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Hi there, So I've been lurking on here for the past few months, and some of the advice and reassurance I've been getting from reading threads here has really helped turn things around for me after a truly hellish time, so I wanted to lead with thanking you all for that. It's been nice just to not feel alone in all of this. Now, I'll get into some of my history. I started out taking 50 mg of sertraline after a deep depressive episode that I'd been trying and failing to fight through alone for years in about 2016. I took sertraline for a few years, and started having what brief blackouts for a few seconds or less. This was pointed out to me while I was driving with a family member, and ran a light that I hadn't even realised I'd gone past. After the sertraline struggles, I went on 75 mg of venlafaxine, which didn't really help my depression and I started to feel much worse mentally and really struggling with insomnia. In January of 2019, I was prescribed mirtazapine to help these symptoms, I started out on a low dose, and we later upped it to 30 mg. This helped greatly for years. I started sleeping fully, and gradually found some emotional stability, with maybe some minor side-effects, dry mouth, appetite fluctuations, morning grogginess, but that was about it. I still don't know if these two things are related or not, maybe I was just unlucky? However, in June of 2021, I was feeling extremely emotionally happy. But I started to notice tinnitus and a constant feeling of fullness and pain in my ears. I was prescribed a course of antibiotics, but they didn't really help. I later saw an ENT specialist who diagnosed me with eustachian tube dysfunction. A few months later, I started having a feeling of tightness in my chest, trouble breathing, irregular heartbeats, etc. A few ECG tests after a trip to my GP indicated I had pericarditis. After two weeks of ibuprofen, I was supposedly in the clear. And I was, for a little bit, but then I started having more chest pains, tightness, and palpitations again, along with frequent burping, abdominal discomfort, cycling between diarrhoea and severe constipation for several days at a time. I was also having a lot of vision problems (significantly increased floaters, particularly when I look at a bright or white light source, redness, dryness, and photosensitivity). A 72-hour ECG came back mostly clear, and doctors told me I probably had sinus arrhythmia, which is quite normal and usually completely asymptomatic. My blood pressure was normal too. I was put on omeprazole for acid reflux, which helped for a while, but I eventually ran out. Since my gastrointestinal symptoms had settled, I was told to just ride out the chest issues, and that they were likely anxiety. I tried this for a while, and then I started experiencing some other things, sudden leg and arm twitches, tremors, closed-eye hallucinations when sleeping, increased heart palpitations, neck stiffness, and headaches and tenderness at the back of my head. Having researched some of these symptoms to try and figure things out, I spoke to my doctor, who inspected me for signs of infection as a lot of these symptoms lined up, except for the closed-eye hallucinations and tremors. I was told there was nothing wrong. I brought up the potential of having an adverse reaction to the mirtazapine, and he recommended we wait a little longer. I came back a few weeks later with a lot of the same symptoms as well as sharp pain in my kidneys, increased urination at night, extreme anxiety and agitation, and a return of my gastrointestinal issues, whilst still having all of the other issues. I was given a prescription for a lowered dose of mirtazapine to 15 mg and told to taper over the course of a month. By now, it was December. I'd already started to try to improve my diet and improve some of my habits to manage my acid reflux after the pericarditis scare, no coffee (god, I miss it), no alcohol, much better eating habits, and daily exercise through brisk walking/jogging on the treadmill. This helped a little, but while exercising one night, I felt faint after only five minutes, and had severe chest pain, which hadn't happened before. I stopped and called my local hospital's non-emergency number and explained my symptoms and history. I was taken in via ambulance, inspected by paramedics and quickly examined. A brief ECG while I wasn't having palpitations and a blood test returned normal, so I was told something my chest pain and tenderness was "maybe something muscular" and released. I continued to take my lowered dose, and noticed an increase in whatever muscular chest pain I was having, an overall feeling of dullness throughout my body, increased tremors, acid reflux reaching my throat and causing vocal instability, temperature sensitivity, and a lot of brain fog. One night, I stayed up a little later than usual, and noticed that some of the brain fog and dullness eased significantly for a while. I took my dosage before bed and woke up the next day feeling as awful as I had before. I discussed this as a phone appointment with another doctor at my GP surgery, and was advised to stop the mirtazapine immediately without completing the taper. I did so, and felt significantly better for a few days. Then, I guess the withdrawal symptoms must have caught up with me, because a lot of the feelings I'd had returned with a vengeance. Although I stopped having the hallucinations, improved photosensitivity, tremors, full-body dullness, chest tightness, and brain fog, my acid reflux and indigestion got even worse, and I started having nerve pain, symptoms that seem to line up with peripheral neuropathy, constant gurgling in my legs, loss of appetite, extreme anxiety, heart palpitations that felt completely different to the previous ones, and a complete inability to sleep. After a few days of this, I had sharp chest pain after a sudden palpitation that radiated to my left arm. And then I started struggling to breathe. I returned to hospital, was inspected again, returned normal tests (although they had issues drawing blood from my arms), and was sent home again, being told that it was probably indigestion and my breathlessness was a result of a panic attack on the journey to hospital. After discussing my SSRI withdrawal, the hospital advised me to see my GP and restart omeprazole now that I'd been off my mirtazapine for a few days. It's been about a month since I was in the hospital there, and I can say with certainty that things are getting a lot better. I'm no longer having heart palpitations, my flank pain is mostly gone, I haven't had that full-body nerve pain for a while, my appetite's back, and my anxiety's at least manageable now, a lot of the peripheral neuropathy symptoms are improved, I'm sleeping for at least 4 hours on my worst nights, and I think my tinnitus is finally improving. I'm still suffering with increased urination at night, that gurgling sensation in my legs, irregular heartbeats/inconsistent heart rate, bradycardia, constant tiredness, acid reflux/indigestion (I'm on omeprazole again now, but I'm still having some symptoms), as well as some strange pains in my neck and back, mild muscular pains, a nasal drip and occasionally runny nose, an intermittent cough, and most recently a new kind of chest pain around my sternum that only seems to flare up occasionally (possibly costochondritis, or heartburn, but I'm medically undiagnosed at the moment so it's hard to say for sure). That's most of it, at least, there might be a few other minor things I'm forgetting or I don't think are related to withdrawal, but we're gradually unpicking all of these issues. As for things that have helped me, I'm taking a marine magnesium supplement every night that seems to really calm me and help me sleep, and prevent the nerve pain. I've also found that CBD oil or tea seems to help calm my anxiety and nerves during the day, a hot bath does absolute wonders, and the jogging was helping to stabilise my heart rate from some worrying inconsistencies into something manageable as well as calming some symptoms. It seems every week or few days or so, some old symptom goes away and a new one takes its place, and while I absolutely hate the uncertainty and constant change, things do seem to be getting better overall. That being said, I've felt pretty rough today, this new chest pain's been taking the wind out of my sails and got really bad after I used the treadmill yesterday, so I've decided to avoid that strenuous exercise until it settles. I've discussed it with my doctor and we're keeping an eye on it for now. Things still feel quite worrying and challenging, but nowhere near as terrifying as they used to be, for at least a solid month I had no idea what was going on, and I was convinced this all might kill me. The advice I've found here so far has really helped. I just wanted to share my story, provide some advice for anyone else who is still struggling, reassure anyone else out there that it does get better, and see if any more experienced people on this forum had any advice or similar experiences with the issues I'm still having. Thanks for reading and all the advice! Kairos

Hi, I've been on psychiatric medication since early March 2022. I've also been to a psych hospital twice after becoming suicidal due to severe insomnia and sleep-onset myoclonus, which started shortly after I was put on escitalopram and trazodone for depressed mood. Before being put on the meds, I was able to sleep without issues despite having low mood. No myoclonus, no twitching, my sleep was fine. After a couple of weeks on the drugs, I became hyperaroused in the evening and started experiencing muscle jerks as I was about to fall asleep, which jolted me awake every time. I talked to my psychiatrist about these symptoms and he switched me to sertraline and mianserin. The side effects disappeared and something strange happened: I would sleep easily 12-13 hours a day, which is unusually long for me. However, in May 2022 this effect subsided and the myoclonus returned. I was unable to get proper asleep for about a week and started having suicidal thoughts, thinking that my life is ruined because the antidepressants messed my brain up beyond repair and I would never be able to sleep. This landed me in a psych ward, where they gave me trazodone, olanzapine and benzodiazepines at bedtime. I improved and was discharged within a few days. I abruptly stopped the olanzapine they gave me in the psych ward, as my psychiatrist said it was unnecessary because I was not psychotic or schizophrenic (he didn't tell me to taper the olanzapine gradually!). He also refused to prescribe me benzodiazepines for sleep because they are addictive. I was put back on sertraline and quetiapine instead of the mianserin I had been taking before the hospital. The quetiapine worked well for my sleep initially but stopped working eventually as I developed tolerance. In August, I decided to stop all drugs, thinking they were causing my myoclonus and insomnia. Within days, I developed akathisia and severe insomnia. Feeling restless and on-edge 24/7 was the worst time of my life and I truly wanted to die. I ended up in the mental hospital for the second time. They fed me a bunch of antidepressants and antipsychotics, which were able to put me to sleep most of the time. I was discharged in November and immediately quit the antidepressants. I only kept taking the quetiapine 300 mg because it was able to help me sleep despite my myclonus. Now I'm free from all antidepressants and I take only the quetiapine, benzodiazepines and Z-drugs for sleep. It was probably a bad idea to quit the antidepressants they gave me in the hospital cold turkey, but I didn't want them to do me more harm than they already did. I'm trying to get off the quetiapine from 300 mg in 25 mg steps. I fear that my brain may have been damaged permanently by all the meds I've been taking. My myoclonus still persists and I am unable to get restorative sleep on the benzos and Z-drugs. I would welcome any and all advice on how to get rid of the drug-induced myoclonus. It really takes away so much sleep, energy and joy of life from me.

I am currently taking 40 mg of Prozac ( 1 week) along with 37.5 of Effexor ER (4 months). My goal is to get off of Effexor. I am currently having a great deal of anxiety. How can I make this work? Becky

Hello. I'm glad I've found this community. I've been lurking and reading a lot of threads and while I'm pretty freaked out right now, I know I need to learn to manage without these medications. I would love some advice not from the medical-industrial complex. I'm 22, Autistic, and have been dealing with anxiety, depression, emetophobia, and agoraphobia. mod note: emotophobia, definition Wikipedia I've taken SSRIs 2 previous times, the first being Lexapro from 2015-2017 at 14 years old. I had trouble taking Lexapro consistently at times and experienced many instances of short-term withdrawal and reinstatement. Now I know that could have harmed me in the long run. I have emetophobia so when I started having gut issues in late 2017/early 2018 it lead to a massive anxiety/health spiral that lead me to get onto Prozac in 2019 until November 2021. My parents also have gut issues so I feel it may not be entirely "relapse". Though the timing is suspicious because, in March of 2022, I started having gut issues again. Other than these possible long-term reactions, I had no issues getting off the medications and only mild side effects while on them with short-term onboarding side effects. Having been through this health spiral once before, I tried my best to keep my anxiety in check and see the right doctors to get it under control, but it ended up worse than ever, culminating in gastroparesis, suspected to be caused by a viral infection. I found a new GI doctor who put me on Reglan and Pantoprazole (a PPI). I had short-term onboarding side effects from the Reglan of dizziness, and mild nausea for a couple of hours on the first day. I haven't had a period the entire time I've been on it despite gaining my lost weight back (my period stopped initially because of weight loss). During this time of gut healing, I tapered from 4 doses of Reglan a day to 2. I was recommended to get back on psych meds to control my anxiety and despite my concerns from researching Reglan and the possible interaction, both my GI doctor and psychiatrist said it would be fine. I started Prozac again on March 31st, 2023. I anticipated some side effects first getting on it, so I tried to power through the anxiety/mania, insomnia, and tooth pain from jaw clenching. Definitely stronger and has some new side effects than last time. But about a week later, I started sweating excessively from my palms and feet, and got chills with no fever. To be fully transparent, I'm discounting some other symptoms (diarrhea and nausea) because I may have also gotten a virus around the same time, as my family had those symptoms but not the chills and sweating. I feel that my SSRI-related symptoms started to get worse before I got the virus. I called my psych and he said to stop immediately and referenced serotonin syndrome and possible interaction with Reglan (I know). Which leads me to where I am now. 9 days off of Prozac, still on Reglan and Pantoprzole. The insomnia and sweating seemed to have gone away, the tooth pain has largely evaporated. I'm still experiencing anxiety spikes in the afternoon/evening that doesn't feel fully natural. Yesterday I had a much stronger one and this morning I feel very cold. I'm concerned about a "But I only took it for a week" withdrawal but I know serotonin toxicity is probably more reason to CT. After doing more research into Reglan, I'm even more concerned to be on it now (for 5 MONTHS) but I feel that tapering before giving the Prozac more time to get out of my system could be more harm than good. I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place, giving time for the Prozac to clear but having a ticking clock until the Reglan starts giving me side effects and a higher chance of withdrawal effects. Imagine my surprise and horror when I came to the realization that all 3 of the medications I was taking are dependency-forming and outright harmful. I guess my question is: I'm seeing my GI Dr soon, and the gastroparesis seems to have improved. Do you think it's a good idea to try to taper off the Reglan? Should I wait to wash the Prozac out or what about the risk of Reglan side effects, or withdrawal?

Original title: polydrugged, desperate, no idea what is happening to me or what I should do Hi, I am unsure of how this forum works so sorry if I get this wrong I am terrified I am going to get put into a psychiatric ward, I have been on a cocktail of drugs since May for what was mild anxiety and mild insomnia. I now have such a wide range of symptoms, and my psychiatrist is insistent it isn't damage done from the medications or the serotonin. but I was not like this before I took the medications. So I am reluctant to try Quetiapine which he is suggesting in a few weeks. The feeling of hopelessness is really leaving me in despair. Initial symptoms before antidepressants Mild anxiety Mild Insomnia was able to work, go to the gym and socialised May 19th - 25m Sertraline May 27th- 50mg Sertraline, May 30th - 50mg Sertraline, 12mg Diazepam, Zopiclone 7.5mg - psychiatrist suspects serotonin syndrome from this point on as all the symptoms fit June 10th - 25mg Sertraline, 12mg Diazepam, 15mg Zopiclone June 15th - Started Venlafaxine 75mg, 12mg valium, 7.5mg Zopiclone - increase in serotonin syndrome symptoms July 21st - Stopped venlafaxine cold turkey, 4mg valium, 7.5mg Zop July 28th - Started 7.5mg mirtazapine, 3mg valium*, stopped zop August 15th - increased 15mg mirtazapine, 3mg valium (symptoms were too much dropped down against psychiatrists recommendatio) August 19th - mirtazapine 7.5mg, 3mg valium August 22nd - Mirtazapine 3.75mg, 3mg valium August 26th - Mirtazapine 3.5 8mg valium (I thought I might kill myself from the thoughts so I upped the dose, I've been really disciplined so far) Symptoms now Extreme anxiety, persistent Insomnia, confusion, heart palpitations, constant suicidal ideation, hitting myself in the face to stop the thoughts, restless legs, no joy, spontaneous weeping spells The venlafaxine was the most traumatising part of this with the serotonin syndrome, but the longer I am sleep deprived the more I feel I will be sectioned or do something stupid. I also think I dropped the mirtazapine down too quickly after reading this forum. Should I up the mirtazapine again or use valium to help sleep? Any help or input would be appreciated. I really need a solution or at least someone to talk to who understands because I can't go on like this much longer

Hi all. I really need some advice about reinstating. I was on Prozac for about 5 years (started at 20mg and was at 60mg for the last 1.5 years) for seasonal affective disorder and anxiety. A couple years ago, I started Adderall for suspected narcolepsy. My narcolepsy got much worse the following year and another stimulant, armodafinil, was added. I finally got approved for a treatment that treats the root problem by normalizing the sleep cycle and started Xywav in September 2021. A few weeks in, I woke up feeling rested for the first time in my life, but with some very unusual symptoms atypical for Xywav. Going down on the Xywav did not get rid of it. I did stop armodafinil which helped a bit. I was referred to a psychiatrist (scheduled 3 months out) and neurologist (scheduled 7 months out). I went 3 months with these symptoms (SEVERE anxiety, dizziness, tremor, muscle twitching and stiffness, feeling agitated by noise and light, and sensory overloads) and was finally diagnosed with serotonin toxicity from the psychiatrist. I did a rapid taper from 60mg to 20mg over 3 months. Each drop I made, I had withdrawal, then stabilized quickly and had the toxicity come back. My psychiatrist and I decided to try holding at 20mg because of a longer withdrawal period, but then I started to feel like the toxicity was coming back. I kept going and taking the pill because I didn't see how it could be toxicity at that point, but I kept getting worse each time I took it. I started having spasms and burning sensations on my skin and was very hyper-reflexive. I was eventually instructed to CT at 20mg. I immediately felt better the next day, pain and spasms were gone within 3 days and I improved dramatically over the next couple months with only mild withdrawal symptoms. I did treat the mild withdrawal by taking 0.25-0.5mg microdoses of Prozac as needed (which I realize now was probably a bad idea, but it worked at the time). At 4 weeks, I started to have mild tingling in my legs but didn't think much of it. At 6-7 weeks out I felt almost completely recovered and back to normal and then week 8 everything started going downhill with the burning and tingling sensations in my legs amping up. I tried my last microdose of 1mg on June 6 and didn't have much change in symptoms. Over the next several weeks, I developed burning and tingling in my arms, back/spine, chest, neck, face, and now stomach. Along with this, I also have had severe muscle spasms in various areas, stiffness/tightness, cramping, and general muscle/joint pain. Posting this, I have now been off for 4 months and am going through wave and window episodes of severe pain and less pain. Each wave I seem to have burning/tingling neuropathic type pain, muscle pain, spasm, or stiffness developing in a new area of my body, so it’s now widespread. The pain is milder during the day, but gets so much worse at night and is causing lots of fear and anxiety. Since starting 5-htp, curcumin, and modified cictrus pectin (recommend by a naturopath) I seem to be having a few more windows through the day of a lot less pain and even 1-2 nights a week where the pain does not become severe at night. My mental symptoms are anxiety/fear, detachment (happens 6-8pm everyday) and some mood swings/low mood. The intense fear caused by the pain is the worst one. Most of my other symptoms are physical (blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite). I know reinstating can be a bit risky this far out, but I am a grad student and the semester will be starting soon. I would like to be more functional than I am... and in less pain. So is it worth trying a reinstatement at this point to see if the pain will go away or should I just try to wait this out? If I do choose to reinstate, my psychiatrist suggested reinstating 5mg, but would it be better to start at 1-2mg and work up? 4 months off at end of July and primary symptoms are pain (burning/tingling neuropathic pain, spasms, stiffness, aches bodywide), blurred vision, dizziness, detachment, nausea, loss of appetite, dry mouth and eyes, mood swings, and a lot of anxiety and fear. A couple other things. One thing I have working for me in withdrawal is my Xywav. I always get 8 hours of quality sleep a night with no insomnia, so maybe that will help me to stabilize just a bit faster than normal (or maybe its wistful thinking...). I also don't think I have a chemical sensitivity. I have started supplements, an antiviral (acyclovir), and lowered the adderall without any obvious worsening of symptoms. Also is there anybody here who can relate to this and has developed a lot of pain in withdrawal? I’m 24 and never had pain before. I have had a full autoimmune and blood work up as well as a brain mri. All normal, so hopefully it's just withdrawal. Sorry for the long post, but thank you for reading and any advice you can offer.

Please help! I was on 30mg of Celexa for 3 months for generalized anxiety. After coming off of Celexa, I developed PGAD which I’m learning is unfortunately happening to people a lot. My doctor put me on 10mg Amitriptyline for 9 days and I had terrible side effects - brain fog, heightened anxiety, no appetite. Day 10 they switched me to Nortriptyline at a low dose of 2mL (liquid it’s such a small dose). Took it for 3 days and felt angry/mood swings, emotional, extremely depressed, agitated (couldn’t handle any mental stimulation or it made me so anxious - none of this is like me!) on the 4th night, I was going to stop Nortriptyline altogether. I fell asleep for an hour and woke up with the worst withdrawals - nausea, flu symptoms, agitation, insomnia, heart racing. I then got out of bed and lowered the Nortriptyline dose to 1mL. My withdrawals calmed down a tad and I was able to sleep for a couple hours. Woke up with anxiety, nausea, flu-like symptoms, fatigue. I was on low doses for such a short period of time, I can’t believe I’m dealing with withdrawal symptoms. Should I stop the Nortriptyline cold turkey now since it’s only been 3 nights and just suffer through the side effects?

Hello Everyone I am new here. This is my first ever post to a form of any kind. I am currently tapering off Pristiq 10 percent per month under the care of my specialist. I was prescribed Pristiq in July/August of 2010 by my GP. Over the years, I have made several failed attempts at stopping the Pristiq as I found the process just too difficult while trying to balance the responsibilities of my career. I resigned from my position in 2016 and have been tapering since November 2016. So far so good, but it has been a long, emotional and isolating process. I still have some struggle every time I reduce my dosage, and it would be great to have the support of others who understand what I am going through. I also hope my journey can be of help to someone else.

I'm willing to travel for this one (hopefully within Washington state)....Can anyone recommend someone that can serve as an alternative to psychiatrists and mainstream doctors for help with withdrawal from an SSNRI? I've become frustrated with these people. They do not listen, assume what I am experiencing is simply the return of depression, and offer only to throw more dangerous meds my way. I need someone that has extensive knowledge of this subject along with compassion for the individuals afflicted.

I’m 17 years old. In January I had a bad reaction to Effexor after doubling a dose and having SAMe. Basically went numb emotionally and felt stupid. My brain did not function and Even my skin went numb. My doctor had me come off of it quickly. It took about two weeks but then I was back to normal. A week after that most of my symptoms came back. I had DRPR and anhedonia. Horrible head pressure. It took four months for me to feel myself again. I admitted to my parents I hadn’t been taking the meds and they told me I had to start myneffecor again. I began to do that. I felt like myself overall but my sleep had been deteriorating. It was too activating. they took me to the mental hospital and my doc took me off the Effexor 75 after 5 days of being on it and put me on a low dose of Paxil 5 mg. They had hoped this would be less activating and take place of the Effexor that’s a low dose. I reacted horrible. Immediately lost all the feelings I regained. Any sort of attraction to the opposite sex gone. Sexuality is there but romance feelings are not. Forehead pressure and pain. Couldn’t sleep. Anhedonia got worse. They stopped the Paxil after one try. They started me on seroquel 12.5 mg twice a day and 150 at night. I started to get better sleep and became less anhedonic as the days went on. However, it’s been a week since I had the Paxil and I still don’t feel super attracted to the opposite sex. I feel love for people now but it’s dulled. Motivation is down. Slight DRPR but not much at all. However, ten times better than I have been the past few months overall. I also lost my ability to visualize which I had on the effexor those 5 days. I’m also moody with head pressure going between my nose, my forehead and top of head. My ears are ringing constantly. I’m assuming if I stopped the Effexor and just started seroquel without the Paxil, I’d be in better shape right now. Would reinstating a small amount of Effexor help with any of this? Do I wait it out? My parents are willing to get it compounded. On the Effexor I could visualize and felt all the emotions. But I don’t know if it would help with the seemingly adverse reaction to the Paxil. Thankfully, I can still watch tv and listen to music which I hadn’t been able to do in months until I healed and on the effexor. My sleep is great right now, which I’m thankful for. I got 11 hours last night after get 4 hours average for four months. I’m currently also on Ativan 0.5 twice a day and I’ve been on it for about 3 weeks. Doctors want to get me off of it but I don’t want to Add any more stress to my system. They mentioned switching to Valium or gabapentin. I’m sorry for all the questions. Would reinstating prevent a crash from all these changes? Or do you think I’ll be fine without? I’m sorry I know you don’t own a crystal ball. current schedule: 9 am: seroquel 12.5, 0.5 Ativan 3 pm seroquel 12.5, 0.5 ativan 9 pm seroquel 150 mg, 0.5 Ativan

I have had huge health problems starting at age 17 when got Lyme disease and also fell with an 85-lb backpack on which resulted in lifelong pain due to post-traumatic dystonia. I first tried antidepressants while in medical school and immediately flunked my classes because of the memory problems due to the anticholinergic action if the old style antidepressants. I forget what I was on.sonethung similar to amitryptaline. Many yests later i was stsryed on a serotonertic antidepressant. I stayed on it for at least 20 years. Then I read Peter Bteggin’s book “Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry”. i realized that the amotivational syndrome he described was what I had. I tapered off my drugzand woke up. I can barely describe tge horror of realizing that you have missed half your life and that it is too late. For anything. i am still on Wellbutrin. That drugs was a miracle for me when I started it. So I don’t know whether I should taper off of it or not. I am also on opiates and have been for 20 years. I am not sure if they are preventing me from fully living as well. As part if my history there was also a month of resperidol which resulted in sevete lifelong akathisia. . Which is why I am on opiates. So my main questions are regarding Wellbutrin and opiates. Do they cause horrible problems like the serotonergic antidepressants?

Serotonin Toxicity vs. Serotonin Discontinuation Syndrome: I have had very severe chronic serotonin toxicity. Neuralgia and neuropathy developed over a 4 years period to include the entire right side of my body. Level 8-10 pain daily for 12 weeks before anyone figured it out. Given injectable IMITREX to" help" -- wrong, made it worse, could have killed me! The toxicity started wrecking my ANS: sweats, chills, loosing 1/2 - 2 lbs daily for months, high fevers, low fevers, high blood pressure, migraines, vertigo, bowel issues, at points inability to walk or voluntarily move my body. Basically, hell. The pain was so severe that I would dissociate — once for 3 whole days. Are there any resources here or elsewhere that offer in depth information about Serotonin Toxicity? The toxicity was caused by receiving TMS treatments. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. I had one round of 36 treatments 4 years ago, got me out of depression and "coincidentally" a developed neuraligia/neuropathy at the same time. Again had TMS this past December - February. The doctor who treated me is a leading researcher, psychiatrist, runs a program training other docs to give TMS treatments and I mean it -- a really a lovely woman, smart, and compassionate -- told me when I was asking if the TMS was giving me muscles spasms and increased nerve pain, "That's an issue for your neurologist." Previously she had also told me that one of the ways that TMS works, is it increases the effect of serotonin based medications. She didn't see Serotonin Syndrome sitting in front of her and asking her "What's going on here?" Today the pharmacist told me that TMS reduced the blood/brain barrier. WARNING: TMS + Venlafaxine caused serotonin toxicity for me, be cautious! Another smart compassionate and more curious woman and — my psychiatrist figured it out after I delivered her all the puzzle pieces I had been collecting. She told me to immediately stop the Imitrex and start a taper of Venalfaxine. VERY SLOWLY, though she didn't give me specifics on what slowly meant. I came up with what I thought was slow taper, and half way through had to double the length. I tapered Venlafaxine in 3 months from 225 to 0. I had taken it for 10+ years. Psych meds for 25 years. I had to, because it was quite literally killing me. But now of course, I'm ten days off and I'm feeling pretty sick: Parkinson-like movement symptoms being the chief concerning symptoms, especially when combined with the vertigo. I take a few moments to "Get going" when I want to move. And then I lurch around for another 10 seconds until my body remembers how to walk. I have the bruises to prove it! At times, just standing still my whole body shakes like a tree in the wind. I keep dropping things and have no strength in my hands. Can someone inform me what this is? Is this part of Discontinuation Syndrome? Its kinda freaking me out. I also have the usual! discontinuation symptoms! ringing ears, painful eyes, weird noises in my head, muscle twitches, nausea, diarrhea, brain fog, EMOTIONAL!, Over energized and completely fatigued. Visual disturbances. Muscle and joint pain almost everywhere. Swollen hands. Itching skin so bad I thought I was having anaphylaxis and went to the ER two days ago. Surprised I could remember all my symptoms, cause really the brain fog + zero memory issue makes it so this post took me several days to write, in several 1 hour sessions. I used to write semi-professionally. So this is actually a symptom as well. Last night, I had about 2-3 hours of uncontrollable rage (self directed violence) that was provoked by sensory overload. Embarrassing, terrifying. Is this part of Discontinuation Syndrome? I know the best remedy for "discontinuation syndrome" is reinstatement. I tried 3 mg prozac. Got nerve pain from head to toe within 4 hours (a symptom of Serotonin Toxicity). BUT, on the flip side the next day a started feeling better. My psychiatrist is going to look at all the possible SSRI and SNRIs to see which one might be possible in a micro dose. I spoke to my psychiatrist today and she suggested 20 mg non-extended release venlafaxine twice a day, with a a slower taper. I need to figure out what a slower taper would look like. I read 10% decrease per month? Is that correct? Any resources, advice on that? BUT, the thing is, I don't think any boosting of serotonin is a good idea for me right now given how extremely ill I got from serotonin toxicity. AND YET, my "discontinuation" is fairly severe, so I’ve decided to go back on. I’m choosing nerve damage because I don’t want to risk long term discontinuation syndrome. I will get myself ready to be in pain. What's worse: body wide neuropathy (nerve damage) in both CNS and ANS? Or Parkinsons like movement issues, vertigo, fits of rage, and the risk of long term discontinuation syndrome? OR??? Is there something I can do about discontinuation that will not raise Serotonin? I'm pretty freaked out by realizing I'm in between two really horrible things, and I do not know with certainty what to do. Please make any responses concise and focused on the above question. I've got major information processing issues. (In the end it took me several hours to write this post. I tried to keep it focused. THANK YOU! -------------- What I am doing: EXERCISE I am making myself go out and do gardening every day. Hard physical labor. Somehow this works for me. Can't explain it. I don't question it, though it is making my muscles sore from the work out. Figure I’m regaining the strength I lost with 4 years of nerve pain. Most days I use foam rollers and yoga therapy (my profession) to soften the rocks in my muscles. And ice baths (fabulous for my nerve pain and muscle spasms and migraines) DIET: I drink lots of water and coconut water, lemon, mint. Basic diet for past 5 months: DO EAT: above ground vegetables, meats, fish, eggs, seeds, nuts, water. DON'T EAT: grains, no fruits, no dairy, no root vegetables (EXCEPT gratefully purple potatoes, parsnips and turnips :-) ! RECENT DIET ADJUSTMENTS Reinstated coffee and it seems to help me move a bit more smoothly. :-). Added Rice and bananas as foods I can eat when I'm still horribly nauseous and ravenous simultaneously. HERBAL TINCTURES: burdock, kava, lobelia, turmeric, white willow, and valerian. CURRENT DAILY MEDS: Felodopine for High blood pressure Oxcarbazepine for nerve pain Naproxen (Aleve) as an antidepressant (anti-inflammatories do help) Levothyrozine (hypothyroid) Levothyronine (hypothyroid) Singular for asthma Medical Marijuana — PCP, neurologic and psychiatrist all endorse this. Cannabis (oral infusion in cocoanut oil 2-3 times a day and vaping) Helps with the nerve pain, anxiety and depression. Total game changer for allowing me to be physically active and do things I enjoy and need to do to feel like I’m actually living — i.e. gardinging, socializing. Question: is cannabis seroternergic? Anyone know? PRN MEDS * Valium 5 mg PRN for muscle spasms, and at this point for the anxiety, irritability. Usually take 0-4 each day, depending on how bad things are. I chart it every day. Aware it is addictive. * Bendydryl (two OTC pills) with Promethazine suppository for neurological pain and nausea. Works OK for pain. * Low dose Ketamine nasal spray when the neurological pain is beyond bearing (to stay out of the ER) I’m finding that a single dose really puts the brakes on the discontinuation syndrome and have been using it that way. Previous does for nerve pain were 4-16 depending on the severity of the pain. CURRENT SUPPLEMENTS: Methylated B vitamins (I lack 1 of the genetic pairs for methylation) Vitamin D 5000 iu. for depression Alpha lipoid acid for neurological issues N Acetyl Cystine for neurological issues Reservatrol for neurological issues CoQ10 for neurological issues PAST: 10+ years venlafaxine ER 25 years psych meds. First ten years took almost all of the possibly relevant ones. Side effects and ineffectiveness. Starting 2 years ago I started slowly weaning off meds. I've gone from 14 meds to 7. Diagnoses: PTSD Major Depression Anxiety Sleep disorder "Post Lyme Disease" An auto-immune system problem? Migraines (Serotonin toxicity?) Neuralgia and neuropathy through out the right side of my body Yours truly, UrbanFeral -------------------- Med / discontinuation history. 2002? to 2016 Venlafaxine ER. First antidepressant that worked. Alas due to combination with TMS (transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) I developed chronic serotonin syndrome, extremely ill since January 2016. Tapered over 3 months from 225 to 0. (too fast!) It was easy till I got to the 37.5, and then discontinuation kicked in. As of 6/20/16 going back on 20 mg non-extended release, twice a day and beginning a slower taper. 2012-2016. One at a time, slowly I eliminated medications from 14 to 7. DX Plaquenil which had been treating post Lyme non-specific autoimmune disorder. Safely got off it over a 4 month period. DX Spironolactone for heart arrhythmias and high blood pressure. No issue getting off it. Lunesta for insomnia, tapered off over a 4-5 month period. Ativan - stopped taking it when I started taking Valium this year to control severe muscle spasms. Cannot remember what else I got stopped taking. 1992-2002, over 20 different medications tried alone or in combination that were either ineffective or had bad side effects. I'm going to work on a complete list. It's going to be real piece of work.