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Hi everyone! I've been reading and getting encouragements from this site for a few months now. For quite some time, I though I was alone, experiencing side effects and felt that everything was in my head when I got dismissed by the doctors. The year of 2023 was considered the worst year in my life in terms of health. I've been misdiagnosed with bipolar once in 2013. I couldn't remember what medications I was on. I trusted the system and hoped for the best but then I quit cold turkey because I couldn't deal with the side effects. Fast forward to 2018, I've experienced a panic attack on the way to a job interview. I went back to see a psychiatrist and got diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I was on something for the panic attacks, Lexapro 10mg and Anxiset 10 mg. for depression. I used to have constipation on and off since I was a child so I never thought that constipation was one of the side effects from the drugs or ANY side effects for that matter. I never listened to my body. In 2022, I began tapering down on Lexapro from 10mg to 5mg and stopped taking Lexapro in December 2022. That is when my bowels stopped working completely. I had no urge to go to the bathroom and could go for weeks without a BM. I was dependant on laxatives from that point. I went to 4 different doctors, 2 of them specialized in motility. Did numerous bowel cleanout, a colonoscopy, x-rays, defectogram, anorectal manometry, balloon expulsion, sitz marker test, biofeedback and went on several motility medications. All of the tests came back as normal, nothing out of the ordinary except for a redundant colon and dilated sigmoid colon due to long time constipation. I went back to my psychiatrist and told her about my constipation, she then changed my medication to perphenazine. My symptoms were still on going, at this point it was nearly a year now. I went down the rabbit hole, thinking I had colonic inertia, that I was going to have to remove my colon, etc. My last test that I did in November was sitz marker test where I had to stop all medication including perphenazine. During that week, I had normal BM and expelled 23 out of 24 markers and I felt the urge to go to the bathroom slowly coming back. My doctor asked why I took perphenazine, it causes dry mouth, no urge to poop, slows the motility in the colon and tend to suck out water from your colon. I went back to my psychiatrist and told her that I wanted to stop the medication and that it causes more constipation. She said ok but only for a short break then I need to go back on the medication again. But I never went back! I am yet to experience withdrawal symptoms and still trying to fix my bowel problems but it is slowly getting better.....like very slowly. The things that I learned so far: -General doctors would dismiss your symptoms and thing it's not related to antidepressants. There's not enough evidence to back this up. -You need advocate for yourself, you know how your body operates. Listen to it. I just went numb and ignored everything. -Psychiatrists try to push medications on you but you're trading one thing for another. -From what I read here, tapering should be done slowly and down 10%. I don't know why mine wasn't like that and reinstating Lexapro after a couple of months didn't work. -Antidepressants effect people differently depends on underlying problems you have prior Has anyone have similar experiences?

Here are two articles that talk about serotonin and SSRI medications and gut function and the microbiome. Anything that alters serotonin alters the microbiome and I think that in my case my remaining medications are probably contributing heavily to the IBS that I'm dealing with. I am definitely making some progress but I think I'm fighting an uphill battle while still on these and probably anybody that is on these medications is going to be fighting that uphill battle. In short meds are bad for the gut. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrgastro.2013.105 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.682868/full

Hello fellow members, I’ve searched the site for CPPS with no results. But I’ve read on this site and others that having trouble with urination and tension is a common WD- or side effect. Side effects I experienced from the start of taking Citalopram was the tension in my groins, along with trouble urinating and the sexual side effects. The tension and troubled urination did diminish to some extent but the sexual side effects did not. I remember every time I stopped Citalopram, being cold turkey or by tapering, the tension in my groins and the troubled urination came back with a vengeance. Along with the sexual side effects getting even worse and issues with bowel movement like constipation and diarrhea. During this last taper I had the same issues, only worse than ever. New symptoms occurred like the need to urinate very frequently, sometimes 4/5 times an hour, along with chronic constipation en perineal pain. Al these symptoms belong to CPPS, which can cause sexual problems too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_prostatitis/chronic_pelvic_pain_syndrome Stretching and relaxing exercises like in the following link are being very helpful to me, along with breathing exercises and drinking cranberry juice. The pain in my groins and perineum are gone after a few weeks of daily exercises. Urinating has improved too. I was wondering if there are more members recognizing these symptoms. thank you.

Hello! I took Amitriptyline for about 8 months and went off of it because it caused me to gain 15lbs and made me severely constipated. I taped off and took my last dose back in June and I still can’t lose weight and still dealing with horrible constipation. I never had this problem before that drug. I’ve a very healthy person. I exercise daily and eat healthy. This is beyond frustrating!! I’ve been to the doctor who told me to just take laxatives. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars at a naturopath who had me take tons of supplements. Those things will work for a little while then they stop. Has anyone experienced this with a medication and did the constipation get better?

Hello, So I was switched from one Anti-Psychotic{s} (AP{s}) Zyprexa [Olanzapine], to another AP Abilify [Aripiprazole]. I decided to stop taking the medication between the switch as I've only been on Zyprexa for 3 months. APs have left my head as scrambled eggs and I cannot function clearly on them. Much too much Zombie. November I was put in hospital for a breakdown, given 5mg -> 7.5mg ->10mg Zyprexa over a month. Since leaving Hospital I agreed with a GP to reduce down to 5mg in one fell swoop, not knowing that this is actually very risky - since that point my sleep is not good; I seem to get only 3 hours per night and spend the remainder tossing, turning and feeling so incredibly low about life... It has been driving me slightly loopy. I reduced to 3.75/2.5mg (however I could cut them up semi-accurately) for one week and have now run out of Zyprexa except 2x 5mg tablets as the Dr switched me over and the supply ran out, so tapering is not an option.... Before I start a different AP I have decided to just stop taking APs while I have support in a family setting. I am unsure what the cut-down from 3.75mg to nothing will do to me after 3 months going from 5-7.5-10-5-3.75/2.5mg supply. I am extremely concerned having read countless horror stories. My breakdown in hospital was drug/alcohol induced but I lied about it and ended up on medication probably unsuited; I was just high and drunk. I do not feel like I have bipolarity, I do feel that the medication has made me zombified (anhedonic [sp*?]) and I am not myself anymore. Before the timeline gets too long I wanted to just stop and escape the trap of Pharma and APs. I wanted to try SSRIs for my lack of motivation especially after abuse of Cannabis (before hospital 2g/day of the super strong stuff) or just normalise without any medication to see if I can cope. The APs make it incredibly difficult to work effectively and I have been off work for too long to take something that will make concentration so difficult. This is a risk as I am unsure what the effect will be. So far I have Constipation and Amnesia after 3 hours every night. At 10mg I was sleeping most of the night; but the fallout in the mornings was awful. I have 7 days of sleeping pills prescribed to help me sleep - i might space them out to try and get a good nights rest every several days as I'm unsure if the GP (UK Doctor) will give me more. Any advice from people for me. I am taking a risk I feel but I do not know if there is another route out without prescriptions for the medicines to taper off. So the task is: ~3mg Zyprexa to 0mg (or use the 2x 5mg tablets somehow) 7x sleeping pills. Amnesia & constipation - early morning depression from 3am to 2pm. All advice welcome.

Hi everyone! I was prescribed Abilify for severe depression and anxiety and I have been able to slowly taper off thanks to miracle product called cysteine, highly recommend it. When I crossed 15mg of Abilify, instead of constipation I got diarrhea. Now, when I was on 9-8mg, even my genital numbness receded a little. However now, when I lowered the dose to 7.5mg, my genital numbness is even worse, I got constipation again as well as water retention. What might be going on?

I was on Cymbalta 30mg for 2 months and I noticed testicular pain at the time being and lower sperm count. Today, semen comes out watery and the dull pain isn't gone, plus, whenever I get it, it also affects my whole right leg. (It's my right ball that hurts) Can cymbalta cause such nerve pain? I also used to get nerve pains a few weeks in my arms and legs ago but they stopped. Read my intro thread please on info on how I am doing now and what kind of treatment I follow. I forgot to add. When I slightly press the aching one, it leaves me with a dull ache, when I do it in the healthy one, it doesn't hurt at all. Why does my semen come out watery? Can cymbalta affect sperm count and quality? Sorry for the graphic details. I wish I can get some help.