Search the Community

I am a stay at home mom of two young boys. I am so scared that I am stuck like this. After reading here, I believe what I am experiencing is kindling? Upon waking I feel a “surge” of electricity going through my body. This happens every single morning without fail. I have 24/7 SEVERE anxiety and panic symptoms both mentally and physically. Internal tremors, obsessive thoughts, can’t even watch a tv show without obsessing over how I am feeling. Sweaty palms and feet, heart racing. And then on top of all of this 24/7 I get rolling panic attacks that last various amounts of time. I do not get a break from it. No good days. Maybe once a week I can’t handle it any more and I will take klonopin but I am so scared of benzos so I try very hard not to. I cannot under any circumstances endure this for multiple years. My family is talking about me going inpatient somewhere and I seriously can’t stand the thought of leaving my babies. I have never even spent one night away from them. Please please someone tell me how I can get back to functioning again. Should I reinstate a small amount of pristiq? Thank you. not sure exactly how to add my signature but for now here is a brief history- 2006-2017 celexa10mg and lexapro20mg (self tapered on and off multiple times but can’t recall how often) 20 2017 tapered myself off of lexapro with no problems when I decided to get pregnant. 2018 postpartum was severe. Put me on Zoloft & Hydroxyzine. This saved me. 2022 tried to wean myself but couldn’t get off of zoloft 2023 psychiatrist put me on Wellbutrin to wean me from zoloft may2023 fully weaned off of Zoloft september 2023 was using Hydroxyzine often so I felt like I needed to go back to Zoloft. Reinstated 100mg Zoloft and it was HELL. Extreme panic and anxiety. Electricity. Not sleeping well, vomiting, diarrhea. endured for 5 days before psychiatrist told me to stop taking it and gave me klonapin (and I weaned by nursing toddler) because I was in such bad shape. after a few days and Zoloft out of my system I was “okay”. October 2023- lexapro- psychiatrist tried lexapro since I was previously on it. Had same side effects and advised I stopped taking after a few days. November 2023-pristiq- I took the genesight test and pristiq was the only “green” medication. I took 25mg pristiq alongside Propranolol 2x/day and 50mg Hydroxyzine at night. Klonopin for emergencies. I took it for 3 weeks and slowly ended up with the same side effects as the others. Diarrhea, vomiting, clenching jaw, EXTREME panic and anxiety etc. stopped after 3 weeks. 12/9 - current-no SSRI or SNRI. Taking propranolol 2x/day, 50mg Hydroxyzine sometimes at night and klonapin when I can no longer endure another day like this. It feels like it is getting way worse and not better. I never have good days.

Hello friends, I need help. I reduced my dose of citalopram during my taper in January and quickly increased three days later due to physical withdrawal symptoms. I have been holding now since then, and things have improved a lot, but still having sporadic side effects, such as headaches, a little brain, zap here and there every few days, louder Tinnitus, some headaches, insomnia. I have two questions. One, what are your thoughts as a community regarding Mark Horowitz Receptor Occupancy taper strategy? Does anybody have any advice if that strategy is better than the other protocols regarding percentage? I still have not seen pharmacist to under how to read the mg reductions on a syringe 😞 I do not have a psychiatrist who is helping me with this. I can’t find a Doctor Who knows zilch about the tapering and withdrawal issues. Second question, is it OK to continue tapering after over 6 weeks even though I’m still having some mild withdrawal symptoms? I want to add that I wanted to get off this medication as soon as possible because I do believe it is the reason I am having some medical problems. thanks for anybody who might have some insight and can give me advice. KC

Hi all, I’m an almost 39 year old woman from the Netherlands. Going through withdrawl right now. Need support, thanks in advance!!! 2007 Started Paroxetine in end 2007 due to an anxiety disorder and emetophobia. Starting was hellish, also because high dose of metocolopramide combined with extreme loss of weight (46kg with 1,78m). Used 10mg for a year. Tapered in 3 months after one year, no acute withdrawl. 2009 Summer 2009 anxiety came back (don’t know if that was relapse due to stopping or new triggers for anxiety). Started again on 10mg. Was a rough start. Not many negative side effects during years of use. Used it from 2009 ‘till summer 2021. Had 2 separate years when I increased to 20mg. Going up and coming down to 10mg without any problems. Sometimes when I forgot a dose for two days (happened 2 times), noticed mild brainzaps. Gone within a days. In those years I experienced 4 to max 8 severe panic attacks per year. Used 20mg Oxazepam (Seresta) for those panic attacks. 2021 June 2021 wanted to come of Paroxetine due to sexual disorder and stabile life and mind (and negative info in the news about permanent damage). Tapered from 10mg to 4,5mg in four weeks, no problems. Wanted to taper from 4,5mg to 1,5mg in four weeks. Got withdrawl at 2,8mg, so stabilized at 3mg. Withdrawl ended in 7 days. Stabilized at 3mg since, without relapse. Noticed that I got more emotional, but guess that’s a normal thing in life. Had lots of therapy in 2022 for cluster C personality disorder. But managed with 3mg. Therapy ended sept ‘22. 2023 Plan was to taper from 3mg to 1mg in 6 months. And would taper final mg next year. January 26th started tapering. In four weeks from 3mg to 2,5mg. Sometimes excessive dreaming, sometimes a crying spell. Withdrawl? Don’t know. But could handle that. Next four weeks wanted to go from 2,5-2,0mg. When I got to 2,2mg after 2-3 weeks, started noticing two brainzaps. Started stabilizing on 2,2mg immediately. Stabilized on 2,2mg for 14 days, but withdrawl symptoms got worse. Ended up at the GP in the middle of the night. Anxiety, crying, depressed. Decided to go back up to 2,5mg cause didn’t have symptoms at that dosage. In the following 10-11 days (‘till today, 6th of april) I had several okay days. Brighter mind, less symptoms, still problems with waking up often during sleep and some physical symptoms. But also had a few days with many symptoms and complete hell: anxiety, wobbly head, depressed, crying a lot, dispair, hot flashes, shivers, trembling. GP —> rather 3 okay days —> 1 hell day —> 2 okay days —> 1 hell day —> 4 okay days —> today is hell again. And I’m so so scared. Desperate. Begged to get hospitalized for support and safe enviroment. But that’s only possible if you’re suidical. I’m not, although I wish I would these days… So many questions now. GP wants to help, but hasn’t got the right knowledge. So: A) it is normal to have okay and bad days in stabilisation fase? I tought it would be a slow line going up, didn’t expect those bad days. Certainly not after 10 days stabilisation. So scared of further deterioration next days… b) what is an average time to be stable again? C) is it possible to have an adverse reaction to stabilising on 0,3mg more then the 2,2mg in the two stabilisationweeks prior? D) what and when could be signs that I have to go back to 3,0mg from end of january (that was my last baseline 8 weeks ago already)? Did some online research last few weeks and now realise I went way to fast. Already thought is was a slow taper… Wish I had this info before… Some reactions would be awesome, really appreciate that!!!

Hi there, this is my story and journey throughout my life taking various psychiatric medications and how they affected me. This is going to be a challenge to write as I am still having trouble thinking clearly, but I will do my best. I apologize that it is so long, but if anyone is willing to read through, I truly appreciate you. It all started when I was about 6 years old, when I was diagnosed with ADHD because of my inattention in school. I was prescribed Vyvanse. The first day my parents had me take it, I got extremely activated and very excited (I apparently tried to get my parents to help me build a real train). So they stopped it and my psychiatrist suspected possible mania. Fast forward to 2018, freshman year of high school. I was starting to have severe emotional reactions to certain situations and obsess over things while becoming emotionally unstable, throwing tantrums and having extreme rage. My parents, not knowing what to do, took me to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist diagnosed me with OCD and prescribed me Zoloft, which I took until sometime in 2021. The only side effect I remember was for the first few weeks being unable to ejaculate, but it went away eventually. Otherwise, it did do as advertised and softened my emotional reactions and obsessiveness. I also gained over 80 pounds on the medication due to increased cravings (I was huge by senior year). Sometime between 2018 and 2021, I was also put on Atomoxetine for ADHD which didn’t seem to do anything. In late 2021, my doctor switched me to Cymbalta after I was becoming more depressed, and the Zoloft was deemed no longer effective. I was also prescribed deplin at some point in 2021 to treat my symptoms. No noticeable effects from that medication either. I didn’t really notice much of a difference other than maybe some more vivid dreams. Fast forward to 2022, where I really started to notice some emotional blunting, and trouble with focus and clarity during the time I was switched to Cymbalta. It’s also worth mentioning I was on an extreme 800 calorie a day diet during this time, and up until today I’ve lost 110 pounds (I am 134 pounds as of now). In late 2022 was my sophomore year of college. My best friend and roommate at the time, finding out I was on psychiatric medications, started to express some concern. When I would drive for example, he would point out my driving mistakes, and tell me he thinks the medications were causing some of the focus issues. We started to discuss some of the reasons I may have been feeling the way I was feeling at the time. By this point, the emotional blunting was becoming more severe, and I was using weed to self-medicate regularly every night to try to bring back some of my positive emotion. This was negatively impacting my health and sleep as well, and I remember going on weed breaks where I would have extremely vivid and unpleasant dreams every time I stopped. My roommate, very skeptical of psychiatric medications, convinced me I was being poisoned and that there was a chance I wasn’t fully there mentally. He also told me that if I was experiencing depressive symptoms, not to tell my doctor because he would just add more medication to my cocktail. By the end of 2022, my mental health had deteriorated to the point where I needed to drop out of college and return home. My psychiatrist had prescribed me mirtazapine around this time to help with sleep, and when he found out I wasn’t telling him the truth about my depressive symptoms, he told me he had no idea if anything was working because I was giving him “lousy” information. He was then going to prescribe me Quetiapine on top of the Cymbalta, Deplin, Atomoxotine, and Mirtazipine. I refused this and switched psychiatrists. In November of 2022, I returned home and my goal was to get off of all medications. My doctor first stopped the Deplin, Atomoxetine, and mirtazapine. Luckily, I didn’t notice any problems stopping those. He then rapidly tapered me off of Cymbalta. The day after my last pill of Cymbalta, was one of the scariest days of my entire life. I experienced chills, fever, severe depersonalization/derealization, and mood swings. I started to read online about peoples experiences and learned about protracted withdrawal. I told my psychiatrist about my suffering when we met two weeks after my last pill of Cymbalta and told me “Well you’re probably through the worst of it”. A month after stopping I was unsure who to trust, my roommate and my parents, my psychiatrist, or the communities online describing withdrawal. My psychiatrist convinced me it was relapse, and being desperate to feel better I gave into my feelings and I decided to go on Lexapro. I took it from January 2023 to August 2023, and while it did work to relieve my symptoms, I was back to the same problem. Emotional blunting, apathy, and tiredness. I also tried Vyvanse during this time again for ADHD and it resulted in major mood swings and euphoria, so I stopped taking it. He then switched me over to desvenlafaxine which only made the emotional blunting worse and the most severe it had ever been. After being prescribed hydrocodone for an injury for example, it felt like it would unmask all of these emotional blunting symptoms and I would like myself again similar to the self-medication with weed. but I do understand how addictive that mindset can be (I only took the hydrocodone for 3 days for an injury). In august of 2023, I had started community college for computer science after taking some time off of college. But by this point, I was starting to withdrawal again from friends and family because of the emotional blunting, and by November 2022, I decided to taper off of Pristiq. He told me to taper in the same fashion as the Cymbalta, however I asked if I could taper more slowly. Instead of a two week taper, we tapered in about a month. After my last pill, I once again experienced severe symptoms, vivid scary dreams, and depersonalization/derealization, as well as my sex drive completely tanking over the next few months. From November 2023 to early March of 2024, my symptoms became more and more severe. I had severe anxiety and would see images/hear things minutes after trying to go to sleep at night. I can only describe it as being “zapped” awake by these horrific visuals (like for example a person crying/screaming, a scary face or creature, or just an overall scary image). I would wake up with panic attacks at night shaking. I would wait out the clock on weekends when I didn’t have school because I had no interest or desire for activites, hobbies, and just wanted to make it through another day. However, I was still not fully convinced that it could be withdrawal, and me, my therapist, my mother, thought it could just be a return of my symptoms again. In early March 2024, I went back to see my psychiatrist and we decided to try bupropion. At first, this slightly helped, however I started to notice problems with concentration and focus, as well as an increase in obsessive, racing thoughts about my condition. There were a few nights I felt amazing and couldn’t stop giggling/laughing, and I felt better than ever. One night, I went down to my mother’s room and paced around giggling and laughing, and I was shaking with butterflies in my stomach. I then went suddenly from laughing to crying, and back to laughing again. We were convinced it was mania and were going to let my psychiatrist know in the morning, however I was still able to sleep that night so we decided it may have just been activation and decided to keep going. During this time I started having trouble doing my schoolwork because of the racing thoughts and my psychiatrist told me that we probably needed to add something for anxiety. My two options were buspirone or an SSRI. I was still unsure what to do, because part of me wanted to reinstate the SSRI to relieve my symptoms, as there was a part of me still convinced I could be in withdrawal. My psychiatrist told me that for more obsessive anxiety, SSRI’s were more effective, so we decided on Prozac. The next two days, I took 10mg of Prozac. These two days, up until now, were terrifying. My obsessive racing thoughts about my condition increased rapidly, and I started having panic attacks. I also noticed strange zaps and pain sensations in my gential area, and a rapid deterioration of my already lowered sex drive. The second day, my sex drive was completely gone, and I started to feel very off, zoned out, and like I was in a dream. That night, I went had a scary panic attack after severely dissociating and feeling unreal, and also obsessively worrying about my sex drive. I was shaking uncontrollably and had chills up and down my body. I went to the Emergency room where they prescribed me Lorazepam to take as needed for panic attacks. I took it that night and I was able to sleep. The next day, I saw my psychiatrist and he quickly switched me over to buspirone. The night before taking buspar, I took the lorazepam again to help me sleep as I was sensing another panic attack. At 2-3 AM, I woke up shaking uncontrollably and in fear, I paced around the house, and waited for it to cool off. I went back to sleep later ok. The next day, I started the buspirone. By this point, after taking the Prozac, I had missed several classes, stopped working out, and could no longer focus on anything. My parents drove my to my one evening class where I felt really strange and unreal. I went home and felt this numb feeling. I went to sleep and woke up again at 2-3 am with an intense feeling of doom. I didn’t want to take another lorazepam as I was scared of depending on it and it making my anxiety worse in the end. I took it for 3 days and on the third day, 30 minutes to an hour after taking it, I experienced tremors, anxiety, and panic. This all was occurring while I was out at a restaurant with my family as well (my mother had to hold my hand through the panic to help me calm down, it was that bad). I went home and tried to sleep, and the Ativan began working about 2 hours in. However, I woke up at 7 am with extreme chills, muscle spams, tremors, chest pain, and tremors. I don’t know why my anxiety got worse after taking the Ativan the third time and why it took so long to work correctly. Two days later, I made a decision that I completely regret. At dinner with my family, I decided to drink a few sips of alcohol. While it helped my symptoms temporarily, when it wore off I felt the burning feeling come back, like my body was being ripped apart. I went from getting a few hours of sleep a night, to now none. I felt a scary sense of doom for several days and and still feel unlike myself and completely detached from my emotions. It feels like I can’t think and remember clearly and I need constant reassurance from my family about what I’m going through. I haven’t slept in days, I pace in circles for hours while my thoughts don’t make sense and race. My nerves feels like they’re on fire. Every time I try to sleep, my body jolts awake after a few minutes with violent feelings of burning throughout my body and I become drenched in sweat. I can’t sleep. Right now, it feels like my life is over. My sex drive is gone, my thoughts don’t make sense, I have severe separation anxiety from my mother (I stay in her bedroom while she works all day just to retain some form of sanity), I can’t focus or remember things, and I am unsure whether to drop out of college again or not because I can’t work due to the constant horrible feelings. I am scared to leave the house, I have no appetite, anything that made me feel happy or positive now gives me an intense feeling of fear/doom. I have a sudden fear of things that aren’t even scary (like my old hobbies). I stopped the buspar and Wellbutrin CT now because it is only making things worse. I am trying to convince my parents of the validity of PSSD and protracted withdrawal. I regret all my medication decisions in the last few months and wish I had believed the stories of withdrawal I had heard online. I didn’t want to believe any of it, and wanted to truly believe that this was just relapse and if I got back on medications, I could have some relief. I learned the hard way that I may very well be having severe adverse reactions and hypersensitivity and am worsening my withdrawal from all my previous medications. I’m 21 and didn’t expect my life to come to this, and I wish this suffering would end. I feel like part of my brain is dead and I am not even remotely the person I once was. Before 2018 and all my psychiatric mediations, I was bright, happy, had friends, a life to look forward to. I went from being able to laugh, make others laugh, and wanting to be around friends to emotionally numb, apathetic, and now on top of all that, unable to function and think clearly while in a state of panic. I barely feel real right now.

Hi members ! I am new on this forum. I am a 25year old male . I would like to ask for help if it is possible becuse right now i am feeling very hopeless. I Have been taking 10 mg escitalopram for 1 year. i tried to quit 2 times (this was my second attempt) but it did not succeed. Before the medication i had mainly bad anxiety and bad depression too for a half year and it could be that this drug helped me (although i dont really believe in serotonin hypothesis). But i learned exposition therapy and i also thought that it was which healed my anxiety . But because when i learned this new strong mindset about exposure therapy i already started lexapro and my Psychiatrist told me that of course it was the drug so i cant say which was the main force. My first try to quit from lexapro was really bad i did a taper from 10to 5 mg within 2weeks. After that 2weeks with 2.5mg than things had gotten really REALLY bad i think worse than before the escitalopram. I reinstated at 10mg and in a week or two i was "fine again". But last time on 22. on december in 2022 i decided to wean off myself because it does not make me happy at all and causing some side effects. I read this site but in my country there is not any kind of liquid source and also i thought (foolishly) i can do a faster taper. I only wanted go down to 5mg from 10 and after if everything is OK i will wean myself completely later. I took 10 mg on day1 7.5mg on day2 for 1 week. After that 7.5mg for 1 week. Than 7.5mg and 5mg on day 1 and day2 for 1 week. At this dosage some lightheadness started with insomnia and brain fog but i continued because with some benzos and zolpidem they were managable. After that i hit the 5mg and things have gotten worse . There were depression and anxiety too but after weeks they became stronger and stronger. Yesterday after 2 months i hit the hell debilitating depression anxiety ,chills, 0apetite. I am hoping that this could be also withdrawal and not relapse because i want to live without meds and i think the lot work i did for my anxiety was myself and not the drug. Yesterday i gave it up and reinstated the original dosage 10mg and today too.. I far from good, but i am better a little bit yet. Honestly i know i a have to live with some anxiety and depression but i think i could manage that not to mention that my life needs a lot of repair too which i have to do on my own (finding a nice partner mainly) but this debilitating depression, sadness, anxiety what i got again makes me sad and tries to believe me that it was and it is all the 10mg escitalopram which helpes me not my self improovement and therapie. Sorry for the long text and the possible grammar mistakes but english is not my mother language.

Early 2016 -Started fluoxetine 10 mg Late 2016 -increased to 20 mg Aug 2022 -Increased to 40 mg when hormonal birth control caused a worsening of depression. The higher dose significantly improved my mood. Jan 27, 2024 -Stopped hormonal birth control. Immediately started experiencing adverse activating effects from fluoxetine: heart palpitations, anxiety, total insomnia. Feb 24 -Started taper. Dropped by 10 mg at doctor’s recommendation (taking 30 mg). Adverse reaction began to resolve first week, though insomnia remained. March 1 -Started 12.5 mg trazodone to help with insomnia. Finally able to sleep March 6 -Onset of intense withdrawal symptoms. Restlessness, debilitating anxiety, feelings of doom and dread, agitation. Prescribed limited supply of lorazepam, took .125-.5 mg as needed (March 6, 8, and 10). By the 11th I was feeling a bit better, and withdrawal symptoms continued to gradually stabilize over the next couple weeks. I did my research and resolved to continue my taper at a much slower pace. March 19 -diagnosed with mild sleep apnea following a sleep study taken during my bout of insomnia March 23 -27.5 mg fluoxetine. Depressed and sensitive right away, though difficult to tell if from withdrawal or PMS, as my period started March 26. Mood eventually stabilized. April 3 -6.25 mg trazodone, slept without difficulty. Over the next couple days alternated between feeling hypersensitive and emotionally numb. April 6 -0 mg trazodone, slept without difficulty April 7 -flare-up of withdrawal symptoms: akathisia, intense anxiety and dread. Symptoms resolved with 0.125 mg lorazepam. Planning to reinstate trazodone tonight, as I’m assuming that’s what caused the flare. I’d neglected to think of the trazodone as an antidepressant! I am already chronically ill, so I am having to manage additional symptoms on top of withdrawal symptoms. I have been diagnosed with chronic migraine, POTS, and Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. My recent diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea was a surprise, as I am young and slim— turns out my hypermobility puts me at a higher risk. But I’m hopeful that treating my sleep apnea will take care of many disabling symptoms I had previously associated with my migraines: poor memory, brain fog, fatigue, and never feeling well-rested even after regularly getting 10+ hours of sleep. I will be getting a CPAP machine this week. It may take some getting used to but ultimately I should be getting much better quality sleep and years of damage might be reversed. My question is, do I need to put my taper on pause while acclimating to the CPAP? I recognize that my nervous system is in a hypersensitive state and worry that any change, even a positive change like this, may disrupt things. I just don’t know to approach my other health problems in the context of tapering.

Hey guys just joined, after a long 3 year taper from benzos I have finally been benzo free for over a year. And I now want to try and taper my celexa that I have been taking for over 8 years. I have a few questions tho, if anyone could help me. Does anyone feel better during their taper? For instance with benzos I was stuck in horrible benzo WD tolerance, and I started actually feeling better during my micro taper. Was curious if anyone actually feels better during their slow taper. I was planning on tapering 5 % a month. Another question I have is switching from pill to liquid form celexa, is it pretty easy to do? Because with benzos I wasn’t able to switch pill to liquid or even change drug manufactures. I am very sensitive. Thank you all I’m excited to start this long slow process.

Hello, 47F currently on 20mg Lexapro, have taken 10-20mg the past 6+ years for anxiety. I’ve tried weaning off a few times over the course of those 6 years, but life circumstances always arose that made me go back up on my dose, or start up again. I got 100% sober in 2015 from pot and alcohol and haven’t relapsed. Don’t want to go back to that life. I’m in a really good spot in my life right now to talk to my Dr about trying to wean off again. He’s been my Dr the past 5 years, so he knows me pretty well. How I’m in a good spot: came out of the closet at 40, been married 3 years, my job of 15 years is in a really good groove, I exercise and meditate regularly, don’t have any bad people in my life, have a great sober network of friends. Physically/spiritually/mentally stable. Been doing a bunch of reading about tapering down. Want to talk to my Dr about liquid Lexapro to go down in 10% increments, but not sure if that’s available in the US. I am considering the method of tapering down one day a week to 18mg for one week (keeping my 20mg the other 6 days), then taking 18mg 2 days a week the following week (keeping my 20mg for 5 days), etc etc, then keeping 18mg 7 days a week for 6-8 weeks. Does this sound too slow? I also plan to track my mood either on a physical journal or an app. I plan on telling lots of friends and family what I’m doing so I can have them in my supper circle, if I haven’t mentioned it already. I am terrified of the withdrawal effects. But I want to try again, to taper off completely and use all my coping skills I’ve been using these past 6 years, so I will be able to stay off Lexapro for good. I’m tired of the side effects. Constantly craving carbs, sexual side effects, you know what I’m talking about. But I’m also aware that I may never be able to completely come off them. And that will be okay. I’m open to that possibility. I think in the past when I tried to taper down, I did it too quickly, and the effects were too difficult to handle. I’m so grateful for this site to help me in this process.

Luvox / fluvoxamine 200 and klonopin 0.5 early user 7 weeks fast taper 6 days feeling hell Hello to every one thats my real story first apologize for my poor language : in summary: i took about 7 weeks antidepressant meds and cutt off suddenly beacyse it going me crazy and feels anxiety!! İn march 2022 i gad veey wild acute withradal for 8 next weeks and some wild symptoms dp dr/ illusion,dizziness, nausea, panic makes me crying ,tinitus, blured vision, hunger breath, palpitation,think of dying , negetive toughts, confussions... in month 6 iam realy better but have some problems still there include: 1- wierd and horny 24/7 if i ejaculate terror and anxiety attacks and all symptoms for 14 next day!! To settle down 2-sleep problem not beacuse i cant sleep terror of wet dream and orgasm in bed and triggered symptoms!! pleease help me i am very tired from this life , sick of it i think nearly kill myself iam crying for these situation all the time 3-akathesia and anhedonia, negetive tought still there Please help me what can i do dont getting horny i suddenly meet nofap group and it help me to lower symptoms but what can i do down my horny level when iam sleep why and how prescriptioned for me antidepreasant Before i took antidepressant pills in december 2021 i had gastric (one year ago) and dr prescribed me 3 bunch of antibiotic (as you know antibiotics stimulate CNS) for 10 days and but beacuse of medical malpractice i ate for 40 days and after that felt i was dying unfortunately this not end yet middle ear infection appears frequently after that and i've been forced to eat another 20 now i get my panic attack multiple times in days dellirium , feel out of my body , fast breath my guess is serotonin syndrome!!! And go to hospital but day said iam ok and it is mental issue next day in February 2022 i went to Psychiatrist he priscribed me list of drugs to eat 1-Flouvoxamine/luvox 200 mg 100 day and night after i said i cant handle it is became 50 day 50 night 2-klomopin .5 mg night 3-quetianpin/seroquel 12.5 mg night 4-trazodone 25 night 5-buspirone/buspar 5 day and night 6-nortriptyline 25 night İ continue these pills for about 7 bext weeks and treat my middle ear again and anxiety and dellirium comes back but not hard as before so i talked to my dr and he change luvox 200 to 100 but not work and when i have sex or ejaculation 1to4 next days i had wild anxiety but meds comes it down ! İ was desprate and deppressed from this situation and deside to not take them any more!!! And boom after some abruptly discountiuation in last of march 2022

Hi all, I am new to this site. A little background info. I have been on Venlafaxine for the past 8 or so years. I got off of the medication 5 years ago (somewhat abruptly) and had terrible withdrawl symptoms. I stayed off of the medication for four months before I finally reinstated, along with 7.5 mg of remeron and 1 mg of Klonopin. I was on the klonopin for a year and tapered off the mg over the span of a year. I had been on 150 mg of Venlafaxine. I sucessfuly tapered down to 112.5 over the span of six months. I did so well on this that my wife and I decided we would do a 3 month taper for the second quarter. I did okay on this and was on 75 mg for two weeks. Then I started having really bad anxiety/ocd/insomnia. We quickly reinstated to 112.5 mg which is what I have been on the past three months. I was also prescribed klonopin, again, as needed. I am taking .5 mg of klonopin four nights a week to help sleep. I have been having muscle spasms, increased ocd symptoms, GI symptoms, and more muscular pain which seems to only get worse the longer I am on the Effexor. I did a DNA Test and it turns out I am a poor metabolizer of CYP2D6-which is the enzyme used in metabolizing Venlafaxine and a lot of other SSRI/SNRI's. Desvenlafaxine is one SNRI that is not metabolized by CYP2D6. I am wondering if anybody has sucessfuly cross tapered from Venlafaxine to Desfenlafaxine. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hello, I'm a 34F and I'm here because I saw this site recommended on a piece done by the BBC called The Anti-Depressant Story. A lot of what I heard in that documentary was an eye opener and validating. I have experienced the negative effects of withdrawal, and also the negative effects of long term Lexapro use. I'm over it and my goal is to one day be 100% anti-depressant free. Like many I was promised time and again that I would be on anti-depressants for a short time, psychology would really help, and I could stop easily. I'm also here because I recently had a very bad experience dropping from 20mg Lexapro to 15mg for 2 weeks then 10mg for 4 weeks which lead to me feeling suicidal and broken. Here is my background to give all this some context: ~2007 or 2008 diagnosed with depression started Lovan (fluoxetine) unsure of dose and timeframe. Stopped cold turkey. Probably started up again during the early 2010's but I can't remember much of the details or my life during this time. ~2015 - Started Lexapro again at 10mg due to depression/ toxic relationship. I recall going up to 20mg before 2018. 2018 - Felt like 20mg Lexapro wasn't working anymore so my doctor at the time had me drop down the Lexapro to try Fluoxetine and then when that didn't work to Sertraline and when that didn't work I went back to Lexapro 10mg which stabilised me. During that time of transition the doctor recommended the 'standard' drop down of around 2 to 4 weeks of one medication, stopping completely if needed, then starting a new one. Rinse and repeat. Sertraline and Fluoxetine didn't help, and during the whole time I my mood was low, irritable, snappy, crying, hopeless etc. At the worst I was trembling and full of energy that I would yell and tremble to release my pent up energy, while at the same time also being exhausted. It was a horrible experience. For context I was having a hard time at work and was going through some major life events. 2019-September 2022: 10mg Lexapro. Other things of note: September 2021 - Bells Palsy with post viral fatigue lasting 4-5 months. March 2022 - Bells palsy again caught early, post viral fatigue again less severe this time, but had a horrible time withdrawing from high dose of prednisolone 50mg per day for 14 days. September 2022 Diagnosed with Long Covid with severe fatigue, heart palpitations, anxiety + panic, recurrence of pain and symptoms associated with the side of my face affected by bells palsy. Discussed upping my dose of Lexapro to 20mg with my new doctor which we began immediately to help with the anxiety. It helped get me stabilised and I saw good, but very slow progress with my long covid symptoms and anxiety. I work from home and the amount I can work per day started at about 2 hours and grew back to almost full time hours by June 2023. June 2023: Spoke to my doctor about lowering dose of Leaxpro back down to 10mg since I was feeling stable mood-wise for some time and Long Covid symptoms were improving steadily. I recalled my sh*tty time switching meds in the past and was resolute to ask to taper down slower than I had previously. I had read an article about hyperbolic dose reduction of Lexapro, and was keen to discuss a slower titre down to 10mg. The doctor said I would be just fine going straight down to 10mg, when I pressed about my bad experiences in the past even suggesting I go down to 15mg first, he stuck firm to the fact I wouldn't need to. I no longer see this doctor for this reason and for his waning support of my experiences with Long Covid. I lowered my dose to 15mg by taking half 20mg tablet + half 10mg tablet to get 15mg. Duration 2 weeks approximately (I didn't record the exact date I started) experienced brain zaps, low mood irritability, low appetite. July 1 2023: Dropped dose to 10mg tablet of Lexapro. Again, brain Zaps, low moods, irritable etc. August 5 2023: Went back up to 20mg (own decision) because I had been feeling so low for the last month with no improvement, fatigue was also increasing, heart palpitations were back, felt like my health was also suffering along with my mental health. August 8th 2023: Went to ED due to severe thoughts of self harm, felt completely hopeless and unheard by medical professionals. I am now linked in with support services. One of the services were short term which included a mediccal review by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist recommended that I stay on the 20mg until I was stable with the potential to up the dose to 30mg if I don't improve. (Because I definitely wanted more Lexapro haha!) He tossed around the ideas of switching meds and even trying anti psychotics, while also agreeing I didn't appear to have any psychotic episodes or symptoms(?!). So it was another meh experience, but at least he did appear to be thoughtfully considering what I was saying and agreed that switching to a different anti-depressant during times of crisis isn't a good idea. I got prescribed some 5mg Valium tablets to only take when I was having panic attacks until the Lexapro 20mg had kicked in. I have taken 2.5mg cut tablet on two separate occasions of a panic attack, and 5mg for a severe down spiral. These were spaced out and are only taken as needed. I don't want to add addiction to the list of issues I have too! So here we are today, I have a new doctor and we have tackled the immediate issues with my health, she seems to be listening and is thoughtful and encouraging. I am recognising that what happened wasn't a relapse, but most likely withdrawal symptoms which then spiralled. I don't want to be on Lexapro any longer than I need to, and definitely not at this dose. I dislike the memory issues I suffer from, dry skin, sexual disfunction (and all the rest that comes with that, which I learned from the documentary could be permanent!! No one told me, all doctors said "hmm thats really sucks"). I am back on 20mg for 3.5 weeks now and will wait until my mood and health have stabilised before I discuss lowering my dose again with my new doctor. Having had my life turned upside down with long covid/post viral fatigue for the past year has changed my life and also given me the space and time to work on myself. All of these 'lows' have helped give me the determination to put in the long term time to improve and better my life. I'd love all of your support as this all begins; in stabilising, then reducing again sloooowly. I can do this!

Link to Hibari's Introduction topic: hibari-tapering-remeron-and-want-to-start-tapering-lamictal I first want to say that we do heal and life does get better. I am someone who was poly-drugged, on benzos twice, and now am 15 months off all medications. I made mistake like forgetting doses, getting misdiagnosed with Lyme, taking supplements for my adrenals and being treated badly by both doctors and holistic practitioners. I still made it off the medications. I feel well most of the time and optimistic about life. I couldn't feel that at all when I was on medication, (benzos in particular) and while I tapered, so I now know it was the medication. Thank you @Altostrata for starting this site and collecting all the information needed planning and tapering. Med History: Put on and off a variety of medications for short periods of time after having a nervous system breakdown from excessive caregiving and overworking. (You can see my signature). What helped me: One thing that helped me during benzo withdrawal was to look up the side effects, not withdrawal symptoms, of Clonzapam. I saw that depression was one of the main side effects of the medication and even though I felt deep despair at the higher doses, I keep reminding myself that the medication itself was causing my crushing depression. Support In addition to the support I received on this site and benzo buddies, the first two things on this list I wish I had known about earlier. 1. I worked with a Psych-K practitioner (psychological kinesiology). This practitioner had gotten off of a cocktail of medications using the Psych-K technique. I met her by chance, heard about the work and decided to try it. This method helps to balance the brain and body. With this support I was able to continue tapering my benzo 20% a month till the end. We worked remotely even pre-pandemic and I found it incredibly helpful. I continue with her to this day. If anyone wants more information on this, please PM me. 2. The second thing was that I worked with a benzo coach from Lucid Lane, a fee for service support site for any medication dependence. I spoke or should say, cried to my coach on a regular basis. I found it really helpful to talk with someone who understood my pain. Here is their website. https://lucidlane.com/ 3. I connected to some wonderful people on this site @freespirit @Shep @Santino @leahy @brassmonkey and others who I’m sure I’m forgetting. I found the people who I resonated with the most and they were a lifeline to me. Not everyone here will be the right fit for you nor have the right guidance for you and that’s okay. 4. Advice: Take what you like and leave the rest. This site has wonderful resources and offers very solid advice on tapering. And you also have to trust yourself. That might mean sometimes going against what works for others and that’s okay. For example, I couldn’t handle fish oil during my tapers, it had the opposite effect. I didn’t try and push it once I discovered that. Some supplements like L-Theanine worked during my Remeron/Mirtazapine taper but not during my benzo taper. Your body has a lot of wisdom and if it’s saying no, it’s no. 5. Mental: Two shifts occurred during this process. The first occurred when I finally realized that being stable enough to taper did not mean, feeling great. For me it meant, being functional enough to make the bed, wash the dishes and stare at the TV. Later it meant, I could go for a walk, meet a friend and then start working a bit. I got confused for a while thinking that if I were stable, I would feel more upbeat but that was not what stable was for me. It was all about being functional enough to keep going in my taper. I used a scale from 1-10. If I was in the 5, 6, 7 range, which was uncomfortable but tolerable, I kept going. If I went to an 8 or 9, I held till I was back to a 6 or 7. Tracking this way helped me move forward and also allowed me to see if there were any patterns of when my cuts hit. The second occurred, during my final taper. I realized that I whenever I wanted to change something in my taper-the method, the rate, the brand-that it was me trying desperately to have some control over the process. This hurt me especially at the end of my Lamictal taper. I am very compassionate about it now and saw it was my attempt to feel more in charge of something I felt helpless about. I had to really fight that urge during my final year of tapering and it worked to my benefit. 6. Belief: You don’t have to believe you will heal to heal. I had a lot of despair and fear during my tapers and especially during my final benzo taper. I thought I was actually a depressed person and was unable to meditate, exercise or do anything that seemed to work for others (until the Psych-K work) and I still kept healing. I know now that it was hard for me to believe that I would feel good again because of the temporary brain injury and withdrawal. Now I know for sure I am not a depressed person and look forward to life. 7. Food: I lost my appetite at times and could not eat much for different periods. For the most part I ate cleanly, no sugar, alcohol, or caffeine during a majority of my taper. I was not perfect and did eat candy at times when that was what was going to get me through the next hour. I now drink a cup of coffee a day and am fine. I do eat healthy now about 95% of the time. I did put on 30lbs during the time I was taking Remeron/Mirtazapine and when I went off, I lost 25lbs in about 2 months without dieting. It was all medication weight. Choose what works for you, whether it’s plant based or keto-you get to decide. 8. Supplements: The only supplements I really take are Magnesium Glycinate, which I took on and off during my tapers. I take between 50-150 mgs at night to help me relax into sleep. I do drink an Adrenal Cocktail, 1/2 cup natural OJ, 1/4 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt and 1/4 tsp of creme of tartar to support my adrenals. I drink it now as needed but when I was in withdrawal and too revved up to relax at night, I drank it 2x a day at 10AM and 2PM. In about 10 days the hyper feeling subsided and I started to sleep better, which at that time was about 3 hours a night with many nights of little sleep. There are versions of this cocktail that use other liquids if you can't handle OJ. You can Google those recipes. 9. Exercise. I walked my dog during withdrawal but during the last part of my Lamictal/benzo withdrawal I did not exercise much due to the agoraphobia and weakness. I also tried exercising more vigorously after I stepped off the benzo, but it would cause mini waves. I went back to exercising at about 13 months off and can now handle dance classes and fitness classes. I’m out of share but optimistic I will get physically fit again. 10. Spirituality/Faith: I do believe I was transformed for the better by going through this. I felt pretty spiritually abandoned especially during benzo withdrawal but my spiritual beliefs were not so solid to begin with. That has changed over the past year. I also had to learn a hard lesson about how I was living my life pre-medication. My habit of giving too much and doing too much wore me down. Now after meds, I have to continue to keep an eye on that tendency though it is so much better. 11. COVID: I think I may have gotten Covid early on but was never tested. I had a very bad sore throat in the fall of 2020. It was so bad I took an antibiotic (which I could handle) and it cleared it up. I have been vaccinated 3 times and the first time I was vaccinated I was off benzos for 3 months. Aside from the usual reaction to a vaccine, aches, chills, etc, I was fine. I am someone who never got flu shots and don’t plan on getting them in the future but I knew a handful of people who got very sick with COVID including two who now have long COVID so I was willing to take the vaccine. What Remains: My sleep has gotten better though it is not where it was at pre-medication. However, I have gone from very light sleep, waking every hour or so to sleeping 6-7 hours a night and waking up between 2 or 3 times. Dropping off is still not as easy but I’m not wired or hyper. I just think I’m still low on something the brain and body produces to ease me into sleep. I also occasionally get some temperature fluctuations/hot flashes but am okay with them. When I first stepped off of Remeron/Mirtazapine, the sweat poured off of me at night and I was so drenched I had to get up and change. I was post-menopausal so I knew it was the medication. That’s it for now. As with anything I've mentioned above, please do your research and learn to trust your body's responses. The capacity for our brains and bodies to heal is real. I'm wishing everyone on this journey continued strength to keep going. Remember how courageous you are to take on this challenge. You will heal and have the life you want for yourself again. Hibari

Hello ; Excuse my English. It's not my first language. I am new to this forum and need your help to stabilize my dose of diazepam before starting the withdrawal process. Indeed, I was on a benzo in tablets called Lysanxia (long half-life) and I recently asked my doctor to prescribe me diazepam (in drops, it is more practical to use). I used an equivalence chart and today I end up with 23 drops of diazepam in the morning and 14 in the evening. I didn't do any progressive crossovers. The doctor decided that it was not necessary. It's been 4 days since I made the switch but I have new symptoms (tachycardia all day, shortness of breath, nausea and anxiety). I specify that I was not really stable with the old molecule (Lysanxia-Prazepam) before making the switch to diazepam. I'm afraid I'm diazepam intolerant because it's the only option I have to do a slow and gradual withdrawal. Could someone please help me stabilize my dose? THANKS.

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.

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

Good Afternoon to all of You, Probably will sound a bit ''funny'' as my ''treatment was quite very low'' in compressing to what I had read on the website but... I had been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder back in 2019, and the treatment prescribed by the psychiatrist was bromazepam 3mg durning the day and 10mg of doxepin before sleep. Going forwards, no one told me for how long should I take them, so from 2019 till now I took them constantly. I managed on the begging of the year to get rid off them but after 3 moths due to some problems I had to come back to the pills. I started to taper them in October, I don't need the doxepin any more but ... If I knew how benzodiazepines work I will never took them. My problem is that I cut every two weeks 0,75mg, but when I reached to 1,5mg and had to go to 0,75 and then take it out for good my body said NO! For a week I have very nasty muscle aches, dizziness, problems with the stomach, hands shakings, I can't sleep properly, cramps and sensation of vomiting. In all this period of 3 years, I done and I'm still doing psychotherapy which helped a lot but my worry is if I'm doing the tapper properly ? Basically to cut every two weeks 0,75 from the pill? I'm doing it too fast? Is normal to have all these sensations? Probably was the worst decision to take Bromazepam. Any reply will be much appreciated. Regards, V

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

I was on ssris from 10 to 32, (started tapering at 30. I was on benzos for 7 years from 23-30. At 23 I was also put on an enzyme inhibitor (omeprazole) by my PCP that increased both the benzo and the ssri in my body, and doctors were not aware of the interaction. My withdrawal saga actually started with me switching from omeprzole to pepcid. Anyway after tapering from benzos and ssris, I developed some central sleep apnea, and my sleep was so bad I couldn't function. For some reason trazodone increases aurosal thresholds and helps sleep apnea I take 25 mg at night. Is this a really bad idea. I'm still in the thick of PAWS, and while functional, definitely low functioning.

Hi, I took Mirtazapine 15mg for 2 weeks and stopped due to severe side effects. I tried Amitriptyline 20mg, i took it for about 3 weeks but it started making me very dizzy so i stopped. Started Mirtazapine 7.5mg again as it was helping me initially for sleep, but it did not help as before so i stopped it again after 2 weeks. After all this, i came to know that these medications should be wean off or taper gradually. None of the Dr's i saw educate me about it. now i am 3 months off these medications, i get anxiety, restlessness in waves, my sleep is very broken but since last 2 weeks i feel very tired and fatigue even without doing anything. will this pass? is it the part of recovery process? Is there anything i can do about it? Any reccomendations?

Desperately looking for members advice , past experience . I think that I have progressive withdrawal syndrome from fast meds switching, I was never fully stabilized on them and for short period of time . So in my opinion I’m dealing with withdrawals, plus original anxiety that was never stable . My condition is worsening fast and I’ m loosing hope , don’t know if going back to these meds I had would worsen my situation. Escitalopram 10 mg , 7.5 weeks,then Zoloft 25 mg 5 days , then paroxetine 10 mg for 4 weeks and 20 mg for about week and a half . That was in October 2023. After about month later tried mirtazapine 7.5 for 3 weeks and 2 doses of 15 mg followed by short taper . Pdoc is not experienced, don’t have a lot of I trust in him and trying to avoid hospital. I would like some info re my options, do I go back to previous meds , if yes which one to get some stabilization . or safest option is to start totally new SSRI or else . I mention that I lost weight and have decreased appetite , so could use anything that causes digestive issues, also have weakness and symptoms flactuate.

Here is my story. As an adolescent and college student, I suffered from anxiety and in particular social anxiety. I finally sought psychiatric treatment in senior year of college (year 2014) as I also started getting major depressive symptoms and was prescribed Zoloft (at 100 mg for 7 years, then tapered to 50 mg for the remaining time I was on it; I did not take any breaks, was always on it during this time; mainly had some sexual side effects, a bit of emotional blunting, but overall really manageable from side effect standpoint, nothing major). It was highly effective at treating the physical feelings of anxiety and healed me mentally as well, slowly improving and lowering social anxiety and my depressive symptoms. In late July of 2023, while on 50mg I decided I was in a good place and found a few of the side effects annoying, and (unfortunately) self-tapered off the 50 mg (50 to 25 to 12.5 over around 6 weeks) by mid-September. As I tapered, I felt no increase in anxiety or depression (and had not been feeling these in a significant way for a long time – in fact I was the happiest I had probably ever been in my whole life, which is what prompted me to think I did not need the Zoloft any more), or any of the symptoms I took it for the in the first place, and experienced minimal ‘discontinuation’ symptoms as well. Then, about 6 weeks after stopping, in mid-November I had several things pop up at the time I did not recognize as relapse/discontinuation, but almost certainly were (GI distress, nausea, constipation) – these were separate ‘episodes’ that occurred, and there was spacing in between them. December 10 is when the true full relapse began: I woke up in the middle of the night feeling uneasy, with chills, got bad night sleep / struggled to get back to sleep, following night at girlfriend’s had panic attack come out of nowhere- chills, shivering, feeling anxious not self, thought I was going to die- walked around and talked it out, died down in 20-30min… but for rest of night felt uneasy, struggled to sleep / got a bad night sleep. Following day woke up feeling full anxiety in chest, shoulders (adrenaline type feeling) and had racing/worrying thoughts, told primary care provider they refilled Zoloft 25 mg. I took the Zoloft 25 mg had a strong reaction (this was ~2.5 months after my last dose of 12.5mg), both positive in sense it did calm me down but with strong side effects (tingling, no libido, strange sensations (I experienced lower libido, but nothing like the strange sensations when on it before)—like an electric shock in lower body mostly, i.e., what I now know to be the ‘kindling’ effect and you can’t argue against this because human beings can’t natural produce electric shock sensations internally even as a manifestation of anxiety), deterring me from wanting to take it again, still got pretty poor sleep that night but not horrible. Did not take Zoloft Wednesday because concerned about side effects, still felt anxious / off and got poor night’s sleep again. I met with primary care thursday, at doctor’s office Thursday had a panic attack that did die down, they referred me to psychiatrist. On Friday took 12.5 mg Zoloft since they said it wouldn’t make a difference either way at that dose and felt more relaxed but again had weird side effects. The next day I started to feel weird, and took 12.5mg to take the edge off (in retrospect, not how Zoloft to be used but I was in an irrational, anxious state), made me feel calmer but still got a bad sleep. Sunday morning felt very off, like panic building so took 25 mg Zoloft initially calmer but panic attack did not stop ended up going to ER, had elevated BP/HR otherwise fine, and gave me low dose of lorazepam, talked it out, calmed down. Also trazodone for sleep, ended up sleeping very well that night for whatever reason. The next day felt a bit weird but also a bit recovered, around noon felt growing depression feeling so took 25mg Zoloft, then that night really struggled to get sleep, next morning also feeling off, had panic attack, ended up calling 911 evaluated in ambulance, just elevated HR and BP, calmed down, flew home that day (took Zoloft 25mg at noon because could feel growing depression feeling again). Had another panic attack and went to the ER one more time (this was last day I took Zoloft 25mg). I then started on my newly found psychiatrist’s (yea… unfortunately did not have one for a while) plan of 0.5mg/night clonazepam and 150mg Wellbutrin (since starting the 0.5mg clonazepam, no true panic attacks have occurred), unfortunately even with taking the Wellbutrin in the morning, I got no sleep that night (got hypnic jerks that kept me awake), told me psychiatrist, he told me to stop and we’d re-evaluate in a few days. Then following two nights no sleep, the psychiatrist kind of gave up on me, so then took a few days to find a new provider. Who started me on 5mg Lexapro (and continue 0.5mg/night clonazepam) – the main side effects were getting no sleep (down from 5-6 hours previous two nights) both nights I tried it and constipation (but other than that nothing bad). I took a break for a day and re-tried in the morning, then was able to get some sleep. Over a 5-week period, I vamped up from 5 to 7.5 to 10mg/morning Lexapro, and tapered down to 0.25mg/night clonazepam (tapered down regardless of impact on sleep because I did not want to become dependent). Since starting the Lexapro, there has been continued improvement in daily functioning, reduction in anxiety (in particular better control over thoughts), mood (continues to improve actually – in many ways getting back to old self despite being sleep deprived); I continue to feel I am approaching ‘normal’ / being myself more. However, there is still something major that is very off: I do not feel exhaustion/tiredness (OR anywhere near as much like **** as I should after a poor night’s sleep, I am also strangely am able to focus better and in a better mood than I’d be under normal circumstances) during the day (or a very limited amount of it), and continue to get poor night’s sleeps (I have not taken a single nap or dosed off at all since December 10… I even took 5mg ambien in the middle of the day (long story) and that failed to make me fall asleep). It is often challenging for me to both fall asleep, and guaranteed I will wake up at least 1-2 times throughout the night (and sometimes during these instances I cannot get back to sleep), and I can never sleep in past 7am. The worst nights are usually 1.5-2.5 hours, the better ones are in the 4.5-6 hour range (I had a streak of 0 hour sleep for 3 nights in a row after going down from .5 to .25mg Klonopin too early, then went back to 0.5mg and made taper more gradual). I have had several nights of 7-8 hour sleeps, but with only a few exceptions these have always been after taking a sleeping drug (and always the 0.25mg Klonopin as well). During the nights, I will sometimes wake up with a faster heartrate, night sweats, urinate frequently, when trying to fall asleep I have experienced minor hypnic jerks (though a lot less bad than the ones after taking the Wellbutrin) – a lot of these have admittedly declined in frequency (and some I think have been in reaction to taking certain sleep meds the night prior, e.g., Mirtazapine), but nonetheless my average amount of sleep has not improved that much, still waking up often and not getting very many hours (interestingly I also pretty much always remember my dreams). For awareness, I have tried Ambien (just 5mg) which did not work at getting me to sleep (did make me extremely drowsy though.. also felt depressed/anxious like 5-6 hours of taking it), Trazodone (25-100mg, it was effective, but started realizing it might be causing tachycardia and made me act weird in the mornings so stopped taking it), Mirtazapine (~4mg, probably the best sleep I’ve had during the whole experience slightly over 8 hours only woke up once, obviously made me extremely drowsy, but the next morning was a zombie, then in the afternoon started experiencing hypersensitivity and getting jolts of anxiety in reaction to things like dogs barking while on a walk), Lunesta (1mg – was effective 6-7 hours helped with falling and staying asleep, but did some GI distress, and felt causing some sort of mini-withdrawal since on the Klonopin / not advisable to take z-drug with benzo), and Hydroxyzine (25-75mg – this has been effective, I think become a bit less effective over time but still helpful, some side effects getting better, notable so want to avoid taking every night); for supplements I take 2mg melatonin, 300mg magnesium, vitamin D3, I try going to bed at consistent time, go on daily 30+ minute walks, employ diaphragmatic breathing, though admittedly have more to learn on sleep hygiene. All of this said, I would love to hear people’s thoughts on the following (and I am going to an online forum because I have brought some of this up to supposedly highly qualified Ivy League-trained psychiatrists who won’t really know what to do). (1) Is there any possibility I did not give re-trying Zoloft a proper chance, and getting back on it at some TBD dosage is my only chance to get back to normal? When I took it initially it did feel weird, but all of the effects I’d be willing to put up with if I got back to feeling normally and being able to sleep properly again (even though as I took it later in the week I noticed most decline in intensity). Additionally I took it incorrectly, starting on a Tuesday at 25mg, then taking 12.5mg on Friday, then 12.5mg Saturday, then 25mg for just a few more days before stopping. You may think, why on earth would he get back on that he still had panic attacks on them (and yes, they were potentially worse because I took it, but I took it improperly, which likely completely threw off my brain). In comparison to Lexapro, when I first took it it did not interfere with sleep like Lexapro did (two nights in a row with no sleep, and still after 5 weeks on Lexapro I am getting poor sleep, though some components may be improving). It did have a calming effect, did have a somewhat numbing effect and made me feel better than I should have (given the overtiredness), but still that was early days and towards the end 4th day or so of using that became less the case. a. I read in some cases if you react strongly to the initial dosage that is “kindling” and does not mean the drug will not work, but just you are extra sensitive to it. My brain clearly grew dependent on Zoloft over the 9+ years I was on it and may need the drug to get back to normal. I had not taken it long enough the second time (only 4-5 days) to tell if it could properly reduce anxiety, rebalance my brain so I could sleep properly. When I was having the panic attacks while taking it, it had not been long enough to prevent them (would take weeks…), I was also not eating nearly enough (something I realized during my final ER visit when I horsed down a bunch of mediocre hospital food). b. If I were to switch I am pretty sure I’d need to cross taper with Lexapro, because going to 0 on an SSRI I don’t think would be good for me at this point, in particular combining the withdrawal with the sleep deprivation. It would probably be wise to start with a very low amount of Zoloft (like 1 mg?) to minimize any risk of Serotonin Syndrome. c. While I don’t think they take a nuanced approach, and lack a sophisticated enough understanding of SSRIs, have been advised against this by several doctors. (2) Does it make sense to stick with Lexapro, at least for several more weeks, potentially at a higher dose. I am not concerned about the constipation, but obviously if it makes sleep worse that’s a no go. I have noticed continued improvements shifts to normality while on it just not the desired improvement on sleep. In some ways I am happier on it than I was on Zoloft, but still not the sleep improvement—and sleep is huge foe me. If I were to increase the dose I would start going from 10mg to 12.5mg. My GI system seems to be improving (gets less irritated after meals, getting more of real appetite/feeling hunger) a. The recent psychiatrist I saw recommend I try increasing the dose of Lexapro and see how it goes over the next month. (3) Could it make sense to try an alternative SSRI, such as Prozac or Celexa? The key here would be getting brain back to a state where I could sleep. Or a different antidepressant class, but those are second line and known for even worse side effects. (4) Some may say the Klonopin, especially in the context of tapering, is hurting sleep (which it probably is but I doubt that severely given I have held at .25mg for 3 weeks), and right now I am still suffering from the bad sleep deprivation, have lost 15 pounds – suffering through potential benzo withdrawal might not be something I can handle now. I have no desire to ever take a dose higher than 0.25mg, and eventually 100% want off of it, preferably as soon as possible. (5) In terms of other treatment options for the insomnia, I have not yet tried Seroquel but have reservations given I already have not had the best experiences with Trazodone and Mirtazapine – if I were to try Seroquel maybe like ¼ or ½ the usual starting dose of 25mg… Would rather try one of the alternative treatments, CBD/cannabis if those really do sometimes work. a. I have heard CBT-I, ketamine infusions, psilocybin microdose, CBD, cannabis, maybe be helpful – would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on any of these or other treatments

Hi, I am new here, I was put on klonopin for 6 months then I had to taper because I developed a tolerance to it. Accidentally did a rapid taper off of it with out realizing how fast and dangerous the taper was. I am suffering from a lot of systems from getting off of klonopin. I am 4 months out since my last dose of klonopin. As soon as I got off of my doc put me on Amitriptyline for sleep. I don’t why I excepted Amitriptyline I wasn’t thinking straight at the time. I just need to now if it is ok to be on a sedative like Amitriptyline while trying to heal your CNS from a benzo like klonopin? I know that Amitriptyline has a long list of symptoms just like klonopin. And I am getting scared that the symptoms from Amitriptyline might be intertwining with the withdrawal symptoms from klonopin.

Please help. Very insane situation and still can’t believe this happened bc I took my K taper so carefully and knew all what to stay away from, persevered thru hell and was get myself back and functionality, love feeling and joy towards end of it. Had sleep come back to 5-6hrs taking .5mg gummy kid melatonin only after last few yrs at 0-3hrs. 4 mos off Klonopin 3 ye taper, 2 months of psych hospital hell all the med changes, 3 days into now Covid positive and all the neuro symptoms ramped up that day. Not sure if it also is Mirtazapine neurotoxicity bc I’m reacting badly after taking now…. Didn’t in psych hospital. All beta blockers trialed one time in in First psych place- early to mid Nov. I'm beyond freaking out as intense panic in gut twisting and turning having jolts in gut. This is all so so so hard. I’ve had 120+ symptoms they K taper so I’m used to persevering through hell, but had been recovering pretty well towards lower doses with anbout 10 symptoms per day varying but predictable ….all hell broke loose at .018mg. Acute was horrific stuck in dark closet for 6-8 weeks as my eyes hurt so bad and akathisia ramped up with any light. then hell began bc I had to go to ER m, ended up in 3 paych hospitals bc of SI and all hell since then. back home now, have covid day 3 that skyrocketed my synproms and now I can’t figure out what this is what’s. had covid pretty bad in Swpt 2022 but recovered in a few weeks, still on .12mg K at that point . Severe body clenching and eye pain and now now Mirtazapine is very drying and can cause eye problems and so freaking out. Had to come off 1 wk Elavil in 2021 bc of eye color changes and 6 wks of hell followed but was still on K at that point. the akathusua is my biggest hardest thing and how it affects so much. I know I made mistakes here recently and went against everything I knew not to take but I was forced to bc I they out in my IV water or forced to take tablets. I had all written out what couldn’t tKe and my family had that and we gave to hospitals and psych places and the nurses and staff intentionally wanted to screw me up more bc I was a ‘broken Betty’ with the akathisia and they didn’t get the aka. They psychologically also put me thru hell to get me to break completely…. I was terrorized. Laying still now body extreme vibration buzzing internally clenching involuntarily jolting involuntarily, This can happen with covid remeron and Klonopin but I've not had it had this severe before. I am unable to lay really. It’s like my brain is screaming inside and I want to scream running…. Again had this to a degree during K taper but not constant. Want to scrape face off, yank eyes out. During acute K I was pulling hair literally out bc aka was so so bad and pulling skin and scraping face. All stuff I couldn’t control. So heartbreaking for me bc I didn’t want to be doing it. I repeat same things over and over fast all day long. Rock at times, just disaster. I already have my body attack my thyroid with hashimotos, I'm susceptible to autoimmune issues and now all of this. My body is on fire internally 30min-2hes after taking 7.5mg Mirtazapine at 9-10pm. Body starts jolting and extreme RLS, eyeballs start shaking and try to roll back in head. Chest pain and heart pain, intense mental akathisia. Stomach rolling. At some point of fallen asleep and then awaken to nightmare and extreme panic chest. Bottom clenching pressure and internal walls on own. It's horrendous feeling. Stomach same. 97lbs. But eat The feeling your being uncomfortable tickled on bones and organs can't do anything to stop it- akathisia. Want to pull everything apart. Can't close eyes during day bc they burn and hurt so badly, pressure and akathisia behind them. Just dart open and so much burning pain and I've tried 3 eye drops types today. Can't even take 15mg armour without severe reaction when I was doing ok at 30mg. Normal amount is 75but was too stimulating initially coming off K so de said I could take lower but now TSh is a 10, yet can’t do much. Vitamin issues d is like 11 3 mo ago, b12 is under 300, I know this is horrendous souls but vitamins stimulated me and I clumsy be outside due ri eye issues. Please help with any encouragement and what talk might think about the Mirtazapine. I’m so angry I’m on this bc it’s not helping and here I persevered thru K taper whole time saying I’d never get back on anything after. they were going to do lithium at place and I said well some people have had ok time with Mirtazapine for akathisia bc I was terrified of lithium. So total of a month being on, changed bransa a week ago coming home bc didn’t know brand from hospital and my pharmacy gave what that thought . I am devastated annd have been and to survive minute to minute. This is like worst horror story I could ever imagine and my family is overwhelmed (live with brother who can’t handle much of this anymore after 3 1/2 years ) parents are a basket case and in 70s so they just can’t have all the stress I’m putting on them. I’ll try to edit with help later bc eyes are hurting so bad and body jolting about. K march 2020 after in hospital with covid type symptoms and antibiotic rash-adverse reaction. Told had severe anxiety and Gad disnt know better had never had any of anxiety in 37 yrs. .75mg tapered to .005mg in Aug 2023 Will update more later

Hello, I’m new to this forum, looking for some advice / insight. I had a bad COVID infection back in July of 2023 that created sleep disturbances and neurological symptoms that lead me down the road of psychotropic drugs. 2 short stints with Klonopin (shy of 3 weeks) and Valium (about 3 weeks), both at low doses and eventually Trazodone for insomnia that I’ve been on for 4 months everyday at varying doses but generally 100mg the vast majority of nights. I have been off of benzos since November 21st 2023. While it’s possible I could still be experiencing withdrawal on that end, I’m beginning to become suspicious that my problems are more tied to the nightly use of Trazodone. It’s extremely hard to unpack what is what but ever since I started this medication, I’ve had a rash on my face, have a persistent stuffy nose, feel depressed all the time, and rapid cycle in a very consistent pattern between depression and feeling VERY stimulated, the point of masking the depression and feeling like a “rush” of chemicals is coursing through my brain. On paper it might sound manic, but it’s not euphoric at all. It’s terrifying and it’s usually accompanied by severe anxiety, stiff muscles, joint pain and transient itching, pins and needles all over my body. There’s also the element of stress / trauma being in this state for so long that I’m also having difficulty unpacking how much that is adding to these mood swings. Long story short, I’m starting to think I’m having an adverse reaction / possibly even an allergy to Trazodone. Also, I can fall asleep now without this drug but I still take it for fear of withdrawal. Problem is, I feel so awful on this drug already, I’m starting to wonder if this is a case that warrants immediate discontinuation? I feel like the drug I’ve been dependent on for sleep is poisoning me, daily. So what’s the best path? Keep poisoning myself with a slow taper? Or stop?