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lithiumnomore: withdrawal from Lithium, Prozac after 20 years on lithium, others
lithiumnomore posted a topic in Introductions and updates
Hello. Details below but I think I'm experiencing withdrawal symptoms, mainly intense anxiety and insomnia. Both seem to be geting better following the windows and waves pattern, but it's exhausting. Looking to make sense of what I'm going through and support. Brief med and treatment history 2002-2019 Lithium 900-1200 mg (0.6-9.0 mEq/L blood serum levels), 2018-2019 Prozac 20 mg. After trying various mood stabilizers following manic episode precipitated by Zoloft (very high 100mg+ dosage), I was prescribed lithium, which I took most of the period from 2002 until I stopped it in 2019. During that time I tried various other mood stabilizers, including depakote, lamictal, carbemazepine, and abilify in addition or instead of lithium. 2008-2010 became dependent and withdrew from benzodiazipes. Underwent ~20 ECT treatments in 2010 following hospitalization for depression which marked a turning point in course of "illness." Significant improvement in my life from 2010-2020 but some anxiety and depression symptoms remained. Tapering Started Prozac in early 2018 to help with continued chronic anxiety and mild depression. Prozac did help...most notably with the anxiety. I recall it seeming to lift a huge weight off my shoulders, allowing me to let go of the indecision, rumination and general anxiety. While on the prozac, I stopped lithium, tapering fairly rapidly, going from 900 mg/day to 600 mg, to 300 mg, dropping down after a couple months each step. In late 2019, I then went off the prozac, going from 20 mg to 10 mg for about 2 months, then to 0. I was not aware of this website or procedures to taper even more slowly. Current State - Withdrawal? Beginning in 2020 after being off prozac a couple months and lithium over a year, I began experiencing bouts of intense disabling anxiety, insomnia and intense emotions (crying for hours on occasion). All of these seem to be of a different quality than the anxiety symptoms that led me to take the Prozac and very different from anything before then. At the same time, I have also been experiencing periods of clarity and heightened consciousness, which feel like my brain and mind waking up after many many years. Also, have had some periods of calmness. Its hard to make sense of the mix of feelings and sensations, but for the closest experience to the clear periods, I have to go back to my teenage years before the diagnosis and before the pills. After reading the New Yorker profile on Laura Delano, I learned more about antidepressant withdrawal through this website and some of her work. I think it's probably the best explanation of what I am dealing with and am looking for help getting through this. I feel like I am on the precipice of regaining a full mind and life after 20 years in varying degrees of darkness. But this is also scary, hard, and it's difficult to keep things together. I am continuing to juggle a demanding career, parenting a two year old and five year old, and being a good husband....while caring for myself and trying to practice self-compassion as I go through what I view as a major life event. Looking for support and to hear more about others experience, hopefully to give me some confirmation that there's an end to what I'm going through. Up typing this in the middle of a stretch of anxiety and insomnia. -
Hi there, I'm a new one here. Luckily, I've found this website because we don't have any single website which helps people who want to stop taking antidepressants in my country. My name is Anastasia, I'm 32. I work as a teacher at school. I'm married and have a lovely cat. I take antidepressants for 11 years. I've always been a shy person with lack of confidence. Since my childhood I've suffered from intrusive thoughts just about any imaginable staff. The first time I went to the psychiatrist was because of intrusive thoughts about my relationship. And my horror story began. I had various reasons for my constant painful thoughts. I had permament nausea, irritable bowel, which didn't let me leave my house, a sense of guilt, depressive thoughts, anxiety. constant tears and just liying at home and staring at one point - not all at once, of course. These were the reasons for many many visits to the doctor. Each time antidepressants helped a lot and I was back to life again. Can't say I was always in a good mood, but, nevertheless, I could live. I really don't remember the years and dosage of medicines, but in different periods I took amitriptilin, venlafaxine, zoloft, duloxetine, fluoxetine, phenazipame, atarax. One day pills stopped helping me. I changed three doctors hoping someone'll help me. The first one finally said that my brain had become tolerant to drugs and I had to quit. I tried so many times and always my thoughts came back and tortured me. The second doc said I had endogenous depression and it's ok to take antidepresants just for the whole life. She also said that if one medicine didn't help, so let's try another. And we tried and changed. My thoughts and depression didn't go away, but I felt not well, not bad. The third doc finally said that my diagnose was anxiery disorder and eating disorder. Insisted on treating my depression to the end and then quit. My latest medicine was venlafaxine 75 mg. But I decided to come to my first doctor and tried to withdraw like 37, 5 - one week, 18,75 - two weeks. Now it's three weeks I'm off. And it's just a hell. My thoughts (now about my weight and shape) have become more painful than they were on medicines. I find it hard to go outside because I feel really uncomfortable in all my clothes. It seems they are too tight. I'm depressed, angry and nervous. I can't do anything and distract myself. Even in my pyjamas I feel fat and uncomfortable. The story of my eating disorder: when I got married, my husband and I gained some weight. Then we started keeping to a diet. We lost weight and I felt just great for some time. Then it wasn't enough and I started to eat 1000 calories a day. But still I had a fat belly and wasn't satisfied with my weight and the way I looked. I gave up dieting and gained half the weight I had lost previously. Now I'm obsessed with my weight and it's just a nightmare. I think about it 24/7 but can't stop eating. Food is the only thing that gives me pleasure. I tried Gestalt therapy and CBT a bit, but I'm convinced that these sessions just do nothing. I understand everything, nod to the psychologist but don't believe it can help. I'm really confused now if I have to be on medicines or not and don't know what to do... Living like this is not a real life. The only wish I have now is to stop this suffering, by means of drugs or not, I don't know. I 'm studying this website and try to understand all the mechanisms. I'm not sure I'll manage to tolerate this for many years, it's been only three weeks but I'm completely exhausted. The reason why I wanted to quit was to have a baby, but it's practically impossible to think about pregnancy and birth now because of my condition. Seeking for help and support. Thank you in advance. PS: I was really frightened to start my topic here because of the country where I live, because of my nationality. But I want you to know that I just can't stand all the hell that is going on right now in the world. Of course, it adds a lot to my anxiety and depression.
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I began this journey like a lot of others. The stress of college got to me and I have one panic attack that evolved into many. It was debilitating to the point where it was hard to leave the house. My mother has dealt with the same thing her whole life so she immediately got me in to see a psychologist and be evaluated. During my first 30 minute appointment i had a prescription for prozac and a bottle of xanax to use as needed. At the time it seemed like a god send and I was just thankful and hopeful to get my life back in order. For the most part, it worked. I was able to function and finish school. Began my career and I was satisfied. I had some side effects like brain fog, low libido, and an overall sense of detachment; kinda like I wasn't authentically me. I assumed this was the cost of doing business and there was no other way around it because I had a genetic chemical imbalance. About 2019 I stumbled upon a reddit thread where someone got off of SSRI's due to feeling a lot of the same symptoms as me and were successful at it. A few others chimed in saying it was the best decision they ever made. I talked to my doc and said I wanted to try. I told her I was in no rush and we did it over 3 years. 10mg reduction each year. In hindsight, I think my taper wasn't linear enough. It more resembled a flight of stairs. In August of this year i took my last dose. After a month I felt amazing. Brain fog was gone. My personality was back. I felt more emotion. Everything I read online said the withdrawal symptoms would be done by 4 weeks so I thought I escaped them. Spoiler alert: I was wrong... Month 2 until now has been pure hell. I have a full spectrum of symptoms. Minor symptoms like getting a little ticked off when someone cuts me off in traffic, some balance issues, a bit of nausea randomly, etc.. Then I have the ones that really make daily life miserable, heart palpitations that freak me the heck out and send me into a wave of anxiety, body jolts where if feels like a full body palpation or zap(not sure if this is the technical term and i cant find anything official for what i'm feeling), random short waves of intense anxiety that last a few minutes, and the least fun is those stupid jolts of anxiety where you are about to transition into dream land and your body sends you into a quick tizzy and makes you sit straight up. And my body likes to play this song on repeat for a week or so then it tapers off a little bit and then it comes back stronger. Rinse and repeat. So here I am, part of me is here for the comfort that i'm not the only one that has been awoken to big pharma and the pill dispenser doctors that pass them around. The other half is just lurking around seeing if i can get any insight into when this will end or if i need to reengage with the drug and do a proper taper. Sorry for the long winded intro, and GO Bills! GO Sabres!
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Hi Everyone! Found this site when looking for research on tapering off my medications, the history should show in my signature if I've updated it correctly (hopefully). I was put on Mirtazapine around 10ish years ago after suffering unacceptable side effects of Fluoxetine. It's served me well keeping my relatively stable through the years at varying doses. In 2020, I burnt out in work and ended up being put on Wellbutrin alongside the Mirtazapine. I tried to come off the Mirtazapine a few years back, circa 2018 (from 15mg), I had initially split the tablets to 7.5mg for I believe a month or so, I don't recall any overly negative effects. Slightly more erratic mood but nothing that was unmanageable. I then started skipping doses to reduce the average (big no no! I didn't realise at the time how bad that was), I did speak to the doctor as my mood was becoming unmanageable and the doctor then moved me to compounded medication (the soluble versions aren't available where I live). Even moving to the compounded meds I had weeks where I was okay but still teeter tottering, I believe I had gotten down to 5mg per day but I think I dropped from 7.5mg - 5mg. My mood always seemed worse when I was 3/4 the way through the monthly bottle, from reading on these forums it sounds like it was losing its potency. After a rather horrible work trip where I was away from home and my support network the anxiety and weepiness were out of hand, I panicked and thought I was relapsing so called my Dr and ended up back on the Mirtazapine at 15mg. When I started the Wellbutrin 150mg XR I was on 30mg of Mirtazapine but early 2021 (Jan/Feb) we upped the Wellbutrin to 300mg and dropped the Mirtazapine to 15mg (May) as I was tired all the time. I'm aiming to taper off both medications but I'm not sure which to start with, I was planning on the Mirtazapine due to the length of time I've been on it as I figure will need to be slow. But not sure if the Wellbutrin alone will cause crazy anxiety as I've noticed I've had more general anxiety recently. I've ordered some Ora-plus so I can compound it at home on a weekly/bi-weekly basis. Not sure whether I should start the 10% decrease from 15mg or if I should try to drop to 7.5mg and taper from there. Based on my calculations decreasing by 10% per month I'm looking at 1.5-2years, this seems like an extremely long time. Thoughts? What dose have people jumped from on the Mirtazapine? I ideally want to be completely med free in about 2 years as my partner and I want to start a family but I don't want to be on meds or have to transition to Fluoxetine as I really hated it. I could absolutely keep writing and talking away to myself but i'll leave it there for now. Great to virtually meet you all!
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Hi! Thank you for including me here ❤️ I have been taking lexapro since April 2021 (went from 5 to 10 in March, then to 15 in September and increased to 20 in October). In December I realized the sedation and headaches I had been having might be due to lexapro, so I tapered off it quite fast (in 10 days from 20 to zero). Inmediately, I had huge GI issues, so I went back to lexapro 7,5 mg. In January I tried to switch to Prozac and cross tapered in 2 weeks. My GI became awful and (sorry for the detail 🙈) I begun burping nonstop, constantly, uncontrollably, every 2 seconds. I thought it was due to Prozac so after a week on Prozac (completely off lex), I quit prozac and returned to lexapro 7,5. However, my GI symptoms continue after a month and especially the burping is horrible. I have read that both lexapro and lexapro withdrawal can cause this symptom, so I don’t know whether it may be caused by having reduced the dose or by being on it… I wonder whether to wait and give my body more time time to adjust to this dose, or to try and lower the dose / taper off. Please, I would really appreciate if someone could help me. THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE
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Hello everyone! I am a new user here. I've lurked around this site before but have yet to introduce myself. I was a Prozac user for a year from August 2015 - September 2016. I had taken it for social and general anxiety. I was on 20mg/day. Initially, I was actually doing fine and great emotionally but had side effects like massive fatigue everyday (not even 3 cups of coffee could wake me up!) and constipation every time I went to poop (sorry for TMI). I also felt like a zombie for a brief period in which I was neither happy nor sad. In May 2016, I decided to abruptly stop taking the Prozac by choice without consulting my doctor (bad move!) and had brain zaps and mood swings which I assumed as worsening depression. I then just asked my doctor to simply increase my dose because I thought I was getting worse (bad move again!). I was put on 40mg/day from June - August 2016 in which I was ok at first but then I was hit with a panic attack so severe I had to rush to the ER. For that week, I was having very severe symptoms. So I was instructed to go back down to 20mg/day. From then on, I decided to stop taking it a few months ago in September because I felt better and didn't want to rely on medication anymore to make me happy. I consulted with my psychiatrist who said for me to just take 10mg for one month and then I can stop. I did just that. Over the month of October I was fine and felt completely normal. However, I realized symptoms would come later once the month of November started. I have since felt every type of symptom under the sun including brain zaps, hot flushes, insomnia, irritability, tingling sensation of the skin, anxiety, shortness of breath, sweating, tremors, and slight vertigo. I have never felt these symptoms in my life til now! I've talked to my doctor and he doesn't believe in withdrawals. At this point I feel helpless. I am experiencing waves and windows in which I have waves of really bad flare ups and then windows of good normal days where I feel fine. But they keep cycling back and forth. I now have questions to ask: 1. Do windows of no symptoms mean that my body is getting better? 2. Should I reinstate the Prozac and taper off more gradually? Someone suggested I shouldn't because I've already been clean for 3 months now. But what do you guys think? 3. Will symptoms go away if I keep pushing cold turkey? 4. Should I try medical weed to help ease tthe symptoms? I want to try natural ways of healing
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Hello I will give a brief summary of what has happened after taking most recent drugs. I am a 21 yr old college student, low-income and person of color who recently had to drop their studies (September) due to what I think is OCD and quit their job (November) due to never before experienced debilitating and frightening symptoms. These began after stopping Luvox 50 mg and Prozac 20 mg. I have never been warned or informed or properly tapered off any psychotropic drug by any psychiatrists I have seen including the one (due to insurance I can only speak with him once a month) who prescribed me the last four recent drugs. I was unfortunately very naive in my decisions surrounding these drugs. For clarity: I was being treated for "depression" and anxiety. Started at age 17. My signature is copied off records of prescription dates. For the most part I did not take pills regularly, I remember last year organizing my room and seeing that I had bottles full of pills I never took. A lot of prescriptions were what the psychiatrists called trial and error, so I was trying pills to see their effects which were miss which made me realize they were making me sick so I stopped. I unfortunately cannot remember which ones I did take consistently prior to this year (2021). Up until summer I was taking propranolol as needed for anxiety/stress (it had been I think ~1 yr more or less since I had taken any drug). During the summer I needed and wanted guidance to cope with anxiety/stress in the form of therapy. Through my insurance I emailed and left calls for many people but did not get responses and was getting discouraged. I was so desperate for relief that I was prescribed buspirone 10 mg, which did initially provide a calming relief. In the beginning of September 2021, I was overwhelmed with work and inability to properly cope with my internal problems which was taking a toll on my studies. *Here is where details become very blurry. I let the current psychiatrist know and he prescribed me Fluvoxamine 50 mg. The first two times I took it in the evening and found that it made me restless, it did not let me sleep. So I switched to taking it in the mornings and cut it in half; it still made me restless and I would be very sleepy during the day. I let the psychiatrist know and he told me to switch to Prozac 20 mg. I took it once it the morning before work and the restlessness was awful, I could not sleep at all. Note: I do remember taking advil pm and even buspirone alongside the fluvoxamine at the same time to abate the restlessness. I ceased all medications and after that and since then I have been experiencing things I have never experienced before. -acute short-term memory loss and other gaps in memory* -frightening confusion* -cognitive problems* -weird thinking and feelings I do not know the words to describe* -vision problems (after-image, visual snow/static, visual distortion, stars in vision)* -loss of personality and identity* -head ache/pain/pressure mostly* (this has been consistent, I remember waking up one day before work in October to a sharp pain only in the right side of my head, then afterwards feeling pressure localized around only the right side of my head/eye, and now a bit of the top of my head) -slipping in and out of consciousness when closing my eyes* -dpdr* -auditory problems (cannot focus on what I'm listening)* -feeling stuck in my head* -intrusive thoughts like never before* -hypnagogia -disorientation -delirium -coordination and balance problems -fear and dread -lack of motivation -bizzare dreams -heart/chest pain -dreadful anxiety for no reason -severe depression/anhedonia (I have never in my life experienced actual depression)* -crying so much There are more but I cannot remember right now. The ones with asterisks are the most concerning for me. Everything came on so suddenly and abruptly and unprecedentedly. I am so afraid that I am developing a more serious mental illness and that I will have to take more drugs which I do not want. I have no support system, my family is busy and other people I know are as well. The psychiatrist doesn't think the drugs did anything. With what strength I have, I was able to schedule a neurologist appointment and will be getting studies done. I feel that I am wasting their time. I think deep down I want this to be something physical that can be cured. Which I know is wishful and doesn't serve me good. I am trying my best to not let my fear get to me but I am constantly reminded of my decisions. I am beyond heartbroken, this is not who I am. I am a spirited and passionate person, I do not know what to do as I wait for answers.
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Hi Everyone, I’m hoping some of you could help me out on what my next steps should be since I’m 23 weeks pregnant and now very scared of what the next months and years hold for me. Here’s my history. When I was 16 (2006) I went on Zoloft due to break up with a boyfriend I could literally scream now that my psychiatrist kept me on the drug all these years I’m 31 now. Over the years I upped the the dose to 100mgs of Zoloft and stayed there for the most part in December of 2018 my mental health started declining and I developed severe ocd symptoms I was so scared we tried to up the dose of Zoloft to 150 but my body couldn’t handle it and I don’t know why? (Well now I do) I was given klonopin to combat the anxiety of the ocd and took like 1.5mg of klonopin for a month before I cold turkeyed it since doctors think if you only been on it four weeks it’s fine. Went through benzo withdrawal for about a month and half of suffering, but then I found you guys which led me down a different path I never made an account I just observed what other peoples stories were I decided right then I would start tapering the Zoloft as well because I figured the meds were making me worse, I don’t know why at the time but I probably made the mistake of adding 10mg of Prozac to my 100mg of Zoloft to taper off of. I was still very much lisenting to my psychiatrist but luckily I was able to stablize fairly quickly on that and continue with my taper of Zoloft at first I tapered a little fast cutting the dose in 12.5mgs but would hold the next dose long until I cut again, by the time I got to 37.5mg I started cutting 10% each two weeks or sometimes would hold for a month depending on how I felt my taper was going beautifully I felt good, I suffered from the occasional fatigue and depressed feelings but nothing I couldn’t handle, fast forward a year and a half later to this summer July of 2020 I found out I was pregnant but I got this severe case of morning sickness where I would vomit 20 times a day and couldn’t keep down anything, I was on 8 or 9 mgs of Zoloft and 4mgs of Prozac liquids by that time but I had to discontinue it because I literally could not keep it down, I felt okay for two months until the pregnancy hormones started kicking in and i felt a little down, that’s when all hell broke lose, my ob suggested to start the Zoloft again at 12.5mgs and I guess I felt so baby brained that I complied, biggest mistake ever I took one pill and completely had an adverse reaction. Panic, fear, severe anxiety, pacing. That lasted for about 5 days and just when I was leveling out my family and husband were really pushing me to start medication again I felt entirely forced because they are telling me I need help and I’m pregnant and I can’t be like this that’s when my psychiatrist suggested I start .5mg liquid of lexapro I was on that for 6 days and then became completely suicidal. It was the scariest thing of my life I went off it and tried to heal myself but I kept getting worse and worse the fear, panic, doom and suffering was UNBEARABLE the suicidal thoughts my family was getting so worried and so pressuring, I tried to tell them multiple times about antidepressant withdrawal and I think this is the drugs and they ALL shut me down and was trying to force me back onto medication I just felt like I was a caged animal up against the wall I didn’t know what to do because I love my family but I knew in my heart what this was, then two weeks after the lexapro I was admitted to hospital for cutting my wrist (something I’ve never done before) and they started me on 5mg of Prozac I took that for a week then forced to up to 10mg for a week and I was on my 15mgs for 3 days when I finally said enough is enough to my family and that medication isn’t helping, it’s making me worse, I told them I wouldn’t take it and they admitted me to psych hospital involuntary which probably saved my life because the psychiatrist there actually heard me and agreed this was withdrawal and he even knew that reinstatement does more harm than good at higher doses he told my family and husband which put them in shock and guilt. He took me off the Prozac, but now I’m just really scared I feel waves and windows throughout the day I’m pregnant and I’m so scared I wanted to enjoy my first pregnancy so bad and this has been a huge mess, I do feel a little better having my husbands support now but I still feel extreme anxiety I’m taking magnesium glycinate to calm down and vitamin c in the morning for the cortisol surges I’m doing acupuncture but I have yet to figure out if that’s revving up my symptoms. I’m so so scared I’m not going to be able to be the mother I wanted to be. I don’t know if there’s anything else I can do or if anyone has any suggestions. I feel so depressed and doomed everyday I feel severe suicidal thoughts and sometimes urges. It’s all very scary. Thank you so much for taking the time reading this
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Hi all, I have a 16 year history on SSRI/SNRI (see signature) as well as a few years on Mirtazapine and one year on Bupropion. The two latter I quit fairly easy without any tapering worth mentioning. I'm also a medical doctor. I've read this forum now and it's been very helpful. The main reason I'm now registering is I'd like to contribute to the Escitalopram tapering thread, where there seems to be a quite well established misconception about the water solubility of the drug (I don't seem to be able to repy there yet though). Escitalopram is, as the post states, "sparingly soluble" in water (and "soluble" in saline water). Sparingly soluble by definition means that it takes 30-100 ml of water to fully dissolve 1 g of a chemical (such as a drug). (I'll still to 100 ml instead of 30 - 100 ml for simplicity, and 100 ml is at the less solvable end of the spectrum) 1 g is 1000 mg. So, with 100 ml of water you can dissolve ONE HUNDRED 10 mg pills of Escitalopram (as the salt Escitalopram oxalate). To dissolve one 10 mg pill, you need only 1 ml of water. I suspect most people will use much more water than this, as 1. there is no reason to work with such a small amount of water and 2. people seem to think you need lots of water. So, let's say that you use 10 ml or more instead of the necessary 1 ml. Now, there is NO reason whatsoever to increase solubility by adding sodium chloride (i e, making a saline solution), worrying about decreased solubility in refrigerator temperatures, etc. Note, there is stuff in the pills that does not dissolve, but the active drug does, easily. On the term "sparingly soluble": from a required 30-100 ml of water to dissolve 1 g of Escitalopram follows that in 100 ml water the amount of solvable Escitalopram is 1 - 3.3333333... g. Compare this to table salt (sodium chloride) which I believe you can dissolve 36 g of in 100 ml of water. Hence, it is easy to understand why "sparingly" is appropriate.
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Joshimitsu: Withdrawing fromLexapro and pain.
Joshimitsu posted a topic in Introductions and updates
Hi everyone. I should probably start by saying that I'm 29 and Autistic, and have lived with a degree of anxiety and depression for I would say probably my whole life. I left my casual job back in 2016, which was all I could manage, because it had started to make my anxiety and depression considerably worse. My GP prescribed me lexapro, and I eventually upped the dose to 20mg. In 2018 I decided I wanted to come off the meds, and did so with really no issues. I was off for about 8 months, until in early 2019 I decided I needed a new medication, so went on Fluoxetine, my apologies, but I don't remember the dosage. During this time, I experienced a panic attack whilst driving and developed panic disorder, so with my GP I came off Fluoxetine and went back on Lexapro. My GP also prescribed me Lorazepam 1mg to be taken as needed. Half way through 2021 I got with my partner. After around a year of being together, the sexual side effects of Lexapro were starting to really get to me. Basically I had no feeling in my penis, and I could get it up, but I couldn't finish. This accompanied with around a 20kg weight gain really got to me, and I decided to start tapering off Lexapro in July of this year. I tapered down over roughly 2 and a half to three months, and whilst it definitely wasn't fun, it wasn't horrible. Anyway, in the time it's been since being off the lexapro, around 2 and a half months now, I'd probably say that I've been worse than I was when I was still on them. The only real plus side is that the sexual side effects have gone away. The thing that is hands down getting to me the most, is that I've developed body pain, which I'm experiencing pretty much everywhere, and it seems to have slowly gotten worse. I spent almost a week at my partners house with them helping them to look after their pets while their parents were on a holiday. Since I've come back this past Thursday I've had very bad pain in my back, barely been able to sit up or get out of bed. Just now as I'm typing this, I've just gotten home from being out for about an hour and a half with my support worker, and the pain has flared up again a bit and I had to go straight to lie in bed. I should note a couple of other things, I took 7 lorazepam, 3 in one day, 2 the day after, and then 2 a couple of days after that in the last week and a half. Mainly because there were a few things I had to do that cause me quite some anxiety. Also, both my partner and my sister have fibromyalgia, my partner was diagnosed 10 years ago. Now I've seen my doctor about the pain, had blood tests done, and been prescribed naproxen. I have no inflamation in my blood and the naproxen doesn't seem to work. My GP says I could have fibro and that it's common for pain to come on after stopping anti depressants. I just don't really know what to do. I can deal with mental pain by itself, but then throw in physical pain too and I feel like I just can't handle it. I'm going back to see my GP on Thursday, but I feel at a bit of a loss at the moment to be honest. -
Hey guys, My past medications: these were most recent, from the age of 15 onward: - Pristiq - 100 mg - Abilify - 15 mg - Fluoxetine - 20 mg - L-methyl folate (supplement) - Adderrall XR (in morning) - forget dosage - Adderrall , 2 throughout day - forget dosage When I was 10, I was dealing with a lot of anxiety due to an unstable home life at my Mom’s. I was diagnosed with anxiety and began taking Fluoxetine after an initial meeting with a psychologist followed by a psychiatrist. At age 15, I attempted suicide and was admitted to a teen unit at a local hospital. There, I was placed on many of the medications that would later be incredibly difficult to discontinue. By age 20, I had erectile dysfunction, weighed ≈285 pounds at 6’, couldn’t concentrate on anything, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, had severely limited vision in both eyes, slept 12 hours per night, had a constant feeling of emptiness, and had an overall feeling of not being present in my life (just kind of floating around). On March 12th, 2020 (yes, at the beginning of the pandemic), I stopped everything Cold Turkey. It probably wasn’t the smartest move, but I’m so glad I did it. I went through about 4 months of what I can only describe as hell. Vomiting, diarrhea, alternating between sleeping for 12 hours and 3 hours per night, and a rollercoaster of emotions I’d never felt before. I’m currently 185 pounds, diabetes free, updated my license yesterday to remove my vision restriction (my vision corrected), have a pretty good running/ weightlifting habit / Nutrition approach going, I just finished 2 years at a local Community College with a 3.2 overall GPA in a transfer program to a B.S. in Chemistry, and life is fantastic. Everything works well, I’m feeling real, genuine emotions for the first time in my life, and I’m thrilled to be alive. The only drawback from this whole discontinuation process is that I now can’t stay in bed for more than 6-7 hours. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, getting the vision restriction from my license removed yesterday prompted me to speak about my story (I guess you could call it a personal milestone). I’m still navigating the whole relationship, being human, and experiencing emotions part of everything but I can say that for once in my life, I’m very happy. Feel free to ask me anything. Thanks everyone, Connor -
Hope everyone is doing well. I wanted to start with a quick synopsis of my medical background below. I took SSRI antidepressants for 17+ years. I started with Prozac for 5 years from 15-21. Then I took Escitalopram from 22-32. Along the way I was put on Trazodone, Buspar, Ambien and Wellbutrin as well. All in an attempts to control my anxiety/depression and inability to sleep. Also a little mental history - I was bullied from about the age of 9 to the age of 16. It's pretty obvious in hindsight why I was depressed/anxious. I thought the people in this world were mean. I thought everywhere I went was an unsafe place because at this time it was. In response to this I took up boxing and working out so I could become stronger than my bullies. In all honesty it worked. As soon as I became strong and in shape I became popular out of nowhere, which was an interesting transition. Anyways, that's another story for another time. At 15 I visited the doctor because I always held things to myself because I never told my parents I was being bullied or that life outside of my bedroom sucked. They just thought I was sad/depressed. Depression also runs deep in my family. My mother has been on an extreme cocktail of antidepressants since she was about 20. Although this cocktail has been quite a rollercoaster for her as well. She thought this was the only way to help. I had no one to talk to and I felt like the world was an unsafe and scary place so when the doctor prescribed anti depressants and the anxiety disappeared I thought it was a miracle. At this time the extreme side effects didn't matter to me. The fact I lost my ability to feel empathy because I was numb didn't matter because I didn't like people enough to care to empathize with them. I thought I was going to make it in this world on my own come hell or high water. This idea set me off on a path of perfectionism, egocentrism, hedonism and drug abuse. This life is not meant to be lived alone. To make sure this story doesn't become a novel I'm going to go ahead and summarize it here. For 16 years I went on a binger of sorts. Chasing all the highs this world has to offer. Whether this be dating multiple women, chasing drugs and festival culture, chasing adrenaline highs in the form of mountain biking, power lifting or cliff diving. I kept chasing thrills to fill the emotional void left by the SSRI. I also had to be perfect at this point. I had to have a straight A's in college. A quick aside (I had a long period of alcohol addiction that ran in parallel with my SSRI usage from about 16-21). This caused me to fall behind in life so I felt like I had to catch-up quick, mixed with the perfectionism created from early bullying it caused an immense amount of anxiety in my day to day life. I wasn't allowed to rest, make a mistake or simply apologize when I was wrong. This caused insane amounts of chaos in my relationships throughout these years. Finally when I hit about 31 I decided I had enough of this chaos. A 6-year relationship and all of my life long friendships finally collapsed on me. They were built on a false human. They were built on a man that didn't exist. I see myself as two people honestly. The person that was on anti-depressants is not the same human I am off them. Honestly in my mind half the withdrawal is realizing you built a life not suitable to the person you are off the medicine. I moved to a new area and started a new life. I also quit my anti-depressants. I began hiking and looking inward. It took about 6 months from the insomnia, brain zaps, panic attacks and extreme social anxiety to subside. I managed these symptoms with extreme self inquiry. I also started walking daily. I'm running out of time to write this so let me summarize this pretty quickly here. I'm not perfectly better now. I think anxiety/depression are a part of existence now. I accept there will be days I'm tired/scared and will have panic attacks, but I've learned to sit with these emotions and understand this too shall pass. Getting of my anti-depressant also gave me my empathy back. I built closer connections with people than I've had in the past 17 years. It was extremely hard to rebuild a social support system and a new life while quitting the SSRI though. I would say overall life feels deeper now though. In summary: 1) Took SSRI's for 17+ years. Felt like a zombie. I won't say it was all bad. If you are suicidal and have no other options I would say these are better than that alternative. If you believe you have any other options though I would urge you to try them all out. 2) Quit SSRI's at 32. Created a new life. 3) Anxiety/depression still exists but I now just believe these to be a part of life as opposed to something to get rid of. 4) Found a social support system that saved me, built around the real me. Sorry for jumping around so much on this post. I was trying to work from home at the same time. So I kept jumping back into it. If anyone has any questions feel free to let me know! -
Hi All! Just wanted to say I've been scouring this site for advice from people who have gone through tapering before, and have found the advice here invaluable. I wish I knew about it sooner because it would have saved me a lot of heartache. Here is my history: I had been an extremely anxious child, kind of a hypochondriac, and extremely sensitive. In 2000 when I was 15 years old I was diagnosed with major depression, and had some psychotic episodes (mostly paranoia). During this time, my parents gave me some of my dad's medications (I am not sure which ones) which may have exacerbated the situation. After two weeks, I started on 20 mg of Paxil and 25 mg of Seroquel in 2000. Tapered off of Seroquel quickly after a week or so, stayed on the 20 mg of Paxil until 2007. Cold turkey off of Paxil for 9 months - experienced a number of side effects - head zaps, mood swings, irrational behavior, hypomania. After 9 months, reinstated 20 mg of Paxil, was on 40 mg for a few weeks. Saw my Pdoc and she told me to go on 10 mg Paxil, 50 mg of Seroquel, and 250 mg of Depakote for my new bipolar diagnosis. I stayed on this until summer of 2014 when I tried weaning off of Paxil to 5mg. Within 2 or 3 months I started feeling hopeless and depressed even with the Seroquel and Depakote. Went to Pdoc, he told me my depression was returning, and so I reinstated to 10mg. In March of 2015, I switched from 10 mg of Paxil to 10 mg of Prozac by adding 10 mg of Prozac for 2 weeks, cutting down the Paxil to 5 mg in another two weeks, and then completely off the Paxil in another two weeks. I experienced some minor depression for a few days. I didn't know I was experiencing withdrawal at the time. In May of 2015, I weaned off the Depakote with a schedule from Pdoc from 250mg to 125 mg in two weeks, then off completely two weeks after that. I didn't experience any debilitating withdrawal symptoms with Depakote, except one day of diarrhea which could have also been food poisoning. On 9/9/15 I started tapering off of Seroquel from 50 mg to 25 mg which was my Pdoc's tapering schedule. The night of the cut, I immediately experienced insomnia and got a few hours of in and out sleep. After about 3 or 4 days I got a little bit more sleep and was feeling a lot sharper and less sluggish. I realized that the Seroquel was what was blunting my emotions and contributing to extreme apathy. I was also sleeping way too much and feeling groggy the next day. So when I went off of it, I felt amazing. After about 4 days, I cut the half into another half (12.5 mg), didn't get much sleep but still felt sharp, but experienced cold sweats. Some anxiety started to creep in as well. In my anxiety, I decided I wanted to get off completely, and so I didn't take it that night and had the worst insomnia I'd ever had. I slept for maybe 20 or 30 minutes. The next day I was having trouble regulating body temperature, had chills and sweats, and felt like all my nerve endings were raw and exposed. I reinstated to 12.5 mg and felt immediate relief in my withdrawal symptoms the next day. A couple of days on 12.5 mg wasn't cutting it, so I went back up to 25mg. I was beginning to feel extremely anxious and depressed in the morning, and had mini panic attacks during my lunch breaks at work. I decided to go back up to 35 mg, which is where I am now. 35 mg of Seroquel and 10 mg of Prozac. I am feeling pretty stable these past two days after reinstating the 35mg of Seroquel, still early morning disturbances and manageable levels of anxiety and depression in the morning. I usually feel much better by noon. I do still have dizziness and headaches as well. I am now 29 years old, have a 9-5 job, work out regularly (4-6 times a week), and am eating as well as I can. I am taking no supplements. This forum has been extremely helpful to me and was instrumental in my reinstating. I have often been too stubborn, thinking all my effort is going to waste, and end up suffering a lot. It is important to me to continue working and keep up with my social life and exercise. I know that it will contribute to my healing, along with prayer and knowing Jesus is beside me every step of the way. From the Slowness of Slow Tapers thread, I found a lot of encouragement to be patient and to hold until feeling stable. This is going to be a long and arduous journey, but I have hope that I will at least be on as little medication as possible, or none at all.
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Lizzard5045: tapering off sertraline, Abilify and lamotrigine
Lizzard5045 posted a topic in Introductions and updates
Hello! I am in a hell of withdrawal. I have been on many different SSRI’s in the past and they all worked but had intolerable side effects. About a year ago I started sertraline, and when it didn’t work my psych put me on Abilify and lamotrigine. The Abilify seemed to help a bit but gave me crazy anxiety and tardive skenesis. The lamotrigine has never seemed to do anything. Since last March I have been trying to taper. I’ve had two terrible experiences when my doc told me to stop the S and A cold turkey. I’m back on low doses of both. Currently I take 12.5mg sertraline, 2mg Abilify, 200 mg lamotrigine and would like to get off all of them, if possible. I have terrible anxiety and crying spells that I’ve had since starting the sertraline and Abilify. Im wondering which drug I should try to taper first?? Thanks for your help! -
Indigocouple: severe anxiety / akathisia but only every other day
Indigocouple posted a topic in Introductions and updates
Hi all. I’m writing on behalf of my husband. Bit of background: 2003 was put on Prozac for 3 months- no adverse reaction and subsequently various doses of venlafaxine which he successfully came off of with no issues. 2013 was switched from Venlafaxine to sertraline. Had ‘activation syndrome’ (extreme anxiety) for 8 weeks (always thought it was him) but went away once body used to drug. August 2021 had been on 25mg for years and thought he would taper over 2 months, successfully came off no issues or problems. january 2022- I was having a C section and he was a bit worried, nothing extreme though, just normal worry and decided to reinstate the Sertraline. Within days, ‘activation syndrome’ was back. He stayed on for 5 weeks and then doctor said ‘come off as you weren’t anxious or depressed to start with’ symptoms of withdrawal started but manageable. He thought after 6 weeks that it wasn’t withdrawal as nhs website said it should have gone after 2 weeks! March 2022- started mirtazapine at 15mg going up to 30mg. Fine for 3 weeks, but then developed activation syndrome and quickly came off. GP advised to go back on to sertraline at a bigger dose- ended up in a and e, so agitated! 3 weeks later, he thought that the mirtazapine might be less activating at a smaller dose, so went back on at 15mg… alas, 3 weeks later, activation syndrome is back! june 5th came off and has been battling severe anxiety, but generally, every other day! I am aware of windows and waves but don’t understand this. One day he’s perfect and the next can’t leave the house! He also started propanalol in June which we feel makes it worse as apparently it blocks seritonin to a degree, but makes anxiety a lot worse if he reduces (or maybe he did too big a jump). NHS have left us to it, no help! Have a private appointment on Monday. Questions are: If he is getting windows this early on, is it a good sign?! The only symptom he has is extreme anxiety/agitation which seems more a reaction to lack of seritonin, thus firing out tons of cortisol? Could he go on a low dose of Prozac to see if that helps? Prozac is the only antidepressant he doesn’t think caused activation syndrome?! is there any experiences with propanalol making matters worse? I think there is a slight improvement in the anxiety but considering it’s only been out of his system for 6 weeks I expect takes a lot longer to build new pathways etc/level out. Thanks for reading. Just want my husband back, it’s destroying me and him! -
Hello, I am new here. I used to be on a website called Paxil Progress, it saved my life honestly. I withdrawed from Paxil fully via liquid small tiny doses back in 2014. It took me a few years. It was hell. I then withdrawed from Trazadone and switched to Unisom for sleep and finally withdrew from that this year about April. I have always struggled with anxiety and depression. I was put on Prozac at age 13 and finally got off Paxil at 34. It has been quite a ride. I still struggle but I just know my body now. I take Natural Calm magnesium powder almost daily which helps with sleep and anxiety. I don't drink caffeine. I don't eat sugar after about 4pm. I saw a Naturapath recently and she recommended a product called Cortisol Manager which I just started taking. It works great to calm down the body. I have had a tough year since I was diagnosed as being Iron Deficient. It has majorly revved up my anxiety with all these new weird symptoms I have been having. Although my anxiety is high this year, I am practicing all my tools I learned and I am getting through it. I have always wondered what happened to all my friends at Paxil Progress which got me through some tough years. I am so thankful for what I learned there and the support I got. Hugs ❤️
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Hi there, I have been lurking on this site for quite a long time and too afraid to share my story, but I am reaching the point where I really need some help. To give you a bit of a case history: I am 38 now and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at the age of 14 after suffering some pretty debilitating and terrifying panic attacks. At 14, I was put on Paxil (20mg) and later Wellbutrin (300mg), which was added to address the sexual side effects of Paxil. The Paxil seemed like a miracle when I first began it, and for many years later, and I felt entirely in "remission" for nearly two decades. Over the years, I would occasionally attempt to lower my dosages, but would suffer from brain fog and a recurring depression. About 6 years ago, I began to feel that the medication was no longer actually working -- I was depressed and felt an increasing sense of numbness and anhedonia. I experienced no happiness at all from my life -- no sadness either, really. Just blah. My memory was also getting quite worrisome -- I'd begun to regularly forget people's names. I met with a psychiatrist who advised me to switch from Paxil to Prozac to bridge to zero meds. I cross-tapered from the Paxil to the Prozac (20mg) over a period of about three months. It was a rocky period, with lots of what I now recognize as akathisia, anxiety, agitation, and GI symptoms. But I managed to make it without any brain zaps, which had hobbled all other previous attempts of mine. I then did a very fast taper of the Prozac and Wellbutrin to zero in probably two and a half months. At first, all seemed fine enough. And then, like clockwork, three months in, I suffered a terrible depressive episode, much worse than any I'd had before the meds. I reinstated the Prozac but now at 15mg, because I found side effects at 20mg (tremors, anxiety, palpitations) undoable. At this first resinstatement, I began to have tinnitus, which has never gone away, but otherwise seemed to do okay, if not great. This sense of not really doing great caused my psychiatrist to try to switch me from Prozac to Cymbalta. After a month on the latter, severely depressed, I went back to the Prozac, and then switched to Trintellix. The Trintellix was awful and left me in a terrible depression, although I now wonder if this was also due to withdrawal symptoms from the Prozac. Over this time, I began to experience debilitating brain fog along with the mood swings and intense anhedonia. Last September, 2021, I finally went back to the Prozac after three months off. The reinstatement took away the worst of the depression, but the brain fog never abated and I began to suffer from terrible fatigue as well, along with recurring episodes of derealization and depersonalization. I tried ketamine infusions, which I found did nothing but make me feel even more derealized. Over the last year, I changed my diet entirely, adopting a whole-foods, gluten-, dairy-, alcohol-free diet. I began to think my symptoms (the brain fog, attentional difficulties, fatigue) were due to an organic physiological issue and did a battery of tests with a battery of physicians, none of which revealed anything wrong. Finally, over the last several months, I found this website and began to suspect that my symptoms were not being alleviated by the medications but exacerbated by them. In July, I began a very slow taper of the Prozac. It has been quite difficult even with very small cuts. Essentially, I am now in a place where I am wondering two things: 1) Because of the timeline of my symptoms, is it possible that what I have been experiencing is actually an adverse reaction to the reinstatement of the Prozac? I never had any fatigue before the back-and-forth of drugs and then landing back on Prozac, for instance. If so, does that mean I should be accelerating my taper? 2) The advice on this site is to cut and then hold until the nervous system stabilizes, but it feels to me like my nervous system never quite really stabilizes. Do I keep going anyway? Thank you to anyone for your help. This is such a difficult, lonely process, and I am very grateful that this group even exists.
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MOD NOTE : RealMe's Introduction thread is here ------------------------------------ Because of what I learned here and with the support I found here, I have been completely free of anti-depressants. I have not taken any mood altering chemicals in over two years, so I finally feel competent to write my success story. When I got here I was so confused, I'm not even sure what I was taking. I reported my symptoms to the psychiatrist, primary care doctor and therapist, and all were in total agreement that I "needed medication." Even in my confused mental state, I finally realized that nothing they recommended was doing anything but making me worse. When I tried to get support to withdraw from psychiatric medications, I was told I was having a resurgence of my "depression." No one in the medical field that I came in contact with would support me in my desire to get off meds, and no one would acknowledge the phenomenon of "withdrawal syndrome" from anti-depressants. To this day, I have a very skeptical attitude toward all doctors and feel that, regardless of how well-meaning they might be, they are nevertheless medicating people into senselessness. My mantra is to "never snivel or weep in front of anyone with a prescription pad." When I was 19, I went to the clergy for help with nervousness and low self esteem. From there I was referred to a psychiatrist who gave me Valium. That was the beginning of the end for me. Now I had an addiction to sedatives along with increasing nervousness and lower self esteem. Later I was given Tofranil, Elavil, Desyrel, Prozac, Wellbutrin, Abilify (a real killer in my experience) and some others. I gained a ton of weight and lost my ability to feel normal feelings at all. I remember being at my father's funeral and thinking something must be wrong because I didn't cry. Not only did I not cry, I couldn't feel anything. And I loved my father. Over the years, I tried on my own many times unsuccessfully to detox from these prescribed medications. By the time I arrived at this web site, I was trying to withdraw from Abilify, Wellbutrin and Prozac. I learned about slow and steady until I had decreased my dosage of Prozac to liquid from a dropper. It was extremely difficult to get my doctor to prescribe the liquid form for my detox because he was still insisting that I could not do without a full dose! He insisted that I see a therapist and agree to go back on medication if I "got worse." I don't think about that process very much. I went to the therapist and told him whatever I thought would convince him that I was fine without medication. Then I would report my true and actual symptoms to the people on this forum and took their suggestions. Thinking of "puppies and kittens" as a coping strategy makes me smile to this day. What I do think about often is that I have been drug free for a long time. I feel happy, sad, anxious, calm, confident, worried, fearful, full of faith. In other words, I am leading a normal life with a full range of emotions that are appropriate to either what life throws at me or what life offers to me. At first, I feared that I was too old to change after years of being in psychiatry land, but I wasn't. I believed what I discovered here, and I am extremely grateful to have survived anti-depressant withdrawal. -
MentallyChill: 20 years on Prozac, 4 months off - struggling
MentallyChill posted a topic in Introductions and updates
Hello. I have been on 20mg Prozac for twenty years. I then starting taking one every other day for about two months. Then one every three days for about two months. I felt fine during this whole time. Then stopped. Again I felt fine. I felt like myself again. I had feelings. I was very angry, but that was ok because I felt like I had that fire back in my belly. Anyway four months down the road. Exactly four months to the day from my last ever pill. I am experiencing severe panic attacks and anxiety about my past mistakes. Just suddenly came from out of nowhere. I’m also starting to feel depressed with all this exhausting obsessive worrying. I’m at a crossroad here. I don’t know if I should just carry on and stay strong without the pills. Or start back on them again? Maybe if I carry on without them the thoughts and anxiety will slowly disappear over time? Or will it never go? I just don’t know. I really don’t want to get back on the pills because they make me feel tired and numb. But at least my worries will go. I've come so far. Four months down the road after twenty years of Prozac. Anyone have any words of support or advice? Thank you. -
Niv1999: stopped escitalopram, clonazepam and modafinil after 4 days
Niv1999 posted a topic in Introductions and updates
I took escitalopram (10mg), clonazepam (0.5mg) and modafinil(10mg) for four days and then quit cold turkey 12 days ago. It was a bad decision. I am having trouble concentrating, loss of motivation, genital pain, genital numbness. Before this I had taken fluoxetine for seven months and quit in last december. Any suggestions on how I should proceed? Should I go back on the drugs and taper them slowly? I also have PCOS so I was taking finasteride (5mg) for one and half months and quit it 3 days ago(I had read that it can also cause sexual dysfunction) and currently taking diane 35(ethinyl estradiol and cyproterone acetate) along with some vitamin supplements. Also on latanoprost and timolol eye drops for glaucoma. -
About 15 years ago I was diagnosed with ADHD and OCD. I started seeing a physiatrist that put me on the combination of Straterra and Vyvance for ADHD, Trileptal and Trintellix for depression/mood stabilizer and Prozac for OCD. I have been on this mix of medication for more then 5 years. I think I am not ready to start weening myself off this medication, because I am in a very good place mentally. The last time I tried to stop Prozac I went from 50 mg to 0 over 5 weeks, but I think that it was way too fast and I had to go back to my previous doze. Looking back, I should have questioned all this medication when my doctors was prescribing it, but now I feel stuck and not sure where to begin. Hoping someone here has some suggestions.
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Hey everyone, Have been frequenting these forums a lot recently as they seem a lot more active than most. Thought I would post my ongoing story here to hopefully provide info to others and get some support as I have found some of the stories I read on here helpful and supportive. First post so im hoping the treatment history I supplied on sign up will also be posted. So im a 45 year old male living just outside London, UK. After various abortive attempts I finally managed to quit Prozac after a 2 year taper. Ive now reached the 6 month point and its been very up and down. Started off feeling OK with just an expetension of the feelings I had during the taper (mixed sleep patterns and pretty bad fatigue) but the last 2 months have been hard with a lot of anxiety and feeling hopeless. Now these are feelings which I simply didnt have when on treatment because thankfully I did respond pretty well and could live a normal-ish life. However, there comes a time when you need to know if you can cope without the drugs (and their side-effects). Sleep issues seem to come and go and if I could just crack that then I reckon I have a good chance of beating this. Fatigue is much better but im defintly in a hyper-sensitive state currently and having to manage things like alcohol and workload quite carefully. I think like most on here who have managed to kick the habit im wondering how long these bad feelings are going to last and tbh whether or not this is withdrawal or a return of symptoms of depression or a mix of both. There seem to be a real mix of stories on here with people suffering for many years after their treatment and some coming through it unscathed pretty quick. Ive been trying to see if there is any link between the length of time you have been on treatment and duration of 'withdrawal'. It seems logical that this would be the case but everyone is different right? What could potentially be useful on here is perhaps a poll of recovery time? However, this may be flawed as its probably the case that you will get a much higher proportion of people coming to forums like these if they are suffering protracted withdrawal symptoms rather than those who recover quickly? At the moment I feel like im going to probably be somewhere in the middle of this spectrum of sufferers. I keep thinking that if I have been on SSRIs for around 20 years then it wouldnt be unreasonable to expect a recovery time of 10% of that ie 2 years. I think if i was still suffering substantial Waves after 2 years off the drugs then I would defintly have given it a good shot and I would be happy to take the 'blue-pill' again! Ive been in more of a wave than a window recently which could be due to some outside stresses but seems to be in a window last few days so taking the opportunity to get things done like writing on here! Tbh its a nice xmas present! Have a complete lack of motivation to do anything when in a wave which is obviously when you think about reinstatement the most. I previously said to myself that I would review after 3 and then 6 months to see if I wanted to reinstate but I realise now that its probably a longer game than that. Im happy to chat on here and share my experiences and definitely therapeutic writing this stuff down. My other half isnt always so understanding! Cheers all and dont sweat the small stuff.
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Hi I’m new here. I was put on antidepressants for panic & anxiety. I was on lexapro for a year then stopped working then went to Prozac and it helped great with panic & anxiety. I was on 30mg for over a year. It gave me horrible restless legs and Insomia so my dr added amitriptyline to help with sleep & pain. I came off Prozac last summer by tapering down to 10mg then off (per drs instructions) I was totally fine. Then I came off 5mg amitriptyline in November and I got horrific severe deep dark depression that I never had in my entire life.. so so severe so I went back on Prozac… Prozac seemed to worsen the depression with each increase so I stayed at 5mg for like a month then 2mg for a month and then came off. It did help stabilize me a little and then 4 weeks off Prozac and I have this debilitating deep dark depression. I feel like I won’t make it. I don’t think I can ride this out. It’s soooo severe. My brain feels permanently damaged. What do I do? I was thinking of trying Wellbutrin to stabilize or maybe reinstating a different med and doing a super slow taper. I need help. Is there anything natural that could get rid of this ?? Tried 5htp and it helped some depression but gave me more anxiety.
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DutchMaddy: Maddy from Netherlands protracted withdrawal
DutchMaddy posted a topic in Introductions and updates
Hello everybody! I am a 63 year old female from the netherlands and in severe protracted withdrawal. I am drugfree since 29 July 2020. I stopped my Prozac after 10 years because it did not help anymore and then got 3 other drugs from my Pdoc. They did not help either and so I tapered everything ( to fast !did not now SA then) with taperingstrips from the dutch Farmacie in the Netherlands, ( the first one to make taperingstrips for people all over the world. See. www.taperingstrip.nl. The send them to you, any drug you want. It is so nice that we have those strips but they are a bit expensive. They are trying to get them insured for everybody. It cost around 80 euroś per month. I did not know that i had to taper 10 % so I did it to fast. I have been lurking on SA for a long time now everyday. It helped me so much..... I am so gratefull for Altostrata and all the moderators. Because of this site i now know that it will pass, this terrible terrible state i am in after 4 months tapering and 3 months off drugs all together. I have red every successtory over and over again. It is hard to beleave that I am in this situattion, 1 year off work, at home, anxiety through te roof, depressed, flulike symtoms grrrrr Other symtoms i have now in protracted withdrawal anxiety crying spells depersonalisation (feeling detached from your surroundings) depression disturbed sleep fatigue (feeling very weary) Derealization mood swings poor concentration and memory suicidal thoughts. When i was tapering from my last ad i had the following symptoms Dizziness or vertigo electric shock sensations in head flu-like symptoms problems with movement, such as problems with balance or walking, or involuntary movements sensory disturbance, such as smelling something that isn't there stomach cramps and bloating strange dreams Depression and anxiety I have a question for the moderators. Can I also count the years after stopping Prozac in 2018 as withdrawal, so theat I am now 2 years in withrawal instead of 3 months since l am drug free? and, I sometimes take 0,25 alprazolam for sleep because I only sleep for three hours ( wich is not a problem but I am so anxious the next day) I only use them 1 every week for 1 good night sleep I have no other medication!! Melatonine also helps but only for 3 hours. I also take magnesium 300 and fish oil and vit C I am so hopeless sometimes, affraid of losing my job.. It is such an unknown syndrome and also in the Netherlands they will reinstate you to fast because thet think it is relapse. I wish everybody faith and hugs!! especially with Covid 19 Maddy -
Sturm: venlafaxine / Effexor withdrawal timeline and length
Sturm posted a topic in Introductions and updates
Hello, my name is Sturm! I am from Austria and am looking for someone to read over my story about getting off of Effexor, since, quite frankly, I am terrified that it will last a few weeks more, or that I could get addicted to benzos (see more about that later) in the process (as the worst side effect I have atm is very bad insomnia). I hope I am posting this in the correct place. So, this is a bit of a long story. I have been taken Venlafaxine / Effexor for around 7 months (since January 2022). Around two months ago I decided to taper it (I was at 150mg). We tapered to 75mg. I don’t recall any psychological side effects from this, but I did notice muscle pain (especially from my left leg). I stayed on this for around two weeks, when I tapered again to 37,5mg. I stayed at this dosage for two weeks, and didn’t notice any psychological change besides muscle pain. I was then told I could get off Effexor, or I could take it every other day. I took it every day for a week. By this time, I noticed brain fog, but nothing extremely strong. At this point, after a week of this, I asked the psychiatrist about a prozac bridge, knowing the withdrawal effects would undoubtedly be terrible. The next day (Friday 21.07.2022) I was off Effexor and took 10mg prozac. At this point, I had a decent amount of nausea and akathisia, a reduced appetite, as well as chills, but never experienced brain zaps. The 5th day had the worst nausea. By day 7, the nausea was seemingly gone, and I thought the withdrawal was over, so I stopped taking prozac a few days later (31.07). The next few days were pretty recent, little to no nausea. By August 5th, (roughly two weeks since being off of the Effexor), I had some mild nausea, chills were back, and worst of all, I started having really bad insomnia. Despite bot having taken any prozac in 8 days, I took it again on August 7th, thinking the insomnia happened due to stopping prozac and being off of it long enough for its half life to expire, therefore allowing more of Effexor’s withdrawal effects to occur (since prozac normally suppresses most of the nasty ones). This, however, doesn’t seem to be the case, as of today, August 10th (day 19), I still am having sleep problems. I am also concerned that I could have become dependent on prozac for taking it for around 14 days. Could dependence on prozac be attained that early, or does it normally take around a month to occur? It has been nearly three weeks since I am off of Effexor. When should I expect the rest of the withdrawal to end? When should my insomnia end (before yesterday and the day before (I was proscribed lorazepam, I hadn’t gotten any sleep in three days due to the insomnia). I was proscribed lorazepam 2,5mg to help me sleep at night. Is this safe to take, or will I get addicted? The psychiatrist and nurses at the hospital where I was given this prescription said it shouldn’t be an issue unless I take this dosage for months. Do I believe them?
