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  1. Hello Everyone, Let me introduce myself. You can call me Sebas (38), i'm from Amsterdam. Hope my English is okay. I was diagnosed with anxiety issues around 2004 and then started using Seroxat, I believe it's called Paxil in the US. I'm aware by now of all the problems this medicine is causing. In other words, i've read a lot, and i mean A LOT about it. I can almost graduate about the subject After several attempts to stop, I found out in 2015 or 2016 about the 5-10% reduction rule. That helped me from 20 mg (10 ml) tot 12 mg (6 ml) in about 1,5 years (estimated). I'm using the fluid suspension and some squirts for accurate dosage. From 6 ml down to 5,8 took me 5 weeks to feel allright, then i stabilized for a week and went back down from 5,8 tot 5,6. All the usual withdrawal symptoms occur during tapering periods such as illness, nerve system problems, visual, fatigue, stomache cramps and also i'm countering eye circles. Since the last dosage (from 5,8 tot 5,6) i've been feeling bad for 9 weeks already. Especially my stomache and my energy. So i'm now wondering what to do, wait (and wait...), go back to 5,8, go back to 6,0 of try to switch to another AD. Cause this one is really @#$%&* mainly cause of the fast half-life period. I've read about a cross tapering method. I asked my doktor for a psychiatric consult about it. Or...could it be my body (and mind) is telling me this dose is beneath the minimum that i just need for my personal wellbeing. I'm familiair with magnesium, omega 3/fish oil and multi vitamin for support. I'm looking forward fto exchanging some knowledge. Bye Sebas
  2. Hello everyone, I am hoping to get some feedback from someone and possibly some hope. I am attaching my medication history: Celexa 20mg January 2014- June 2019 Tried to stop cold turkey for a few days in February 2015, resumed normal dose Zoloft 38.5mg June 2019-August 2021 Weaned to 25 mg Started Wellbutrin 150mg November 2021 Stopped Wellbutrin cold turkey February 2022 Started Trintellix March 2022 Stopped taking Zoloft after decreasing to about 8mg in June 2022 Discontinued Trintellix July 2022 after having crippling panic attacks Restarted 12mg of Zoloft July 2022 (panic subsides for a few weeks, then BOOM, right back) Increased to 18.5mg of Zoloft August 2022, followed same pattern as above. Panic attacks gone for a few weeks and now back full force I have been having horrible, crippling panic attacks for the last few months. I have NEVER had anxiety! I wanted to stop taking Zoloft because of the sexual side effects and I am not even sure I actually needed to be on antidepressants in the first place. I blindly, and ignorantly, agreed to take Zoloft initially because someone said it would help me sleep through a difficult period in my life. 9 years later and here we are. I feel so alone. My doctor thinks I am crazy if I mention post acute withdrawal and wants to put me on more meds. He even offered me benzos knowing that I am in long term substance abuse recovery. Does anyone out there have any experience with developing panic attacks after trying to decrease/stop ssri's? I am desperate.
  3. I can relate to so much that has been written here about antidepressants. I developed tardive dysphoria after being on them for 25 years. I am now virtually off antidepressants but still suffer terribly because of the tardive dysphoria. I feel suicidally depressed, anxious,worried and restless every day. I struggle to get out of bed and to get washed and dressed. Everything seems like an impossible task. I have been like this for over 2 years and despair that I will feel better. It took me about 18 months to taper off Sertraline. Does anyone else have experience with tardive dysphoria? Will I ever recover?
  4. Good day everyone My back story: - Mid 2019 (age 19) I went to my doctor a few weeks after a bad breakup of 3 years. I just was not feeling like myself. He insisted on me taking 5mg of an antidepressant for 4-6 months (I cannot remember the name and have since moved to different doctors, but I will try and find out). I took it for about 2/3 months but had to switch to Duloxetine Hydrochloride 30mg due to the other AD giving me ear infections. In hindsight, I probably could have gotten through it without AD, but what's done is done. - In Oct 2020 (age 20) I had severe COVID-19 and had to start taking asthma medication - Symbicord and Omnair. My asthma is well controlled now. - In 2021 I saw a new doctor, and she upped my dosage to 60mg because she considered it the normal dosage. Within 2-3 months I tapered back to 30mg as there was no reason to be on a higher dose. I switched to my current doctor after that. I experience no withdrawal symptoms from the up and down dosage. - In June 2022 I had 2 small surgeries. That doctor advised me to take Tramadol. I told her about my medication and asked if there arent any clashes. She told me no. I read up about the possible clashes and wasn't sure whether to take it. My parents told me to trust the doctor and take it. I took it for 3 days and then started to get panic attacks. This lasted for 2 - 3 months. Panic attacks every day the whole day, even in my sleep. (Before then I only had panic attacks in 2014 (age 14) when my brother left for university - due to my separation anxiety.) At month 2, I contacted my Homeopathic Doctor, and she prescribed me Stram 200. This helped a lot and got me on track quickly. (I trust my homeopathic doctor, as it cured my torrets when I was a child and cured my brother's lung problems as a child.) - On 27 Nov 2023 I started to taper off my medication with the help of my GP (since then found out it's not a taper but rather a cold turkey). I wanted to come off my medication before I moved to a new country (now I know it's not the best move). Details about the move - starting my articles at a new firm, moving from South Africa to London, and leaving all my friends and family and my loving dogs behind. My brother lives in Brighton, England, which is a benefit. The taper method was one day on, one day off, and by 7 December 2023, I took my last dose. This taper was extremely difficult and I felt horrible. By 10 December I had a full-blown panic attack and could not function as a human. This panic session lasted about 2-3 hours. I also had most of the withdrawal symptoms except not feeling emotions and suicidal thoughts. The following week I had panic attacks throughout every day, and by week 2 it turned into crying spells. Accompanying this anxiety and panic was an abnormal dizziness and loss of appetite. At the end of week 2, I contacted my homeopathic doctor and proceeded to take stram 200 for 3 days, afterward stram m for 2 days, and afterward stram lm for a few days. This helped a lot and after a week I was back to normal. - Then on 7 January, all the withdrawal symptoms returned. My stress levels suddenly were a lot higher, due to my board exam I had to write in 2 weeks, and my signing the lease of my apartment in the new country. Everything became real. The worst symptom is the constant dizziness that interfered with my life. This caused me to lose power over my thoughts and I spiraled back into a hole. Since then I worked with my homeopathic doctor. She tried Stram 200, Nat Mur 200, Ignatia 200, and Phos 200. These have significantly improved my anxiety and thoughts but had zero effect on my dizziness. I also woke up after every nap and night with an anxiety attack. After my board exam, my dizziness improved but is not gone. This leads me to believe that stress and anxiety amplify my dizziness. The anxiety attacks when waking up and in my sleep have not gone away either but the rest of my life is on track. I even started listening to music and watching series again. AKA doing things I love. Since then I have seen 3 doctors, a psychologist, and my Christian counselor. All of them believe that I should go back to my Duloxetine 30mg. I have until Monday the 5th to decide whether I am going back on the medication or not because my Doctor wants at least 4 weeks to monitor how the reinstatement goes before I move to London. My big fear is that of kindling because I have become very sensitive to the things I consume. I can't drink coffee anymore, and the antihistamine makes me super drowsy and I have since stopped taking them. Sugar also affects me way more. 30mg is the smallest dose of Duloxetine we get here. I am not sure what to do, but I believe everyone has my best interest at heart when they say I need to go back on the antidepressants. TLDR - went off duloxetine CT in Nov/Dec 2023, doctor wants to reinstate back at 30mg now before I move overseas. I think I agree, but I am afraid of kindling.
  5. I started taking 20mg of Latuda near the end of May 2022 for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. I started taking the drug as recommended, with at least 350 calories of food, until sometime in July where I got annoyed with feeling exhausted after dinner and started taking it right before bed without food. I did not realize that this meant I probably only absorbed 50-75% of those doses. By early to mid August, I began experiencing withdrawal symptoms (unbeknownst to me) including severe anxiety, racing thoughts, SI, fast heart beat, and a lack of appetite. I spoke to my psych about what was happening but she could not determine whether my symptoms were from the drug itself or a withdrawal but later suggested that I "taper" off of the medication. I started taking 10mg of Latuda, with food, from September 19th to September 26th and then went cold turkey. Since I have stopped the Latuda, my anxiety is seemingly getting worse, I have bouts of insomnia, I still have no appetite, my heart rate is regularly raised, and have had some GI concerns as well. I am 2 1/2 weeks off of Latuda and wondering if I should re-instate and, if so, at what dose? Have I passed the point of no return? My psych does not believe that what I am experiencing is withdrawal but rather a return of symptoms and wants me to try another anti-psychotic. I have an appointment with a different psych on Tuesday to discuss. I have been out of work on FMLA to handle the anxiety from this and terrified that I am months away from being anywhere close to who I was before this all started.
  6. Original full topic title before condensing: coming off low-dose Amitriptyline after 8 years, the under-informed way - deeply awful.... not sure what to do now... Hello, I came across this forum thankfully, after looking for info and advice/support for withdrawal from Ami. The rough timeline and history etc are in the signature. It is 4 weeks since my last dose of Ami. I was under-informed by the GP when I first went on it 8 tears ago. He told me something like "it's no big deal, you're on such a low dose (10mg or on occasion 20mg per night for anxiety induced insomnia after a triggered latent trauma episode), you can take it as needed - no worries"...... NO mention of having to stick to a regular every day dose, or the horrific withdrawal effects, or tapering, or long term effects etc... nothing. So, to try to cut a long story as short as I can, without compromising context, here goes: Please use the signature timeline to get the picture of how things have passed. I came off Ami "unconsciously" and only really clocked it when I suddenly had a **** yourself horrendous headache, and a "wave of despair" and "rotten-ness" experience one day, and because I kind of recognised the headache, in particular, as feeling somewhat "chemical" in nature, I thought about it, and then realised that I had not had any Ami in about a week. I had been cutting back on the Ami since end of Dec 2021 into Jan and Feb 2022, as I was concerned about a few "low blood pressure/hypo" type experiences I had been having, and wondered if they may be caused by the Ami. I still don;t know whether this was the case or not, but regardless, I started to cut back on Ami, and miss doses here and there, sometimes taking herbal sleep aids to help with sleep.... I was not paying too much attention to what I was doing with the Ami, as I had the story that it was "no big deal" as mentioned above, from the GP. Of course, I realise now, after having done some research after the event, that this was a disaster waiting to happen. I had "accidentally" gone cold turkey, and also spent 2 months on some kind of hap-hazard detox/retox behaviour. I had been suffering from constant diarrhoea for most of Jan Feb 2022, but put this down to a prolonged bout of IBS, which is something I have had, on and off over the years anyway. Notably though, previously I had always had IBS on the constipation side, rather than the other side. Once I realised that it was likely the Ami, I reinstated at half doses (5mg) straight away, and sure enough the "chemical" savage headache reduced in intensity the next day, by about 60%. I continued like this for about a week. The following week, I reduced the dose to about 2.5mg every other night for about a week. Then I took my last dose on March 5th. Obviously I know now that this was way too quick a taper. I am having a deeply awful experience with severe symptoms. The headaches have been getting a little better over this last month, but are still there daily. I have high anixiety and my guts are absolutely trashed. I have had random weird bruising on my arms, not caused by impacts. These have been fading in the last 2 weeks though. Chronic dry skin and rash on the tops of the shoulders and upper back, maddening itching all over. Chronic fatigue, chest tightness, dry mouth, muscle aches and pains, tingling sensations, restless legs at night sometimes, insomnia, early morning wakefulness, nausea, feeling faint, coughing in the morning, runny nose all day. I'm listing these for completeness, not for a sympathy vote! Just so we have the details and scope. I am trying a few supplements: Zinc NAC and Milk Thistle Activated charcoal Digestive enzymes at mealtimes, plus peppermint oil capsules And a few days ago, I started L-tryptophan 500-750mg with valerian root, at night - don't know whether this is making things worse on the physical side, and the anxiety.... So, I have, at least, a couple of questions please? The pharma companies state "up to 3 weeks" for the withdrawal process to be over? (not that I trust big pharma one bit of course), but it appears lots of us are experiencing effects way beyond 3 weeks? What is the explanation for this discrepancy, and what is a more realistic timeframe for my case? I read about reinstatement, but have not done this, as I was already at 4 weeks with no Ami, once I began educating myself about it. I am reticent to go back on the drugs at this stage, but at the same time, I can;t see myself being able to cope with this level of ill health for weeks more on end..... Should I be considering re-instatement, given what is said about it being "too late" to try this, in that it may not work or even make things worse? I would say the most distressing and intolerable symptoms I am dealing with right now are the body pains/tension/anxiety, and the totally screwed digestion - I have a lot of intense pain in my guts, and this affects sleep also. i dread mealtimes, as I just don;t know whether, in an hour's time I'm going to be totally screwed and in pain. Any advice or comments would be truly appreciated. Thank you so much for listening, Kev
  7. So this is me trying to figure things out in the middle of wd but I feel I need to understand this in order to be kinder to myself. I had the notion that the amount of time I was on a medication would impact how wd would go. I understand that we are all unique and how we respond to medication wd is unique to us, though this wonderful site provides tons of information on universal wd symptoms, etc. Here is what I am trying to understand. I was on both of my medications for about 10 months apiece before I started to taper. My taper of Remeron, at a high dose of 41.25mgs started in January of 2015 and I am down to 12mgs. My taper of Lamictal at a high dose of 200mgs started in July of 2015 and I am down to 50mgs. It will probably will take me into this summer to be off of both and that's what I struggle with as I know many people do. My question is, once the brain has assimilated or incorporated the drug, does it matter whether it happened at 6 months or 5 years, once the drug is fully integrated, how long you have been on it doesn't matter? So whether the brain has gotten used the drug at 6 months or 1 year, once it's used to it, it's used to it? Because the brain will use what it's being given and the drug's effect on the brain, if it's the same dosage, will not increase over time? Maybe more then one question but any thoughts or responses would be helpful. Hibari
  8. Hello, When I was 17 (19 now) I was put on 50mg Sertraline in late 2020 because of a stimulant overdose that triggered an intense OCD episode about the effects on my body. I believed I was going to die due to my overdose symptoms (chest pains, loss of feeling in left arm, heart palpitations) but with time and meds it faded away. I was on Sertraline for a year and a half and I was overall fairly stable, however I did experience multiple suicidal episodes and other issues. I started tapering off in April of 2022, and had a rough but overall functional summer until I took my last dose of 1mg in August 2022 (under supervision of psychiatrist the whole time) after which I experienced quite acute and intense withdrawal with intense and uncontrollable obsessive thoughts. This lasted a few weeks, and after I went back to college in early September 2022 it faded away and had a month after my taper ended where I felt somewhat stable with somewhat manageable symptoms. In Early October 2022 after being off SSRIS for about 1.5 months I had a single breakdown that kicked off another insane OCD episode with very graphically sexual themes. It’s been almost 2 months now and I am hardly getting any better and I’ve accepted my state as one of constant obsessions and only feeling at peace for a few minutes at a time. Progress is very slow and I feel maybe 25% better since the worst. Anyways, is it possible that I’m still experiencing prolonged effects of my taper? I did feel good for a while but it feels like I’m back in early withdrawal but without brain zaps and the like. Before I ever took meds I did have some obsessive thinking, but it was always explainable and related to things that actually pertained to my real life. These days, I can scarcely hang out with people or go to class or even use my phone without being triggered by something completely irrational that leads me into a sometimes days long spiral. I just feel messed up and insane now. I’m in therapy and it helps but I just don’t feel like myself, ever. My intrusive thoughts take up so much of my day and energy and I can’t tell if this is just how my brain is wired or if I’m still going through prolonged withdrawals. Any advice/guidance is appreciated.
  9. Moderator note: link to benzo forum thread - Ryder: Clonazepam Hi guys, This question has to do with SSRI's and supplements. I was diagnosed with Chronic OCD in January 2015. I have been on and off medication between 2009-2015. Since 2015 I was prescribed 200mg (Sertraline/Zoloft) Daytime and 2mg Clonazepam for night time sleep. At the back-end-of 2016 I felt that I was well enough to come of all medications as I just felt able enough to cope on 100mg after a while. I did Cold Turkey for most of it before admittingly and slowly going on the lower dose of 100mg Sertraline. I was afterward sent to a Dr who specialised in withdrawing people from medications. She prescribed: - L-Carneitine (300 mg) - CoQ10 (200 mg) - N-Acetylcysteine - Vitamin C - Selenium - Magnesium. - A Gluten Free Diet. With Gluten diet, I did not stick to this religiously as some of the books advocated here on this forum. Mainly Elaine Gotschall's Breaking the Viscious Cycle. (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) and the GAPS Diet advocated by Dr Natasha Campbell-Mcbride. I am very skeptical when i read over these diets but since my Dad was on the diet, whatever was in the Pantry, I ate. I wasn't religious about it though if I ordered takeout. Back on topic, I reduced the supplements to L-Carneteine and CoQ10 in combination with SSRI Zoloft/Sertraline (100mg). I found that during the time taken them, I had trouble with Cognition and motor skills, driving, runnng and excercise. I also noticed that I couldn't stop feeling dizzy although they are supposed to aide mitochondria in the brain which the Zoloft dulls down. I also noticed real bad insomnia during the time taken these aided supplements. Has anyone else had success with L-Carneteine and CoQ10 prescribed with Zoloft? It seems that people are having great success with these two supplements to rave review, I am just wondering if Carneteine or CoQ10 has worked for anyone to either reduce withdrawal symptoms off SSRIs & Zoloft or taper off completely. **Note. I have looked through the other posts here, but most vary in opinion, so I just want this question answered. Many thanks. Ryder.
  10. Hi! As a little personal introduction, I’m a 22 year old living on the east coast of the United States. I’m currently in the process of withdrawals after tapering off of Effexor, which I was originally prescribed in October of 2022. I have a vague explanation of my taper off of Effexor XR in my signature, but I thought I’d elaborate more here. I tapered very slowly from 225mg starting in June of last year, reaching 37.5 in May of this year and taking beads out from there until I got to only five beads left. I experienced little to no withdrawal symptoms from any of these drops in dosage. On the 17th of this month, I dropped from 5 beads to none, and haven’t taken any since. Obviously, this still has not been smooth sailing as I’m posting here. Dizziness and nausea/very occasional vomiting have been the biggest offenders in terms of withdrawal symptoms. By very occasional, I’ve only actually thrown up once (yesterday). I’ve taken Dramamine and Zofran as well as the occasional Benadryl to help, and am currently at day 12 of withdrawals. I was recommended to come here, and am partially looking for advice along with reassurance on dealing with the rest of the symptoms until they finally pass. Thanks!
  11. Iv been off pristiq for 3 weeks. Was on 25 mg for 3 months. Prior to that I switched from lexapro 15 mg I was in for 2 years. I am having withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, depression, Brian zaps, and just feeling off. I did a taper off pristiq of 25 mg every other day for a week then stopped. My NP recommended that I could take Prozac 10mg for 2 weeks to lessen withdrawal. Thoughts? experience? Please help! I don’t want to take pristiq anymore because I was already on the lowest dose
  12. Hello paaugustine here! I was prescribed 2mg of aripiprizole and 25 mg of quetiapine, along with lorazepem as needed for anxiety / bipolar. I was not experiencing any delusions / psychosis, but had heightened anxiety and difficulty sleeping. This started after I went to a clinic in mexico and took what is called "flood dose" of ibogaine in the end of june 2023. For a month I felt fine / great after and then one month (August) after the trip I was hit with a brand new anxiety and insomnia, for which I was prescribed the medication in september 2023. My doctor is unsure what exactly I am dealing with, but reading all of the posts on SA, it seems like the potent serotonin and dopamine antagonist qualities of ibogaine basically put me in a state of a medication withdrawal once the ibogaine wore off although I really don't know for sure, and I don't think I will ever find out. My current journey is slowly tapering the aripiprizole and see how my body adjusts. My brain needs to heal drug free. I went from 2mg to 1 mg on November 1st. In two weeks, I was hit with a very severe depression and heart palpitations, so I reinstated to 1.9 mg of aripiprizole (I purchased a jewlers scale). This helped my sypmtoms to normalize / go away. Starting tomorrow 12 / 3 I will go down 10 percent of 1.9 and see how I adjust. I am not currently tapering quetiapine, and I dont take the benzo more than once every other week if I need it for sleep. During the day I feel fine / lack of emotion and would like to move toward a drug free life.
  13. I have just started trying to get off Saphris. All these forums and blogs are terrifying me. Especially the story of "acetyl". It was prescribed to me after wellbutrin alone wasn't fixing my depression. I am not bipolar or schizophrenic. I think it was an overly aggressive choice and i wish i had researched it before taking it. I was taking 20mg daily along with 10mg lexapro and 450mg wellbutrin. It put me in a zombielike state. I used to be a high performing software developer, at the top of my field, well respected and capable of great things. After Saphris I was unable to think clearly and lost my ability to design software, ending my career as a software developer. I may as well have been asked to perform Brain surgery so complete was the loss of ability. On top of that my current insurance doesnt cover it and i can no longer afford it. I previously tried going off it when i was only taking 10mg. I went too fast and started to experience anxiety pretty bad before going back on it and eventually ended up going up to 20mg. This time i am going much slower. I tapered from 20 to 10 for two weeks and then to 5mg for the last three weeks. Going to 10 went relatively smoothly. Going to 5 has brought on some anxiety that comes and goes. The worst withdrawal symptom so far has been the sexual dysfunction and this is where things make no sense. Each time i increased the saphris dose (5 to 10 and then 10 to 20) i experienced a decrease in sexual function. I expected things to improve when i reduced my dose but the exact opposite happened. With each decrease in dose my sexual ability is still declining. I am married one year and am not ready for my sex life to go away. I hope this will return once my brain recovers. Anyway now that i am at 5mg i am stopping my taper and waiting for the anxiety to subside. It has actually been better the last two days. Not as intense. Also while i am at 5mg i am going to taper off the wellbutrin since that can cause anxiety, before i continue my saphris taper. I will continue the lexapro. I expect this last 5mg to be the hard part and plan to go very very slowly. At each reduction my plan is to wait until symptoms subside before going on to the next reduction. I plan to hoard saphris over the next 6 months so that i have a multi year supply. My latest rx is for 60 10mg tablets per month expecting that i would be taking 2tablets or 20mg per day. Since i am currently only taking 1/4 of that this makes my rx good for enough for two years. When i reduce even farther it will last even longer (4 years at 2.5mg). Since my insurance will not cover it i will have to pay out of pocket but i think it will be worth it to have a chance to get off this drug successfully. I am seeing a new psychiatrist and he didnt know about saphris withdrawal. To his credit he went right out and researched it. Unfortunately he was unable to find any scholarly or official documentation of saphris withdrawal. The only thing available is anecdotal reports on forums and blogs like these. At least he said i could taper the saphris at whatever rate i feel comfortable. I will report in as the taper continues. Hopefully i can be successful and serve as hope for others. I was unable to find any record of successful withdrawal from saphris
  14. BoomSiva

    BoomSiva: Lexapro

    Hi everybody, let me introduce my self im french Canadian (english is my second language) i been in India for almost a year and decided 4-5 months ago to taper my med(lexapro 20mg) and now i been off for 6 weeks so i dont need to explain how mess up i'am right now. I came to India to a clinic to fix my back and legs, they specialyze in musculoskeletal misaligment. they been encouraging me to stop my med and thats what i did but now i'm very mess up and they dont seem to anderstand what i'm going through. Before i stop completely my pils 6 weeks ago i was working out 2h in the morning and 3 hours at night with a small group but since i stop the med i cant really workout i feel sick and weak i cant barely workout 2-3 times a week very short workout and i feel totaly drain. Since i'm with the clinic my physicals probleme are WAY BETTER so much improvement since i been here but now i feel like i'm falling a part i have so many symptoms from WD i just dont know where to start. i have exreme fatigue even if i sleep much of the afternoon, i have pain everywhere mostly my legs my upper back, neck, headhache, stomach, intestin. I have hypersalivation very annoying ,itchy skin, at night i feel like i have small bugs craling on me not all the time it come in goes, my memory is gone cant focus, i try to not call people back home that create anxiety. the first few weeks off i had more suicidal thought now way less but its very difficult to control my thoughts and im not to confortable around people, anyway thats enought complaining for now, i'm glad i found this site now i know must of the symptoms are from WD and im not going insane.
  15. I started having anxiety attacks in January 2023 (which I believe was related to a hormonal change in BC) it felt like the blood rushed out of my head, a lightheaded feeling and my heart would race. When I would have an anxiety attack, following it, I would get what I would describe as a brain jolt (possibly a brain zap but mine did not feel electrical) – it was like the blood suddenly left my head and I felt lightheaded followed by a wave of anxiety which lasted just a few seconds. I only got these following an anxiety attack for a few days and then they would disappear until the next one. In May, after having another anxiety attack and the subsequent frequent brain jolts followed by anxiety waves - I decided I had enough and went on Escitalopram 10mg. I had probably every usual side effect there is, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, spaciness, loss of balance, tremors you name it... But 10 days in, I had a pre-syncope event, where a burning sensation came over my entire body and I nearly fainted. After that, I was hit with daily waves of brain jolts/zaps immediately followed by a wave of nausea, anxiety and a burning sensation would come all over my body. I should have come off the medication then, but I wanted to stick it out as everyone said the side effects should pass after six weeks. At week three of 10mg I could no longer handle the constant brain jolts & burning sensations so I reduced my dosage to 5mg. Immediately, I started to feel better within the first two weeks - the brain jolts felt milder were less frequent but then at week 3 of 5mg, things got worse, and the burning sensations began all night long – sleep was impossible, my muscles when trying to sleep also started to twitching & jerking. By then, I was at 6 weeks and my GP advised me to come off the meds. Scared at this point to quit cold turkey, I started reducing the dosage slowly over the next 4 weeks. 3mg for 10 days (the burns stopped at this dose but the jolts & waves continued), then 2mg for 8 days, 1 mg for 6 days and finally nothing. I had all the usual withdrawals or maybe they were still side effects, nausea, dizziness, loss of balance, brain fog, tremors etc., but I noticed a pattern with the brain jolts/zaps. Every time I reduced the dose they got milder and less frequent for the first two weeks and then would get more frequent at the 3 week mark. I am now four weeks off the medication and the same thing happened the brain jolts got milder but at the 3 week mark they got so much more frequent. They are milder in the sense they are not jolts but more like brain shivers/or blips, followed by nausea, and a wave of sometimes anxiety but sometimes it’s a hot sensation…(I have to throw off the covers) occasionally the wave is followed by tremors & a pounding heart. It seems to come in clusters usually in the evening for a couple hours at a time. I get them every night while trying to fall asleep and especially when waking up. I get a few hours a day now of feeling normal before a cluster hits. My concern is whether this is from the medication as I did experience a feeling of brain jolts before the medication, but they changed drastically once on the medication and only became as severe and as frequent as they are now after Escitalopram. They did get milder coming off the medication and less frequent (than when I was on the meds) but its still a daily battle. I was only on the medication 10 weeks and was almost constantly reducing during that time. I have a hard time finding others that have had similar symptoms as me and feel at a loss as to what has happened to me.
  16. Hi everyone! Good to finally be a member on here - I am so pleased I came across this site. I would really appreciate some thoughts on my SSRI journey to date and where things currently stand, as I am feeling a bit lonely and in that mindset where 'things will never get better' and I'm going to end up a slave to antidepressants and anxiety for the rest of my life. Sorry for the long post but I really want to explain my journey with all of this... and I appreciate you taking the time to read it all. I was first put on on SSRIs (Citalopram) by my GP in March 2015 as I was experiencing strong physical symptoms of anxiety with related depression following a relationship breakdown, and 'fear of the unknown' following graduation at University, getting a job etc. I don't remember much about side effects of Cit when I first started it, but I do remember that after being increased to 20mg it made me feel the happiest and most confident I had felt in a very long time. I considered it a 'magic pill'... Even through a really really tough life event it didn't falter. In March/Apr 2017 I felt that perhaps the Cit was no longer working as it had been - I was feeling quite unmotivated and fatigued. Spoke to my GP who recommended a switch to Sertraline. Again, I don't recall how I was switched - whether it was direct or cross taper, and I don't recall whether there were any substantial side effects. However I don't think there was, as I'm pretty sure I'd remember that. I was stabilised at 100mg. I never considered myself to have any major issues on Sertraline. But, I did start to suffer randomly from panic attacks in 2018 when driving on the motorway and I am not sure what triggered this - and this never went away after it started. In January 2020 me and my husband decided we would like to start trying for a family. I had no knowledge of SSRI withdrawal and because of this, like many people, I naively assumed that I would have no issues coming off them. My GP recommended a taper schedule over a really short period which was about 4 weeks, dropping from 100mg to 0. It was a while back now so I can't remember the exact taper schedule but I do remember it included taking a tablet every other day... I got pregnant pretty much immediately in the Feb, and alongside this Covid and lockdown happened. I never considered that withdrawal had hit me hard - in fact I felt pretty good. However a lot of day to day responsibilities went out the window as we were pretty much confined to our homes during that time, so life wasn't quite how it usually is, with less pressures and being able to work from home etc. Looking back now, I probably did have some withdrawal symptoms but it is difficult to know for sure, as I was pregnant and there are lots of things that come with that too, so it is hard to differentiate. When I was around 7/8 months pregnant I started to have occasional high blood pressure, visual disturbances, locking finger joints etc. Monitoring and tests were done regularly but no adverse effects found, no signs of pre-eclampsia etc. My high BP wasn't high enough/consistent enough to be medicated. I went into spontaneous early labour just over 36 weeks and labour was fine. However post-partum was a rough ride. I didn't feel well pretty much as soon as I left the hospital. Dizzy, nauseous and jittery. I just put it down to having a baby, as I didn't know any different about how you should feel following labour. 3 days later I developed chest pains and when lay in bed felt like what I can only describe as a heavy band across my chest. Tested my BP and it was ridiculously high, around 193/124, which resulted in being re-admitted to hospital and commenced on hypertensive medication. Cue the extreme anxious, panicked state and immediately all I could think was that I needed to go back on Sertraline to stabilise me. Looking back I wish I hadn't made such a rash decision but it was almost as if my mind was eager to get back onto it. I wonder whether this may have been some kind of protracted withdrawal. Tests never found anything and they just put it down to pregnancy-induced hypertension. The crazy part of it was my GP recommenced me straight onto 100mg rather than building me up gradually. He advised 'you were on 100mg before so you'll be fine'. I have never felt so ill in my life. Everything got so much worse. I remember my hospital window overlooked the psychiatric unit and I was convinced I would end up in there. My BP was erratic even with the medication - they couldn't understand why it would randomly jump back up. I was discharged and readmitted 2 to 3 times because of it. I developed insomnia, I had burning/tingling feelings in my arms and chest. My pupils were so dilated. No appetite and chronic diarrhoea. I developed neck and shoulder pains, shortness of breath. My throat would sometimes feel like it was closing up and like I couldn't swallow properly. My arms felt heavy. I felt in a permanent state of fight or flight. Visual disturbances and tinnitus. I had never experienced anything like it in my life. Everyone kept telling me it was my anxiety even though I knew it wasn't - it was nothing like the anxiety I had experienced before starting antidepressants. At the time I was convinced it was side effects from the BP meds and that they had sent me crazy. I was so desperate to come off them to feel better. I was eventually off the BP meds by end of December 2020, as following home monitoring and a weaning schedule it was felt my BP had stabilised to normal levels. During all of this time I went through the 'windows and waves' of feeling OK and then not so good. And some symptoms persisted despite being off the BP meds. I thought the meds had messed up my nervous system even though I was on them for a pretty short space of time. I never questioned it being Sertraline because I'd never had any issues with it previously, it never came into my mind. After stabilising on Sertraline (which I feel took a hell of a long time this time round - at least a year), my anxiety has been OK, aside from some panic attacks now and then - again whilst driving. However I have always felt 'off' since what happened - I do not feel like I used to (pre-pregnancy). I have gained weight and struggled to lose it despite efforts to eat well and exercise regularly. Like my metabolism is non-existent. My hair is thin and limp. Fatigue. I suffer with tinnitus so much. Cracking and aching joints during exercise, which I would assume is sign of inflammation. Shooting pains in my arms and side. Intolerance to alcohol which I never used to get (high heart rate and feeling jittery/anxious). High heart rate and anxiety in situations that do not warrant this response and would have never generated this bodily response previously. I also get bad white coat syndrome but appreciate this may just be something I have got to deal with, after what happened. I have had some scans, blood tests etc and nothing has been found other than a B12 deficiency, for which I received some injections but did not notice any improvements. Again, people just put it down to my 'GAD' but this is not how my GAD used to present before all of this. Up until now I had never really registered any of these issues perhaps being related to Sertraline. Indeed they may not be. But fast forward to where I am now, I am starting to question some things. In July 2023 I approached my GP to advise that I wanted to try for a 2nd child and wanted to wean off my Sertraline, as I didn't feel like I had any issues doing that before... I was weaned down over 8 weeks from 100mg to 0 (50% cut from 100mg to 50mg which I stayed at for 4 weeks, and then 50% cut again to 25mg which I stayed at for another 4 weeks before discontinuation). I experienced mood changes and unusual angry episodes. Groin and leg pains. Some slight insomnia. Had the burning/tingling once or twice. But I did feel more energised, my tinnitus seemed to improve, I was more motivated and less tired. I went on to have 2 consecutive miscarriages, one month after the other. After the 2nd miscarriage I was nearly 8 weeks off sertraline. My anxiety went through the roof. I googled the crap out of why I'd been unfortunate enough to have 2 recurrent miscarriages. I convinced myself I'd got some kind of blood clotting disorder. I was anxious and jittery and yet again my mind returned to recommencing Sertraline, thinking it would save me. I started back on 50mg on 30th October 2023 after being med-free for 8.5 weeks. After a couple of days my anxiety intensified. The insomnia started, the burning feelings, flushed cheeks, erratic heart rate, tinnitus, visual disturbances. Feeling wired, ruminating/OCD thoughts, no appetite, diarrhoea. It took me back to how I felt when I went back on Sertraline in 2020. I then considered that what I had experienced before was not from the BP meds, it was from the Sert. However this time I had a new experience thrown in - suicidal ideations (but not the will to act on them). After 4 weeks of windows and waves, I looked back on everything over the past few years and felt I needed to try something different - that maybe some of these issues will go away if I try a different SSRI. My GP recommended Escitalopram and advised I could do a direct switch from one SSRI to another with a similar half-life. So one day I was on Sertraline 50mg, the next day I was on 10mg Escitalopram (6th December 2023). I hadn't noticed any significant side effects after starting the Escitalopram. I didn't feel any worse and my windows seemed to be getting better over the past 4 weeks. I thought that I was well on the road to stabilising. However over the past week my anxiety has crept up a little, and now these past couple of days, everything has ramped up again, similar to when I started on Sert. Ruminating/OCD thoughts, feeling wired. Insomnia 2 nights ago, slept ok last night. Burning feelings in arms. Flushed cheeks. Could I be experiencing withdrawal from Sertraline even though I have switched to Escitalopram? Or would this be a sign that the Escitalopram is not working for me? I feel really lost on what to do next and I am constantly questioning it all. Do I increase my Escitalopram. Do I sit tight and wait to see what happens even though it is so difficult feeling this way... Once again I am sorry for the essay but it is nice to be heard and I am so appreciative of any thoughts and advice anyone can give me on all of this. My eventual aim is to be off SSRIs (as I just feel like they have messed me up and I worry about the long-term impact of taking them - 8 years I feel is already long enough). However right now my priority is to be stable - for myself and for my family. Charlotte
  17. Hi there, I would appreciate it advice on this please. I was on Wellbutrin 300 mg and Lexapro 10 mg was tapered by a company and I was off of all medication in a month. It seemed like there wonder supplements were supposed to help me thus justifying a Fast taper. after being off the medication‘s for two weeks I went back on one quarter dose of Wellbutrin and then taper down from there. I gradually tapered off that over a couple of months and then the withdrawals got even more horrific once I was off of everything. Off of everything for two months I reinstated Lexapro at 1.25 mg. I went to see a functional medicine doctor and she put me on hormones . I’m on progesterone and oestrogen patch. apparently going off of anti-depressants reeked havoc on my hormones. I cannot work I cannot participate in any of the sports I was involved in. I’m basically a useless lump and I spend most of my day In bed. Should I increase my Lexapro a little bit more? Not really sure what to do at this point. Thank you.
  18. I was on 100mg of fluvoxamine and other medications for 8 months. When I started tapering and reached 25mg, I began to feel better. My anhedonia, mood, emotional numbness improved. I stopped obsessing about anhedonia and PSSD, which had occupied my mind for months, and felt hopeful about my future and felt mostly a normal human being again. I tapered in total for 2.5 months, which I know was pretty fast, but I experienced mild to no withdrawals, so I decided to go faster. However, after I stopped taking fluvoxamine completely 1 week ago (jump from 12.5 to 0), I became easily angry, stressed, and sleep-deprived for a few days. Then I shut down again, I experienced a setback in anhedonia. I knew I needed a vacation instead of being in a stressful environment during this fragile period for my brain. Stress stopped, but I wasn’t able to feel stressed when on anhedonia so this isn’t a good sign, I hope I didn’t do myself more damage. It's not as severe as when I was on medication, but enough to make me feel flat again, no emotions, fatigue and apathy and make me worry about anhedonia and PSSD again. I needed to taper slowly I was dumb..I am worried I gave my fragile brain a shock too big. Anyway, is it common to have anhedonia rebound when tapering too fast? Are there chances for recovery?
  19. Hi All, Firstly thanks for the excellent site and taking the time to review my post. History is long, so in the interest of time, 20 yrs on SSRI's (i've tried virtually all but had most luck with prozac and lexapro) with a 4 month bout of Remeron (awful w/d not helped by cross taper) and benzo's on/off for 8 years or so. Benzo: I've successfully switched from .5mg of clonazepam/day to 10mg valium and i'm now at 2mg per day. A bit more about this below. SSRI: Was on 20 mg for celexa for the last several months but completely zombified so decided it's finally time to be done with this sh1t I dropped relatively quickly per docs orders with really no impact down to 5mg celexa completely stopping the celexa and valium on May 1. Started 10 mg prozac only May 1, by May 4 really awful DR with anxiety, inability to focus, sleeplesness, headaches. Reinstated 1-2 mg valium which helped a little bit. Yesterday i tested the waters and dropped the prozac down to 5 mg to see if agitation was from that which resulted in bad anxiety, chills,and shaking. Took the other 5 g prozac and an additional 1mg valium which helped a bit. Today slightly better back at 10mg prozac and 2mg valium in the morning. I have a pdoc appointment tomorrow and really don't know what to do and not sure i trust his opinion frankly but do believe he will be fine with what i recommend. I consider these the following my options: 1.) Reinstate celexa at last dose (5mg?), drop prozac entirely after a week or 2, and keep valium, then micro taper off at 10% per 3 weeks or so. 2.) Hold steady on prozac and valium for awhile (how long?) then micro taper 3.) Something else? Any thoughts are much appreciated and i apologize for any incoherence in this post but just got back from work trip and wanted to get this out there for the educated folks to review asap. Many thanks for any input and your time!!! methuselah
  20. Hi everyone, My name is Audrey and I’m currently in month 9 of protracted withdrawal from stopping 12.5 mgs of sertraline cold turkey for a panic disorder. I’ve been using this forum for months as support to check symptoms/giving me peace of mind and it’s been a god send. I took sertraline on and off for 3 years. I currently am suffering with every symptom imaginable still - some days better than others. Lots of Dysautonomia, heat intolerance, sleep issues, anxiety, POTS symptoms, pounding heart, you name it. I was a hypochondriac before withdrawal happened so this time has not been kind to my nervous system. I know one day I will heal but sometimes it’s so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m 30 and feel like I could be 75+ some days. Here’s to a healing year in 2024!
  21. I have been on citalopram since 2009 then it stopped working. The Dr put me on citalopram and mirtazapine combination which worked for a while then that stopped working. The Dr then put me on mirtazapine and Venlafaxine 150mg XL combination which workes for a while again ans then stopped working. The Dr put me on amitriptyline 50mg saying thay would be the best drug for me while i took 8 months to slowly remove each bead from Venlafaxine capsule to come off it. As soon as I took my last beed i went into crazy angry depression. The dr increased my dosage of amitriptyline from 50mg to 150mg but the side effects were horrible and at this point i got sick of these meds and decided to quit CT. I had horrible withdrawal symptoms and i started acting like a child and not being able to walk, had balance problems. I reinstated back to 50mg amitriptyline since april 2018 and i have been getting worse. I cannot sleep. My vision is so badly affected that i have grainy vision and floaters have increased dramatically . I see after images and it's as if the lights have been turned off. When i begin to fall asleep, i start to have dreams before i actually fall asleep and my brain keep. Waking up just before i am about to sleep. I cannot follow conversations, I mishear things all the time. I am totally dependant on others and i feel people think i have gone crazy. I don't know what to do i am getting worse and worse. I often trip, lose my balance. I hardly have any short term memory and cannot do simplest of things. I cannot even watch anything on TV as i cannot follow.it I'm having major concentration problems. I don't know how. I'm writing this. I cannot work or drive. Please you have no idea how i am putting these sentences together. I need urgent help. Please advice. I have no energy, no appetite. If I'm posting this in the wrong place, please accept my appology as I can hardly read and understand things. P
  22. Hello all! I found your forum and figured I should ask for thoughts regarding my Lexapro withdrawal experience. I’ll post a brief overview paragraph, but if you have time or want to know more, I tried to be as detailed as possible describing my symptoms to see if they sound familiar to anyone here. Short explanation: I took Lexapro for around 2 years, maybe a bit longer. The dose was 10mg, but it’s possible it was a little higher for a short while. I lowered the dose to 5mg at some point in 2014 and was on that dose for a year. I then spent the bulk of a year tapering from 5mg to 0mg. The last dose I took was so small that it was a tiny piece of powder on my finger, which is what I had gotten it down to over time. I am on here because I have been off of the medicine completely for almost four months and still have some odd slight-dizzy/floating feelings sometimes, which typically aren’t very strong or long lasting, but I also have fatigue most days. I sleep very well and get 7-8 hours a night, but feel the need to lay down for a few minutes several times a day. I never had these issues until I started messing with my Lexapro doses. Thats the short story, but I can get more in-depth. Fatigue details: The fatigue used to be so bad a few months ago that I could easily fall asleep within 3 minutes; I would often take a few minute break at work and immediately fall asleep in my car and set a short 6 minute timer and wake up and feel a lot better. I would do that a few times a day especially after work. Now days I don’t instantly fall asleep, but resting my eyes for a few minutes helps. I take a 20 min nap at lunch and a 20 min nap after work and for both of these I fall asleep and jolt awake when the alarm goes off, but feel a lot better. When it happens, I can often feel the tiredness growing in a short period of time, often within an hour or even 15 minutes. The tiredness is usually just to the level of being annoying, but sometimes it becomes so strong that I literally just have to close my eyes at my office desk for awhile. When it’s really bad I notice I even close my eyes for a couple seconds when I am walking or doing simple things. This isn’t like when a driver starts closing their eyes without noticing it; I very purposefully close my eyes just for a second or two to get a vague feeling of minor relief. Usually I feel like my mind is actually still working and I am wanting to stay productive, but my eyes and head just get tired even though the rest of me seems to have energy. Its almost like a synthetic tiredness, as if my water was spiked several times a day without me knowing; it’s very different from a normal tiredness. Often if I am at home I will feel it kick in and just have to drop what I’m doing, lay down and set my timer for 5-15 minutes just to recharge and then get back up and continue what I was doing. Then it might kick in two or three hours later and I’ll have to do the nap/timer session again. Before I go out and do anything, such as meet a friend or go to a movie, I preemptively take a short nap to prepare my body. Also, when I wake up in the morning after a full 7 or 8 hours sleep, I am typically a bit groggy for awhile inevitably. Before I started changing my meds I would often wake up and have energy and used to love my morning time during the weekends. Now mornings aren’t horrible, but they aren’t really much to look forward to. On weekends I often take one of my quick naps within an hour or two after waking up because I get so groggy I just have to lay down. Dizziness details: My dizziness from time to time gets bad enough to become an issue that really bothers me. These periods where it is bad usually only last for a few days, but more often the dizziness is a very minor symptom and just makes me feel a bit “off” for a half hour or so. It’s hard to explain and there are actually several different feelings of dizziness I experience. “Dizziness” isn’t even always the best word, but its the only one that I can think of that fits. Often it is just a vague sense of feeling disconnected and unbalanced. Sometimes when I am showering I do literally feel slightly unbalanced, but it is a very minor feeling and I never *actually* feel like I am loosing my balance. Another feeling is almost like the whole room is spinning, but at such a very, very slow rate that it is just enough to make me feel slightly uncomfortable. Sometimes another feeling happens where I feel slightly cloudy headed and if I turn my head quickly, it takes a second for my brain to readjust. This usually doesn’t last very long, and in fact, most of these dizzy feelings come and go within a half hour and don’t interfere with my life very badly. Oh, and another one is a vague “floating” sense that I sometimes feel when I walk down a hallway, for example. Again, pretty minor, but just enough to make me feel a little off. I should also mention that sometimes the dizziness transitions into tiredness; the dizziness evaporates and I am left feeling like I need to lay down from sudden fatigue. Additional issues: When I first got off Lex completely, I had really sore muscles in my back and shoulder blades within a few days. One of those curved self massage sticks really helped with that. I used to also have a really bad pressure in my head during the tapering process (but went away after a few weeks of stopping lex) and the massage stick also relieved a lot of that head pressure that I used to get. I no longer have the tension in my back, but my shoulders themselves often feel like they get tense, like there is a “grip” on them. Sometimes this is combined with a slight feeling of dizziness. When I am around my father to give my shoulders a quick massage it relieves a lot of the dizziness as well as the tension. I have read that anxiety can cause tension like this, but I have had anxiety my whole life and never have felt this shoulder “grip” before. But it may be an indirect, subconscious anxiety causing this tension, as opposed to a direct result of lexapro withdrawal. Typically a short period of laying down helps with this also. Waves/Windows: I have read different parts of this forum and found them helpful. I feel that the “waves/windows” idea is in line with what I have been going through. I feel that I am getting better, and then all of a sudden I will feel way worse for several days or a week, then I will start feeling better again for a week or so. However, looking back on the whole process, overall I think I am improving in the big picture scheme of things. I went to the doctor yesterday and of course he told me it couldn’t have anything to do with Lexapro because I have been off of it for a few months. I also am having blood work done just in case it is anything else. I guess my big question is do these things sound familiar to others and will these symptoms go away over time?
  23. Hi everyone, I stopped my 200 mg Zoloft basically cold turkey that I had been on for 4+ years (one of my dumbest ideas yet) and I didn't start getting withdrawal symptoms for almost a month. After about 3 weeks of withdrawals, I've now been back on 100 mg (at the advice of my doctor) for two weeks because the symptoms were so bad, and I've been incredibly nauseous the whole time. Is this normal? I've been bedridden from the nausea (and dizziness, insomnia, etc, but the nausea is the most debilitating) If anyone else has experience with this, how long did the side effects from coming back on it last? I'm so terrified that this is going to be permanent.
  24. I'm so glad I found this page. I've already read so much my brain feels overloaded but in a good way so I can only share a little bit here at the moment. I'm 62 years old have been on antidepressants for I'd say 25 odd years with very few breaks at all. Where I am at the moment is coming to the realization I don't want to spend the rest of my life feeling "comfortably numb" but being also afraid of who I may become without Lexapro. I've taken the plunge about 4 months ago tapering off my 10mg dose by half over a period of 2 months approximately. I then went on an overseas holiday so stopped talking them totally from there. I've been through the brain zaps which was pretty much the only physical symptom I've had. All in all I feel reasonably good apart from an occasional angry outburst and like I've read from others elsewhere questioning who the real me is. Will I like who I am when my emotions are not being controlled by the medication. This is all I can write for now.
  25. Hey all, first post here. I am so glad to have discovered this site. For 3.5 years I’m sitting here wondering what’s wrong with me and why doctors keep telling me it’s all in my head (I KNOW I’m not fabricating this stuff) only to discover my symptoms are legitimate, validated and real. And shared by many other fellow survivors. I spent many years feeling alone and hopeless. Not anymore. So yeah, I was on very high doses of a hormone that has anti-depressant effects for 6-7 years. After coming off 3.5 years ago, my cognition/ concentration/ brain function and memory were destroyed. No energy, have severe insomnia, tinnitus, anxiety. Live in constant brain fog, derealization/depersonalization, had to quit school, work, lost friends and relationships… basically stopped living. Don’t recognize myself or my life anymore, let alone friends and family. My naturally outgoing, extrovert, colorful and comedic personality became dry, flat, apathetic, anhedonic, agoraphobic, introverted, recluse. I feel brain dead. And dead, in general. Also noticed extreme sensitivities to foods (usually high histamine/fermented/high fodmap) which could send my brain on a trip equivalent to LSD. I have tried everything but nothing really works. What worked last month doesn’t this month. There’s 0 stability. I find I’m sensitive to most supplements. Currently on a decent regime- including fish oil and magnesium. I went to so many doctors (to no avail). They put me on various ADs (which I think made everything worse.) Couldn’t stay on more than a few months. But I find myself torn. Seems that when I’m on them, I want to be off. And when I’m not on them, I want to be on. It’s like I have 0 capacity for decision making and executing functioning. I’m currently tapering off Zoloft. I don’t know what else to do anymore… So 3+ years like this with very little improvement. I need help. I don’t know what to do, where to go, where to turn. I feel completely lost. I had goals for my life and now I consider it a success if I get out of bed and make food. Tell me. Does it ever get any better? Or is this just my life now? Is there hope for me? Should I go back on ADs or try and heal without them? Please help me. I need to hear a success story. Thanks for reading and for your advice. I value it so much. Blessings.
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