty much cause me to go back to scenario one above and inevitably lead to suicide. ) I know lots of catastrophizing here and other cognitive distortions but thats alI I feel right now. I didn't take my luvox today and don't know if I'll be able to skip my trazodone tonight. Words of encouragement would be appreciated. Feel like these are the last few weeks of my life. 1998: 4 months paxil for SAD1999: 4 months paxil for SAD2000: 3 months paxil for SAD2001-2010: On and off PAXIL, Lexapro for depression flareups but very inconsistent use.2011: Went on mirtazapine, 80 mg paxil, 2 mg klonopin.2012: tapered off mitazapine and klonopin once paxil helped.2013-2017: 10-20mg paxil or 10mg lexapromid 2017:off lexapro2018: reinstated 20mg Paxil, .75 klonopin, 150 trazodone2019: tapered off klonopin and trazodone, switched to 50mg luvox2020: switched to 10 mg lexapro2021: switched to 40 mg paxil, added 150mg trazodone

Good afternoon, I hope ive put whats needed in signature below. Ive been on citalopram for 23 years for depression and anxiety. I was stable and ok, so i decided after alot of reading it was time to come off them. I tapered over 5 months and came off them in November i think 2021. I seemed fine for the first 6 weeks if anything i was super happy and positive, then not knowing if it was because christmas and new year is stressful i didnt put two and two together. I gave up alcohol in june 2021 and very proud of that. The symptoms im now experiencing are chronic anxiety both physically and mentally, worrying immensely about things that have happened in my past, irrational fears, that i cannot do anything to change, tearful spells, insomnia, indigestion and fatigue and feeling generally low in mood. Im trying to manage this with cbt techniques, meditation and walking and talking. If it is managable then will this go or will it just get worse, the last 5 days have been very difficult but im determined that i dont want to go back on them again. Does this sound like discontinuation/ withdrawal as i thought it would have happened sooner after i had stopped the medication. Thank you for reading x

Do any of you have trouble making decisions these days? I am wondering if it is a symptom of withdrawal. I used to be a fairly decisive person. I always trusted my gut. The thing is, ever since I started changing up my medication in 2020, and then withdrawing in 2021, I can no longer trust my gut feelings. I am so full of anxiety that my gut feeling is constantly screaming at me to run and hide. When I meet someone new, it tells me not to trust them. When I think about going somewhere or doing something, it tells me it'll end up badly. If I trusted my gut these days, I'd be bedridden and immobile. I have a bad feeling about everything. It's making it difficult to make important life decisions. I was in a sort-of relationship nearly a year ago and I could not commit for months, and was ultimately broken up with. I honestly just couldn't decide what to do. Everything on paper was perfect but my gut was filled with so much anxiety it made me sick. I was also offered a couple of jobs, and I was frozen. I decided not to go for them and stay at my current position because change freaked me out, and I wondered if I was making the wrong decision. My therapist told me that when I feel this way, that means the decision to not do anything or make any changes is the right one. She said I need to wait it out, and if someone leaves me or opportunities go, then they weren't meant for me anyway. I'm hoping I'm not the only one feeling this way. I meet regularly with some people withdrawing from psych meds and they always emphasize the importance of trusting your instincts and listening to your gut. But in my case, my gut can't be trusted.