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Hello I randomly got 4 panic attacks in Dec 2022 after a bad year at work. My Provider started me on 2mg Ativan a day on Jan 1st 2023 and 10mg Trintellix, he later increased Trintellix to 20mg after 10 days. On the 12th day I got intense dizziness, I ended up in the ER. my provider switched to escitalopram 5mg on Jan 14 and lowered Ativan to 1mg/day. Dizziness/photophobia came down a bit, then he upped my escitalopram dosage from 5mg to 10mg. Dizziness/photophobia stayed and didn’t go away. I kept taking it for another 2.5 weeks. During this time reduced Ativan to 0.5mg for 5 days and then 0.5 every other day for a week and over. Then on Feb 05 we reduced escitalopram to 5mg and then 5mg every other day. I took my last dose on Feb 14. I had no withdrawal symptoms for about 5-6 days. Dizziness started going down quite a bit after 2 days, by day 6 it was down quite a bit, almost over. On Feb 22 withdrawals began! At First high resting HR of 100+ for 4 days along with insomnia, then insomnia stopped and high heart rates came randomly. I got vivid dreams, clogged ears, tinnitus, sweating, fatigue, suicidal tendencies all came and went but dizziness, anxiety and random high HR did not change at all. It’s been 3.5 weeks since I stopped escitalopram I’m stuck at a dizziness of 6/10. I cannot drive and haven’t been to work in 2 months. I cannot function properly or be independent. my doctor gave me propranolol for high HR and anxiety. I took 20mg this morning, at first I got weakness and fatigue for 20 mins. Then everything got better, anxiety went down, HR got better and relaxed, then even dizziness went down. I felt better, more positive, not depressed, went for a short drive after 2.5 months with blue light cutting glasses and brown tint sunglasses (these help with photophobia). Propranolol has a half life of 3-6 hours. After 7 hours dizziness and photophobia came back. I took another 10mg as my provider suggested since I got some side effects from 20mg. No difference with 10mg. I will try 20mg again tomorrow morning. I’m here looking to seek support in case anyone else has experienced this or is experiencing this and how did they overcome it.

anyone had any success with these for Palpitations & anxiety.I have just gotta get some relief

Hi Everyone, My journey with Sertraline started at the ripe old age of 10-12 years old (I’m 31 now-my mom and I can’t seem to agree on when exactly I started taking meds). I was also on adderal or vyvanse at this age as well. In 2018 I decided I wanted to try to get off of meds. I started with the vyvanse. I went from 60mg to 50, and dropped 10mg a month until I was at nothing. Really didn’t experience any issues. Then I went to the Sertraline. I dropped from 200mg to 150mg and really only had a few brain zaps that went away after a few days. Six months later I dropped from 150mg to 100mg, again with only brain zaps and some irritability. During this time I moved to France to be with my husband (summer 2020 mid lockdown) and after 6 months there I decided I wanted to continue to go down because we knew in the next year or so we wanted to try for a baby. I had read a few forums so decided to take it a little slower this time. 100mg to 87.5mg. For the first time I experienced a decent amount of withdrawal symptoms. Mostly flu like, palpitations, but nothing I couldn’t get thru. After two weeks they dissipated. I then went directly from 87.5 to 75mg. Same thing with this cut but after a couple weeks, mostly dissipated with the exception of extreme anxiety and random weird intense pains throughout my body. Fast forward to a month later and all hell broke loose. The worst panic of my life (never suffered from panic attacks before besides ONE in late 2020 after moving) horrible horrible DP/DR (mostly DR) to the point that I really thought I was going crazy. I would begin each morning with a good barf and have diarrhea throughout the days. I ended up losing about 12lbs in a few weeks. No appetite. Everything made me feel weird and I cried nonstop. My doctor told me to take a low dose of Xanax three times a day for two weeks and honestly it helped. I stopped the Xanax after three weeks (I decided to continue a little longer) with no issues. Or no immediate issues that I know of. About five months after this in mid 2021 I decided to do a SLOW taper, 2.5-5% every two weeks. I ended up stopping around the 61mg mark because my panic was getting so bad, I had an EIGHT WEEK MIGRAINE and I just couldn’t keep it together. At this point I also had my first intro to inner restlessness, or mild akathisia, located in my chest and under my armpits. This only lasted about a week but really freaked me out. After two and a half months of staying at 61mg I decided to continue to go down, this time no more than 2.5% decreases. It seemed to go ok at this rate. I was still suffering from bad OCD and anxiety but there were no physical symptoms. My last cut was when we moved back to California in Feb 2022, a few months ago. I experienced another bout of weeklong mild inner restlessness at this point but again I ignored it and it went away. Had two weeks of dizziness but was told it was a vestibular migraine. I ended up spot taking bromazepam at a low dose for a couple of weeks because it helped suppress the dizziness. Now two weeks ago, Late April 2022, I was sitting at my desk at work and like a switch I felt the internal restlessness start again. This time more intense than before. It continued at the same intensity and ramped up this weekend. I have such a ball of energy/tickling in my chest and throat that I start each morning dry heaving. I have no appetite. Lost 5lbs in 3 days. This weekend I’ve also had full body tremors and complete panic crying spells and dread because of it and my fear of akathisia being permanent. I don’t know if this had something to do with the bromazepam, late hitting withdrawals from earlier extreme cuts, huge life stressor of moving countries, new job which is very stressful or what. I feel like my CNS is shot and I don’t know what to do. I have to function and work to help provide for my family, being disabled in bed is just not an option but it’s where I’m at today. I caved and took a bromazepam because it calms the akathisia and I couldn’t just lay in bed and roll around in a panic any longer. I really need some help.

Hi everyone I started off here at this forum last year in May, but then went off as I had just gained some stability with my medication Taper during that time & wanted to concentrate on my work which had been neglected for a year and a half of the hard mental hit of AAP's, AD's & Benzo's at the same time. Now that a year has passed on the stable dosage of my medication which i am giving below, unfortunately, a lot of the Anxiety Depression symptoms have returned & I really am lost as to what to do. I am doing Diaphragmatic Breathing 15-30 min a day along with Meditation & a few CBT techniques like Positive Memories recall, Cleansing Vizualizations etc. Exercise really helps, but I am feeling very low energy since the past month & finding it very difficult to start, I started 25 minutes of Stationery cycling last week did for 3 days but couldnt sustain this week. I run a business & have been using my brain to extreme work for the last 6-8 months. Currently facing the following: 1. IBS symptoms like bloating pain returned 2. Palpitations (heart Rate fluctuating, restarted propranalol which was stopped for 6 months) 3. Weakness & very low energy 4. Brain fog & extreme memory loss (Memory loss has been on for 2 years now getting worse) 5. Feeling of Anxiety & loss of interest in work & other things 6. Disturbed sleep with the usual vivd Dreams getting tensed & nightmarish hallucinatory again 6. Return of hunger pangs or unable to do 16 hour fasting or even 12 hour & sugar cravings (Had done 16 hour fasting from May -Oct 2022 & loast 11 Kg (24 pounds) of the 22 Kgs weight i gained in 2020-21 due to In order to taper off Clonazepam 0.5 mg which i had been on since 2 years daily & on & off before that for 8 years, I ad moved to Librium 10 mg thinking it would be an easy taper off, but noe over a year of librium 10, it is the same If i try to leave it for 3 days also I experience extreme withdrawal of things mentioned above. I am going on a family holiday for a week in Last of week of March & have taken off work from Today to focus on my withdrawal & management of symptoms. Would really appreciate any advice on the following: Q1. Librium is supposed to work short term, Is it that I am unable to wean it off also & it is not even providing the anxiety reduction it is supposed to causing my symptoms to recur over the past 2 months. Any suggestions to change back to Clonazepam or move to some thing else like Buspirone etc, till the time I am a little normal again & try to taper off? Q2. Any coping techniques apart from Diaphragmatic breathing & Meditation anyone can suggest? A little about me - 45 Years old, Chemical Engineer, Running my own company manufacturing green cleaning Chemicals in India. Work and live in a joint family with my parents. Married since 18 years. 3 kids (1 biological and 2 adopted from the family that works in our house) I am considered to be Intelligent, articulate, extremely positive and well informed on almost everything in life. Used too much of my brain since childhood probably. A lot of struggles happened since 2005 with a new business financial, difficult new marriage, family issues, major stressful life changing justice system events from 2008 to 2012. Fought all of it, came out, but with a bad case of irritable bowel syndrome mixed type. Finally when all gastros failed to provide any resolution went to a psychiatric consult in Jan 2020 and went through a ton of medication which I am trying to leave now since October 2021. Below is my medication & Withdrawal History March 2022 to March 2023 - Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) 25 mg Morning | Chlordizapoxide (Librium) 10 mg Night | Propronalol ER 20/40 mg Night (On & Off) | Magnesium 170 mg Night | Ashwagandha 600 mg Night (On & Off) In a nutshell below is brief Medication summary October 2021 - March 2022 (6 months) 1. Desvenlafaxine - Reduced from 150 mg to 25 mg by reducing 6.5 mg every 2 weeks, last reduction had gone to 12.5 mg by cutting the tablet but could not sustain due to very heavy withdrawal symptomps & came back to 25 mg 3 days back. 2. Clonazepam 0.5 mg - Replaced with Chlordizapoxide 10 mg Reduced to 5 mg 2.5 months back, tried once to leave it completely 2 months back rebounced after 23 days to 5 mg. Then again tried to completely leave it 2 weeks back, could not tolerate withdrawal, took one dose after a bad episode 10 days back & one dose of clonazepam 0.25 mg last night. In order to reduce the withdrawal of above the Doctor tried following medicines in between - 1. Amitryptiline 10 mg - 60 days 2. Duoloxetine 20-30mg - 45 days January 2020 to October 2021 (21 months) 1. Desvenlafaxine 100 to 150 mg 21 months 2. Amitriptyline - 25 mg to 100 mg - 11 months 3. Quitipin - 25 mg - 3 months 4. Respireone 0.5 mg - 1 mg- 15 months 5. Clonazepam 0.5 mg - 21 months (Previous history of usage on & off for 10 months upto 180 days in a year or more) 6. Chlordizapoxide 10 mg - 15 months In between the medicines tried by the doctor for not more than 3 months were: 7. Trifluoperazine (2.5mg) + Trihexyphenidyl (1mg) - 15 days 8. Mirtrazapine 7.5 mg - 60 days 9. Trazadone - 25 mg - 23 days 10. Pregabalin 75 mg - 45 days

Hi everyone, hope you're well. Background on me: anxiety and depression, some trauma stuff that initially led me to seek antidepressant treatment. I never stuck with taking them (Sertraline) for more than days at a time (my reading up on them scared me out of it) so don't have much of a story there. Have been working hard in therapy and managing better now. Otherwise healthy. Looking for work at the moment. This has been the worst year of my life but I'm hoping it's an upward trend from here Why I'm here: I was prescribed Propranolol 80mg ER (extended release) in May 2021, originally to help me stop panicking while boarding Sertraline. I have been taking it daily ever since. Has small benefits but want to see how I do off them. I first found this site months ago when looking for AD withdrawal information to help inform my treatment choices. Help/tapering: My doctor told me to cold turkey my propranolol. I'm sure it won't be as bad as cold turkeying other meds, but this advice goes against everything I have read. He wrote me a script for 40mg IR (immediate release) tablets to take as needed if I feel bad after ceasing treatment but he said no harm will be caused and I can just stop. I'm confused about this and feeling uneasy as I'm already an anxious person around medication. I don't know where to begin trying to schedule a taper myself (I have read through the propranolol threads I've found here but it's hard when most are on IR to begin with) so am feeling pretty scared. I have about 28 of my ER pills left and a small supply of the IR that I'm picking up today that can be cut in half to 20mg, so not a lot to work with. I'm only used to the once daily ER dose and don't know how it translates to IR dosing. I'm hoping my doctor is right and I'll be okay, but if anyone has advice I'm more than ready to listen (I understand this is not medical advice). I struggle with anxiety attacks so a rebound of physical symptoms will probably mess me up a bit. Hoping things go smoothly for me — and you all!

I am new to this website, and am interested in gathering information regarding a safe taper from Nortriptyline. My history of antidepressants began with a benzodiazepine (0.25mg alprazolam). I had issues from the first pill, and took me a couple years before I realized it was the drug. I had to do a water-titrated slow taper off the 0.25mg over the course of two years, and jumped off on November 13, 2014. I'm very glad to be off it. I have been on 20mg nortriptyline at bedtime for almost 8 years (started it when I was in tolerance-withdrawal from the benzo but didn't know it at the time). I honestly haven't had troubles with the nortriptyline, as it helped stabilize me in coming off the benzo (which I REALLY had troubles with). About 1.5 years ago, my pharmacy switched manufacturers of my nortriptyline (from Watson to Taro). I was on the Taro version for 4-5 months and was not doing well (I was having lots of withdrawal-type symptoms again). I mentioned it to my doctor, and she scripted me for the Watson-specific version from then on. Once back on the Watson, I returned to my pre-Taro "normal". Almost 3 months ago, my Watson manufacturer version of nortriptyline went on "backorder" status, so I was forced back onto the Taro version. I am now 3 months into taking it, and am struggling and unstable at current. My symptoms include: elevated heartrate, panic attacks, increased anxiety, irrational fears, nausea, loose stools, internal "vibrations" (stomach-intestines area), and a decreased ability to handle "life". I am on propranolol (20mg in divided doses) daily now to help control the heartrate (more for my mental sanity than anything else), and have come to the realization that I don't want something like this to "control my destiny". I am scared to taper because coming off the benzo was horrific for me, and I don't want to duplicate that process again. But I recognize that it's probably time to approach the conversation of tapering so I don't run into this issue again. I am wondering...has anyone noticed differences in how they feel with manufacturer changes? I am also curious to find out if nortriptyline can be water (or juice?) titrated? It tastes AWFUL so being able to put it into something with flavor would be ideal, but I'm open to suggestion. Gauging how sensitive I've been to the switch in manufacturer, I'm concerned with switching to the liquid version in concern that I may tolerate it worse than the Taro version. Anyone with success regarding either water-titration with nortriptyline, or with using the liquid version of nortriptyline, would be appreciated greatly! I was on benzobuddies.org as "mrsalw" for most of 2012-2015, in case anyone hear may remember me! Thanks in advance, Mrs.