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Hi all! Thank you in advance for any help/advice. Since July 2023 (8 months) I've dealt with debilitating daytime fatigue. It's not sleepiness, since I don't feel the need to nap—more like I'm pulled underwater. I can't process/experience anything. My eyes glaze over, almost like I go unconscious with my eyes open. It's devastated my life. Extensive blood work has come back mostly normal, with very slightly high cortisol & transferrin saturation which I doubt are clinically meaningful. I'm a 22-year-old male & when this started I was very stringent about exercise, sleep, & nutrition. Recently I've developed mild visual distortions: visual snow, trouble focusing my eyes, & distant objects sometimes seem to flow like oil, although I think these are due to Qelbree WD & not the SSRIs. My drug history is in my signature. Here's my story with a focus on a few drugs: in Oct '23 (my senior year of college), I started Zoloft after an acute mental crisis. That Nov I went up to 100 mg & stayed on this for 6 months. Shortly after moving in June, I began to feel some daytime fatigue. It wasn't too bad, but I thought (& still think) the Zoloft was causing it, so I asked to switch to Lexapro. I should note that fatigue was much milder than the fatigue I'm experiencing now, so I don't think it suggests that my current fatigue started before any WDs. After some time, things rapidly declined—I think I noticed in Aug. I felt strong fatigue even through Adderall (I have ADHD) & ~7 cups of coffee (I've cut back for periods & it didn't help the fatigue). I had known Adderall was bad for me in the long run, so I switched to Focalin in Sept. Focalin didn't mask the fatigue as strongly. My mood was fine, so I thought Lexapro was causing the continued fatigue. In Oct I started to wean off Lexapro. In Nov I stopped Lexapro & also replaced Focalin with Strattera (a non-stimulant drug for ADHD). Focalin had similar side effects to Adderall, but my fatigue became debilitating when I no longer had a stimulant masking it. I think it also worsened from quitting Lexapro. I spent the next few months trying a bunch of non-stimulants for ADHD. Because my fatigue had gotten worse & I didn't realize this could be entirely explained by quitting stimulants + Lexapro, I thought my fatigue was now because of these non-stimulants. I slogged through this repeated pattern of waiting weeks for the fatigue to go away each time I "adjusted" to a drug, & then switched to another non-stimulant when it didn't. After months of unbearable fatigue (& trying pretty much every drug for ADHD anyway), I got sick of it & got off everything except Wellbutrin & Armodafinil (both of which I was prescribed for the fatigue). Quitting these drugs didn't improve the fatigue. Two days ago I restarted guanfacine at my full dose since I realized I shouldn't have quit it CT & in the past I was pretty satisfied with it. I had quit it only to see if it was causing the fatigue. Now I think my fatigue probably has little to do with the non-stimulants (although it did get worse when I went up to 80 mg Strattera). Looking back on the timing, this all started when I switched off Zoloft, & really got bad when I quit Lexapro. I think my fatigue is caused by WD from these two drugs. I've probably had Zoloft WD the whole time, initially softened by Lexapro since it functions similarly. When I quit Lexapro, the WD blew up. However, the mild visual distortions seem much more recent. I had severe visual distortions while I was quitting Qelbree, so they may be Qelbree WD. And considering that increasing Strattera did worsen my fatigue, I'm worried I may actually be juggling protracted WDs from multiple drugs. I feel like I was pushed into climbing a cliff. Now that I'm there, there's no way down. I feel lost. My memory also seems to be impaired, so it's hard to even remember how I got here. Does anybody have any advice? Right now I'm getting my cortisol rechecked & also checking for sleep apnea, but I doubt either will lead anywhere. I know SSRI WD can last for years & the idea of feeling like this for years is terrifying. Does this get better? A few other questions: Most importantly, should I reinstate Zoloft? I was thinking of reinstating at either 50 mg or asking for a lower dose with a liquid formulation. But now that I'm back on the guanfacine that would put me on 4 drugs. And it's been 8 months since I was on Zoloft. Was getting back on the guanfacine the right idea? I do feel somewhat better. Does this even sound like WD? My understanding is most people end up feeling "activated" rather than fatigued. Has anybody experienced the combo of fatigue/visual distortions/impaired memory as part of SSRI withdrawal? Are there any lifestyle changes/supplements/etc. that people with WD-related fatigue have found helpful? I know there's a few posts about lifestyle/supplements generally but for most people fatigue doesn't seem the primary symptom.

Hi, I’m Kat. I’m a long time lurker first time poster. So I was told by the majority of the PSSD reddit to head here after thinking my symptoms were PSSD and there is some sexual dysfunction, I agree, but I also have uh, odd symptoms. I’m not sure if this is withdrawal from my other medications. Technically I’m still currently on 2 but I’d like to get off of all of them and get my life back. So the prevailing thing is- I can’t feel emotions. And I don’t mean Apathy or Anhedonia, I mean nothing at all. Like a blank. Not even anxiety. This started when I began tapering off of buspar (yes, buspar) in January of 2024. From 20mg to 15mg. (Yes, I know, extremely low dosages.) I was also on 20mg of Hydroxyzine as needed. Suddenly I had a horrible anxiety attack, and I couldn’t feel my stomach. Like it was gone. And there was no hunger or thirst. And then I started having horrible post nasal drip, and dry heaving. And I felt my emotions just go into this vacuum. Very slowly, but now I have blunted affect on my face and I can’t seem to make ANY facial expressions at all. My nausea disappeared, along with the these tremors, arm pains, and burning in my fingers that I’d had for a week. I went to my doctor to get an upped dosage of my long standing metoprolol prescription due to the fact that my heart rate consistently was up all the time. (That has since been controlled by propranolol and lisinipril as of February of 2024.) After losing my emotions, drugs lost most of their effects on me. And I noticed a dampening of all my senses, including (and this is the most bizarre) loss of most of my visual snow. My allergies have also disappeared as well. I recognize that these aren’t super standard withdrawal symptoms and many align with some on the PSSD board, but I did read many stories about emotional anesthesia here, which gave me some hope my emotions would come back. I also have awful insomnia, but never seem to feel tired. I do sleep, but it’s awful and only about a few hours at a time on and off. I do have some weird issues with my vision, to where if I see a light after I’ve opened my eyes in the dark, it flickers like a projector. I’m currently in a PHP program (pardon my ADHD brain) after being inpatient in a psych ward for a while in February. I’m still on two medications, wellbutrin 300mg and abilify 20mg. I can’t taper the wellbutrin in the normal way because the pills are covered by something, but I could potentially do this for the abilify. Again, neither drug seems to be doing anything for me anyway. Even Ativan which once worked in small doses or valium, which I took once in a hospital stay, does nothing. Nor does benadryl or anything else for that matter. I’m scared this is very much permanent and that I’ve ruined my life forever. Despite the hope that I’ve seen on the forum. (I know, emotions come back last, they leave first and come back last.) (I’m not taking benzodiazepines regularly either, by the way.) Anyway, any advice would be appreciated. And it’s nice to meet y’all.

I went off Wellbutrin in December 2023. I had been on it about two years. I was also given Adderall about the last 6 months of that time because I was so sleepy and unable to initiate tasks. I was given Modafinil as well. I was also imbibing about 400 mg of caffeine. Still really tired "excessive daytime sleepiness," not narcolepsy. My blood pressure was super high. I refused to start a BP medicine when I was taking a lot of meds that could raise it. I tapered off Wellbutrin over 6 weeks. Now, I've been off everything for about 12 weeks. My mood is depressed worse than before the meds. Two weeks ago, I started tearful all the time. I have ruminative negative thoughts. I am not suicidal. I believe this is withdrawal because I experienced similar symptoms trying to taper off twice before. The psychiatrist agreed to do GeneSight testing as a compromise since she was against stopping the meds. Turns out, there are only 4 antidepressants I don't have severe genetic interactions with. I told her to pick one and I would try it (because I am that miserable and she was talking hospitalization). She ordered viibryd yesterday. I don't want to prolong the withdrawal or make things worse. I don't believe meds are a solution. I'm wondering if anybody has tried viibryd to ease withdrawal from Wellbutrin. They work on different neurotransmitters so I don't know if it is rational. The Wellbutrin was not even functioning as intended because of my genetics impeding its metabolism and receptor activity.

I promised myself and God that if I got to the other side of this I would come back here and reciprocate the hope that helped me get through this. I’ve been 95%+ recovered for about 2 years but I avoided coming back and put off my promise for too long being that this site is associated with the trauma. This site was the rare place that gave answers. You feel alone because doctors and even Dr Google seem to shrug its shoulders at your symptoms. Compound that with me going through my symptoms during the Covid years when seeing a doctor was next to impossible, also my already ultra anxious mind being stuck at home worrying about the world and my family’s health. I’ll try to get to the point. My symptoms begin when I stopped taking Wellbutrin suddenly. I was only on it for a few months. Maybe 5 at most. I didn’t know about waning off. I just knew I wanted to be done with it. What followed was a massive panic attack followed by an array of symptoms that lasted a year and a half: constant intense headaches, eye flashes, “air hunger”, jerking out of sleep, tingling, chest tightness, among a few others. The symptoms’ intensity decreased month to month but the frustrating part was they stuck around for a while. The windows and waves theory is true. It will be 4 years to the day this week since it started and I can say my life has changed for the better since. I’ve gotten 2 Masters degrees and a top professional certification in my industry. I say that to say not only will you get through this you will be stronger and your mind will still be strong. Just take it a day at a time. I don’t want to get into what did and didn’t help me because I do remember the mix bag of trying supplements and suggestions frustrated me so I won’t burden you with that. What I can say is it gets better with time and there will be a time in the near future where you somewhat forget this hell you’re going through.

Trigger Warning: SI Hello and thank you for allowing me to join. I'm grateful to have found all of you. I've been floundering while trying to come down of medication for at least 2 years and my Dr was no help. I've read through how to taper off Welbutrin and I'm currently on Day 20 of taking ~93 mg per day (original dose was 100 mg). I felt pretty good for the first two weeks but in the last week I've been struggling and questioning whether this was a good idea. I want to stop the Welbutrin because I feel like it increases my anxiety. Before starting it, I didn't need anxiety medicine. I was only on Sertraline for depression. But when my husband died, the Sertraline stopped being as effective so the Welbutrin was added. At one point I was on 450 mg. I've brought it down to 100 mg over the last few years bc I started getting headaches (that went away when it was lowered). I was to do the Welbutrin or at least get to 75mg because it increases my anxiety. This time I am doing the tapering and I was hoping that I wouldn't be affected because it's such a small amount (only 7mg) but I'm feeling it now. It's not horrible like it was before when the Dr told me to go from 100 mg to 75 mg, but I'm still feeling it. And every day it gets a little worse. I can't tell if I'm feeling this way because the medicine isn't numbing my psyche anymore or if this is withdrawal. Do I keep going with the 93 mg until this feeling fades? Will it fade or am I just easing myself into feeling crazy so that it doesn't feel 'crazy'? I wanted to have this mostly figured out by the time I stated a new job in January 29th. What are the odds of that happening? I keep bouncing back and forth between keeping it moving with the tapering and giving up and going back on the Welbutrin but the anxiety it caused is what lead me to start this process. I don't know what to do. Please let me know your thoughts? Thank you.

Background: I got put on 10mg Lexapro at age 30 right at 8 years ago because I randomly started having anxiety attacks for a week or two and had no idea why as I had never had depression or anxiety issues before that. Last year I decided I wanted off because I started to notice looking back for that a few years I had been dealing with fatigue and emotional blunting. I also noticed it was harder for me to learn new things (I was really smart in my younger years) and I would always forget fairly easy words in the middle of my sentences. It was quite weird, but I wanted off needless to say. I weaned off from 10mg down to 5mg and then 2.5mg over the course of 2 or 3 months. About 2 weeks after discontinuing completely (October 3rd) I had a rough 3 or 4 days of overwhelming anxiety and depression. It subsided and things got better. Then it hit me again for 4 or 5 days. Then subsided. Then hit me again for just under 2 weeks in mid December. Then subsided again. Now it is just hitting me again the last 3 days. This is a constant anxiety/depression where I am in constant fight or flight mode and just absolutely miserable. It is hard to get through my day at work and it is also hard to get to sleep at night and I've lost all excitement for anything and always tired. Its been around 1 month in total of bad days over the past 3 months. I just want it to be over. My question is: Would going back on a low dosage of 5mg of Lexapro for a bit and then try weaning off much slower while going to therapy be a good idea? Has anybody been in this situation and navigated your way through it successfully? Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. Just to add: In 8 days I am going on a 10 day trip to Mexico/Honduras with a woman I really care about and I am even finding it hard to get excited about this trip. I'm worried I will be fighting my fight or flight modes while there with her and completely ruining things. HELP!

I am dismayed when I look back at the past ten years. I was diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety disorder and headed off to college with Lexapro. Ten years of therapy, several diagnoses, seventeen medications, and one intensive outpatient program later, I still feel flat inside. My therapist has been encouraging me to reconsider my medication usage - we both share the feeling that I am overmedicated and disregulated. The medications I am currently on - Wellbutrin, Lithium, Trintellix, Caplyta, Topimarate, dosages in signature - have not nudged me in one direction or another - and I strongly desire a change. There are several reasons that drove me to Surviving ADs: Accidentally overdosing on Lithium during the summer Side effects: fine tremor in hands, difficulty getting erections, very low sex drive, constant battle against dehydration, discomfort with heat It's not sustainable for me to pay over $800/month on meds until my deductible is met My psychiatrist is leaving his practice and I need to find someone else for medication management I feel like there must be more to life than the slog the past ten years have been I don't particularly mind taking 10 pills a day, getting labs done every couple of months, or having to take Tadalafil every time I want to have sex, but it has to be worth it. Taking stock of my life right now, I don't think it's worth it. I've given it a good college try, and now I'd like to get off the ride. I'd like to plan tapering off my medications (10% at a time, of course!) while staying in talk therapy, and finding a new healthcare provider. As it goes, I'm not sure how to approach a few pieces of this: I don't really have a great relationship with a doctor at the moment - would it seem adequate to find a new doctor as a prescriber? Once again, my psychiatrist is leaving the practice, so I do need a prescriber as I taper off. How does the taper conversation go with a prescriber? How does a person taper off five medications? Is there an order of operations to follow? I'm at a point in my life where I can't even remember beyond foggy details how I felt before I was taking antidepressants. Would should I expect for returning to the unmedicated LaurenceAloof?

About three years ago, I went to a new psychiatrist, highly recommended by my therapist, to ask him about getting off the venlafaxine and clonazepam I was put on 20 and 15 years ago. When I left I had two new prescriptions: bupropion and lamictal. He thought I was severely depressed. The lamictal was supposed to counteract the effects on adrenaline production of long-term use of venlafaxine. It worked overnight. I enjoyed a few years of relatively good mood. I was also 3 years sober then, and now 6.5 years. Quitting all psychotropics has been on my mind for years. An early experience with Paxil in the 1990s--I took it for maybe a month, tops, but it made me groggy. I became sicker than I'd ever been--flat on my back with vertigo, horrible nightmares, and continuous nausea, as well as the brain stuff. Lucky for me, all this cleared up after about a week. Of course any doctor I spoke to about this had no idea. I am here to learn about weaning, and to find support for making a decision and beginning the baby steps.

Hi Everyone, I’ve been on Bupropion 300xl since beginning of 2019 so almost 5 years. I also was taking Trazodone 50mg nightly for sleep and dropped to 25mg for a month or so then discontinuing it around June 2023. I also discontinued Losartan a blood pressure med around the same time. The doctor said my blood pressure was doing great and I could come off if, I wanted to. Around July 2023, I started to experience anxiety creeping in slowly due to a trigger thought from my past. I let it manifest and get bigger and bigger day by day until I went in full panic mode. It got so bad I went to VA hospital where I get care and they gave me Hydroxyzine for anxiety and panic attacks. I took it but it really didn’t help the anxiety was too strong at this point. I wasn’t sleeping very good. Had a couple more panic attacks. I then went back to the VA and saw mental health provider who told the Bupropion was causing the anxiety. He dropped me from 300xl to 150mg (75 ir X 2 a day).and started buspar 5mg morning and 5mg night. This was 21 Sep 23. I take the bupropion at 6am and 2pm. I also had a blood panel, thyroid test, and ekg to rule those out for the anxiety. All came back normal. I also started therapy. I stopped taking the buspar after a week. Didn’t really feel it was doing anything and made me feel weird. The anxiety has been debilitating at times it seems to be getting better slowly day by day. I’ve never had it this extreme in my 47 years. I’m retired from the Navy after 20 years and have had some stressful situations but this has really got me. I went back and saw mental health twice saying this a rough ride not being able to sleep a full night and the anxiety. They gave me rameron 30mg to take at night. I took it one time and then didn’t take it again. Didn’t want to get started on something else and the side effects of weight gain not worth it to me. Also tried Trazodone again 100mg just to see if I could get some relief made me too groggy and didn’t really help same with Hydroxyzine 25mg. I just feel off, tired, irritable, frustrated, depression and anxiety comes and goes. Sometimes I have passing suicidal thoughts but would never act on them and I share this with my wife just so she knows what’s going through my head. They definitely scare me. Definitely affects your quality of life. I guess I just deal with it now. It’s no where near like before or at panic level. Oh and they want to put me on Prozac now. I haven’t touched it yet. I mentioned my sister is on it with good results so they feel that would be a good fit. I think I was dropped too fast on the bupropion and I’m feeling the withdrawal. It’s been five weeks now and just wanted to see what everyone’s input on this is. I want to try and be done with these meds and go natural. I don’t want to introduce more stuff that I’ll have to come off of. The biggest thing I’m dealing with is anxiety and poor sleep. I’ve looked at the taper schedule and guess I’m beyond the taper from 300xl spot. What are your recommendations at this point? I think it was odd I was dropped to 75ir x 2 a day. Any recommendations to ease the burden? Many Thanks!

Hi, I took 20mg of duloxetine for two years but got fed up with the side effects. My doctor instructed me to start taking 150mg of Wellbutrin XL every morning while tapering off duloxetine. She said to take duloxetine every other night for two weeks and then stop completely. I've been off duloxetine since Oct 21 and I have been experiencing frequent brain zaps. I start a new job on November 2nd and I'm getting nervous because the brain zaps are so frequent. Is there anything I can supplement with to help with the zaps? Or should I consider getting back on the duloxetine? My doctor is not providing responses to my questions Please help. TIA!

Diagnosed with depression since 2000, on meds since 2009. Been through a bunch of psychiatrists and a bunch of meds. I'm stable on 100mg pristiq, 300mg Wellbutrin, 15 mg l-methylfolate, and 10mg Vyvanse. But I hate being dependent on the pharma industry and distribution chains (and my own ability to keep up with my med schedule and travel etc). It's several times landed me in a zappy, off balance, hopeless, self loathing pit of despair. I can't keep doing that. I also wonder... Who am I outside of this drug filter? What do I have to share with the world that are being stifled by the unending tiredness? Why do I keep working on my mental health and coping strategies and continue to need this pharmaceutical support? I eat a lot of fresh vegetables and unprocessed foods. I drink a lot of water and tea, and have switched from coffee to one cup of DOSE (mushroom coffee) a day. I sleep 8:30-5 every night. I've cut out nearly all alcohol. I know that regular, intentional exercise will help me, though I have a very active lifestyle and movement heavy hobbies. I have thought about trying to do an inpatient rapid detox, but this site is making me think that I will need much longer term support. I have two little kids and daily obligations around them as their dad is in the picture but unwilling to be helpful. I tapered down to 25mg pristiq with my current psych over four months and had a several week long crying spell, so I went back up to 50mg and have been parked there. Thank you for being here to support folks like me.

I have been taking Wellbutrin 150 since last January. I k is the site recommends a 10-15% decrease, and I have an appt with my doctor in a few weeks to be prescribed the 100mg instant release so that I can make a liquid and decrease with precision. My question is that approx 10% of my aggregate weekly mg would be decreased if I skipped one dose a week. Would that be an acceptable way to start? Since I’m on a low dose, could I go straight from 150 to 100 and hold there for a while? Anyone have experience with that? I am fairly resilient to withdrawal — in my youth I Ct’Ed Xanax and heroin and obviously survived. I don’t want to trigger a major depressive episode though.

I have always suffered from Chronic Depression. 3 years ago, I got a drug induced psychosis from weed. My psych put me on 25mg Zoloft and 5mg Zyprexa. As the psychotic symptoms disappeared, I wanted to taper the Zyprexa because it made me a zombie. My psych told me to taper from 5mg to 2.5mg. Almost immediately, I didn't sleep for 4 days straight. I was crying and desperate when a friend gave me half a xanax for one day, and that seemed to let my sleep schedule to return to normal somewhat. When I wanted to taper further, I was told to cut it in half, but when I tried, the pill disintegrated. So, my psych told me to just take it every other day. It was absolutely hell again for a good 2 months. I got severe insomnia and rebound depression as withdrawals. I continued tapering like that. When I got to once every 3 days, I got so depressed, I went to the partial hospitalization program, where they switched me from Zoloft to half of a 75mg tablet of Wellbutrin IR every morning. But, the tapering cycle of hell continued for 2 years. Now I'm taking it once every 4 days and I developed really bad Akathisia. It seems to come in waves and has been progressivley been getting worse with every wave for last year. My new psych says it was stupid to skip days, and thinks the Akathisia is from the Wellbutrin IR. She wants me to start taking the Zyprexa every day and cut it in half, and to switch from 37.5mg of Wellbutrin IR to 150mg Wellbutrin XR. My question is, should I do what she suggests, because I feel like I'll lose a lot of taper progress and all the suffering until now was for nothing. I almost want to just go cold turkey off the Zyprexa and deal with the withdrawals. Or, if I reinstate it every day, how much should I do it by. Also, would I benefit from switching from Wellbutrin IR to the XR version. I recognize none of this is medical advice, but I would appreciate advice from anyone with knowledge or experience. Thank you

Hello everyone, I am seeking support and help. I was taking Wellbutrin, 150mg XL for 6 years and went cold turkey off of it in December 2022-March 2023. I subsequently smoked cannabis and took a small amount of psilocybin mushrooms which caused me to have manic symptoms. This led to a three month long intense manic phase and it got so bad (hardly slept, high energy) I finally realized I needed to take my medication again. When I reinstated it in March, I started at the same dose of 150mg. I was able to slow down and start sleeping again, but after one month I noticed I was feeling very depressed and starting to lose sleep. I have become I increasingly depressed since May of this year and been losing sleep. My nurse practitioner has tried putting me on a number of sleep meds, antidepressants and mood stabilizers. I’m currently taking Lunesta 3mg, 40mg of Latuda and just started 37.5mg if Venlafaxine. She had me do a quick taper from 150mg of Wellbutrin to Venlafaxine within 2 weeks and I’m not sure if that was a good idea. I don’t know if I doing the right thing and I desperately hope that there is some other kind of supplementation or path I haven’t tried that would help.

Hi all, I am looking for a bit of support as I am now three weeks off of lexapro. I had been on it for about 2 years and felt it was not working for me anymore. I was tired, bloated, unmotivated and absolutely obsessed with my weight. My husband and I also want to start a family, so, I decided to taper. My dr suggested 15 and 10 EOD, then 10 every day for two weeks, then 10/5 EOD for two weeks, then 5 every day for two weeks and then 5/0 alternating. I then went to 0 and have been without it for 3 weeks. My symptoms have included panic attacks, fatigue, crying, lack of appetite, fog and vertigo. The increase in anxiety has been debilitating. I read on other platforms that getting off SSRI is just impossible- and most go back. How do I know if this is just part of the process? Do I give up? Continue on? some positives of getting off of lexapro: I have my libido again! My husband also said I am so much more like myself- he felt I was distant. any advice is so appreciated- you all are amazing.

Hi My name is trina I was CT off two medications 11 months ago. Wellbutrin 300 mg and Zoloft 25 mg I am totally buggered up. Severe withdrawals most of the time. Crazy psychiatrist, thinks I have medical problems Is there anything I can take to help? Will restarting these drugs again help? My friends keep telling me to restart them but it they caused this much sickness why would I want to take them. One know it all friend said I would feel better. Like how would he know? Any help would be great I know this is not medical advice, just asking other sufferers Thanks Trina

I'm almost done with duloxetine and after a long rest, I would like to get off of wellbutrin and lamictal. Which do I do first?

Hi everyone, you can call me ryuusei86 or R86. I'm more than a little concerned about being on a cocktail of no fewer than five psych drugs. I started about 10 months ago on Latuda 40 mg and Luvox 100 mg, with Lunesta 3 mg for sleep, when I was in the mental hospital for anxiety and depression. When I got home I went off the Lunesta because I was afraid of getting addicted, and replaced it with Seroquel ER 150 mg. Soon that wasn't working, and I went up to 200 mg, then 225, and so on up to 350 mg Seroquel. When that stopped working after a few months, I added the Lunesta 3 mg back. I stayed on that cocktail of four drugs until the beginning of the summer, when I tapered rather quickly from 350 mg Seroquel ER to about 75 mg, or the closest I could get given how hard those pills are to cut. I see now that the mess I'm in is at least partly my fault with these decisions I made. About five weeks ago, when I told my psychiatrist that I was having trouble leaving the house or keeping up with my daily life, he added Wellbutrin XL 150 mg to the mix. He also recommended I taper within five days to zero Luvox and Seroquel, which of course didn't work as I couldn't sleep. The original prescription told me to increase to 300 mg Wellbutrin, but I didn't want to do it because it seemed to increase my anxiety. So the grand total now is Luvox 100 mg (at night) Latuda 40 mg (20 mg each morning and night) Seroquel ER 75 mg (at night) Wellbutrin XL 150 mg (in the morning) Lunesta 3 mg (at night) I saw my psychiatrist again last week and he told me to start tapering both the Luvox and the Latuda, again very quickly. I decided to try tapering the Luvox only because I didn't want two variables going. After three days of cutting the dose in half as my doctor recommended, I was having a panic attack, or something close to it. I restored the dose to 100 mg last night, and am now beginning to understand that this could take me years to rectify. I really don't want to be on five meds, especially since I think the meds aren't right to begin with. At the hospital they diagnosed me as OCD, which is why they prescribed Luvox, but I don't think I have OCD. I have, however, been on an SSRI for almost 20 years -- first Zoloft, then Paxil, and now Luvox, so I don't think it will be easy to give up. So I'm rather horrified at the position I find myself in, and don't really know where to start. I've ordered syringes, measuring cups, and graduated cylinders, and am planning to start tapering *something* as soon as they come in. I read that I should taper only one drug at a time, and start with an "accelerator" rather than a "brake." Part of me thinks I should start with tapering the Wellbutrin, since I've been on that the shortest length of time. But I don't know how well those Wellbutrin XL pills will crush. I should add that I'm especially worried about sleep, as I feel like I need everything except the Wellbutrin to sleep, and I have almost a phobia of not sleeping enough. But this post is already long enough, so I think I'll leave it at that. Thank you all in advance for your help and advice!

Hello there everybody, I am Dara. Forgive my English, I grew up in Europe and not my first language is English. So I was on SSRI and other meds after being scare of pandemic and not wanting to leave house. So for two years I was on Lexapro and sometimes Xanax. I try other meds like Wellbutrin because Lexapro made me not interested in physical with my husband. But after I stop, have hed zap, headache, but still function. Few months later, I feel very strange, like I can feel no joy or love and thing no working right. I try maca, I try tea, I try yoga. Nothing happens and I get very scared and anxiety. i try other supplement that makes me very sick and not sleep and have tremor. I go to hospital, they put on more meds saying anxiety is much more bad, and I was on a few things for a month before having something like can't sit down at night and again no sleep and feel very weird like I am so angry and dark. I stop those meds and just stay on sleep med not benzo sleep med, but new one Dayvigo and Doctor add beta blocker. Things seem better, then again no sleep, and i worry so, stop Dayvigo. It was okay and I feel good, then bad again, but now, things seem to be more okay. Like a few weeks I felt more good and even happy. Sleeping some. Still no passion and not me, but can be calm and okay and do other things. Then some nights very bad, no sleep and scared. But don't want to change any more. So i am on Inderal- 60 mg. I been doing just okay enough to feel okay. Not working, not loving, but alive and getting better bit more. Not every day better, but looking back, trend is better like stock market go up even with dips sometimes. I okay I feel more regular, even though not me, so good, i can get better. Good enough for me for now. But lately i am very scared about other things happening to stop getting good and don't know what to do. Yesterday I got small punctor in my heel from furnutire staple on couch. It went in heel, I jump up and say OW and look at foot to see small drop of blood. So I wash and clean and call my doctor. He say last Tetanus was more than 10 years before. So I worry now, do I get this innoculation or not because it was not outside and not rusty but also I don't know. Doc says could do either way, get it not get it. I don't know. I don't drink alcohal, I eat pretty healthy foods. But I don't know what else is problem for this sichuation. I didn't think supplements make big problem and they did. I didn't think withdrawl was a thing and it was. So now I don't know- inoculation can make me feel worse and withdrawal again? I also worried about tetans! Don't want either thing or nother bad thing to happen again. I just need to get better. My question is, what to do about things like tetans inoculation and avoiding other things to get better. I look here for experience, but only few people mention tetanus and some okay and some not. i have this akethesia before, this insomnia, nerve issue, low feeling of void, and don't want to go back there now things bit better here and there. Any advise? ALso, I don't have regular menstruation. Few months nothing. Now, I got yesterday and I noticce week before felt worse again, like going crazy sometimes and feeling like worse times from before. So if i get inoculation I don't know what is withdrawal inoculation or period or all. Danke - Dana

As the title says, my psychiatrist (who I don’t think ill be seeing again) told me to stop taking my 150 mg dose of effexor and start on 300 mg wellbutrin. She told me I would be fine and not to worry about withdrawal. Obviously she was very wrong. My symptoms are severe. Muscle pains, heavy pressure on my cheat, horrible mood swings, lots of crying, brain zaps only minutes apart, cloudy thinking, nausea, I have it all- Ive nearly attempted suicide and I wake up every day knowing Im about to have another horrible day of insane discomfort. I told my psychiatrist about this and she told me to go to the ER- they gave me a 30 day supply of 37.5 mg pills and told me to take two today to get relief from the symptoms which I did but its not enough. The discomfort/bordering pain is back, the dread and anxiety is back, I am physically unwell from this. The way I see it I have two options-either continue cold turkey and wait out the hell and be done with this horrible drug- or go back to 150 mg to make the symptoms stop and attempt a slow taper. Im wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with this. How long should I anticipate these horrible side effects lasting for if I continue cold turkey? I dont think the 37.5 mg tablets are going to do me much good in reducing the symptoms if my original dose was 150 mg. My psychiatrist cant possibly be any help if she thought this was a good idea to begin with. I am genuinely scares that I will not survive feeling this awful for much longer, but im terrified to go back on 150 if im just foing to feel like this the whole time i taper my dose. What should I do?

Hello all, I am off my ssri since march and tapering off Wellbutrin currently at 150mg. Also getting tms with worsening results, now having more anxiety symptoms. I’m having such a hard time I can’t work and am on fmla. I can barely tolerate being around others and am afraid I’m ruining relationships. Im considering getting back on meds but I really don’t want to do that. Im starting to get scared that I’ve messed up my brain from taking these meds all these years (about 25 yrs). Im starting to feel desperate. Any input you all have would be appreciated.

Brief: 33 y/o female tapered too quickly off Citalopram and Wellbutrin XR (~1 month from 20mg/150mg to 0mg/0mg) after being on that for ~5 years and other drugs for ~15 years. ~6 months since last doses. Functional in daily life but struggling. No more physical symptoms, now experiencing emotional dysregulation in waves. How can I best help my brain/CNS heal? Is "good" stress still good when going though this, or is gentleness and reduced stimulation the way? More context: I apologize in advance for how much drug history I am missing and how vague it is. I have been on psychiatric medication continuously since I was 13 and it felt both normalized and out of my control, I did not keep records and did not think about it much. I took the pills doctors told me to. When they asked me if I felt "better" or "worse" I tried to come up with an answer to be polite, but the truth is I never felt much better or much worse, even when on unusually high doses of these medications (for my age/weight). I was inpatient twice, once at 14 and once at 20. When I tapered off my most recent meds (Citalopram and Wellbutrin) I did not keep a record of dosages or symptoms and the timeline is an estimate. Until this year I have not felt empowered to treat this part of my life with the seriousness and careful attention that it deserves. To be honest I doubt these pills did anything for me, I have been miserable, depressed, and anxious for as long as I can remember and that has been my "normal". As an adult, I have learned that my mood is improved or made worse by the usual non-pharmaceutical factors-- exercise, sunlight, socializing, healthy diet, sense of meaning, achievement in career and hobbies, etc. After reading some material on this website and experiencing my recent taper, I suspect that a lot of my difficulties over the last 20 years have been the result of these medications, their side effects, and how frequently they were changed up with short tapers. I don't think there was ever anything "wrong" with me that justified medical intervention. Nevertheless, my brain chemistry is now what it is because of these meds, and I am going to deal with it. I can remember being prescribed at one point or another all of these, sometimes in cocktails: Zoloft, Lexapro, Effexor, Cymbalta, Abilify, Klonopin, Xanax, Lorazepam, Nortriptyline. For the last ~5 years I have been on Citalopram and Wellbutrin XR. Over a period of years I did reduce that from 40mg to 20mg and 300mg to 150mg respectively, and did not notice any changes. Approximately 6 months ago I decided to taper myself off of both medications with what I had remaining in the bottle-- over about a month's time I halved both doses, then halved again until the pills became too small to cut, then did alternating days--- I did not know that tapering should be done at a much slower rate with much smaller increments, that you should not alternate days, that cutting a Wellbutrin XR destroys the slow release coating, or that you should do one medication at a time.... I did everything you are not supposed to do, and I am surprised that my withdrawal has not been worse. For the first month I experienced extreme irritability, digestive issues, shakes, and visual phenomena similar to ocular migraine aura. That has all passed, I am now experiencing strong waves of emotion and combinations of emotion that are sometimes unrelated to my actual situation, and sometimes just disproportionate to a situation. These are usually combo-packs of negative emotion (shame/fear, anger/sadness/guilt, etc.) but I have also wept many times out of a sense of awe and transcendence. The description on this site of "neuro-emotions" makes me think this is what these are. I have found that using skills from CBT is somewhat (maybe 30%) effective at reducing the intensity of them, so that's what I do, it's better than nothing. I also have a high level of anxiety/activation when driving or being out in public, which I manage through exposure and some CBT tricks. I am experiencing some derealization as well. But other than the "neuro-emotions", these are things I experienced while on the drugs as well. If these emotional waves are indeed an issue of nervous system dysregulation after chemical dependence, and my brain is finding a new equilibrium, I want to make that process as easy as possible for my brain. To that end-- I practice an "extreme sport", rock climbing, which often puts me in a very activated, sometimes fearful, state. I also lift heavy weights. These activities are what keep me from going off the deep end, but they are very taxing on the nervous system. I have scaled back the lifting to try and give my CNS a break, but I know from experience I won't be able to reduce the climbing much without entering a deep depression. After reading the material here I wonder whether I took up these hobbies because they stressed my over-medicated brain in the "right" ways, and I wonder whether withdrawal and the healing process is going to be helped or hindered by them. Am I doing my CNS a disservice by subjecting it to "good" stress? Is it time to switch to yoga? I feel like, at this exact moment, these symptoms are tolerable for me, but barely. If they get any worse I am not sure I can tolerate them and also function in my job. I am willing to reinstate the meds to get some relief, but from what I've read here that could be a bad idea 6 months out. Today, with the information I have found here, I am feeling optimistic that even if recovery is measured in years, it will get gradually easier and the hardest part is over. However, the part I am in right now is really, really hard. Does anyone have experiences to share or insight about the CNS aspect of recovery, particularly if you regularly abuse your CNS with heavy weights or some other strenuous activity? Thank you for your time and especially for the wealth of information contained in this website, it has given me hope that I can get my life back.

Hi everyone, I'm new here so I am going to tell you how I got here as requested. I hope it's not too long. For many years as a younger person I suffered from moderate social anxiety and more general anxious feelings. Sometimes what I'd call depression, which was usually situational in nature but anxiety and depression can go hand in hand too-- I'd have some bad anxiety and then become depressed because I was so anxious. I'd been terrified of trying any drugs to treat these issues for a long time. I didn't want to do a science experiment on myself since the science is just not there-- these drugs are still a mystery to the medical field. But during lockdown in 2020 I thought, ok, now is the time if I am going to try it. I wasn't working, I was being paid very well through unemployment, and my day to day concerns were minimal. I was lucky to be in a good situation. So I thought, ok, maybe I can tackle this. I spoke to my doctor who put me on lexapro. She prescribed 10mg but told me I could taper onto it since it was likely to have side effects when starting. I started at 5mg and after being on it for a week, I told her no way am I taking the full 10mg dose, because the side effects were already making me miserable. She said ok, stay on 5mg. I did and after 2 weeks almost to the day, my onboarding symptoms finally lapsed. I continued taking 5mg of the drug daily for almost 2 years. It did help with both depression and anxiety. I felt "normal" for the first time in my life. Emotionally, I was in very good shape, if slightly numb. I couldn't cry easily and I lost interest in some things I'd previously been into because the emotional connection seemed to dry up. But the anxiety and depression was mostly gone. I was very high functioning both at work and socially. Still, after about 2 years, I was having side effects that started to feel like they weren't worth it. I'd gained 20+ pounds, a lot for my height, which gave me a new reason to feel badly about myself. I was absolutely unable to lose the weight despite really serious efforts at dieting and exercise, and even when dieting I managed to gain weight rather than lose it. I had sexual side effects too and I finally decided it was time to get off the meds because my body didn't feel like my body any more. My doctor told me it was such a low dose that I could just stop taking it. I thought that was insane so I did some reading and found that 2 weeks was the kind of tapering regimen doctors tended to recommend normally. I thought a month would be smarter. I very carefully tapered down over the next 30 days and at that time I didn't experience any symptoms at all. I was able to cry again, maybe a little too easily sometimes (beautiful classical music made me cry like a baby), and I regained normal sexual function. I thought everything was great. I experienced a 'honeymoon' period during which time I really felt good, from July to about mid-August of 2022. What I attribute that to now is that my body overcompensated with a strong response to the absence of the drug in my system, flooding my brain with transmitters or whatever it is. But what hadn't occurred was an actual stabilization for the long term, just an overblown response as my body realized the drug was gone, which then fizzled out. I started to feel strange again and when my relationship broke down, my whole life fell apart. I was plunged into the most intense depression I have ever experienced and spent most of each day crying for the better part of a month. I'd never been in a state of mind like that and I believe I very narrowly avoided an actual nervous breakdown; I was somehow completely wound up and completely depressed all at the same time, it was so intense. I thought I had to get back onto some kind of drug because I wasn't able to deal with my emotions. I told my doctor I needed something but not lexapro, and she suggested bupropion. I said sure and started taking it. That was another story-- very different than lexapro, I noticed the effects from the first day taking it. It felt like being on cocaine, I was full of too much energy and I was excited about everything. It was so intense, and it strongly fluctuated as the drug entered and left my system each day-- ramping up to a peak in the afternoon and settling back into an intense low by the following morning. I did not like it one bit. It made me shaky, nervous, more anxious, like drinking too much coffee. Food tasted disgusting and I could barely eat. My doctor told me to stay on it because this was "normal" and would improve but after one month I had had enough. I asked to know how to come off of it and she said to begin taking it every other day. I skipped a day and the difference was immediate and dramatic-- I felt like I'd come up from underwater. I never took the bupropion again from that day forward because I absolutely could not continue putting a drug in my system when the benefit of it leaving my body was such an immediate improvement. From that day, some time in September of 2022, I did not take any more of these drugs. Things were very intense and I have since learned here that I did experience the "windows and waves" pattern. I told my therapist what was going on because I started to wonder if I was bipolar or something like that, the difference between the two states was so strong and sometimes the switch was so abrupt. She said I had some kind of depression which was cyclic in nature, ok maybe. But, things did start to even out over time. Looking back I can now see very clearly that the windows did increase in frequency and length while the waves decreased. It's now March 2023 and I can say that for the first time since 2020, I feel I am back at my normal baseline. I also, finally, lost all the weight I'd gained, without making a single change to my diet or exercise regimen. It just came off on its own and the shedding of the final few pounds correlated with me feeling I'd returned to normal mentally, something I realized might not be a coincidence, which is what got me to look up evidence of more long term effects from these drugs. I think my theory has been proven, and my body really did take months to recalibrate itself, part of which was shedding the excess weight. Anyway, thank you for reading and I am happy to be here.

Its been almost a month since i stopped meds. I experienced light headedness and nausea today for no reason that could be apparent. Is it possible that this could be the beginning of my withdrawal symptoms?

Hi i am 42 years old and i want to share my story about psychiatric meds. On october 2007 i had burn out and became depressed and had panic attacks. This time around i had stressed live i guess. New relationship, new job.... I was put on Paroxat(paxil) 30mg. After 4 months it got better and i was quite happy for 5 years. I started to wean off Paxil starting with 20mg and last year 10mg. When i stopped it on 2013 i got strange neuropatic pain in my legs and depression, anxiety came back. After that time my life till now was hell. 2013 i was put every month for 6 months on different ads last i remember was Wellbutrin and Effexor. In 2013 december i decided to CT both. I didnt know about CT. Again physical pain was to much for me . So i was placed in 2014 In psych ward and in one month i was released in one month with Cymbalta 60mg, Seroquel 75mg and Lamictal 150mg. Next two years till october 2016 i was in pain everyday. I decided to quit again every meds. It was hell and till today still is. My symptoms when i quit everything: 1 year: Burning skin for 1 year No sleep for days 2 year: I couldnt feel my legs for 6 months Head presure every day for 3 hrs till last year 2022 3 year: Body pain pressure till last year 2022. 4 year: Weird sensations in my body (electricity, tremors) 5 year: Weird sensations in my body (electricity, tremors) 6 year Weird sensations in my body (electricity, tremors) Present and also all years: Anxiety, depression, neuropathy in my feet, hands and head (pins and needles). Weird sensations in my body (electricity, tremors) Fatigue Sometimes dereliazation and depersonalization. Sometimes intrusive thoughts Agoraphobia Last window i had was in february for one week. That week was only my fatigue and neurpatic pain and some anxiety. After that week i am in bad wave and i lost hope for everything. Anhedonia, anxiety, depersonalization, body pain. I am sorry i didnt start writing before about me. I checked this forum few times but didnt have courage to write. But now i am scared for my life and i lost all hope to get well. Any advice? Thanks Sorry for my bad english.