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Hi people, I am kind of desperate as I feel really weird for the last week or so and it is not the anxiety or the depression that I started the antidepressants for (at least this is how I perceive it). As you can see in the signature, there were a lot of changes and adjustments since I started the antidepressants. My current doc (will have a meeting with her on Wednesday) recommended to go up to 150mg of zoloft and so I did, in December. But by the end of December I started to feel super anxious again and upon google research (doc not available during the holidays), I decided by myself to drop back to 125. A week after that I started to feel really good, maybe best I've been since I started the medication. It lasted about until around 20th of January when I started to feel another increase in anxiety. Contacted the doc and she recommended another drop, to 100 mg. About 5 days later I started to feel a bit better, but only for 2-3 days. Then the weirdness started. I now have a feeling that I haven't had before (of course, I might perceive it like that since the mix of depression and anxiety with OCD and health anxiety on top is a BOMB cocktail), like I am not the same anymore, a dreamlike feeling, a bit dissociative, a bit emotionally numb, a bit of confusion, ability to focus on something dropped a bit etc. Feels a bit like the derealization I had when I felt into depression, back in summer 2023, but without that severe depression. I fear that my brain got permanently "damaged" (a bit illogical, I know, but the fear is there) from all these meds and adjustments. I feel this new state to be even scarier than the anxiety attacks I was having in Autumn (at least I was feeling better after an attack, for the rest of the day, optimistic and hopeful) because I am in it the whole day, with minor ups and downs. Can I actually feel this way because of the last drop in dosage? If so, why I haven't feel this way when I dropped from 150 to 125? Lately I was thinking that upping the escitalopram dosage from 10 to 20 mg, back in September (I had a rough week right after I returned from holiday, anxiety was through the roof the week before I went up on 20 mg) was a mistake and maybe I just had to push through and stay on 10mg. I have the feeling that I have been overmedicated since then. I actually dropped back to 10mg mid Novemeber (and then switched to zoloft) after I complained several times to my doc that I started to feel a bit weird, mood shifts during the day, like feeling great in the first half and like **** in the afternoon. Also, I am seriously thinking in the last few days to start weaning off the poison, because I started to believe these meds are actually doing more wrong than good (of course, these words may come out just because I feel super off lately) I appreciate your thoughts and advice. Thanks!

Hello. I want to do a simple introduction one day, but I have an urgent question about tapering off of Effexor extended-release. As you can see on my signature, I’m currently taking bupropion 300mg, 20mg fluoxetine and a little amount of Effexor (if my scale is correct, somewhere between 20-30mg). My question is: should I still do a slow taper of Effexor now when I have been on bupropion and fluoxetine for 2+ months? I haven’t had any notable withdrawal symptoms so far. However, I’m really worried about them kicking in months after stopping Effexor. On the other hand, I’m worried about my brain getting used to the current combo of the three meds. Thus I want to be off of Effexor ASAP. Edit: I’m regularly seeing a psychiatrist. She instructed me to drop 37,5 mg altogether, without tapering.

Hello, I am new here. I had been on Escitalopram for many years until some life altering events happened Fall of 2021 and 1st 6 months of 2022 when I became severely depressed. I was crosstapered from Escitalopram to Mertazapine in June 2022, I have also taken zopliclone for sleep since about 2007 or 2009. The mertazapine has not worked well for me and doctor has me crosstapering from mertazapine to Escitalopram now. I went from 30mg Mert to 7.5 in 2 months (Dec 1 - Feb 1) and I am on 10mg of Escitalopram for about 10 days and 5mg for about 10 days before that (so 3 weeks). I had bad headaches start in November and trouble sleeping, that was before I started tapering or adding in the Esc. The headaches have gotten better but have them almost daily, the insomnia is awful. I plan on staying at 7.5 mert, 10 Esc until I stabilized. I started only taking 3.75 zoplicone when i go to bed and take the other 3.75 when i wake up during the night in hopes i can go back to sleep. Only done this for 4 nights now. I take clamazapham sometimes, maybe once a week to help get me thru, doc wants me to start taking that instead of zop to sleep but i dont want to make any more changes and am afraid i will get withdrawal from zop. I am so confused. I am really struggling - please someone help guide me....it seems like everything i try it backfires....

Hi everyone and Alto! A few months back (nov. 2013) I was prescribed 150mg Effexor because my depression wasn't "responding" to citalopram 40mg after a 'nervous breakdown'. Come to find out it was actually a horrible reaction that I was having to Ambien . . . horrible anxiety, fear and depression - suicidal thoughts. Anyway, I am beyond all that now, praise God. However, I noted that I did not respond particularly well to the Effexor . . . dry eyes, dry mouth, ear pain and flu-like symptoms were just some of the fun I experienced while trying to acclimate to the medicine. I did some research and decided that I wanted off of this stuff, and knew the best way to do it quickly was to cross-taper back to citalopram, which I had been on many times in my past. I did it over a period of four weeks (150 down to 112.5 then to 75 then to 37.5 of effexor while dosing up from 10 to 20 to 30 to 40 of citalopram). I avoided the horrible effects of withdrawal for the most part, except for headaches, but now I'm three weeks out from completing the cross taper and I'm just now having extreme fatigue (even though I'm sleeping again 6 hrs or so / night) and droopy, painful, strained / fatigued eyes. I don't feel like I wake up until the afternoon some days! It comes and goes too, not consistently every day - varies in intensity. My question is, is this normal to have a delay of symptoms even after a (seemingly) successful cross taper of medicines? My long term goal is to get completely off of citalopram (been on it off and on since 1998) . . . and I will be doing that VERY, VERY slowly, beginning six months from now. Just want to make sure that it is withdrawal from Effexor and not some other health issue. I should also note that I never had any vision problems before Effexor, and have been checked by an eye doctor - no issues, 20/20 vision. I am 33 yrs old. Thanks for all your help and responses!!

Hi there, I guess I'm just looking for support in knowing that things will get better. Also wondering if people think it is withdrawal I'm experiencing. Tried to taper lexapro from 20mg to 10mg over a period of four months. Went in 2.5mg increments with at least 3-4 weeks between each drop. Withdrawal symptoms were mild, peaking at about two weeks after the drop. Most symptoms were mental (tailspins of anxiety about being fired or my boyfriend leaving when there was no evidence of either). Then, after the 12.5 to 10mg drop I totally crashed--worst anxiety I've had in years, and unlike anything I ever had. Vomitting, diarrhea...awful. I rapidly began reinstating, going to 12.5 for 4 days, then 15 for 4 days, then 17.5 for four days until I could see a psychiatrist. The symptoms dramatically improved but were still there. Saw the doctor, and she added 10mg Prozac. It helped immensely. I felt 95% normal. Then we tried a cross-taper, upping the Prozac to 20 and dropping the lexpro over a short period (I think a week). I was ok for a few days and thought we were in the clear so we startwd 75mg Wellbutrin, but then had more waves of anxiety and thoughts of self harm, so upped the Prozac to 40mg for a week, then dropped to 30 for a week, and was supposed to drop to 20 but couldn't. Had horrible crying spells, thoughts of self harm, etc. bumped back up to 40 and have been there a week. Obviously the Wellbutrin addition was a mistake, but I think we thought I was in the clear from wothdrawal, and the idea was I would switch from Prozac to Wellbutrin. I wanted off lexapro (and onto Wellbutrin) because of slow and steady weight gain and had been on it for 8 years. I have a diagnosis of bipolar 2 and also take 100mg of lamictal. Used to take lithium and topamax too, but a lot of lifestyle changes have helped me get off those. I quit caffeine and smoking marijuana, and I'm limiting alcohol to a couple drinks once a week. I'm on fish oil and magnesium. Just wondering what else I can be doing. Still having lots of anxiety and feeling like my head is too big for my body, and occasionally like it is buzzing. I have lorazepam to take when the anxiety is out of control. Is this withdrawal from lexapro combined with start up of Prozac? One month later I'm still having withdrawal symptoms and have upped the Prozac to 40mg to try to counteract it.