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Hi I am new to this forum and this is my first post . I am currently on 30mg mirtazapine and 200mg of pregablin , I have been on these mess for about 3 to 4 months . I have just cut my mirtazapine from 30mg to 15mg and in the space of 4 days I have have horrible side effects , anxiety through the roof , shaking , lack of appetite poor sleep crying spells and the general feeling of feeling crap . The reason I have started to withdraw from the mirtazapine is that after 3 months I feel no benefit only get awfull side effects . No help with my anxiety and depression if anything it's made me more depressed . I have gone through withdrawing from Effexor and that was really tough , however just the drop for a few days of the mirtazapine has left me crushed , my doctor told me that mirtazapine was a easy drug to withdraw from , but after 4 days it has left me house bound . Has anyone got any idea on how I get through this or any experience in mirtazapine withdrawals

I can relate to so much that has been written here about antidepressants. I developed tardive dysphoria after being on them for 25 years. I am now virtually off antidepressants but still suffer terribly because of the tardive dysphoria. I feel suicidally depressed, anxious,worried and restless every day. I struggle to get out of bed and to get washed and dressed. Everything seems like an impossible task. I have been like this for over 2 years and despair that I will feel better. It took me about 18 months to taper off Sertraline. Does anyone else have experience with tardive dysphoria? Will I ever recover?

Hello everyone, I’m so pleased to have found you all and very happy to be signed up to SA 😊 I’m here for my mum who was born in 1947 and is 76 years old. It’s taken me a while to get round to writing this, (massive), introduction, and some of the details are a little sketchy as mum’s memory of events aren’t always too clear. I really need some insight and advice so that I can help my mum so please let me give you some history and background – I’ll try to keep it brief! My mum has lived most of her life between Ireland and Scotland. I live in Scotland and, up until the end of 2013, my mum would split her time between her own home in Ireland and my home in Scotland. In 2013 she went to her doctor (GP) in Ireland and was referred to psychiatry and prescribed sertraline (50mg initially) for low mood and anxiety. Mum continued to take sertraline for the next three years (2013 – 2016) and was, at some point prescribed risperidone for 3 days but it made mum feel drowsy - we don’t know quite when or why this antipsychotic was prescribed but we are waiting to receive her medical records and should have a clearer picture then. I’m not sure after this date (2016) if there were any changes to mum’s meds but in February 2017 – May 2017, mum was admitted to the local psychiatric hospital presenting as catatonic and then delirious / psychotic. During her stay at the hospital, she was diagnosed with psychotic depression and received seven ECT sessions, her sertraline was increased to 200mg and olanzapine was introduced at 10mg twice a day (20mg in total) From 2017 – 2018 her drugs remained the same. In March 2018 mood dipped and we think her olanzapine may have been increased. In June 2019 re-admission to the psychiatric hospital was considered due to earlier catatonic symptoms reappearing. She avoided admission and recovered, her sertraline was switched to venlafaxine 150mg and then increased to 225mg. In November 2019 Mirtazapine (15mg) was added and in February 2020 pregabalin was introduced for anxiety (initially at 25mg twice a day but then upped to 50mg twice a day) As far as we are aware there were no changes to mum’s psychiatric meds until 2023. I should also add that she is on several other meds for other medical conditions – please see drug signature. Between 2014 and 2022 my mum remained in Ireland and, although she seemed well a good deal of the time, there would be periods where her mood was very low, and her anxiety really heightened. Sometimes when mum was like this the doctor would prescribe diazepam to help reduce the severe anxiety. When mum’s mood was low she would become increasingly anxious about everything and anything and, when spending time with my brother and his two younger children, she was very anxious that they would injure themselves or come to some harm. It was clear to me and my brother that this debilitating anxiety and constant worry was stopping her from being able to enjoy life and her grandchildren (she has always found most joy when being around her children and grandchildren). We could also see that mum’s physical health was deteriorating and we decided, in 2022, and with mum’s agreement, that it would be best if she permanently moved over to Scotland to be close to me so that I could support and be with her on a much more regular, daily basis. Mum’s mood and anxiety continued to fluctuate throughout 2022 and, due to other external factors, we couldn’t move her over here quite as quickly as we’d hoped. At the end of September 2022 she was, once again, in a very anxious/ catatonic state and narrowly avoided being admitted to the psychiatric hospital. She went to stay with my brother and his family for a week while we organized her coming over here. Although we’re not entirely certain, (as mum was living on her own), it does seem, prior to these more severe unwell periods, that mum was falling into a very anxious state and would stop eating, sleeping and we think perhaps stop taking her meds for maybe one or two doses. Mum was now living in Scotland with me, and her mood started to improve throughout October. She was offered a flat within the retirement housing complex, just a 10 minute walk away from me. With mum in Scotland we began to see a definite pattern to her mood - she would be well for around a month and then her mood would drop, out of nowhere and with no obvious trigger, and she would be super anxious with low mood for around 2 weeks and then would slowly start to improve again. In January 2023 I printed off a mood chart and we filled it in daily. In February 2023 mum had her first appointment with her new psychiatrist, (I have always been present during these appointments). I expressed concerns around seeing what I thought were some mild signs of tardive dyskinesia and mum was happy to start reducing her olanzapine with her psychiatrist’s support. The psychiatrist did not warn us about withdrawal effects or warn us to look out for anything and I, much to my deep regret, was completely unaware of the impact and dangers around dose changes in psychiatric drugs. Mum was on 15mg olanzapine, which was initially reduced to 10mg for 3 months, then to 7.5mg for 3 months, then to 5mg for 3 months. During the summer of 2023 mum experienced pain in her hip which her GP prescribed additional pregabalin for, increasing her daily dose of 50mg twice a day to 50mg twice a day with the addition of 100mg twice a day to help the pain (thereby taking her daily dose potentially up to 300mg). Mum did experience some dizziness around this time which we put down to the increased pregabalin dose. Throughout 2023 mum’s pattern continued in the same fashion as before and I noticed nothing untoward. Mum had an excellent October, remaining well for almost the entire month and I felt sure I was seeing a reduction in the tardive dyskinesia mouth movements. On October the 23rd mum’s olanzapine was further reduced from 5mg to 2.5mg. On the 26th of October mum was given her combined covid and flu vaccination – the very next day, (27th October,) she felt nauseous, dizzy, freezing cold and had general flu-like symptoms. After reading the patient info leaflet from the jag we assumed these symptoms were a side effect of the vaccination and didn’t for one moment consider that they could be related to the drop in her olanzapine dosage just a few days before… After 3 – 4 days she felt physically better but her mood had dipped - we weren’t surprised, she’d had a good month of feeling well and her mood was due to dip anyway, according to her pattern. Although mum had a tough week her mood seemed to be lifting and we went off to her psychiatry appointment. The psychiatrist asked mum how she was and she said she was OK and her mood was lifting – he asked her if she ever felt suicidal and she said no (she has never felt suicidal) he also asked if she suffered from SAD and she said no – she, like me, actually enjoys winter and the festive season very much. The psychiatrist told her to finish off her new 4 week prescription of olanzapine at 2.5mg and then she would be finished with olanzapine for good. That evening, around 6.30pm I said goodnight to mum, took a bag of her washing home with me that she asked me to do and said I’d see her tomorrow. I didn’t get any response from mum to my early morning text and, at 11.15am I decided to go and see where she was and what she was up to. I found mum unconscious in her living room – at some point during the night before she must have slipped into a delusional state and she had taken all of her month’s supply of tablets and all of the extra pregabalin that she had been prescribed. She also left a bizarre note about not wanting to be a big lady which made no sense. Mum was rushed by ambulance to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a local hospital and my brother and I were told to prepare ourselves for the worst – she was not expected to survive. Remarkably, and against all the odds, my wee mum survived this terrible ordeal of which she has no memory, (she also has no memory of her stay at the psychiatric hospital in 2017 when she experienced psychosis). It was at this time that I started to become aware of the damaging effect of these drugs and I became convinced that what had happened to mum was most likely due to a too rapid reduction in her olanzapine. During her stay at hospital her psychiatrist visited her and as good as reprimanded her for trying to take her own life. She was experiencing an extremely low mood, confusion and some delirium at this time, she was also classed as an adult without capacity. Despite this, her psychiatrist decided to cold turkey her from all of her psychiatric meds (olanzapine, venlafaxine, mirtazapine and pregabalin) without discussing this with any family member. He did not believe that mum was experiencing withdrawal symptoms and said that any withdrawal symptoms would be long past by now. I was now also learning the dangers of abruptly stopping psychiatric meds and I became very worried for my mum’s health and this new course of action. After a phone call with me, the psychiatrist did agree to reinstate mum’s olanzapine at 5mg, at my request, and her venlafaxine, but only at 75mg. I was still worried and could see that mum was deteriorating – mum was transferred to the local psychiatric hospital and the new psychiatrist was not willing to consider my request of reinstating her mirtazapine and venlafaxine at 225mg but she did agree to increase her venlafaxine to 150mg. A few days later and, after seeing no improvement in mum she decided that mum was having paranoid thoughts so she increased mum’s olanzapine to 7.5mg without discussing this with me – she also suggested that if mum was to experience withdrawal symptoms, like I suggested she was, she would treat them with lorazepam! She, like the other psychiatrist did not agree that mum was experiencing withdrawal and she also said that any withdrawal would be over by now. I was upset to discover that mum’s care was in the hands of another psychiatrist who wasn’t following the NICE guidelines on withdrawing psychiatric meds and was in denial about the severity or seriousness of possible withdrawal effects. I would love nothing more than for my mum to be off all of these meds but I knew that this cold turkey method could be incredibly damaging. From the day her original psychiatrist made the decision to cold turkey her It took me a total of 18 days and a formal complaint before mum’s meds were reinstated on the 11th of December, at her previous dosage and the olanzapine reduced back to 5mg (I had great support from the mental Welfare Commission, by the way, just in case anyone else needs support). I don’t yet know if I did the right thing, but it was difficult to find advice. Within a week mum’s mood was back to being really good, her memory was dramatically improved, and all confusion was gone. She continued to improve over the next couple of weeks and was officially discharged from hospital on the 3rd of January - no one in the hospital could believe how well and quickly she had recovered. Apparently, according to one of the nurses, the average stay in the psychiatric hospital is 6 – 12 months. Mum was there for just 4 1/2 weeks and spent the best part of those caring for her fellow patients! So, we find ourselves almost back to square one. Mum came home and stayed with me from the 3rd of January 2024 until the 11th – she then went home but was, unfortunately only well for one day and night and the following day her mood dipped again – I was anxious about what had previously happened so brought her back to stay with us until her mood improved or until I had “GrannyCam” (Echo Show) installed so that I could keep a closer eye on her. Mum has only just gone back to her wee flat (29th January 2024) and she is still pretty anxious although she is improving slowly. And this is where we find ourselves. Many, many thanks for reading so far…😊 I am really hoping that I can help support mum to get her off her psychiatric meds – she and I are under no illusions and, given the dosage and time that she has been on this hellish cocktail of meds we are aware that there is an extremely long road ahead of her. I am hoping, initially, that you guys can help me specifically with the following questions: · Would you recommend that mum take her tablets at different times throughout the day (she has morning and evening meds - venlafaxine and pregabalin are taken in the morning and olanzapine, pregabalin and mirtazapine in the evening), and if so, when would you suggest? · I feel that the first drug to taper should be the remaining 5mg of Olanzapine – do you think this is right? · When do you think it would be the right time to restart the olanzapine taper? And does anyone know if I can source taper strips in the UK on the NHS? · Has anyone ever experienced these periods of wellness and then periods of low mood and severe anxiety in a pattern such as I’ve described? Could these be some kind of Waves and Windows, bearing in mind that she was experiencing them prior to starting any kind of drug reduction · What can I do to help mum with this terrible anxiety? I have very recently bought her some chelated magnesium and she has had a couple of low doses of that over the last few days (but has avoided taking them 2 hours before or after her pregabalin, as per the SA advice on magnesium) · I am obviously very worried that there may be a repeat of what happened to mum on the evening of the 9th of November given that, aside from the flu like symptoms, there wasn’t much to warn me to be on the look out for such a severe reaction. Do you think that now that I know a little about what to look out for with withdrawal symptoms I will be able to pick up on times like this should they arise in the future when mum is tapering from her meds? Any and all advice will be extremely welcome – thank you all so much in advance and my apologies for the massive essay! Chris (tine) 😊💚 x x

Hello,this is my story (sorry for my English), Currently suffering a lot and don't have a good supporting system,I feel so alone and lost and don't know if this nightmare will ever end, any help appreciated. 01/2017-12/2022 ~6 Years on Generic Lexapro (5mg-20mg) because of repeataive panic attacks and anxiety that lead to depression.No idea about withdrawal,dr just said that it will be easy to stop them just like I started them .Just I have to do it slowly when I see myself better.My tapering was not tapering as i read here ,I consider it cold turkey because of wrong directionns of docs. I went from 20mg to 5mg in a short time(4-5 month) and and then 0mg. Withdrawal symptoms: 01/23-04/23 Low mood , anxiety at times, high energy, feeling uncomfortable some times.I was feeling that something is not going very well and something is coming but no idea that was from withdrawl as I thought this poison was already out of my system as I was told by doctors. 04/23-07/23 Lot more stress and anxiety, shortness of breath, higher heart rate, balance problem showed, several panic attacks, difficulties focusing, lower productivity at work as my cognitive skills started to go down,pssd.(Thought just ws high stress and anxiety who caused this maybe need some rest ,still no idea about withdrawal.) 07/23-31/09/23 The terror just started,all the above symptoms but in much more extreme which gradually worsened(I took maca for pssd for 4 days in the beginning of 07/23 possibly worsened my symptoms or just what came was supposed to happen ).In the beginning I couldn't talk , couldn't find the easiest words tos say to complete sentences.My cognitive skills just faded away (I was able to understand that because I used to be a good student at uni so I had great pc skills and was a smart guy high grades ) but my mind just stopped to cooperate.All of this gave me a lot ,a lot of stress I thought I was going insane and I just couldn't accept this.I stopped my work temporary for a month because I thought I need some rest because of anxiety i had and I just needed some rest but the worse was coming.My balance problems worsned a lot more ,and just one day I started to have a headache in back of my head ,It was like someone was burning my brain inside.Then everything went worse i started to have headaches in every part of my head , sometimes feel like there is missing part of my brain ,and i feel that parts of my brain are missing sometimes,Very sensitive to louds and sounds in general cand handle everyday sounds I feel paralyzed ,not able to communicate for a long time or focusing in the words someone says ro me because headache starts and just cant handle (it is like it triggers stressors and if i continue to hear or focus in conversations after the pain this goes me to a panic attack )The same happens if i see a vidio for lot of minutes ,feell like my brain is very sensitive maybe due to the fact that i had so much stress about what was happening.I found about this group accidentally as I was in 2psy docs who suggested that i had relapsing and wante ro give me cocktail of other drugs . I suspected that and started the searching on internet.In the beginning i found a group of pssd because this is a problem I have since my CT,and wanted to know about these other drugs they prescribed me ,then I saw @pugsuccess story which lead me to this amazing forum.And reading here about symptoms and everything about withdrawals things started to make sense ,but I was in shock (I found SA0 12/09/23).I didn't started to get these drugs they prescribed me but Im suffering a lot these days.Worth to mention that when my headache started I had a lot of pain on my brain (I thought I was going insane minute to minute )and I wa unable to tolerate it.My family went me In ER and they gave me sth no idea what it was however they told me to take Lyrica(pregbalin) and see how things will go.I took lyrica next day (50mg) and it helped me a lot to be honest my pain reduced and since then I continue it ,but im afraid as it is also addictive and dont know really in this moment it helps or puts more fuel to the fire,but im afraid to take it off because the terror I saw when i went in ER was out of this world.I don't work anymore as I am not able to concentrate on pc and my cognitive impairment is very low . I live with my family this moment as not able to take care by myself but they don't understand me they think that everything is just in my head and they expectthis to pass day by day putting some sort of pressure on me ,also my friends dont understand me,thay just have not ever heard about everything i say so doesn't make sanse ,Im not not able to seee them a lot because I cant handle conversation for lots o minutes with pepople it trigers me that pain in my head .I don't know what to do anymore,I cant go back to ssri the stole my feelings for years ,but im suffering a lot now and 2 month ( 9 months off srri).Apart from the fact that i dont function normally because of my brain I also have lots of stress daily which also cause high heart rate . My worts days are usually I'm bedridden and just a step away to go in ER(lot of pain inside in my soul like is screaming so loudly but only me can hear it , fatigue,not able to communicate, sensitive to light and sound,and dont know if i will make next hour or not).It goes after 6-7 hours some times takes all day and night but freaks me out.Some moments of the day I feel ok but ar less than the waves. My sleep is (4-5 hours per night) except from some days that I was no able to sleep at all .Try to eat 3xday even though some days i don't have appetite.Exerxice whenever Im able and not beddriden usually (30 -50min biking ride or walking/jogging ~8000steps )5/7 days a week . Im trying to fight this but in we deepest waves i feel so bad ,so weak and not imaggine to tolerate this for much time .I don't know if anything i said makes any sense because my symptoms are a little different from others with lexapro.I just want to ask the moderators if is a good idea to continue with lyrica or not? And what is the best thing to do when acute withdrawal hits because I cannot know if there will be strongers acute waves than these who passed just in case to be prepared.Would be a good idea any benzo or any other way either way? Any support and suggestions appreciated. #Thank you for reading my story.🙂

It’s my first time posting so hello to everyone . I’m so glad I stumbled on this site I’ve been so scared not knowing what was going on with me . ill try and make this as short as I can . In August of 2018 I hit what I believe to be called poop out (reaching tolerance) from taking seroxat for 15 years straight . Anxiety started to creep into my days even though I was on 20mg and hadn’t had problems only minor in the past . A visit to the dr led to him increasing my dosage to 30mg. I didn’t feel happy about this and decreased back down within 3 weeks. I knew for me the answer was to taper off. In November 2018 i went to see a psychiatrist for advice on tapering as my dr hadn’t got a clue (too long to go into) . She said to drop 5mg see how I went for 4 weeks before dropping again . This seemed to go ok . In December 2018 she said to drop another 5mg again I felt ok. Don’t get my wrong I had lots of weird symptoms with some depression and anxiety but didn’t feel too bad I put this down to the 50mg of pregabalin she said I should take three times daily (prescribed in November ) . I take twice daily on the advice of my dr. In January she said to decrease by 2.5 mg which I have done. I am now taking 7.5mg daily . From reading things on this site I now know I am tapering tooooooo quickly and my body is now telling me this too as my symptoms are more pronounced and the depression is really setting in. I don’t know what to do for the best and was hoping for some advice here. Do I stay put and wait to get stable though I have read somewhere on this site that it can take up to 18 months to start to stabilise after poop out. Or do I increase tiny amounts until I feel able to cope better with the symptoms? I am still working every day . my thoughts before finding this site were that I needed to get off seroxat because it had started to make me feel so much worse and that by keep taking it I’m poisoning my body and it will never head towards homeostasis while I’m still taking it no matter what dose. I would be so grateful for any advice .

Hi! I just started to taper and I am in my second week of reducing from 20mg escitalopram. I already cut off 10%. What I find confusing: 1. Does it matter if I just take on ONE randomly chosen day 10% less (which I did already) or do I have to distribute the 10% cut throughout the 2 weeks? I can't see how the latter would be possible, given the infinitesimal amount that needs to be reduced this way, but I thought I will ask anyway :)> 2. Whilst I am aware of the huge variability in individual histories, I wonder if anyone here has been experiencing gradual tapering (as advised per medication here) and had withdrawal effects that were bearable and short-lived? In other words, if one does it right, generally speaking, and assuming that one is only on one antidepressant and all other variables are more or less constant, does it help avoid the worse of withdrawal effects? This is something that I am confused about. It is important for me, if any data, anecdotal or scientific exists in regard to this matter. Where can I look for this kind of information? Many thanks.

Introduction topic I promised myself that if I ever survived psychiatric drugs, I’d post a “success story” on the internet because I always found such stories encouraging to read, even if they felt like a distant dream—somewhere I could never really reach. And yet here I am—I’ve made it—and it’s “withdrawal” that now feels like the distant dream (or nightmare) from a past life. I feel it’s time then for me to share my story, albeit as a video. I didn’t expect or want to make a video but my own path to “healing” is somewhat unconventional. It goes beyond tapering, which for me was insufficient on its own. So, to really share my story, I need to provide a fair amount of background information. And, for me, this centres on how I’ve come to reframe my experience with “protracted withdrawal” into something else altogether, called The Mindbody Syndrome or TMS (a concept by the late John Sarno, a rehabilitation physician). It’s through my understanding of Sarno’s mindbody approach to chronic pain and other medically unexplainable phenomena that my years of withdrawal sensations (or TMS) finally ended. I’d note I’m not the first person to use a TMS approach for “protracted withdrawal.” Others have had success as well. I’ve communicated with some of them. It seems, therefore, that more people could benefit from knowing about this. To be clear I’m not saying this approach is necessary for anyone nor am I proclaiming a definitive explanation of “protracted withdrawal syndrome.” What I’ve done is taken a demonstrably successful approach for chronic pain of unknown origin and adapted it for withdrawal sensations that seem to go on and on for no particular reason. Given the limited scientific understanding of “withdrawal syndrome”, however, my adaptation comes with significant simplifications, speculations, and leaps that many people will reasonably see as implausible and too reductionistic. I get it. Despite this, I’ve posted this video because, well, this is my own understanding of how I resolved withdrawal sensations for myself—and, also, exact physiological details aren’t so important for a mindbody approach; it’s the broader psychological concepts that matter. And, who knows, maybe this will resonate with someone else. Regardless I hope everyone finds the best path for themselves. This is the one that worked for me. Finally, I’d just say that the following video is sort of like a self-help video as well. So for any person interested in this approach, I make suggestions based on my own experiences and interpretations, but I'm not saying what anyone should actually do or think. There are also references throughout the video so there’s lots of info and authors listed for anyone who feels so inclined to look into this beyond one random guy on the internet. Note: If you find the video too confusing or shoddily made but you’re interested in this idea, I’d suggest The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno or The Great Pain Deception by Steve Ozanich for a better explanation of the psychology of TMS; or, if you’re interested in a more “scientific perspective”, I’d suggest Psychophysiologic Disorders by Howard Schubiner et al. (Psychophysiologic disorder is basically just another name for The Mindbody Syndrome.) Each of these books goes into medically unexplainable phenomena beyond chronic pain.

Hello! I found this site after searching for side effects and tips on tapering the medications I was prescribed. Around mid Deecember of 2022 I had a bad nervous breakdown after a big panic attack. I had been dealing with GAD and panic attacks for years before this, so it was nothing new to me, but this particualr episode threw me into a loop that had me experiencing anxiety like I never had. I couldn't eat, sleep or leave the house. I was terrified of every sensation and had constant nightmares and nocturnal attacks. It got so bad I had to take time off work and see a psychiatrist. I was first prescribed Pregabalin, which I started taking on Deecember 21, 2022. I could only tolerate 75mg a day, since more left me dizzy and weak, so that's the dose I have been mantaining. Pregabalin helped me sleep and eat much much better, taking me out of the anxiety loop. However, I was still very much agoraphobic. After New Years I was adviced to start on a long term treatment plan which included an SSRI. My doctor prescribed Sertraline. I started on 12,5mg for 2 days, and when I upped to 25mg on the 3rd day, I couldn't sleep. The other side effects were tolerable and not so bad (some diarrhea, GI distress, headaches, temperature regulation issues) and from what I kept reading on Reddit, they were common and would go away. But the insomnia was terrible, I had never had such trouble sleeping. I would get 1-3hs of sleep or literally nothing at all and then I would not feel tired the following day and have energy to do more than I was used to. This began to feel terrifying. I was adviced by my doctor to move all of my Pregabalin dose at night to help with sleep. This would have mixed results, it worked some days and not others, but would also leave me incredibly fatigued and weak until like 5 or 6pm on the next day. After 10 days I had enough. I felt like my doctor was not listening and I was frankly a bit afraid of having a manic episode. I said I wanted to stop the Sertraline. I did not taper this. I had lowered my dose to 12,5mg again and had been taking this for around 5 days, so I just stopped taking it. I didn't have much trouble just stopping, but to be honest, I had symptoms of mild dysautonomia before this entire ordeal so a lot of the WD symptoms I tend to have often just because of that. I also got a respiratory infection right after I stopped the Sertraline, which gave me a high resting HR (as viruses usually do) and fatigue for a few days. I was much better after this cleared. It's been over 2 weeks since I stopped the Setraline and moved my Pregabalin dose back to how I was originally taking it (twice per day). My normal sleeping patterns resumed! I'm only feeling fatigued/lightheaded/exercise intolerant on and off but, again, this has not been news to me as I have had these symptoms since before this entire ordeal. And it's Summer over here, which is my worst season. I guess I'm joining for support/opinions on taping the Pregabalin. It has helped but I'm trying CBT along my old Psychotherapy. And after the Setraline, I would like to depend on these kind of drugs as little as possible. Thanks for reading and all the work everyone here does!

Hi folks, please find an introduction to my psychiatric history. I desperately need of any support or advice. I started anti-depressant in 1994. This was changed to Prozac 1996, followed by Venaflaxine in 1999. My prayers were seemingly answered in 2000, when I was changed to Sertraline in 2000. Doze was quickly increased to 150mg two months in. I stayed on same drug and doze for 23 years! In 2022, I suffered mental health crisis due to overwork. I was quickly informed that Sertraline was no longer working but couldn't go off it due to duration of treatment. My then psych added Quitiapine as adjunct and Pregabalin. In Feb, my new psych decided to change Sertraline to Duloxatine. She tapered over 5 days! On 6th day I broke down and was put back on Sertraline. Three months ago I was taken off Sertraline again, cross-tapered with Duloxetine over three weeks. One week in started with unbelievable intense symptoms - anxiety attacks, problems with motor-skills and walking gait, freezing cold and diarrhoea. Psych then stopped Duloxetine after 6 weeks as psych doesn't think it was working. One week taper and then put on Escotalipram. By now I was bed bound and on Diazepam 7mg daily. Couldn't tolerate Escotalipram so taken off after two weeks. No taper, started Agnomelatine. Three days in. Couldn't stop being sick and quit. Constantly now have terrible side affects anxiety attacks, stomach pains, sweats, constantly feeling cold. Psych states nothing to do with withdrawal and wants me to go back on sertraline. Lost all hope now. Know this is the withdrawal effects but no professional. If anyone has any advice or similar stories I would massively appreciate it.

Hello everyone I found this website earlier today whilst feeling particularly despondent about withdrawal symptoms. I've read a few posts and feel like I could have written them. I can't believe so many people are going through the same thing! Bit of history - I'm female, in my 40s, from the UK. Had mental health issues my entire life and began being medicated in my early 20s. I have to say that the drugs did help although nobody could ever really find a reason why I was so depressed and so therapy never really worked. Later in life with A LOT of therapy, I have been able to unlock the Pandora's box of my past and recognised that I experienced some pretty horrible abuse as a child and young adult which is almost certainly at the root of all of this as I never developed a solid sense of self or grounding in the world. I'm currently having therapy to address this which is going slowly but in the right direction. As you can see from my signature I've been on multiple psychotropic medications over the years . Six months ago I finished a taper of opiates I had been prescribed for pain and have been through the most horrific dark night of the soul which I am amazed I made it out the other end of. I am currently tapering my lisdexamfetamine (which I am prescribed for ADHD)as it rapid-cycles my mood and makes me alternate between manic & suicidal all in the same day. Ultimately I'd love to be off all the meds altogether. Right now I am feeling despondent as the lisdex withdrawal is causing hideous hideous brain zaps. I have discovered that lisdex & venlafaxine potentiate eachother so essentially I'm not just withdrawing from one, I'm withdrawing from both and this is what is causing the zaps. Anyone who has experienced them will know just how utterly debilitating they are and make you want to rip your own brain out. I'm actually dubious whether I should have been prescribed both medications together in the first place. I'm not working at the moment due to the withdrawals which is making me feel extreme guilt in addition the the shame at getting myself into this situation. I'm taking various supplements, not sure really if any of them are helping. I do quite a lot of exercise but am also prone to inertia and anhedonia which can make it difficult to find the motivation. Thank you to everyone for sharing your experiences and looking forward to being here.

Hi.. My story is, “briefly“, that I have within the past 3 years, been on... so. Much. Crap. And I am currently in withdrawal torture from hell and have been for years now. In the beginning of 2019, I had a very bad stress / anxiety reaction, and I was quickly put on medication. Benzodiazepines for two months along with starting Zoloft. Quit Benzos cold turkey (doctor’s orders) and then Zoloft was upped to 125 mg (in hindsight I am pretty sure it was because I reacted strongly to Benzo quitting). I felt completely horrible on Zoloft and tapered off over the course of 2.5 months (doctor’s orders). Then I was in complete hell and couldn’t sleep so after being “clean” for one month, I was put on 7.5 mg. Mirtazapine. I could FINALLY sleep and it did seem to help my anxiety a bit? I still had a lot of strange horrendous symptoms though but I don’t know if that was from Mirtazapine or SSRI withdrawal ...? Can a dosis of 7.5 mg. Mirtazapine cancel out severe SSRI withdrawal? Anyway - So in 2020 I was on Mirtazapine up and down weekly between 7.5 and smaller doses (doctor said I could just adjust from day to day). I ended up just completely wrecked and just lied in bed in a haze.. so they took me off Mirtazapine and started me on 60 mg. Duloxetine plus Promethazine for sleep. Total haze still, awful.. So off it again after 7 months - tapered from 60 mg. Duloxetine to 0 over 4 weeks. Then felt .... HORRIBLE (!!!) and started self medicating with Benzodiazepines while I waited for withdrawal to end for two months- until my doctor found out and said stop that. Then I was put on Pregabalin and Escitalopram 10 mg. from March 2021 until I wanted to quit (because I was a complete foggy hazy wreck on that as well). Stopped Pregabalin in May and Escitalopram in July (tapered from 10 mg. to 0 over 4 weeks). In September I tried to take a tiny dose of Escitalopram to ease the horrendous withdrawal symptoms .. but that didn’t work and I felt worse. So I just thought I’d push through this indescribable nightmare... in December however I took 1/2 pill of Benzodiazepine twice because it was so unbearable. So.. now it is 9 months since I stopped Escitalopram (/6 months since I tried a small dose for a week) and 4 months since Benzodiazepines.. I can’t describe how much of a hell it has been AND STILL IS 😔 I have constantly tried to tell myself that it WILL and MUST get better soon. And while some symptoms have gotten better, I have almost no life by now. I hardly see anyone because I just can’t due to symptoms, I hardly exercise or leave my apartment. Some days, like today, it is almost constant torture. A week ago I tried Melatonin (4.5 mg. over two days) and then I’ve tried some Valerian root pills.. somehow it’s gotten worse now. So.......... bottom line: I’m thinking about starting Mirtazapine just to ease the withdrawal symptoms and to make sure I sleep better. Right now no matter how much I sleep, I am never rested and feel like I haven’t slept for days everyday. But I am BEYOND scared that it will make everything worse, and then I have yet another drug to get free from. So yeah.. does anyone know if Mirtazapine can help SSRI withdrawal symptoms? I honestly don’t know what to do. Thanks and sorry about the long message. I feel pretty desperate. 😔 Best Louise

Current drugs: - 2012-present citalopram, currently steady at 25mg - 2020 lyrica: max 4mg/day. started tapering after 2 weeks and having worse withdrawal than from 225mg This case history must be very unusal given the low dose and short time. Has anyone heard of a similar case? Also unusual is the bad method I'm stuck with to calculate doses. Recent start and tapering of lyrica ----------------------------------- I started a microdose of lyrica January 1 2020, thinking I could test side effects and stop if they were bad. Worked up to a maximum of about 4mg/day. After 2 weeks I decided it wasn't for mej. Reduced to 70% of max dose and held 4 days but got serious withdrawal symptoms. I thought an increase might help so went up to 80% of my maximum for 2 days, symptoms got MUCH worse, then down to 75% (1 day) and 65%. I thought lyrica and citalopram might be interacting and that tapering citalopram might be easier, so I tried 20% less (25->20mg) one day. I got the worst anxiety of my life and haven't changed it again. Following that I stayed on 65% of my lyrica dose for 2 weeks while I stabilised. Now on day 5 down from 65% to 60% which has not been bad. So, tapering slowly seems best. BUT I cannot measure doses accurately because I'm dividing powder with a knife on a plate (see below). Would switch to liquid but I can only guess how much I'm taking in a day. I'd be grateful for any advice on what I should do! Or information about similar low-dose, short-term cases, or how to handle inaccurate doses. I've been advised by some to go cold turkey given the small dose and short time, and that might have been ok when I started tapering after 2 weeks, but now I've been on it 6 weeks total. I could just about handle the initial 30% drop from my maximum dose but I could not handle what happened when I raised it 10%, then lowered it again. Maybe my case will be useful to someone. If nothing else it shows you can get hooked on a very small dose. The rest of this post goes into background a little and a lot of detail about what I'm doing now, so may be of less general interest. Prior drug history ------------------ - before 2010: prozac then paroxetine then seroquel. never any real trouble getting off them. Just some anxiety/irritability. - 2012 lyrica (only) for 11 days max 225mg/day then tapered off over 5 days with bad withdrawal symptoms for about a week - 2012 mirtazapine for a couple of months, after the lyrica - 2012-present citalopram, starting near the end of the mirtazapine Why is withdrawal worse in 2020 than on a much bigger dose in 2012? ------------------------------------------------------------------- It's hard to compare the two but the current withdrawal seemed considerably worse even before I raised the dose again and made it much worse. Some ideas I had: - I'm also on citalopram now. - Use or withdrawal from lyrica in 2012 primed/changed something. - I got lucky when i went off quickly in 2012, just in time (tapering after 11 days of using it) and just fast enough (5 tapered doses) to escape worse withdrawal. - The down/up dose in first week or withdrawal made it much worse. Also changing citalopram dose for 1 day seemed clearly VERY bad. Switching to liquid ------------------- Day 1 of last taper (65->60%) was partly with liquid I got from a compounding pharmacy. I replaced about 23% of the powder with liquid. Symptoms from underdosing have been bad but less bad than raising the dose, so I aimed low, and took what should have been roughly 45% less liquid than needed (using my rough estimate at equivalance - see dosing method below for details). It was much too strong. I got more sedated than I've ever been on lyrica, lots of muscle twitches, then somewhat agitated when it wore off. I switched back to all-powder doses, and decreased the evening dose by 1/3 to compensate for the morning overdose, and from the next day remained 5% of max dose lower. This has gone surprisingly well despite the updose then decrease. I'm tempted to stay on the powder, but I can't divide into smaller amounts than 1/256 of a capsule with any accuracy at all. That means as I decrease the dose, the reduction step size will get bigger. The most recent step down (65->60%) was about 7.5% of my current dose, but that will become 15% of current dose given a few more steps etc. Also, if a shirtsleeve brushes my reference doses away I'm sunk - I'll have little idea how much to take. But if I switch to liquid, I have to guess how much to take, and try to correct for symptoms, and gradually replace powder with liquid. After the first drop in dose (100% to 70%) it seemed to take a few days for the withdrawal to really get going. If that's still true, adjusting the liquid dose up and down could easily get out of hand and be less gentle than the later, and proportionally bigger, powder decreases. So neither option is good. Powder dosing method (details) ------------------------------ The method I use to dose is awful: I divide capsule's powder into two piles of 1/2, then divide each pile agqin and again. Currently I take 1/64 + 1/128th of a capsule every morning and again at night. This has limited accuracy of course, but it gets worse; there is residue left on the plate after the division. The amount of residue has changed over time since I switched from a big knife to a razor blade, and I haven't been consistent about how much residue I leave. At one point I thought measurements would be more consistent if I kept "reference" piles of each key size: 1/32, 1/64 and 1/128. But I realise now the references are not accurate, and I'm basically eyeballing the new piles now to match the reference ones. To estimate how much my 1/128 actually is, I started a new pill, and divided it with as little residue as possible (using a razor blade, which doesn't leave much at allif you're careful). To my amazement I seem to have left about 50% of the pill as residue. Separately I began sweeping residue from another pill into a pile, which I estimated was about 30% of the pill. Another idea would be to weigh my 1/64th, but I suspect it's too little to measure accurately with any scale I can get my hands on. Potency of my powder -------------------- To make matters even worse, the capsules I'm using expired 4.5 years ago. From a short look on the net and talking with a pharmacist this might not be big deal. But also the powder sits on a plate being slowly divided for up to 2 weeks before I take it, so it may degrade somewhat.

i’ve been on antidepressants for approximately 10 years doctor put me on different kinds. Just want to be off of them. Recently I was put on mirtazapine to help get off of Pristiq and now I am experiencing with drawl symptoms from tapering down on the mirtazapine. I am withdrawing from mirtazapine at present I would like to be part of a support group to help me get through And to learn if there’s anything I can change i.e. diet to help lessen the symptoms of withdrawal.

Hello, My English is not that good but I will try my best. I’ve been taking Escitalopram for over a month now after a very hard benzo and Pregabalin withdrawal. It seems like now my anxiety is getting better and I no longer have derealization. My doctor put me on 10mg and after 3 weeks he upped to 20mg. The first symptoms when I started Escitalopram (nausea and increased anxiety) eventually subsided. The only thing that I still experience is little depression, very low energy and sleepiness. I don’t know if this will subside too because I’m 23 years old and currently studying in Russia. I really miss my energy and motivation. Thank you very much for any information. I am very happy with this website.

Greetings all, I am a member of Amy’s FB group but haven’t been active there since the move to a web location. I live in Sydney, Australia and have been taking Pre@&$@lin for neuropathy pain over a period of more than 12 years. My dosage was stable at 150mg three times daily. I fell out of love with this drug pretty quickly and without consultation or other knowledge reduced this after a number of years to 150mg once daily. I did have quite a few problems after doing so but didn’t associate them with this reduction. In retrospect I realise this was the most significant factor. After joining Amy’s group at FB I soon learnt a lot more about this horrible class of drugs and began tapering using water titration in April 2021. This was a very slow process and whilst aiming at 10% reduction monthly, this has been faster and slower at different times, in the past year or so I have changed the rate of taper to what feels right and this has worked very well. In mid December 2022 my dosage had been stable for over a month at 12.5mg twice daily. I mixed the contents of 2 * 150mg capsules into 300ml of warm filtered water in a reagent bottle and after shaking very well I consumed 12.5ml of this solution (using a measuring cylinder) twice daily. In mid December I headed off for a 6 hour overnight drive to visit my son in the country. At approx 1.45am I was roughly 200km from home driving on a freeway at 110km/ph when I came over the crest of a hill, oncoming traffic (divided road) forced me to change from high beam and driving lights to low beam and my visibility was greatly reduced. I saw in front of me (quite close) a wildlife animal called a Wombat, these are not huge but big and solid enough to cause major damage to my car. I swerved to miss this animal (and did miss it) but found I was driving up a slight embankment and unable to change my course. The vehicle plowed through thick forest for about 100 metres before hitting a large tree and coming to a very abrupt stop. I lost consciousness for a short time and had no idea of where I was when I awoke, it was very dark, no lights and obviously I was off the road. Long story short I was soon after taken to the nearest major hospital by ambulance. I had suffered a broken sternum, 10 broken ribs and had numerous lacerations and bruises (mostly from the seat belt. The paramedics were able to extract most of my medical history and medication list on the hour plus trip to the hospital. In the Trauma centre I was asked about Pre@&$&lin dosage and I explained how I was tapering and that I was currently on 12.5mg twice daily. The hospital couldn’t/wouldn’t entertain water titration so in their wisdom decided I would not receive any of this drug. after 5 days in ICU and 2 days in a ward I became quite ill, was completely restless, in bad pain, I became very anxious and unwell. I couldn’t sit or lay in on place for more than a few minutes and had virtually zero sleep for the next three days and nights whilst I was in such a state. After three days I realised the problem was severe withdrawals from this horrible drug. Next morning I was visited by the Pain Management team and expressed how I was feeling and what the cause was. I was immediately written up for 25mg of Pre@&$&lin daily and was given my first dose soon after. Within a few hours the withdrawal symptoms began to ease though it took 2 days before I was back to my normal state. After returning home I immediately recommenced tapering and m down to 8mg twice daily. I am very keen to stop taking this drug asap but will not rush it as I recall the sage advice from a Dr in the FB group letting me know it was often difficult at low doses so to take it slowly. I’m sorry about this being such a long read but I felt it necessary to give sufficient background leading up to those days of withdrawal. Love & Peace all 🙏

Original topic title: I survived Generalized anxiety disorder to a very intense degree as well as Major depressive disorder in a very short amount of time, I basically dropped Pregabalin, and clonazepam Now I only have to drop Pristiq( please help me Hey How is this community? I was researching and I found you all. I hope you all are well and doing great. I suffered from Anxiety since I was around 18 years and it would come and go in waves. I never really resorted to Psychotropic drugs. Most of the time my anxiety would spotaneously resolve. I would always stay very active with exercise and swimming and sports. I always had great family and friend support and my disorder never got out of hand. I had bouts of recreational drug use and abuse during my college years but never was an addict( I used MDMA and cocaine). However even with my anxiety disorder I never took this SSRI/SNRI garbage and I suffered from anxiety for 13 years. Essentially it is Garbage. It might help to a degree with anxiety or depression. But I see the damage it does to the beautiful human body. My anxiety got out of control starting last year and it kept getting more intense. I never dealt with anxiety at this level. It was something surreal. I was just suprised. I always had anxiety. But this was something out of this world. The anxiety kept getting more intense, the spiraling thoughts, then the anxiety took over my body, mind and soul. I was rendered incapacitated. I started to develop depression and also suicidal thoughts. I never dealt with something of this magnitude. It was truly out of this world. I had to take some time from work. I developed a plan to recover. I read self help books. I had family support. I started to exercise intensively and I got on Psychotropic drugs. This took place this year the worst of it from february 2022 to May 2022. I am essentially recovered now August 2022. Lyrica, Clonazepam and Pristiq. My dosage of Lyrica was 400 mg a day at one point. Eventually I developed a tolerance to the Lyrica and dropped it ; I tapered it and I got off it without a problem. I also had this weird intuition in my gut. Its very unusual. Its something related to God or a higher power for certain( I am a Christian). Something just told me to drop the Lyrica and I tapered it over a week or two and got off without an issue. I also have a strong brain body connection. I have dealt with anxiety. I also do not always view my anxiety as a bad thing. Even though its force is overwhelming at times I learned to rest in it and accept it and allow the energy to pass. Anxiety is a form of energy. Thanks to God, a higher power or whatever miracle. I survived GAD and Major depressive disorder very rapidly this year probably over 2-3 months. It was very intense but I survived. I now continue to experience anxiety but instead of intense fear, its just amplified energy. My panic attacks dissapeared. I had panic attacks, phobias, and agoraphobia I Survived. Anyways now I just have one beast to conquer. I put my faith in this community to help. I know I can survive this too. This a mere part of the process. I have not been on the SNRI for a long time. I wish I never started. Since February to now August I gained roughly 20 pounds So I only have been on pristiq for 6 months . I went from a nice basically good looking 30 year old male who was 6'2 very fit and 215 pounds to a 30 year old male who now has 235-240 pounds. This was all due to the pristiq and lyrica and I am happy I dropped Lyrica. On saturday 8.6.2022 I dropped my Pristiq from 100 mg to 75 mg. So far the withdrawal has not been too intense. I only have been on Pristiq for 6 months. I kind of want to do a faster taper. Any advice? I have confidence in God, myself, my body, my mind that I will drop this ****. I want to do it safely but if possible a bit quickier. The intuition in my body or some kind of force told me start this now. Now is the time. Now you will get off this crap. I think my Body can do this. I know I can. I am staying positive. The power within. All of us have it. I know some of your journeys have been long. So has mine with anxiety, it has been 13 years of dealing with it. I mostly stuck to exercise and supplements and family and friend support to deal with it and always was successful. This year I started to take this Pristiq crap and maybe it helped maybe it didn't. I think time did. According to most research Depressive episodes and anxiety episode last a year and dissolve naturally. I am standing now at Pristiq 75 mg. I am on clonazepam .25 mg plan on dropping it over the next 2 weeks. Basically have no benzo withdrawal or any issues with that and a high level of discipline and know I will drop it. What is the best and safest way to taper Pristiq 75 mg? with the least amount of damage done? I dropped to this dose on Saturday from 100 mg. Basically I am taking one 25 mg extended release tablet and one 50 mg extended release tablet. I have been on Pristiq only 6 months. It was a terrible choice. I will never go on any SSRI or SNRI after this. I also do not like the feeling I lived till 30 years old something without pills( supplements okay) but its just crap. They also lie. Pristiq is addictive. They made the chemical like that on purpose. The side effects are horrendous and I am having a doubt in my mind if it truly helps anxiety. It just numbs you out. Maybe helpful to a degree but its just B/S.

Original topic title: seven and half years on psychiatric drugs, they stopped working, lots of quick changes, now tapering and having huge withdrawal symptoms April 2013 I was originally put on Fluoxetine for social anxiety, at 17 years old, 10mg raising up to 40mg daily. For the first 6 weeks I lay on the sofa feeling worse than ever. It gradually started to have some effect. . Stayed on till May 2014, when I decided to come off. It did lift my mood slightly, but didn't help with anxiety. It was making me lethargic and I wanted to get my energy back. I reduced by half then half again, then stopped. . A few weeks later, after a couple of "big nights out" I woke up with intense mood swings, derealisation, anxiety and light headedness/vertigo. I started to get brain zaps, a sense of impending doom. Doctor put me back on meds - Sertraline, 50mg up to 100mg after a few weeks, then 150mg a few months later. This made me feel a bit better, but coincided with a period of heavy drinking. Late 2015, started to feel unwell again, went to Psychiatrist and was put on 200mg Sertraline, 15mg mirtazapine, 50mg quetiapine. This helped me to feel good, if a little detached and spaced out. Early 2016 I decided I was feeling so good I could stop taking everything. I took no advice, and tapered off extremely quickly. I got very intense withdrawal symptoms - brain zaps, derealisation, impending doom, very intense anxiety, labile mood. I ended up going back on Sertraline but it didn't alleviate the symptoms so I tapered off more slowly, and was off by May 2016. By September 2016 I wasn't coping, and my doctor put me back on Sertraline, which didn't work, so I changed to 45mg Mirtazapine, then added 50mg Quetiapine for sleep.. Life was "bearable" but it didn't make me feel as good as the first time on meds, and certainly didn't feel well or healthy. I was drinking heavily throughout this period. 2017 - stopped drinking Jan - September - this removed my crutch for socialising, so I became isolated and depressed. The meds weren't helping but I was afraid of the withdrawal symptoms. August 2017 I tried TMS, which i don't think really made any difference. I started University October 2017 which made me extremely anxious, and I found it hard to attend seminars and lectures. Around Christmas 2017 my gut problems began, and i have been diagnosed with IBS. 2018, still drinking too much, I started exercising more and managed to get through the first year of Uni. January 2019, I had to defer Uni due to anxiety. Mirtazapine was causing weight gain and I didn't think it was helping, and i believed there must be the "right drug" for me. The psychiatrist advised cross taper from Mirtazapine to Venlafaxine - 150mg raising up to 225mg. I had a bit more energy on this. During 2019 I was drinking heavily again. March 2020 I was returning to Uni and decided to try a strict weight loss diet. I had an intense dream one night which meant I woke up feeling tearful and extremely emotional. Looking for causes, I stopped my diet and returned to normal eating, but the emotional intensity carried on . I took some 5HTP without effect, so went to Psychiatrist. Venlafaxine was increased to 300mg. This is when the akathisia started. My emotions were blunted, and terrible insomnia. My IBS continued to get worse and worse. (nausea, constipation, cramps) I had intense periods of suicidal thoughts, noise sensitivity and brain zaps, (linked - noise led to brain zap and jump, and a peak of anxiety), headaches. I couldn’t concentrate or remember things. I couldn't continue with University and had to defer again. Quetiapine was increased to 125mg to address the akathisia, and Zopiclone for occasional use to help sleep. Several weeks later, no change, so I was cross tapered quickly from Venlafaxine to Vortioxetine 10mg rising to 20mg. This had no positive impact. By early August 2020 i was put back on Mirtazapine 45mg and still on Quetiapine and occasional Zopiclone. This seemed to make me worse, so I wanted to come off everything. I started to taper off Quetiapine quickly, and it seemed to make no difference. I stopped the Zopiclone and went down to 30mg Mirtazapine. I also consulted a private psychiatrist for a second opinion at this time and he put me on Pregabalin for the anxiety, quickly put up to 600mg daily, which he assured me I could stop easily and immediately once my withdrawal symptoms were better. Early September to end of December 2020 I tapered off Mirtazapine and felt awful every time I went down, but i was desperate to get off it. I am now only on Pregab 250mg daily. Current symptoms - insomnia, akathisia, anhedonia, suicidal thoughts, intense feeling of impending doom, general anxiety, digestive problems, brain zaps, noise sensitivity, poor memory, lack of concentration, derealisation. How am I now - most days bad, some tortuously awful, very few are somewhat bearable. Anhedonia and derealisation are constant.

Original title: no idea what is wrong with brain, took few drugs not many times Hi I have no idea what is wrong. I used to be an artist very creative, motivated, kind, caring, anxious, but calm and loving and never irritable. Before the incident I was still a great student and person thought I was lethargic depressed and apologetic over a life event at times. Though I was still very loving and excitable. I tried 3 different brands of combined contraceptives within 4 weeks with days gaps inbetween after this had lasting headaches that jump around head and severe moodswings where felt angry and massive brain fog/cognition problems. But was normal some days. I had been on mini pill for few months previously but did not have these problems. Headaches all day everyday for few months I had neck problems and cervicogenic headaches after about 7 months I managed to get rid of or something like that. But before that I tried amitriptyline 10mg for them once. Had ringing in ears for few seconds and funny lights, then went to bed for few hours when I woke up had 0 emotions, then became kind of angry feeling briefly, then was mellow the rest of the day with depressed voice. Next day had severe headache and had irregular heartbeat next few days. Still had the headaches at this point so I was worried about drug and everything and stopped sleeping properly and was very anxious. Got frustration in head and irritated most days. Took the other drugs I wrote about inside the next few months (diphenhydramate, CBD oil, zolpidem, diazepam) and all of them were just bad and foggy and brain gone. Diazepam made me feel relaxed muscles but that was it. And pregabalin made me feel hot and crazy. Become constantly irritable and apathetic, lost all my anxiety and didn't care anymore. I got worse the longer this went on in terms of not being able to be my old self again... I'm 23 (well 24 now probably). I was 22 last year. 😕 Lost my 23 year to all of this. Sigh. Probably lose rest of my life. I worry I have always been slightly neurotypical but I never had mental health problems in terms of moodswings or anything like that. I did have poor cognition if I was crying a lot and stressed I think. But that was all. I was a very motivated student and artist etc. I have no idea. I read drugs all round like antipsychotics damage the brain. I don't know why these drugs are legal if they cause permanent effects. And I was stupid to take drugs or stress over them or whatever is wrong with my brain. Did these drugs do any damage? How do they work and why are drugs damaging the brain? Am I mentally ill? So drugs I took that seemed to cause problems were: 3 different brands of birth control combined contraceptives maybe 7 pills total, amitriptyline 10mg once, diazepam 2mg once, diphenhydramate 50mg 4 times, pregabalin 25mg once, zolpidem 10mg 5 times. Thank you. I hope you all find hope.

Please i kindly ask you to advice. After caesarian delivery I got Lyrica 100mg for pain. I was on it 1,5 year. Now I wanted to withdraw and all hell broke loose. I have obsessive thoughts about harming myself and others (never were there before), intrusive thoughs of someone running with the knife, thoughts /urges to kill myself or other, hallucinations when I Close my eyes in the bad about bad things (yesterday I had in my dream a cancer) already for two months, and my doctor thinks this is Depression and wants to up Lyrica and give some antidepresant to it. I do not know what to do. I do not want medicaments, but I am afraid I might lose my mind and really hurt someone. What is this for a medication? How can this do to me? I was always normal. I have Little chicldren, I am single mom. I want only to die. Please tell me what to do, or I will go crazy. The best possibility would be only to die. How can I come from this away? I am afraid my brain is totally destroyed.

Hey Warriors! I’m approaching 3 months tapering off Pregabalin, reducing 1-2mg/day using water titration. Today marks -80mg, or 520mg down from 600mg/day. And the day I found this forum. Feeling constant sadness most days, with some energy and a few happy moments here and there. Sleep has been erratic, it affects me badly to be so tired all the time. I’ve got appointments next week: - Julia Ross Nutritional Consultant for Amino acid therapy - New GP To get referral to Psychiatrist Three other meds to come off after this. The order I’m hoping to follow is: 1. Pregabalin 2. Lamotrigine 3. Fluoxetine 4. Moclobemide I’d love to be blessed with a quick and easy tapering journey but I know it’s not always possible. But I’ll do my best to have the best possible outcome. Thank you for sharing in the good and the challenging times xxx

My name is Liza and I’m from Canada. I am here because the Lyrica support group I am part of is shutting down. I was put on Lyrica last March 2021 for burning in my legs, but was started at 150mg and increased to 375mg in less than a month. The side effects included severely burning legs, insomnia, and anxiety. A month after I started taking it, I realize it was causing these problems and not some unknown disease. I began tapering and taped too fast to start. the withdrawal caused burning legs, severe insomnia, urinary urgency, anxiety, angry, depression. In early November 2021, I was started to Seroquel to help with the insomnia, but it’s caused me to hyperventilate and then on Dec 28th, i was diagnosed with a DVT - Blood clot. i am off the seroquel, but am holding the Lyrica at 85mg because the recovery from the blood clot has been pretty awful. Since the clot, my anxiety has been quite severe and I feel like something terrible is going to happen, especially when o get a new pain. And FYI I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

Hi everyone and thanks for accepting me. I'm humbled by what I have read here. Today I took what I hope is my last 200mg of pregabalin (I've been on 200mg twice daily for a year) and tonight I start my first reduction- 175mg. My psychiatrist has said it is better to reduce both doses at the same time so I'll be on 175mg twice daily, for the next couple of months. I am frightened. I've been stable on this for months now and been able to pick up parts of my life that lay in ruins, I thought, but were just dormant. I love to travel by train to visit my daughters and go to new places. I started Park Run and joined a running club. Before this there was a 2 year blur of burnout, break down, addiction to and withdrawal from sleeping tablets and tranquilizers. I'm frightened I might return to that time. But I know there are problems with taking pregabalin long term and I already struggle with some of the memory problems so...here goes. I hope to be able to record here what happens on this journey, good or bad. Who knows where this train will take me?

I do understand that there is some valuable info and help here,I do but atm I’m so disoriented that I can’t find any help. I’m also very very emotionally sensitive and I know nobody means to be offensive but I take it so wrong and then I’m that much deeper in that black hole. I don’t mean at all to leave permanently but I tried to drop on my dosage 2 wks ago and the pain is so horrific that I couldn’t do it,so I was on 50’mg 2xday of Preg then I tried to stop to 25mg 3xday but couldn’t do it and even tho I’m taking 25mg 4xday I’m now on top of the pain and waiting to stabilize in now in withdrawal like symptoms stil from trying to drop and that dreaded death warmed over feeling is back. So I’m just gona sit and stabilize then drop one of my dosage. I wished I knew what vitamins or natural supplements I could use with the meds I’m on but I get so confused when I try to find sumin to help with the nerve pain that I just give up,especially early on in my dosage drop. But anyways I’m sure Iv talked your ear off. I so appreciate your care and concern I truelly do. Thank you so much for your kind words. Gabanoids

Six years ago I was desperate to find relief from the debilitating pain I was experiencing from having had shingles-Postherpetic neuralgia. Even though I had worked in healthcare for 25 years I was very naive when it came to taking meds. I was a hospital social worker. My desperation and naïveté resulted in my ending up on Lyrica. The side effects have been many with the worst for me being tremendous weight gain.

Hello to you all, I came over from the Survivors group on FB. I was on Pregabalin for about 16 years, the side effects from it worsened after being on it less that one year but I thought at the time it was just my conditions, each year I became sicker and food intolerances became part if my norm, so many other things were going on and over the years I had been extremely ill to the pint when I thought was on my way out. It was pretty scary. I found Amy's group on FB and learned so much about why I was so ill, reading other people's experiences similar to mine. I then took things into my own hands and cut my dose in half, nit a good idea because for about 4 or 5 months I was in total agony but I was determined to put up with it to get this stuff put if my system, after that time I then reduced by 100mgs every two months, but my food intolerances we still getting worse. In fact for the last 3 months on it I could nit eat without being very ill and so when I got to my last 100, after 3 months I stopped it there. Withdrawal is not pleasant but irs worth it to feel the way I am now. There were a lot of serious side effects but too much to go into here. Now most of the side effects have gone and I can eat food quite happily without thinking how sick I might be. I am so much better from discontinuing with Pregabalin and will never take that or it's substitutes again. My body is thanking me for taking note of good advice. I am so much happier without it. I am living again.