Jump to content
SurvivingAntidepressants.org is temporarily closed to new registrations until 1 April ×

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'Quetiapine'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Categories

There are no results to display.

Blogs

There are no results to display.

Forums

  • Support
    • Read This First
    • Introductions and updates
    • Success stories: Recovery from psychiatric drug withdrawal
    • Tapering
    • Symptoms and self-care
    • Finding meaning
  • Current events
    • In the media
    • From journals and scientific sources
    • Events, actions, controversies

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

  1. Aria's recovery from poly drugs. I had no idea when I walked into a psychiatrist's office 25 yrs ago the horrible labyrinth I'd entered. Slam dunked at a point in my life when I was feeling low and the loss of future possibilities taken away. Being told I was mentally ill, would never function again, needed to be on disability and poly drugged for the rest of my life repeatedly took it's toll. All this impacted my relationships with family, friends and enjoying life. The pdoc constantly added new psych drugs, changed doses and took me off the old drugs at an alarming rate. I became a morbidly obese woman who mumbled or talked rapidly and it was obvious to everyone but the pdoc I was totally messed up on something. I had Seroquel Induced Acute Pancreatitis that landed me in the hospital for quite awhile and my pdoc put in my open med chart I was crazy. I didn't know this till later but ill as I was I did notice some of my physicians were treating me oddly. One good thing about being so ill was I referred to a neurologist for chronic pain and found out my problem was profound drug induced Akathsia. This neurologist actually screamed at me, these psych drugs are killing you, they're killing you. I knew I had to get off these drugs not matter what it took and reclaim my life. At my next appointment I asked my psychiatrist why he was drugging me like this and he looked directly at me (probably for the first time in years he saw "me"). He started sobbing, loudly sobbing, "Oh God what have I done to you", over and over. I'm sitting there thinking oh crap, I don't need this. Our 15 minute med check was up and this guy calmly goes to the front desk to get the next patient and proceeds without any other fanfare. He's robot. A robot. All this in itself was mind boggling. Hell, closure?? No way. I found out I had Tardive Dyskinesia and a few other psych drug induced issues. My face was a road map with twitches and jerking that yelled hey, I'm on massive psychiatric drugs. Will my face be like this forever?? The TD has mostly gone away and I'm so grateful (the pdoc adamantly said I did not have Tardive Dyskinesia from psych drugs). Well, guess what?? The psychiatrist was wrong...horribly wrong. Other doctors, psychiatrist, therapists said you're not mentally ill and never had been. The sad but very scarey part is I'm labeled as profoundly mentally ill and that info is in my medical charts. One pdoc did this...one. I've gone through the gambit of emotions dealing with this. I will probably always be mad at this jerk for what he did to me and for what he still does to others. It affected years of my life and he was wrong. I'm a Success Story because I'm psych drug free and have been for several years. My journey was extremely difficult and I did it on my own hit or miss tapering off numerous psychiatric drugs. I endured drug withdrawals that paralyzed me month after month. Was it worth the hell of tapering? Yes, very much yes. My reward was my clarity of mind, my passions for life returned and I have hopes for my future. I mended fences with family and have made new friends. I strive everyday to be productive. I'm me but a different me because no one could go through all this and not be changed by it. (for more in-depth conversations about my struggles, coping and self awareness with surviving psychiatry please visit my ongoing thread Aria's Psych Journey http://survivinganti...psych-journey/)
  2. Hi everyone,✋I’ve been on a number of different meds in the past due to chronic pain: opiates, benzos, antipsychotics etc. I don’t remember all the names, but I was cold turkeyed at times with severe reactions. The reason I’m on the forum now is that I’ve been tapering off seroquel for many years, it’s the only medication I’m on. I’ve gone from 300mg to 7.5mg and am doing water titration now. I just have a quick question. If I accidentally doubled up on my dose one day does that make the withdrawals worse? I couldn’t remember if I took my dose of 7.5mg because of brain fog a week ago. I couldn’t sleep n thought maybe I didn’t take it as it usually makes me go to sleep, so I took another dose 1am 🌔 as I was so scared of what missing a dose might do. I thought the withdrawals from the last dose were starting the settle, but they’ve ramped up again. I know this happens anyway in withdrawal but I was just wondering if the double dose might have have affected this too? Thank u in advance for your input😊
  3. Hello, My story is most likely the same as many here. I am 53 years old; I was off-prescribed Seroquel for a sleeping disorder due to an opioid withdrawal I was having. I had two shoulder surgeries in 2020 and was taking oxycontin for pain, which became a habit, and I had a hell of a time getting off them. My doctor prescribed 300mg of quetiapine XR in April of 2021 to be taken at night. This drug worked great, but I noticed I had memory issues recently and a type of brain fog. The sleep effect was also starting to decrease. I have a job that requires critical thinking, and I felt my cognitive ability was in decline. I went to my physician and asked him to reduce my dose so I could get off this drug. I did some light reading and found how dangerous this stuff is. He decreased my amount to 150mg and said I could jump off in a few weeks. I went a step further and broke the pills down to 75mg and then came off the drug. After almost nine days of no sleep and a myriad of breathing and allergy symptoms, I re-instated to 250mg daily, 125mg at night, and 125mg during the day. (XR type) I found the night dose barely adequate to give me a few hours of sleep. I am starting to level off and get some rest. I settled in at 100mg XR and 25mg IR taken twice, daily. I have severe asthma in the evening, which I have not experienced since childhood. I can only guess this has to do with histamine and the drug’s control over it—a withdrawal side effect due to the reduction in dosage. My doctor has no idea how this drug works or how to help me get off it. When I went to see him after the six days of insomnia, he tried to get me to take vraylar and trazodone to get over the quetiapine withdrawal. I read up on vraylar, it has a 500hr half-life, and that scared me. Also, I wouldn’t say I liked the idea of taking two drugs. I may need to find a psychiatrist that understands the drug and can assist me in the tapering process. Thank God I found this website. It comforts me that it is possible to get off these drugs. From what I have absorbed over Christmas break, reading the stories on the message board is that it won’t be easy, and I will have a fair amount of pain and suffering. I can’t fathom taking this poison for the rest of my life. I believe it has taken years off my life already. I pray that my current dose of 250mg, split between 125mg nightly and 125 mg daily, will level me off in a few months so I can begin tapering this drug. I know sleep is paramount right now. I have been suffering and losing sleep which makes it tough to work. I have 11 more years to work, and I can’t afford to lose my job over this. It leaves you in a dark place. I have never experienced this type of depression and despair. I appreciate your time and consideration. I would value your experience and stories on coming off this drug. How the medical profession can prescribe this for sleep issues is beyond me. Big pharma has its claws in every physician out there. They must line their pocketbooks with money to push this toxic medication. Best regards, Mitenraised
  4. Hi I'm 37, I had anxiety disorders and depression all my life. I was put on medication fast, probably way too fast. I've been convinced that my condition was needing them and I believed it was impossible to live normally without. I'm hyper sensitive to medication so I was not able to bear most of antidepressants. Zoloft was the easiest, but has its list of horrible side effects too, mainly excessive and violent sweating for little moves like even grating cheese and accompanied with itching and unable to stand heat in general. Emotions are neutralized, as well as happiness and interests, mostly living like a vegetable. With time my anxiety changed when I tried to stop zoloft, weird new manifestations appeared and I was told that's it's from me, not from medication. With time I suspected more and more zoloft to have caused new issues that I would never have before. I'm doing a second "serious" withdrawal, I got 0mg from May 2018 and I've pretty crazy anxiety but not all the time, all the weird symptoms developed in time are back, and I can see that zoloft body changes are still not reverted back to my natural self because of restless leg syndrome that I only get during withdrawals and I have abnormal too sensitive feelings like crying very easily. Since I left zoloft, I lost my overweight (220 pounds to 180 pounds and still dropping), I'm healthy aside those issues, I move freely and lightly, I got all my feelings back with new interests, like if I'm being reborn. I can't even seriously say if medication really helped me of all my life, maybe somehow, but I suspect more to have worsened everything by creating new issues that sleep until I try to stop zoloft. Then it's the infinite loop: returning on it because of all the issues, taken by doctors for my natural self being sick. Then later I want to get rid of it again, and the thing restart. I had only panic attacks when I started antidepressants at 17 years old. I had nothing of all the stuff that was added with years. I also was not with hypersensitive feelings. I could probably have developed non-med ways to cope and I would never have anything worse. Now added to panic attacks I had strong adrenaline looping rushes in bed, I got morning fears that don't seem associated to any precise thoughts, and instant panic with thoughts popping during the day that should not trigger anything. I've been told that with that, an antidepressant alone would not work, that I need an antipsychotic too, and both. That's why I'm also on seroquel XR. I had to leave my job because it was already a very high stress life there and addition of everything was pure hell. I'm free of zoloft for 8 months, compared to 2 months the more I was able to endure and I was even not working at this time. I know that almost all symptoms will disappear if I take it again, and all the side effects will also be back with it. It will falsely thought to heal me when most of what is happening is because of a long-term body changes that zoloft installed with time. This is what I think. It's like not being hypersensitive to feelings at all before to try any, take one, stop it and being hypersensitive and say "it's because you stopped it so take it back you need it". I think doctors are totally blind to this hypothesis despite the fact that they may really want to help. It can surely be hard to prove, especially if I cannot bear to live like this long enough to the point I restart taking the drug. But some proof is there. Restless leg syndrome is only when I tapered zoloft, all the times I tried it was there and only at this time. If it still happens randomly after 8 months, it proves that my body is still affected by zoloft in a way or another. I'm 37 and I want to take control of my life fully, and living disabled for the time it needs may be my only chance to get this freedom, but I just don't know the truth myself. Maybe it will take a year for symptoms to disappear, maybe more, maybe never, maybe I've been broken and there is nothing to do but take meds all my life, which will give a horrible life on another level. I'm here to discover what others experienced, find similarities, some truth and at least if I must go through this hell, I will have some hope and real examples that waiting a certain time could free me too, forever of antidepressants. I don't seek someone deciding for me, I seek real people experience to see the real whole picture and decide myself.
  5. Hello Lovely Humans, I am a 36 year old woman. Prior to the experience laid out below I was (and fight to still be) a very happy, high performing human with a successful engineering career. Well now I am much gentler on myself to not be so high performing. 🥰 In early August I had friends visiting while we were renovating our house. I was also dealing with a highly stressful job. That’s when I had 4 days of bad insomnia which was very unlike myself (typically 1-2 days per month). While they were visiting I asked my primary doctor for a subscription for 5 Ambien tablets. I had taken one of my mom’s before a couple years ago and it knocked me out. I figured that they could just help me through my friend’s visit and that would be it. The weird thing is this time I was waking up 1-4 hrs after taking the 5 mg tablet. Desperate for more sleep I would take another 5 mg. Early on I attempted to go a night without it and landed in the ER with a panic attack. This started a (luckily short) stint with Ativan. Over the course of the next month I used the Ambien nightly and the Ativan as needed and things got worse. I started to experience suicidal ideation which got more intense over time. Needless to say this was beyond terrifying. I’ve never even experienced depression let alone SI before in my life. Desperate for some answers I scheduled a psychiatry appointment since I had only been seeing a primary doctor. I told him my symptoms as well as that my mom is diagnosed bipolar. Within 5 minutes of hearing that my mom is bipolar he diagnosed me with that as well. He prescribed me 100 mg of Seroquel. This was September 7th. Those first few weeks I was elated to feel like myself again and get 10-11 Hours of sleep. However after reading the side effects profile of the drug I became worried. (Doctor only told me possible weight gain was the only side effect-which luckily I haven’t experienced). Additionally I just didn’t quite identify with being bipolar and I had this nagging feeling that the Ambien was the cause of the suicidal ideation. That coupled with the high stress I had been carrying for a while. I decided on November 1st to start tapering. So far so good. I’m at 75 mg. Sleep is still great (average 8.5 hours-keeping a daily spreadsheet that I hope to turn into some fun graphs by the end). My biggest issue is a stiff neck. I am doing lots of stretching, chiropractor, and massage. It seems to be slowly alleviating but I am hoping this doesn’t worsen after the next cut. Any guidance on this would be appreciated. All things considered I’m doing ok. I’ve been able to get short term disability for the past 4 months and really focus on how I want to rebuild my life. I even started skiing again after blowing out my knee (acl, mcl and meniscus) 2 years ago. So I am no stranger to a long term healing process. The year before that I broke my wrist! Hopefully after this taper I can get a little break for a few years haha! 🙂 Thanks for reading my story. This site has been so valuable as I start this scary journey. Appreciate all the moderators' time and energy!
  6. Good morning, in 2022 I used AD escitalopram from 2.5 to 10 mg for months for depression (?) After a month I got an improvement in mood but at the cost of sleep restriction and strange activation. In January 2023 I didn't take it anymore, but the activation remained and I enjoyed it even then, although in my mind I was afraid that I would pay for the sleep restriction someday. In March I fell ill with covid and then my depression doubled. My doctor said to go back to escitalopram and added quetapine. I am afraid now of this treatment now. Other doctor wants to add pragabalin yet. I feel very bad: akathisia and very little sleep, therefore my family in bad mood
  7. Mod note: link to: Happy2Heal: Hope I'm doing this right (Introduction and update topic) I was just an 18yr old, a very confused, naive young woman, er no- more of a child, really- when I was given (by force) my first psych drug, stelazine, a major tranquilizer. that was the beginning of a long series- spanning almost 40 yrs!- of psych drugs and hospitalizations. All along the way, I was plastered with one diagnosis after another, or several heaped on at once. My physical health went downhill and I ended up a virtual shut-in, living my life all in my head, friendless, socially isolated to the extreme, my only contact with drs and therapists, leaving my house to go food shopping maybe twice a month. This wasn't living, and I knew it. But I didn't know how to change things. I didn't know what was wrong. I spent over two thirds of my life believing I was mentally ill and *needed* to be on those drugs. but at some point, it occurred to me that the drugs might actually be the problem, or at least, part of the problem. I knew I had to get off them. and I did. The process and the pain of that is reported on my thread, I don't care to go back over it, at least not now. I learned a lot along the way, but for now, I don't want to think about where I've been, I only want to think about where I am now, and the life I have before me. Here I am, now, one year off all drugs, of all kinds. I rarely even take a ibuprofen for a headache. I want to write my success story, but I'm not 100% ready yet However I do have to say that what I feel most of all, is a great deal of pride in having survived. I suffered all forms of abuse as a child, emotional, sexual, physical, verbal, went on to be a survivor of rape, of domestic abuse. I was abused within the mental health system. I've spent virtually all of my adult life in poverty, raising my daughter as a single mom on disability due to "mental illness". But today, I feel as if I've done more than just survive; I am thriving. I have friends. I have a very active social life. I volunteer and I feel like the work I do is making a difference, having an impact. while technically I am still 'poor' by income, I don't go without anything I need, with the possible exception of good dental care I have a good life. Is my withdrawal journey over? I'm not sure.While I took my last dose of lexapro over a year ago, I feel like I am still having some symptoms that must be related to the nearly 4 DECADES on psych meds. BUT you need to know, these symptoms are extremely mild. and after that long on so many different drugs, it stands to reason that there will be minor little tweaks that my brain will need to make, for some time to come. I'd like to say that all that has faded into the background of my life, but to be honest: I am more vigilant about them now, than at any time during active withdrawal- because I don't want to fall into a trap of thinking that any problems I may have mean that all those doctors were right, I'm permanently disabled by a mental illness and there's no hope for me. I am pretty sure that the only thing I suffer from is PTSD, and I don't see that as a mental illness so much as a natural reaction to extremely stressful, traumatic life events. so Today I feel Victorious. I've overcome a lot and need to soak in that feeling of doing a good job I don't often give myself credit for my achievements or feel like it's ok to feel good about them but today, I give myself permission to bask in this feeling. it feels like the right and honest thing to do. I guess I just have to be different, I don't want to call this a success story because that sounds to me like the end, when in fact it is not. It's not really a beginning, either, because the beginning of my new life dates back to when I first realized that the drugs were the problem. to me, this just feels like a victory over adversity- something to celebrate! so please, celebrate with me, and know that you are going to heal as well, those of you still going thru WD/recovery. it's worth it, believe me so very worth it!
  8. Despite being quite nervous, I think it's time to make my introduction. I spent from early 2000's trying a variety of antidepressants. Prozac, setraline, amitryptiline, duloxetine, mirtazipine. Possibly something else, as well. Then, a crisis led to hospitalisation, and addition of quetiapine to fluoxetine. This was early 2019. Around four months ago, I stopped taking prozac, and about three months ago, I quit quetiapine. Both CT as I hadn't discovered this site. I was only taking 25mgs quetiapine and 20mgs prozac, so couldn't really taper without the help of the GP practice, in whom I have no confidence. A few months along, I am experiencing what I realise are waves and windows. Insomnia has been a recurring problem, but advice gained here has been very helpful. In my waves, I feel very depressed, but I now see this as withdrawal, rather than relapse. I don't think that antidepressants ever helped. As a cptsd sufferer, married to a troubled man, with two autistic sons, I was just overwhelmed. I am now a widow, and l live a very quiet life, with one if my sons. Medication does not feature in my future. History
  9. Hi I’m mark. I spent an hour trying to make my signature , but it wouldn’t allow it because it was to long. Tried cutting it down significantly, still to long , gave up. Basically I’ve been on a million drugs on and off , and didn’t ween off any of the em correctly except lamictal and seroquil. I can make a extremely generalized timeline . Starting with cymbalta 16-17 years ago. cynbalta -2007 1 year 2012 -1 month wellbutrin-2007- a few days xanax-2012- 1mg, recreationally 10-15 doses klonopin-2013 1year .25-1mg lexapro-1-2 months 10mg topamax-2weeks small dose lamictal— 2015 7 years- doses(25-400mg) Seroquil- 2015 5 years -15-100mg ketamine-2019 -10 iv treatments gabapentin-2020- 300mg- 2 months litrhium-2020 1200mg-1 month ambien-2020 5-10 mg 3 months Propalanol-2023 10mg -2 weeks I’ve had several med trials for past 10 years trying to address symptoms that came out of nowwhere in 2013, which I now realize we’re most likely issues from taking cymbalta at an early age , not weening off then going into more rec drug use and Xanax . past ten years of my life were terrible , Constant doctors , trying meds , psych ward visits from bad reactions , not knowing what was wrong , more meds , even was convinced I had lymw and did antibiotic protocols , hyperbaric chamber , etc. also multiple shoulder surgeries from bad shoulders , one of which was a botch job and caused terrible nerve damage furthering my issues . started realizing psych drugs were the problem in late 2021. Got off everything for about a year I got hit with a severe life threatening bout of insomnia in 2022 June , and after being off of drugs for nearly a year , had to resort back to trying things , and things spiraled quickly . While I always have had the hypersensitive nervous system symptom, i I started developing this at a new level . super sensitive to sounds ( even not loud soundslike fridge clicking on, car door in distance , anything etc). Can’t watch most movies emotions trigger symptoms . Constant tinnitus . Can’t exercise , sex release , can’t go to the store without flare .) nighttime adrenal surges / jolting . even then I STILL was seeing psych and trying meds because I was not familiar with kindling . How would I know ? I was member of benzo buddies and knew something was going on drug related but was suffering and didn’t know how else to try and fix it . Then I finally learned of kindling , and found this site . I’ve been off everything for 6-7 weeks . I see people with exact symptom profiles and I see a lot of people that don’t seem to show improvement with the hyper arousal especially from sounds . ive already suffered most of my life , and it’s been ten years and I’m not even close to better , in fact way worse. I guess what I need is a success story, for people with similar countless (to long to list) drug trials , that had the hyper arousal from sounds , lights , emotions , etc and eventually showed improvement . I don’t want to break any rules by saying how I truly feel , but this basically isn’t doable . I saw one lady that said she has the auditory arousal issues seven years later .. what?????? No.. can’t, sorry, I’ve already been in hell for 10 plus years . any success stories or other who had this issue and showed improvement WOULD help. I can’t really find any though . thank you for allowing me in the group and for reading
  10. Hi all, I am a Finn, 60 y.o., and therefore my English is not so good and accurate. However, I already have found useful advice here. My sleeping apnea was treated with Triptyl 12 mg for ten years. Then I got a proper diagnose and a CPAP machine in Jan.2020, but, my sleep did not recover. The doctor first ordered Lyrica+Escitalopram for a better sleep, but, this did not help at all; it only worsened the poor sleep. After that she compelled me to take Agomelatine 50 mg with Ketipinor 100-400 mg, and told me that I have to take these if I ever wanted to sleep. These drugs were safe, they did not cause any problems, and they were easy to get rid of. I quit Agomelatine by myself in Feb.2022, and started to think that the cause of poor sleep were now the Ketipinor. I never took more than 200 mg, and lowered the dosis from 200 to 100 in 2021, and from 100 to 50 in 2022. I paid some visits to a sleep clinique in 2022. They adviced me to quit Ketipinor rapidly, in one night. This gave me the withdrawal symptoms, and, I returned Ketipinor thinking I could not cope without it. However, on Jan.3rd 2023 I lowered to 25, by myself. I got panic reactions and poor sleep, but, now I knew these were withdrawal symptons that would ease during time. Now, I visited the psychiatrist of the sleep clinique, and he gave me instructions to deal the 25 mg into 4 pieces, and, drop 1 piece every fortnight. With this support, I lowered the dosis to 18 on Jan.20th. Now I go with 18 mg. However, this speed might be too heavy for me. Any help is appreciated.
  11. Iv been on lorazepam from last nov til this March ..for sleep.. a private dr gave this! When he never should of..I did not know it should not be given, I reinstated it for a month as I came off it for a week and tapered off it for that one week, and experienced terrible withdrawals when I went back on it, I was taking 1mg to 2 mg… I tried switching to diazepam for 5 weeks 10mg to 3.5mg became suicidal, I was put in a mental hospital for 3 days given quetiapine once and diazepam 5 mg once …I became totally unstable after this with rocking sensations and I could not sleep and my tinnitus got so bad ! I stopped putting anything in my body…. And became totally suicidal was eratic! pacing and having no sleep, I lost a lot of weight. And my anxiety became depersonalisation and I separated from my body! I ended up not being able to eat of drink and loosing control of my bowels, I was put into another mental hospital put on risperidone at 6mg I was in a constant physcosis in the mental hospital in so much pain, praying to god! I was in there on 2 weeks I was let out and stopped for 5 days, I started it again on 3mg and became very unwell for 10 days I started loosing control of my bowels and in a lot of pain, all over my body, feeling of burning, all over my body, I became eratic and went into another mental hospital and put on quetiapine at 400mg and mitazipine at 30mg for 2months I’m in a lot of pain and in hell !!! What do I do? I can’t feel anything ! thank you emma x
  12. Link to Benzo Forum Thread - Shep's Journey Link to French translation (courtesy of Erell): Se libérer de la psychiatrie - Shep : « Quitter la caverne de Platon » Leaving Plato’s Cave In Plato’s famous “Allegory of the Cave,” a group of human beings are chained since birth in a dark cave where a fire casts shadows of the world upon the walls. The shadows are all the prisoners know to be true. But one day, a prisoner breaks free and wanders out into the world. Her eyes are blinded by the sudden blast of sunlight and she is unsure of her reality and at times, longs to be back inside the familiar darkness. But as her eyes adjust, she is in awe of this new reality — people, nature, her own reflection! When she returns to the cave, the other prisoners laugh at her story in disbelief. . . . And so I left psychiatry — a dark cave of drug dependency, incarceration, deception, violence, mystification, and social control. The empty shadows on the walls that message this non-reality based belief system of mythical “mind diseases” fade out and a beautiful new reality unfolds before me. After 30 years, success from such an experience is a process, not a singular event. There may still be some unexpected waves, but that will allow the experience of re-emerging from periods of darkness with even more skill and resilience. For me, this part of the journey is very similar to the final phase of the grieving process. As Francis Weller reminds us in the book The Wild Edge of Sorrow, grief is sacred work. It’s an important teacher and should be honored, not feared. When symptoms are viewed as teachers and guides and you walk with them with curiosity and not fear, leaving Plato’s Cave turns into a journey of adventure and skill building. My signature symptom was - and is - DP/DR (depersonalization / derealization) and the lessons taught are in mindfulness and becoming The Observer. (I wrote about The Observer in several places in my benzo thread). I still have some lingering DP/DR, but this is a symptom I carry out of the cave with me, as I'm still learning from it and no longer view it as a problem but as a valued guide. Never give up — your new world awaits you. For many of us, it’s a brutal trip. So travel lightly and listen carefully to what your teachers and guides are telling you. As painful and confusing as it is, these symptoms are here for a reason. At five years off all drugs (from 30 years use), I can now: Run 30 - 60 minutes, four days a week, along with doing yoga and strength training. Runner’s high is beautiful! Bike 30 miles a week - urban cycling is now my main transportation to and from work because of subway and bus delays due to COVID-19 Work 40 - 45 hours a week (was unemployed for around 9 months due to severe akathisia and DP/DR) See the world with 20/20 vision (with glasses) - since last August (before that, my focus was in and out and I wasn’t able to get an accurate eyeglass prescription) Read books with a high level of concentration during windows. I get lost in activities now and experience a sense of “flow” when reading, working, exercising, and playing music for hours at a time Feel music deeply to the point of being moved to tears at times Experience powerful levels of spirituality and connection with the universe Sleep a restful 6 - 7.5 hours a night most nights (Netflix is a treat when insomnia hits now because I know the insomnia wave will pass and I like the excuse to watch movies in my favorites list) About me: 52-year-old female, currently working full time, no family, studio apartment, still navigating my way back into more social situations, complicated by the city’s partial shut-down due to COVID-19. Entry into psychiatric drugs: forced “treatment” in private and state psychiatric prisons off and on from the age of 17 until 21 for so-called “psychosis.” Gaslighted into long-term drug compliance with the lie that neuroleptics are a neuro-protective agent against brain damage caused by so-called “psychosis.” Never told about dopamine supersensitivity or tardive dysphoria. Drug and label history: 30 years of neuroleptics, benzodiazepines, z-drugs, so-called “anti”-depressants, and amphetamines. Labeled with “manic depression” and “PTSD” from years of physical and sexual abuse as a child. The “chemical imbalance” myth dominated the narrative because psychiatry replicates the patriarchal and paternalistic abuses of the nuclear family (and the larger political structure) within a medicalized context. This is not an accident. This is how the system is designed. Date of last drug taken: May 22, 2015 Reason for exiting the cave: After having spent more than 25 years working low-level jobs and bouncing from here to there, I descended into cognitive decline with voices and visuals, disassociation, akathisia, and suicidal thoughts. A psychiatrist suggested another change in drugs but — too fast, too soon, leading to a nervous system crash. After being threatened with forced “treatment” in the state psychiatric prison again in early 2014, I found Robert Whitaker’s book Anatomy of an Epidemic in a random Google search on my phone. The realization I had been poisoned was enough for me to control my behavior and save myself from further “treatment.” The psychiatric system disables and kills people. That’s not an abstract concept when you’re at the receiving end of forced “treatment.” Method of coming off psychiatric drugs: cold turkey and rapid taper off a cocktail of Seroquel, Viibryd, Klonopin, Sonata, Dexedrine, and Halcion (NOTE: I do NOT recommend this method of withdrawal - I didn’t find the withdrawal forums until I was almost completely off all drugs. Stay safe and taper if at all possible). Favorite non-drug coping skills: Shep’s Toolkit. For me, the non-drug coping skills were not optional. I still refer to this list and have tons more bookmarked in folders on my laptop. Mooji and Alan Watts are still my go-to sources for calming. The un-patienting process: During recovery, I began reading a lot of anti-psychiatry literature. Dr. Phil Hickey’s article sums it up well - In Defense of Anti-Psychiatry. Anti-psychiatry gave me the language to understand and name the world around me. Dr. Thomas Szasz is a major influence in my understanding of this world. He understood the power structure of psychiatry better than anyone I've read so far. Dr. Bruce Cohen's Psychiatric Hegemony: A Marxist Theory of Mental Illness helped me understand psychiatry's political structure. Psychiatry is about power and politics, not medicine. Psychiatry is not broken. The system was designed this way. Psychiatry is not a legitimate field of medicine and cannot be reformed. It needs to be abolished. To not message this would be to condone a form of structural violence that not only has disabled and killed millions of people, it also maintains and even furthers the systemic social and economic injustices these individuals represent. I hope one day, those still trapped in Plato’s Cave will be released and the cave will be sealed shut.
  13. Hello everyone. I'm a 42-year-old man living in Wales, UK. I've decided to join the site after recently watching the BBC Panorama documentary on antidepressants. Watching the documentary made me realise that I've been living in self-denial for more than a decade about the negative, lasting impact that SSRIs and SNRIs have had on my health and wellbeing. I believe it's my public duty to document my experience, which I hope can be used as further evidence of the damaging side effects of these medications and help my children's generation make an informed choice - something that I was denied. I was first prescribed Citalopram in 2011 following a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder. I was reluctant to start taking antidepressants. I remember expressing this reluctance to my doctor and his blunt response was: "well, what else do you expect me to do?". His message was clear: antidepressant medication was the only option available. There was no discussion about psychological therapy. What's more, the doctor did not explain the risk of potential side effects or difficulties with withdrawal before I started antidepressants. I was implicitly led to believe there were no downsides, only benefits. I therefore relented and began taking Citalopram. As it turned out, I didn't experience any noticeable side effects on Citalopram. However, I didn't experience any noticeable benefits either. In fact, between 2011 and 2018 my depression worsened over time. The medical community's response was to incrementally increase the dosage of Citalopram, but it didn't make any difference. The only reason I continued with antidepressants was because I'd finally found a doctor I'd trusted. Her view, which she said was based on evidence from medical research, was that a combination of medication and psychotherapy was shown to have the best results for depression. I took her advice. Things changed suddenly and drastically in early 2018 when I experienced an acute mental breakdown. I was admitted to a specialist inpatient psychiatric unit. The first thing the consultant psychiatrist did was review my medication history and immediately switched me to Venlafaxine. Again, I was not informed about the risk of potential side effects or difficulties with withdrawal. I wasn't given a choice, nevermind given the opportunity to make an informed choice. Unlike my experience with Citalopram, I started experiencing side effects almost immediately with Venlafaxine. My general sexual arousal was severely diminished and I struggled to achieve a full erection whether on my own or with a partner. I found this distressing, more so than my depression. I informed my doctor who told me sexual dysfunction was a common side effect of antidepressants. This was the first time since I’d started taking antidepressants seven years earlier that a medical professional had revealed there were potential risks in taking these medications. My doctor prescribed me Sildenafil, which while I accept did help, the quality of my sex life was far below what it was before. Sexual activity was no longer fun and spontaneous, but something to be managed and planned carefully. It was around 2019 when I decided that the detrimental impact of Venlafaxine on my sex life had become too severe and that I would come off it. I don’t recall the exact details of how I tapered, but I did so over about a period of 18 months from 225mg to 0mg. It was hell on earth. An experience that was completely unexpected and for which I was wholly unprepared. The withdrawal symptoms I experienced included: Severe headaches Disorientation Brain fog Lethargy Anxiety Diarrhea Despite the struggle I had with withdrawal from Venlafaxine, I persisted with tapering off. The eventual prize of a renewed and healthy sex life was too great to ignore. But… ...weeks and months passed after the Venlafaxine had left my system and I was still experiencing the same sexual dysfunction. I was devastated. Not only had the medical community failed to inform me of the risk of sexual side effects from taking antidepressants, but they’d also failed to inform me of the risk those sexual side effects could persist after tapering off them completely. Resigned to my sex life being ruined forever, I went back on Venlafaxine in 2021 on the advice of my doctor. I came off it in January 2023 after another long, painful tapering period beset by the same side effects as before. I was antidepressant-free between January 2023 and October 2023, but another mental health crisis sent me back to psychiatric care and I was given two new prescriptions of Vortioxetine (10mg) and Quetiapine (25mg). I stumbled across the BBC Panorama documentary just before Christmas. I was shocked, appalled and filled with rage. Why hadn’t the medical community explained any of this to me before I started taking antidepressants more than 10 years ago? I was denied the opportunity to make an informed choice. It’s a global scandal. After watching BBC Panorama, I made the firm decision to come off antidepressants/psychiatric medication for good. I tapered off Quetiapine first (25mg to 0mg) then tapered off the Vortioxetine (10mg, to 5mg, to 0mg). I did this over a period of about eight weeks. I took my final 5mg dose of Vortioxetine two weeks ago today. Thankfully, I’ve not experienced the same kind of severe withdrawal symptoms as I did with Venlafaxine. I’m having some trouble sleeping, but I wouldn’t describe it as severe. My sexual dysfunction persists. I’m coming to a place of acceptance that I may never fully recover the healthy, happy sex life I once enjoyed. But I live in hope. ---------------- Citalopram (2011 to 2018) Venlafaxine (2018 to Jan 2023) Quetiapine (Oct 2023 to Jan 2024 - tapered from 25mg to 0mg). Vortioxetine (Oct 2023 to Feb 2024 - tapered from 10mg, to 5mg to 0mg)
  14. Hey everybody, I’m a new member, so please let me know if this is not okay or goes against anything. I will keep it as short and sweet as I can. Many years ago, I was put on Sertraline. I was quite young and I can’t remember anything negative about it. In December last year, I was put on 50mg of Sertraline (28th), and I tapered off 25mg of Notripyline and stopped completely the day prior (27th). I was on the Sertraline for 2 weeks, and 4 days when the itchiness started. It feels like a light tickle, or as if something has brushed against my skin, like a hair. It can be anywhere on my body. Once I scratch it, it stops, and then will move elsewhere. I’m not frantically scratching, it’s not keeping me awake and I’m not damaging skin, but it makes me anxious, agitated and restless. I will often bounce my leg or do something. The itching stopped for a few days (27th Jan until 31st) and then returned. I did develop a rash on my stomach on the 27th, which was itchy and red. I’m unsure what caused this, but it was near my injection site where I inject Ajovy (a headache/migraine medication). I injected that on the 21st of Jan, rash appeared 27th. I don’t think it’s related to my itchiness, it happened to settle when I first had the rash. The rash is no longer itchy and is fading with hydrocortisone cream. I am also on 25mg of Quetiapine, which was increased to 50mg on the 27th of December last year to assist with any insomnia that weaning of the Notripyline may cause. I guess what I want to know, is this a side effect of Sertraline/SSRIs? I’m very worried I’m developed some sort of compulsion or health condition. I’ve read in a lot of places that itchiness can be a side effect due to the serotonin increase. I also smoke marijuana. I’ve never had any other drug reactions. Thank you in advance
  15. Dear SA team, Can you please help me/advise me regarding my issues with Mirtazapine? I was told by my psychiatrist that I simply stop taking 15mg Mirtazapine per night (I have been taking it for 18 months). He said that there shouldn't be a withdrawal period due to me also being put on Quetiapine (25mg per night) around 6 months ago. 17 days ago, I started to reduce my Mirtazapine intake from 1x 15mg tablet per night, to 1x15mg tablet every 3 nights. In the first 14 days I had horrible withdrawal symptoms including significant cognitive impairments like brain fog, dizziness, inability to think straight, forgetfulness, loss of coordination, feeling very spaced out mentally. I also found it very difficult to fall asleep, being awake until 9am on some nights. I then experienced palpitations a few nights ago around 2am which persisted all night long. Out of desperation, I took half a tablet (7.5mg Mirtazapine) at about 4am. However it seemed to do little- the palpitations persisted and I didn't fall asleep until 8am and only slept a couple of hours here and there. These palpitations stayed with me for several days. I rang my psychiatrist and he advised me to either stop taking the Mirtazapine entirely or to go back to taking it 1x15mg per night (my original dose). I came across your section on Kindling and became afraid that if I take the original dosage again, it might have a bad effect. I tired to call my psychiatrist back to ask this question, however his secretary told me that he couldn't see me until April and that he'd already advised me on this. 3 nights ago, I started taking half a tablet each night. It seemed to do nothing for the first day. However yesterday I felt calmer during the day insofar as the palpitations stopped. They did re-appear last night though. Today also the palpitations seem absent. However I have been worried by how energised and overstimulated I feel despite existing on just a couple of hours of sleep. Whilst I'm very thankful that the palpitations have relented (at least during the daytime yesterday and today) it worries me that I still feel overstimulated. Could this lead to akathisia/ mania due to taking too much (half the original dose 7.5mg)? Or is it because I'm taking too little and this is simply anxiety? Can you please recommend me a reinstatement dosing amount? I don't know what else to do right now. I am terrified of this getting worse (and potentially becoming permanent?) and am not receiving any proper help from my psychiatrist. I really don't know what to do here. I just want to know how much I should take that is a safe reinstatement amount. Is half a tablet too much? Will it lead to kindling? Or is it too little and I need to go back to the full amount to get better? Is this overstimulation a sign of kindling or is it an anxious nervous system? Mirtazapine is also a unique drug in that it functions more strongly as a sedative at lower doses and as an anti depressant in higher doses. So shouldn't the half tablet be a stronger sedative for my nervous system than the full tablet? Sorry if the information is a bit all over the place, my mind isn't coherent right now. I would greatly appreciate any advice given. Thank you very much, Brendan.
  16. I was looking for something else and ran across these articles. Apparently there has been an association for nearly 20 years now that anti psychotics, especially risperidone, used long term can be a potential cause of pituitary tumors. Recent studies are firming this up and finding an association. Great 🫢 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30531551/ https://journals.lww.com/psychopharmacology/Fulltext/2012/12000/Atypical_Antipsychotics_and_Pituitary_Tumors.1.aspx https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news/antipsychotic-drug-may-be-linked-pituitary
  17. Hello, im confused about what to post and where. So please bare with me. Im 41 years old, female and have been on quetiapine and escitalopram for 12 years or so . I have been skipping doses of the lexapro for the last year. I naively thought this was ok to do. My anxiety, panic and ocd has been incredibly bad i assumed it was just my illness getting worse( bpd, adhd, anxiety, ocd, ptsd) the meds no longer working . At their peak i was taking 20 mg escitalopram and 75 quetipaine. but naturally tapered over the years. I thought they were working but now im convinced they are making me worse. Im worried i have kindled myself from skipping doses of lexapro. As i said i have been stable on 25 mg of quetiapine that i take regualry but for over a year have been skipping doses of 10 mg of lexapro, i may only take 3 tablets a week. I had the realisation i wanted to come of the meds starting with the lexapro, i went on holiday recently ( 2 weeks ago) and took 1 , 10 mg pill in 8 days I Was feeling sick so the next week took 5 mg only 3 days a week and found this site. Ive since realised skipping doses was a terrible thing to do. i have now decided to take 5 mg every of the lexapro every day . The sickness and headache subsided but im feeling high as a kite And manic. im not sure what to do im trying to find a psychiatrist but its taking ages. Please advise 🙏🏻🙏🏻
  18. Hi, this will take a while to write down as i’m suffering to remembering things clearly. When I was 16(2013) I got diagnosed with ADD, social anxiety and a learning disability. I was put on Atomoxetin and Sertraline where I refused to take them most of the time as I just didn’t want to be different from the other kids. Didn’t experience any side effects at all and I quit taking the pills CT a year after without any WD. In mid 2018 I was put on citalopram 20mg and seroquel(25mg but told me I could take up to max 75mg a day and switch between doses if I felt like I needed it) for sleep, after I developed an ED and a depression due to a past abusive relationship. had severe side effects at first, but wanted to feel better desperatly so I held out. In 2019 my anxiety got worse and my doctor increased my dose to 40mg of citalopram and lastly to 60mg. In start 2021 I began feeling almost sicker, having severe headaches, extreme irritability, stomach aches, bloating and numbness. decided I didn’t want to live like this, I educated myself on the medications I was taking and I was shocked to say the least. I contacted my doctor and we started started tapering down from 60mg citalopram in 2021 in May to 30mg, with no problems but experienced extreme withdrawal when i tapered down too fast from 30 to 12mg after a month. on a steady dose of 15mg of citalopram from July up to now. Been Tapering down on quetiapine from august 16th 2021 to (75mg, 50mg, 25mg, 12mg and been on 6mg for my last dose in April 2022. I wanna keep updating my progress here since i’ve had horrible withdrawals from the quetiapine tapering for the past 4 months, with very little windows.
  19. I want to know how to detox from all the psychiatric drugs that I took in order to make possible for my body not to need to take them anymore and to eliminate all the side effects that the psych drugs gave me. This is all the drugs that I took from psychiatrists: when I was 16 years old I took first paxil and rivotril (clonazepam) for a year and then only epival er (valproate semisodium) for a year and Then when I got 21 I took paxil and rivotril for 6 months. I changed to a 2nd psychiatrist he gave me symbyax (olanzapine and fluoxetine) I was with him for 4 months, then I went with a 3rd shrink that gave me lamictal and abilify for 6 months so then I changed with a 4th doctor which was a "neurologist" who gave me strattera for ADD and told me to go with his partner who is another psychiatrist (5th doctor) who added me sertraline, topamax (topiramate), olanzapine, lamictal, and because of the tachycardia that were produce by this drugs he added inderalici for my tachycardia. So after 7 months with this doctor I went with a 6th doctor that gave me paxil, rivotril, lithium and for my ADD he gave me methylphenidate (commercial name is tradea LP which is similar to Concerta). After 6 months with this doctor I changed to a 7th doctor that gave me sertraline in a very high dose and with this I decided to stop taking that pill a was taking but in a one day span it caused me to have a psychosis that made my father send male nurses to kidnapped and locked into a clinic (like hospitalization), in which the skrink that trated me was the one that treated me when I was 16 and he injected me haldol and gave pills more haldol, biperiden, triazolam and risperdal. I LIVED HELL WITH THESE DRUGS. Then the shrink after he saw that I recover reality, I was super depressed so he gave me citalpram but it didn't work so he gave me paxil and lithium. Then I started coming off meds and now I just take one quarter of a lithium pill every day in the morning. My actual side effects that I want to eliminate are: anxiety, very strong heart palpitaions or beats/beating that cause bad breathing and chest pain, difficulty to take decisions, nausea, extreme itching in my face, head, chest and back, buzz in the ears, difficulty to focus or concentrate, bad short-term memory, and wanting to pee all the time. Thank you very much.
  20. Hi folks, First of all I'm new to this site, so feel free to tell me I'm in the wrong area or redirect me.. But here's my story... I currently have what I think is severe anhedonia. Last July, I was a bit depressed (I stress a bit, not majorly).......doctor gave me lexapro 10. After taking this, I vomited on the first night and developed sleep problems. Later in the week, I was given 25 seroquel which apparently would help balance out adverse effects of lexapro.......by the end of the week, I wasn't sleeping and I was suicidal. I subsequently was admitted to hospital. In hospital, I got more and more meds thrown at me and my mid august I was on 125 seroquel, 30 mirtazapine, 20 lexapro, 20 Olanzapine/Zyprexa....My main problem was the medication ripped my stomach apart.....the docs didn't believe me and just gave me more and more meds. I left hospital anyway on the concoction I mentioned.....I spent the following four months on these meds. During those four months, I felt no emotion whatsever, nothing. I felt suicidal, and that I would never recover. I had no desire to do anything. I just stayed in bed until late in the day, even though my sleep did not feel like real sleep. By mid November, i realised that the medication was messing me up, I demanded that I gradually come off everything. On that day, the doctor dropped the mirtazapine, and cut everything else in half. There was a quick taper, maybe too quick, and by christmas eve I was off everything. There were brief windows of emotion during the taper but still 95% anhedonia. Days after I went off everything....I cried for the first time in six months.....days later I laughed for the first time in months... I'm now 6 weeks off everything, I had huge headaches up unitl last week. My stomach started to improve after going off everything and is on the mend. However, I'm still worried about emotions/desires/thoughts etc.....over the last six weeks....I've had maybe 5 occassions where I felt strong positive emotions...and maybe 3 times where I've been sad/angry to the point of proper crying. outside of those 8 occassions, there's still an awful amount of flat feeling, apathy etc... I'm worried and wonder how long or if I will recover at all. Feedback welcome!!
  21. Hey everyone! I’ve been taking Seroquel 200mg for 8 years and have finally decided I’d like to discontinue my use of the drug. Initially, I was taking seroquel as an antipsychotic to silence voices and delusional mania I was experiencing during my early adulthood. Now I’m disinterested in the drug and have tapered down to 50mg. It’s almost been a month and no withdrawals. From here I plan to microtaper my dose from 50mg to 0 over the course of 2 years. I’ve never used a liquid solution and have no experience measuring my doses myself. If anyone could please assist me in my hyperbolic taper I’d be quite thankful and relieved because my psychiatrist was very aggressive, refusing to request a compounding pharmacy to assist me. He had firmly stated that he cannot lower my dose using the hyperbolic method and the next available dose was 25mg. Over 2-3 years I plan to slowly taper this last bit of seroquel and live my life drug free. Understandably I’ve read research regarding seroquel’s dose dependent uses and have come to the realization that 50mg is only effective as a sleep aid, not a mood stabilizer or antipsychotic. If I’m not experiencing any symptoms here I feel comfortable taking myself off the drug completely. Much love to everyone and greatly anticipating this new chapter of my life!
  22. I'm supporting my husband in his journey withdrawing from AD and Benzos. My apologies for the length of the story but as an introduction it paints a better picture for giving advice. He is a 77 year old male in excellent physical health and until last year in good mental health. He has always been on the anxious side but it was specific to travel and feeling out of his comfort zone while away from home. He had been working with a therapist to address anxiety related to travel and felt he was getting a handle on some strategies to deal with some of his fears. In early 2022 he lost 2 very close friends within a few months. Both friends were part of a pipe band that he has been involved with for 40 years. One friend, in his mid 50's, was the pipe major and so the band became somewhat rudderless after being a going concern. He found all of this very stressful and began experiencing some anxiety any time the pipe band was part of a conversation. In early May a second band member passed away and days after his funeral we travelled from Canada to visit family in the UK. At this time he was taking Lorazepam PRN only to deal with travel anxiety e.g. while at the airport and the same on return so, very rarely. Part of our vacation included a trip to Crete with my siblings and their spouses. While in Crete he became more anxious as the days went on and one day experienced a panic attack. From then on his anxiety increased fearing this could happen again at any time. By the time we were due to fly home to Canada he was anxious every day. Upon returning home he made an appointment with his GP who suggested Wellbutrin 150mg to deal with the anxiety. After one week of steadily increasing anxiety and nausea the GP switched him to Buspar 10mg BID and recommended an appointment with a psychiatrist to review his symptoms and medication. The psychiatrist diagnosed GAD increased the dose of Buspar to 10mg TID. Two weeks into the dose increase his anxiety and nausea were increasing to a severe level and once again and he was taking .5mg Lorazepam more often, sometimes several days in a row to ease the anxiety. In consultation with his GP he decreased the Buspar back down to 10mg BID with the idea to cross taper onto Mirtazapine 30mg. All of this trial and error of medication was happening during the month of August while we were hosting 10 visitors from the UK which in itself caused significant stress and anxiety. By the end of September he had been on Mirtazapine 30 mg for about 6 weeks. He was experiencing occasional nausea and anxiety but much improved from when he started taking the medication. In the middle of October we travelled to Morocco. Travel triggered his anxiety and the Mirtazapine didn't seem to relieve it so he began to need Lorazepam again to deal with this. During our trip we both got Covid. He was not very sick and only experienced mild flu like symptoms for a few days. He began to have trouble sleeping and took Melatonin to help with this. Unfortunately, this caused bizarre nightmares. After Covid he began to experience a burning sensation across his neck and shoulders and sometimes across his chest. He began to be quite agitated, restless, and his anxiety got much worse. November and the beginning of December were relatively stable with anxiety, nausea and burning sensations occasionally but not all the time. In January his symptoms became more frequent and more intense and he talked with his GP about coming off Mirtazapine as it was definitely not helping and possibly making things worse. His Dr agreed and suggested a taper that we now know was way too fast. Coupled with the addition of Lexapro and Quetiapine as aids to withdrawal he was now dealiing with side effects from the added meds and withdrawal from the Mirtazapine all at the same time. Here is a brief summary of the meds taken: May 2022 - panic attacks and GAD. Rx Lorazepam .5 mg PRN for anxiety until March 2023 June 1 Dr prescribed Wellbutrin 150mg June 13 Dr switched Buspar 10 mg BID - Psych Increased dose to 10 mg TID Aug 9-Feb 8 Dr switched to Mirtazapine 30 mg Below is a brief timeline of the withdrawal process from the GP: Feb 9-16 Mirtazapine 15 mg, Lexapro 5 mg, Seroquel 25 mg BID Feb 16-22 Mirtazapine 15 mg, Lexapro 10 mg, Seroquel 50 mg in am, 75 mg in pm Feb 23- Mar 1 Mirtazapine 7.5 mg, Lexapro 10 mg, Seroquel 50 mg in am, 75mg in pm Mar 2-16 Mirtazapine 7.5 mg Tapered Lexapro and Seroquel concurrently March 17-19, Mirtazapine 5.6 mg, Seroquel 25 mg BID March 20-26, Mirtazapine to 3.75 mg, Clonazepam 25 mg BID March 27-April 2, Clonazepam 25 mg BID April 3-May 3 Tapered Clonazepam May 3 no drugs He has not taken any medication since the beginning of May and is a little more than 7 months into withdrawal from all drugs. At this point it is impossible to know which of the drugs are causing the symptoms. He continues to suffer from insomnia and has some nights when he gets of a few hours of broken sleep and then he'll have a good night of 7 hours. He has become anxious around the amount of sleep he gets. He has developed social anxiety even to the point of visiting our children and grandchildren and suffers extreme chest tightness and anxiety at the thought of socializing. Interestingly, when he's actually visiting with people he does quite well. Likewise, he experiences the same symptoms if he needs to be in the car for longer than about 15 minutes although he is able to drive, go to the supermarket and do daily activities without too much discomfort. Sometimes he will wake and complain of "flu like" symptoms where he feels like he has a temperature but he doesn't. He has trouble with temperature regulation and is often very hot or too cold. He has experienced a couple of weeks about a month ago when his symptoms were a little less intense than they are now but just recently they seem to have ramped up once again. On a daily basis his symptoms include anxiety, chest tightness, feelings of hot and cold waves, agitation, restlessness, fear, and depression. The symptoms change in intensity throughout the day and a trigger can cause a sudden spike in intensity from mild to severe. Hi symptoms tend to get worse during the day until around dinner time then gradually subside during the evening until they are almost gone at the end of the day. We have recently sent of for some genetic testing as it would be interesting to see whether any of the medications he has taken might have been contraindicated based on his genetic profile. We're not sure what we will do with this information once it is available in the next few days. Perhaps, should he consider taking a different AD down the road, this information may serve to inform that decision. Based on his experience with ADs so far I would think this would be unlikely. However, the one thing no one can tell us is whether the symptoms he is experiencing at 7 months off a relatively low dose of Mirtazapine for a short period of time are from withdrawal or a worsening of his previous anxiety. How long do you wait in the hope that is the case? Does he look at the possibility of yet another AD? He is becoming more depressed by his constant symptoms on a daily basis. Doing nothing but waiting it out seems futile. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
  23. Hello everyone, I was taking 20mg (max dosage) of escitalopram/Lexapro for the past 17 years, and also 25mg at night of quetiapine, however over the course of this year I developed a terrible phobia about taking medications, and therefore I stopped all my medications abruptly. Since then I have been experiencing persistent brain zaps, dizziness/off balance, feeling nauseous, I am constantly highly anxious, I am crying often, have zero appetite ( I have lost at least 1stone and 6 pounds/10kgs thus far since I stopped the medications), I struggle to sleep, and when I do I experience bad nightmares and sweats, I had seen some information online stating that in some rare cases people can actually die from stopping anti-depressants without tapering, and also that if does not kill me that I could suffer these withdrawal symptoms for many months, even years. I feel terribly ill and afraid, can someone please confirm if it is true that I can in fact die from this?, and if not how long am I likely to suffer in this state?, do symptoms peak and then decrease or do they stay as intense as this the whole time? Any thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated, Thank You
  24. Took a lot of antidepressants during 2015 for anxiety. The last one was paroxetine, which induced a hypomania, according to doc (was more like an extreme irritability).After that, I started my treatment for "bipolar 2" with lots of medication failures due to extreme side effects (I'm too sensitive to this kind of drug) . The only drug my body kind of "accepted" was quetiapine xr 50 mg.In april 2021 doc made a mistake and gave me the wrong pills with a dosage of 300mg! Started having adrenaline rushes and heart issues. The pills (at least in my country) look the same! I realized only after 17 days, went back to 50 mg but developed what I recently discovered was a severe 3 months withdrawal. The doctor, to "manage" the withdrawal (although he never said was withdrawal, he said it was anxiety and panic), put me on 25mg of amisulpride, 1.25mg of olanzapine and 1mg of clonazepam (couldn't tolerate more than these). After 1 month of clonazepam, doc started a "taper" reducing 1 drop per week (in my country, clonazepam has this liquid formulation). After I completely stopped the clonazepam I entered on a terrible withdrawal, the doctor said it was normal and suggested increasing olanzapine to 2.5 mg. Took only one week and went down to 1.25mg again.Found another doc who said I'm not bipolar and probably have some anger issues and general anxiety, but manageable through therapy. He said the meds made all the bad stuff I've been feeling during the last 6 years. Proposed to taper all meds during a long time, but since I'm too bad (feeling very tired) and the last drug was olanzapine (which he told me is a terrible and dangerous drug) and is in the same class as the others, he proposed try to be a "little" fast (not so little cuts every 4 weeks) because he thought my tiredness was from that. Went from 1.25mg (1/2 a pill) to 0.9325mg (3/8th a pill) and it was good. Then went from 0.9325mg to 0.625mg (1/4th a pill) and had only some tremors during 3 hours on two days. When I went from 0.625mg to 0.3125mg(1/8th a pill) I felt very bad for two days with extreme anxiety, insomnia and nausea, then I started slowly improving. Now it's one and a half weeks past and I feel a bit tired and have some chest pressure. Doc said to wait two months to make any changes in medications. So, what's next? Since I'm at this low dosage should I taper more? At what dosage should I jump off from olanzapine? I bought a digital scale and the 1/8th a pill weighs 12mg. So I can do the 10% rule for 3 months until I hit the 9 mg of pill weight (0,2344 a dosage). After that the decrements will be 1mg, more than 10%. In this extreme case is it acceptable?
  25. New Member: A therapist/GP put me on Celexa in 2002 to help with occasional bouts of anger (not sadness). Then around 2014, my Celexa prescription transitioned to Lexapro/Escitalopram (20mg). This was my only prescription for many years as I was blessed with a healthy life until I decided near the beginning of 2020 to stop taking Escitalopram as I was feeling pretty good and wanted to be pharmaceutical free. Unlike myself, I didn't research the tapering process or ask for medical supervision. I took 20mg tablets when the headaches got bad. The times between headaches got further and further apart until I had not taken Escitalopram for about three-months. Then at the end of May or beginning June (2020), anxiety started to build more each day. At first I didn't understand it. Granted, this is when Covid hit and the world turned upside-down but I don't normally get too anxious about world problems. Then it hit me that this might be a reaction/withdrawal from Escitalopram. I restarted taking Escitalopram (20mg) and made a doctor's appointment. My recollection is that the anxiety was retreating for the few days I had gone back to it and I was still sleeping eight-plus hours each night. Upon my doctor's visit toward the beginning of June (2020), I told her that anxiety had kicked in a little but I was taking my Escitalopram again (I don't remember if I told her it was bringing down the anxiety). At this point she scrolled through an (Rx) app on her iPad and told me to stop taking Escitalopram and start Zoloft/Sertraline. Without questioning her I did as I was prescribed. Shortly after starting Sertraline my brain went berserk - I was getting anywhere from zero to six-hours sleep, shakes, "twitches," throbbing headaches, screaming tinnitus, severe anxiety, hours of pacing inside the house and unable to take naps. I used to be a productive person then I became a hermit rarely leaving the house. When I contacted my doctor to tell her what was going on, she seemed to minimize the urgency (my pain and agony). Usually she would just double the dosage or put me on a different prescription or tell me "she's got this." She had me take so many tests because she didn't believe it was mis-prescribing (her advice) causing the issue. She had me endure several blood tests, two CT scans (head and abdomen), a neurologist appointment (who did nothing but check if I could walk a straight line) and a hospital hosted overnight sleep study. This went on for almost five-months. I think all of the medicines can be seen somewhere on my profile. At some point, it seemed she - my general practitioner/internest - figured out that she had no idea what to do then recommended a psychiatrist to help with medicine management. He, the psychiatrist, told me stay on Escitalopram (20mg) and put me on Bupropion, Quetiapine and Lithium. At this point I'm taking four prescriptions. This is about the time my spouse found this site and learned I was not the only one going through this horrible experience. The notes and advice we found on this site seemed to make much more sense then what the doctors are/were saying or doing. At the moment, I am taking the following prescriptions: 1. Escitalopram (20mg), June 2002 - January 2020 (18-years), then back again August 2020, 2. Bupropion (300mg), Since October 2020, 3. Quetiapine (200mg), Since November 2020, 4. Lithium (300mg), Since November 2020, CURRENTLY TAPERING (down from 900mg). I want to reduce my reliance on prescription(s) as much as possible. Note that I still have the aforementioned symptoms; although, I am getting a little more sleep with a prescription (Quetiapine), that I wish to quit taking. Large parts of most days I am basically non-functional and spend time in bed with a pillow on my head. My questions include: 1. In which order should the medications be tapered? The "app" on this site wasn't much help. 2. How quickly may the medications be tapered? I see that 10% per month is common advice. Is this true for all medicines regardless of time taking? 3. Based on a few write-ups on this site, it appears going back to Escitalopram - full dosage - is "kindling" the withdrawal symptoms. So should I still slowly taper (10%) off of the Escitalopram or just get off of it quickly to stop the kindling? 4. Is there a doctor near me that has REALLY worked with someone in my predicament? My GP and Psychiatrist claimed to be experienced, but they weren't. Instead, they were experimenting with me and made it worse. 5. What should be my reaction if withdrawal or other symptoms begin - gut it out, restart the med(s) at a low dosage, high dosage, or other advice? Thank you for reading my long message and for any help you can provide.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use Privacy Policy