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Hello, I was on Lexapro for nine months, maximum dose was 25mg. The medication didn’t help me at all, I had terrible side effects like increased anxiety, nausea, headache, no appetite and low libido. And therefore I decided to quit, and tapered down for five weeks, as told in my signature. I was shocked to see that all the horrible side effects actually increased after quitting the drug. And on top of that I got extreme dizziness and vision disturbances. It’s like my head can’t keep up when I move my head. I also have flu-like symptoms. I have been 5 months off Lexapro now, and am sick as a dog… This is truly a living nightmare, but I will never go back to that horrible medication. I know, after reading stories in here, that my brain and body will adapt, and that I will get well!

Hello all, I’m new here. If I tapered off too quickly last time I took escitolopram will my brain never fully regrow itself back to normal? I read the article on this site regarding the importance of tapering off properly and what antidepressants really do to your brain.. I was put on 10mg of escitolopram 6 years ago and cold turkey went off maybe a little less than a year. As you can imagine I fell into a horrible depression due to this. Went back on 10mg of the same medicine 6 months later and it helped until it stopped working about a year later and it was causing low sex drive, emotional numbness etc.. I ended up tapering off of those much to quickly and I was wondering if there is hope for my brain? I have never been a person with a temper and after quitting escitolopram the second time I had an intense rage ignite inside of me and it has weighed me and my whole life down, my husband included. I was sunshine and rainbows when we met and that was very much so my personality for most of my life. I struggled with depression and a very mild anxiety but I didn’t take antidepressants until I was in an abusive relationship and needed something to “fix me” (obviously it was the relationship causing these problems) though medicating was not the answer it did help in the time being. I have always been extremely sensitive to medication, that’s why I never went on more than the 10mg of escitolopram. Moral of the story, I am suffering with postpartum depression badly and I went back onto them again for four days before finding out I’m pregnant recently and went straight off because I don’t want to poison this baby. I read about regrowing your brain and now I’m curious if I’ve messed mine up beyond fixing? Has my brain been regrowing? I feel my anger has gotten less but still there and a constant battle to keep in check. I just want to know if there is hope that my brain will go back to its normal healthy functions again.. Thank you for reading and God bless.

Hello! I have been around these different types of boards just as a 'viewer' and NEVER thought i'd join but this particular group seems to be the perfect type for me-highly researched, and wanting to take their own health back and into their own hands! My quick story: struggled with anxiety my whole life on and off. Especially health worrying and obsessing. This past summer it got really bad and I couldn't stop looking online about symptoms of this disease or that. Facebook didn't help. And by the end of this summer it snowballed into depression because I was just feeling hopeless and consumed with worry I stopped going to the gym and doing things that interested me (like cooking healthy foods, etc). Backtrack-for a YEAR my GP was trying to get me to go on lexapro or paxil and i kept saying 'no' - so he gave me xanax. So I was taking that (.25 mg) for about 6 months at night and it was keeping things at bay (until this summer). So I go and see at talk therapist, to talk about my 'health obsessions' and she mentions that Celexa would be the 'perfect' drug for me and she's seen people 'just like me' do great on it. So I start taking 10 mg I think end of Sept/beginning of October 2013..I was feeling OK on it but around the 4 week mark I started waking up in a complete panic, sweat and couldn't breathe. Then these panic attacks led to suicidal thoughts-I thought I was going crazy, I was not ME. So mid-october I go off of it cold turkey (only been on it about 6 weeks). Felt awful for a week, tried 5-HTP, Valerian Root..felt a little better but my therapist and those around me kept saying 'i needed something' and I had friends who had been on these meds and were 'feeling fabulous' So I thought maybe I just didn't find the right med. So I decided to see a psychiatrist this time. Beginning of November, I see a psych, does an hour evaluation, perscribes me effexor. Started at 37.5..5 days later, panic attack in the morning, a plan to kill myself. *NOTE* I NEVER HAD PANIC ATTACKS OR SUICIDAL THOUGHTS BEFORE THESE MEDS My Psych and Therapist tell me: 'you would've had these attacks anyway, nothing to do with the meds, up your dose' - so I up my dose and spend 4 days at a mental health clinic for 'anxiety and depression' - Then for the next month I upped my effexor dose to 150. For a couple weeks I felt agoraphobic and didn't want to leave my house. Turns out the effexor gave me really high BP so my dr has been weaning me off of this (which i'm happy about anyway because I don't want to be on this and i'm glad my BP is my 'excuse' for getting off of it) - so now i'm BACK on celexa, but this time 20 mg. I have NO panic attacks BUT I have horrendous nightmares. Once i'm done weaning off of effexor completely in the next week or so ( i'm going to split the 25mg in half and then i'm done doing this weekly). But my question is-do I stay on Celexa? Will Celexa actually 'retrain my brain' to be 'right?' (my friend's GP actually told her that). Or am I just prolonging the inevitable of relapsing and I should just go off of it now. I'm researching SAM-e. St. John's Wort. positives: my mood has improved on celexa, my anxiety is down to nothing, BUT I wake up exhausted from these dreams, i have diareah, (sorry if that's TMI), and my obsessions about health are just turning into obsessions about what these meds really do to your brain. I'm meditating now, reading about buddhism which is helping and I journal every night. THANK YOU if you read this-or even a little bit-is it me or is it the meds that caused these attacks? Am I going crazy? I kind of miss the 'old me' looking back that was a worried anxiety mess-because atleast i was ME. Hindsight's 20/20 I suppose. Wishing you all well. I look forward to making some friends and hearing from you guys.

My journey to be off psych drugs I always took my medication without thinking really. I had a psychotic episode (due to insomnia, stress, and anxiety most likely) after Christmas in 2007. I was 13. I had been taking Lexapro for a few months. My M.D. prescribed it for me. I don't quite remember why. I think I might probably have been depressed and anxious. I only now realize that taking the Lexapro could very well have caused the insomnia and resultant delusions. Anyway, I had a breakdown. I was seen by a psych. She (Dr. S.) prescribed Lamotrigine. It seemed to quell the delusions. I was back at school, medicated and delusion free. Over the years I developed fatigue, irritability, and apathy. I kept taking the drugs. For fatigue, I was prescribed Bupropion (Wellbutrin). I can't remember if it helped or not. I did develop hypomanic episodes at some point which further supported my bipolar 2 diagnosis. I would also have bouts of depression. Not the crying kind. Just apathy and mild anhedonia. I say mild because I still did some things I loved such as piano, art, singing. I did eventually lose my passion for art though. It showed up now and then sometimes. I always was told by my mother "It will get better", and "It won't always be this way." It didnt comfort me much. Though, looking back, it did get better. Eventually. It took around a decade. But I'm not off meds yet. I moved with my parents to a smaller comfy house in 2014 and joined our local Orthodox Church, met some loving, supportive people and made a really good friend. It did get better. But I still didn't know that there was an alternative for taking medication. I took my meds. I needed them. Or I thought I did. So did my mother. Now, my mother really has been with me all way. She's taking psych drugs too since I was in first grade for depression and anxiety. I went to 2 mental institutes. Thankfully never the hospital psych ward. I know a lot of you on here have been. From what I hear it's not fun and can be traumatic. I remember the people I met at the institutes. Broken, struggling people trying to get by and looking for a little hope. I connected with them. I still miss them and hope they're still fighting. I have a long story so I'll cut it up some in chunks. This is my first post. I'll write later about my experience at college (traumatic) and other things. I have some funny memories too so I'll put those in there as well. Don't give up! Anyone's welcome to share their experiences and stories too. -StillSinging

I'm in a pickle. My roommates son was playing in the bathroom one day and was messing with our supplements. He emptied out my Vitamin C capsules & replaced with 200mg 5-htp instead. I'm sensitive to serotonin & had a bad experience a number of years back which had serious consequences for me. I haven't taken meds since. For about a month I'd been getting really ill. I'd be spacey & lethargic then foggy minded, I lost my sense of taste. I thought I had Covid & got tested. Test was negative. I noticed I was more anxious and almost paranoid so I cut coffee out. Nothing was improving. I started feeling flat, having hallucinations then numbness in various places. I went to the ER in panic. After tests & deep investigation and my roommate complaining about her supplements not working we figured it out. (5-htp increases serotonin for anyone that doesn't know.) Its been a month off & I can't sleep, I have electric jolts in my head and body, I can't eat, it's attacking my whole gi system. I feel utterly dead inside. Everything that made me feel good or happy now has the opposite effect, I feel extremely sickened by it. It's a weird sensation to try and explain. I need help

3 weeks ago I took Lexapro for 4 days and stopped because of the side effects. 3 days ago I tried to start it again thinking that it would not be so problematic. I was wrong. Ridiculous anxiety. While Im never going to do this again - is it ok to just come off of 5mg after 3 days? Thank you

I’m challenged with trying to understand when next to cut my dose of Seroquel. I began a taper in December 2020 because I was experiencing Akathisia and Tachycardia at 87.5mg. In response, my psych lowered me to 50mg from the 87.5mg over the course of a month. whike I am in severe WD, the Akathisia is gone. As well the Tachycardia has improved (with a low dose (15mg) Propranolol to help). However, in addition to the classic WD symptoms, I am still experiencing early morning Cortisol spikes with feeling profoundly hung over in the mornings. It lasts until noon everyday. This was similar to how I woke up before my cut. Except this time it’s no longer Akathisia, it’s a feeling of angst and very heavy hangover until about noon by which time I start to recover....until the next day’s repeat pattern. I am confused as to whether this angst and hangover is still WD or a side effect. I know I still have WD instability but I’m getting to a point where sooner or later I want to cut again. Feeling inbetween a rock and a hard place. How do I judge between side effects and WD so that I can try to get to what is called “Withdrawal Normal”? I will wait another month but feel I can’t linger for very long as the morning hangover is very severe and debilitating. I need to get off the Seroquel but also don’t want to rush and pay the consequences. Any insights to help me distinguish between the two conditions will be gratefully received.

I’m typically on a dose of 262.5mg of venlafaxine, and recently (3 week ago) with the seasonal changes we increased my medication to 300mg. Last week I started having weird spells where I get this, numbing, loss of muscle function in my right arm and no ability to talk. The symptoms look very similar to a stroke and last for about 1hr in total. we have been trying to figure this out because I also have epilepsy, however I have never had experiences like this before, and my seizure I never am conscious of what is happening. With this episodes that are taking place I am fully aware of everything and know that I am unable to move my arm, leg, mouth or speak. I am wondering if anyone has ever heard of this taking place. I have let my doctor know that I want to lower my prescription back down to 262.5mg to see if the episodes I’m having stop, but also wondering if anyone has similar stories or experiences.

A few months ago I suffered two panic attacks in a matterr of two weeks. Mind you, I’ve never really had a history of anxiety or panic attacks (aside from a few encounters in life where I felt claustrophobic; maybe 5 times in my 28 years of life). I think the recent panic attacks stemmed from me staying up until 5-6am for a month straight prior to this occurring and being stressed about all of the COVID stuff going on, furloughed, etc. When I experienced the panic attack I had NO idea what was happening and went to an urgent care because I thought I was dying. I had never experienced that type of anxiousness accompanied by heart palpitations and tingling on my head and right arm. I was so fearful of experiencing that ever again that I made the mistake of requesting anxiety medication whereas now I think if I made lifestyle changes I would’ve been fine. I was taking 10mg of Fluoxetine for 3 weeks and I didn’t like how it made me feel. I struggled to do the smallest tasks everyday and I still experienced being anxious. I spoke with the urgent care doctor who prescribed them and told her I wished to get off of them. She said I could stop cold turkey since the dosage is so low so I did. It’s been 3 weeks since I’ve been off of the medication and I still experience the tingling feeling (not as bad as before) and I experience acid reflux. I also feel like my chest feels a little heavy at times or I feel like I have a lump in my throat even though I don’t. I’m not sure if I’m experiencing withdrawal symptoms or not. This is my first time in life ever really taking medication besides over the counter allergy medicine so I’m freaked out at how weird my body feels. I thought by 3 weeks it’d be out of my system. Has this happened to anyone? How long does it take to go away? Some days I feel completely fine and back to normal and then some days it happens again.

Hello guys, I'm Giuseppe from Italy. I've stumbled upon your website when looking for some help with the withdrwal sindrome that I'm experiencing in this period. I've finished tapering the Citalopram last week and now I feel some side effects (mostly dizziness). Just wonder if somebody is experiencing the same and how he/she is coping with that. Thanks to anybody who would like to give me some advices. best to all, Giuseppe

Hello, I am new to this website. A little about me; I suffer anxiety, panic attacks and was diagnosed depression. Many years ago, when I was around 14-15 years old, I was placed on antidepressants (Seroxat). I was later put on Fluoxetine and Amitriptyline for close to 20 years, I'm now 33. This year I made the decision I didn't want to keep taking these drugs and arranged with my doctor to slowly stop them, one at a time of course. It took a couple of months in total with his instructions. It's now been around 2 months off the Fluoxetine and a month off the Amitriptyline. I have been struggling with the side effects since. On and off sleeping difficulties, wild mood swings, constantly angry and easy to temper, and a really bad temper! Depression. But also, problems with my mind, brain fog, difficulty concentrating. It's really hard to explain, I feel dumber since stopping the meds, I know my mind, know how it works and I can tell it just isn't right. I don't recognize my own mind anymore. I struggle to enjoy anything that I used to, struggle to understand or concentrate on the things I used to like. And to be honest, it's been scaring me, I've been really tempted to go back on the drugs just so that I can be me again. Still struggle with anxiety and panic attacks. Anyway, that's a little about my story.

Hello community, Thank you all for this wonderful resource! I have been reading this website since long before I made the decision to start Viibryd, and it is a wealth of information. Because I was recently diagnosed with posterior subcapsular cataracts that were likely either caused or exacerbated by the Viibryd, and because the benefits are not enough to justify continuing this damage to my eyes, I have decided to start planning the weaning off process. I would like advice about rate and timing since I need to try to do this faster than would normally be recommended. Quick psychiatric background: I went through betrayal trauma due to discovering my husband’s infidelity and was diagnosed with PTS, anxiety, and depression. After several years of herbal and natural mood-related supplements, I still felt many symptoms and received the same diagnoses again. So, against my normally holistic approach to health and healing, I decided to start an SSRI. I got the Pathway Genomics psychiatric pharmacogenomic panel, and the results were that Viibryd was the only SSRI that my body might potentially tolerate. My original plan was to take the Viibryd for a couple of years to get through separation, divorce, moving, etc, and then to taper off slowly using the recommended 5- 10% per month or so method. But a few months ago, my optometrist found cataracts, and I went to two separate ophthalmologists to confirm. There is plenty of scientific literature about research that has shown that SSRIs cause cataracts, and incidentally it was listed under the “rare” side effects in some Viibryd studies. So, I need to try to find a way to wean off faster, within a few months if possible. I need to stop the excess serotonin, which is what is causing the cataracts to grow. I’m wondering if I should cut the 10’s into halves to create a month or so of 15, then 10, then 5, then 0 (I could try making a second cut to get 2.5, but it might be too uneven or crumbly). Or if it would be better to taper by smaller increments (necessitating a compounding pharmacy, if it's possible) every couple of weeks instead. (I would rather avoid the cognitive difficulties of trying to make powder and capsules, liquid solution, or other methods myself.) I am aware that it is an iterative process and the need for stabilizing, updosing if necessary, etc. So, I'm thinking I'll ask my psychiatrist to request permission from the insurance company for a couple of 10's per day (current approval is one pill only per day) for the next six months or so. Other relevant info includes that the weaning ONTO Viibryd process was horrible for me (1 month 10 mg, 1 week 15 mg, then 20) with panic, severe anxiety, lightheadedness, and many other difficult symptoms. Since then, there have been a number of side effects including a period of chronic migraines, and mostly fatigue, cognitive fog, dissociation, sleeping issues, and a long list of other symptoms that I have been documenting. The anxiety and depression have been slightly better, but still not enough to be really functional, and certainly not enough considering the cataracts. I haven’t been working the past few years because of these health problems, so I can focus solely on healing during withdrawal and hopefully will be able to be productive after recovery. Also, I have continued my healthy lifestyle of organic, vegan, gluten-free diet, yoga, exercise, nature, etc. and have implemented natural modalities including acupuncture, massage, therapies, etc. So what I need help with is just the tapering off of the Viibryd as quickly as possible. I would appreciate any advice about recommended rates and timing for trying to wean off using a faster method. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to any suggestions!

I'm working on a book on antidepressants and intimacy - Regaining The Edge. We all know that antidepressants can blunt emotions and cause physical side effects, many of which interfere with intimate relationships directly (sexual side effects) and indirectly (e.g.., weight gain, nausea, diarrhoea, etc...). I want to fill the book with people's stories, the wisdom of experience. I am interested in strategies that worked to manage these side effects (and why and how they worked), as well as highlighting the daily struggle that many of us being treated for depression and other mental ills face, both with our mental health, but also the consequences of our treatment. There is a questionnaire on my site at RegainingTheEdge.com, as well as a contact form. I am also interviewing people one-on-one, either face-to-face if you live on the east coast of Australia, or via Skype or email if you live elsewhere. You can follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/regaintheedge. Please take the time to share your story with me - this is an important issue, one that has received scant regard to date. Michael

I am diagnosed with Bi-Polar II. In January 2017 I was prescribed 50 mg/day of QUEtiapine. May dosage was increased to 100mg/day; and September increased to 200 mg/day. I’ve been suffering severe side effects to include skin rashes, chronic fatigue, insomnia, shin splints, significant weight gain, and change in food tastes and smells. I told my Physiatrist I wanted to change my medication so he prescribed me Aripiprazole 5mg/day. After researching this drug, I quickly realized its in the same family of anti-psychotic drugs with the same if not worse side effects. I took it at bed the first night I purchased the prescription and experienced a frenzy night of insomnia; tossing and turning all night in a bed of soggy sweat. I’ve decided to not take the Ariprazole and instead, taper myself off the QUEtiapine and off anti-psychotic drugs in their entirety. I’m going to attempt to taper in a shorter period of time than what is recommend on this site. I will start with 175 mg/day for 5 days and if all goes well will continue tapering down every 5 days.

Hi all, I want to share my experience with SSRI's and hope that anyone can relate to my story and can give me some advice. Back in 2015 I started having panic attacks after a few stressfull months. As they did not stop naturally, the doctor perscribed Cipralexa (Escitalopram). However, a few days after taking 10 mg/day of them, my panic attacks got worse and ultimately lasted 24/7. I got depersonalisation, heat upwellings, red rashes and was hyperventilating chronically. Deep inside I knew this was not normal, but the doctor told me that the first weeks on a new SSRI can be tough, but that it all will settle down eventually. Only, it didn't. After 2 weeks on the drug, it was so bad I had to be taken into a psychiatric department of the hospital. There they decided to stop Cipralexa and try Zoloft. However, my reactions to that were even worse, with insomnia, constant stressed feeling, diziness, brain zaps and some kind of uncontrollable muscle spasms. Sometimes it even felt like I was having some kind of seizure. When I showed the rash, which had shown up again with Zoloft, to the doctor and explained my symptoms, they took me off all SSRI's, and in a rage, I quit the hospital myself. Ever since I feel like I'm recovering. There hasn't been a day since 2015 that I felt healthy. I have depression, anxiety, hyperventilation episodes, chronic headaches, ticks of the muscles of the neck/head, and rapid heart beat. Now, I'm on 100 mg/day Amitryptiline (Elavil) and 5mg/day Bisoprolol. Luckily, I do not have the adverse reaction to Elavil and it helps me somewhat to cope and get through the day. Now I am wondering: what has happened? Did I have an allergic reaction? Is this even possible for SSRI's and what test can I order to proof this? Was the doctor wrong to not stop the medication immediately? Did anyone else have these kind of reactions and did they ever recover? What is different between modern SSRI and tricyclic ones for which I do not have these reactions? I hope someone can clarify these issues. Thanks in advance for answering!

Hi there all fellow warriors, I have been doing the 10% effexor taper for the last year and currently am at 33mg effexor. I have been experiencing long term fatigue and been working with my GP to identify any possible causes. Have been doing a complete physical workup to check my health. Just got results back and I have quite significant hyponatremia (electrolyte imbalance) all physical causes have been ruled out - it is drug induced & the culprit is the damn effexor. The drug is causing a syndrome of inappropriate secretion of diuretic hormone ( SIADH ) Medical protocol for drug induced hyponatremia is to remove the drug responsible. My Dr wants me off effexor and sooner than later. My Doctor is aware of my taper but wants me off effexor much sooner than my taper schedule. I also really want off the drug but I am scared about gonig cold turkey or even withdrawing faster - I'm seeing my Dr again next week to discuss further. Maybe as my dose is only 33mg i will be ok with stopping more quickly but from what i have read here everyone says to go more slowly - on that schedule it would be another year at least before i'm finished tapering and it seems now i have medical complications from taking the drug this is no longer viable. I feel afraid, any advise most welcome!

Hello all, new to this site. I am completely off of Wellbutrin as of August 11, 2017. My brief history: I was on 300 mg WB from 2005-summer 2014, when my dosage was upped to 450 mg. I was on 450 mg from summer 2014 through May 2017 when I began my taper. I've tried to get off WB twice before and went cold turkey both times. I gained weight and was so depressed I went back on WB within a month. This time, I tapered under my doctor's care. While I am thrilled to finally be off of WB, I am gaining weight like crazy. I eat healthfully and have been exercising like a fiend, but am still gaining weight (one day I did an hour and 20 mins of cardio and still gained a pound). And as a result, I'm starting to get very depressed again. I feel like I have absolutely no control over my body and what it is doing. I'm petrified as unfortunately, weight is a major issue for me psychologically. My question to the group is: has anyone experienced the same issue? There is a ton of anecdotal evidence that going off Wellbutrin causes weight gain. If you have, can you give me an idea of how much you gained and how long before it finally stopped? And were you able to successfully lose it again? I feel like if I know to a certain extent what is ahead, I can better brace myself. My doctor ordered a bunch of blood work, which I think is just her way of trying to placate me. Many thanks in advance...

Hello, I've suffered with depression for 33 years. 12 years with no medication because I thought I just needed to try harder. Finally my father, who had suffered with it too found me a helpful church counselor who convinced me I needed medicine. This saved my life. The first medicine Anafranil kept me from suicide. It got me back to work more steadily and made me able to live. Then I started 21 years of Zoloft and then Paxil. Oh, with 3 years of Pexeva in between and it was fine. But government insurance changes forced me back on Paxil the last 3 years or so. I lost my 26 year marriage. The day after my mom died my wife asked for a divorce and exploded my family. I had only 1 son who partly stayed with me for the last 5 years. The other still treats me well but lives with his mother. She and I are on good terms and I am a Christian who doesn't believe in divorce. Just FYI with some of this stuff. About 5 years ago i couldn't work any longer and it was the excuse my wife needed to do what she wanted. Anyway it left me alone with idleness and depression and lonliness in a new town where I could afford to live. 6 months ago I went back to my original counselor and wanted to try to taper off, which she is good with. BTW, my GP knows nothing and just wants to try new meds. Ive tried them all and can only take a few. So, after gut trouble started 14 months ago I have was taken down from 30 mg to 20 mg Paxil. Didn't suffer that I noticed. Then I noticed that in a 6 month period of time I had missed 25 days of Paxil. So I had steadily and accidentally tapered to what amounted to about 15 or so MG. Vitamin B complex made me angry! I am afraid to take 5htp with Paxil. Any suggestions on safe supplements? Will my gut ever get any better? My family tends to have IBS D anyway and I have had it for 14 months and am trying to live on Imodium. This site came highly recommended as experts in the field. I have only met one psychiatrist who knew what he was doing in 33 years. So........... Pete

Hello my name is phil and Im a late 30's male who was extremely healthy and in great shape a few months back and wish to talk with others about their experience getting off of prozac. I am currently on 40 mg of prozac daily for the past 3.5 months and am wanting to talk with others about coming off of it. I have always had above average anxiety and slight ocd but haven't been on meds in many years and managed fime. About 4 months ago I had complications and major increasing pain from a vasectomy that went wrong and had a major breakdown. I was given 40 mg of prozac to take daily and also xanax to take as needed. I was taking up to 4mg xanax a day for the first 2 months. When I started the prozac I started to suffer from severe insomnia. I went the first 5 weeks getting anywhere from 0-2 hours sleep at most and hoped it would improve but it never did. Eventually I was given 50 mg of trazadone to help me sleep and bumped it up to 100mg soon after. I have been able to get myself down to 0.5-1mg xanax daily with no problems mainly taking it at night along with my trazadone and 10 mg of melatonin for sleep. I cannot sleep at all if i dont take the trazadone, xanax and melatonin and I feel like my sleep has been disrupted badly when I started taking the prozac. About 10 years aho I had been on a high dose of zoloft for a year or two and quit CT and didn't go through much withdraw. I am sure my family would like me to continue the prozac but I can't handle the insomnia or the thought of never being able to sleep without other meds. I'm hoping to try to reduce my dosage in half for awhile and then slowly wean off. I've only been on it for 3.5 months so I'm hoping the withdraw wont be too difficult. I just found this site and was looking for advice, support or stories of other people's experiences. I'm hoping that if I get off the prozac I will eventually be able to sleep on my own again without additional meds as I have never had problems with sleep in the past, prior to starting the prozac. On a side note, I had a second surgery preformed two months ago and am still having issues. I have been seeing a therapist weekly and am not so sure if my insomnia is totally related to the prozac or if some of it is due to my anxiety that I am still having anxiety from the the complications of the surgery, either way I do not want to be on prozac for an extended period of time. Any advice or experiences would be appreciated. Has anyone else experienced insomnia that wouldn't go away from prozac? Thanks, Phil

I am looking forward to hearing from everyone who is or has gone down the road I am on. I have bipolar disorder. I was on lithium until about five years ago when it was discovered that I had 50% kidney function. I was put on quetiapine but have developed unbearable side effects. I have muscle spasms, drooling, swollen tongue, and my granddaughter started copying me clicking my mouth. I have had terrible constipation for a while but thought it was due to my diet and lifestyle until I sarted researching antipsychotic meds. This part is embarrassing but I did not know I was on an antipsychotic. I assumed it was an anti-convulsant. It just never dawned on me that my psych doc would put me on an antipsychotic. Now that I have done my research I am scared and confused. My psych doc suggested I try Tegretol after going off quetiapine. She wants me to go off quetiapine completely first to see what the "baseline" is as far as the side effects go. Now that I looked into the side effects I am afraid of all of these drugs. I am also afraid of not being medicated. I have been a compliant patient until now. Now I am just lost.

Hello community! TL;DR I'm tapering off Risperdal, experienced improvements while tapering off, improvements faded away after a few weeks again, worried about permanent brain damage, wondering if I can ever recover from it. (Warning: This is quite a wall of text) After searching for information on Google a lot, I decided to create an account here. I had trouble finding an answer to my specific problem. The whole point of this post is to ask about permanent brain damage and if there is any hope of restoring from it, but I will explain everything I think it has ruined before asking, just so you can get a clear picture of what is going on. A doctor of whom I - and others - don't remember who he/she was, has put me on Risperdal in my childhood. If I am to believe my mother, it is 0.5mg since the day I was put on it. I think I'm lucky I've always been on a very low dose. The reason was PDD-NOS. Well, that's the diagnosis that they used to justify it. The real problem was aggression - I was having trouble controlling it. However, that's no longer a problem. Someone taught me techniques to control it that actually worked for me - while on the Risperdal. That happened around the age of 13 - I should've been taken off Risperdal right then, in my opinion. Fast forward about 12 years, and here I am, a 23-year-old girl. I wasn't aware of how heavy the effects of Risperdal were, until some people on the internet began waking me up to what Risperdal was, when I mentioned to them that I took it. I used to believe it was required to manage my PDD-NOS. However, based on information I've found on PDD-NOS, and information I've found on the effects of Risperdal, I have been able to conclude that that train of thought was very much false... Risperdal is WAAAAYYY too strong for what I _had_. What I should also add to this, is that I am a transgender girl. Meaning I started out born as the opposite gender, but used medical treatment to become a girl. (Don't worry, I have been very carefully psychologically analyzed by a hospital for about 2 years - even they were sure that I am truly transgender). This is relevant because that adds two more meds (hormones) to the mix: Estradiol, and Cyproterone Acetate. Those are Estrogen and Testosterone Blockers, respectively. These medications started about a year ago. I have noticed that the debilitating, lethargic effects have gotten worse ever since getting on those, but I refuse to get off those meds because I very much need them to have the body I desire. Also, before I got on the hormones, I was on Lexapro (Escilatopram), an anti-depressant, in addition to Risperdal. It was supposed to protect me from stress caused by the gender clinic - it was not at all depression. But what it actually did, was make the effects I am experiencing from Risperdal now, 10 times worse. Meaning, I was basically just in my bed the entire time, and everything around me hurted. Even the TV. Fortunately I am off that stuff now, after 6 months of being kept on it, unaware that it was making me sick. Also, I lost my job during the time I was on that stuff... I have also been on Melatolin for a very long time, 0.2mg of it. When I needed to knock myself out into sleep, I usually took 2 or 3mg. I recently heard Melatolin can cause side effects too, including some of the things I've been experiencing in the morning, so I decided to stop that one cold turkey. Melatolin can generally be stopped cold turkey according to many sources of information, so that's what I did. I had trouble going to bed on time at first without the help of melatolin, but at the time of writing this, I can go to bed about as easily as when I was on melatolin. So... The problems I've been experiencing... Around the age of 16 or 17, my memory suddenly experienced a sudden drop in effectiveness. Where I would be able to remember weeks at a time before, and clearly at that, I suddenly had trouble remembering past three days in the past. I don't think I've ever recovered from that. In addition, in the last few years, meaning, 20 to 23 years of age, I've experienced tiredness, lethargy, laziness, and morning grogginess (headache, dizziness) - that are so bad that I have trouble integrating into society. They are preventing me from getting a job or going to a school - and that is the point where I decided to try to taper off the medication - with the help of my GP. Specifically, the morning headaches, diziness, and slight nausea, are so debilitating that I can basically forget about doing anything in the morning. I end up sitting behind my laptop or computer and waiting for it to pass. Naturally, that prevents me from starting anything (a job, or school) that requires me to be available in the morning. Also, if I would do _anything_ in the outside world that required a, well, decently normal amount of energy (such as travelling through the country using public transit).. The next day, I would be unavailable for the entire day. I would be unable to do much of anything. It would all hurt too much. Of course, there's also the general daily tiredness/lethargy that never fully goes away. Of course, these are not acceptable effects, and I want to get rid of them so I can get on with my life! --- Now, a few weeks ago, I first started tapering off. I went from 0.5 mg to half of that, so 0.25mg. The effects astonished me - I felt alive! I was no longer lethargic, or even what I used to call "lazy" - and experiencing this energetic feeling made me realise that I wasn't actually lazy, I was sedated. About 4 days after I halved my dose is when I really noticed the effects. I travelled across the country using public transit, to go to an appointment that I was greatly stressed about. To my surprise, afterwards, I wasn't very exhausted, so I decided to go meet up with some people from the internet who I had wanted to meet up with. I did, and then in the evening, I went home.. ..Surprise! The next day, I wasn't exhausted at all! In fact, I had enough energy to tidy up my entire house! And I did. I made sure to make use of this newfound energy. It was absolutely wonderful! These effects lasted for a few weeks.. And I enjoyed every ounce of the newfound energy. ...But then they started to fall back to the same old lethargic state... ...Even though I was still on a lower dose, the same old effects were creeping back in. Gradually, every day, I felt more tired, more lethargic, more lazy...... ..And now we're almost back to where we started. Now, I have a theory.. And this is, of course, speculation.. But I think my body might have gotten used to the lower dose and adjusted to it accordingly. --- So now comes the question about permanent brain damage. As you will probably notice, my use of language seems intelligent. I like to think that I am - although, of course, it is relative to the intelligence of others. I am bad at mental math, but great at some other intellectual endeavours, such as music theory. However, the question of my damaged memory remains. As well as this lethargy that I so badly want to get rid of because it is basically preventing me from living a full life... Since I've been on Risperdal for around 12 years, will I recover from these effects? Will the lethargy ever go away? Will my memory ever return to normal? I have also heard a rumor that Risperdal can shorten your lifespan by about 20 years. Is that true? Will I die much earlier now? I am, of course, very unhappy towards the people that did this to me. Well, unhappy is an understatement. I'm pretty angry at them - the difference being, that I am capable to handle my aggression and do not resort to throwing things around or damaging property or beings. Instead, my words get more aggressive, and I get really passionate about solving whatever issue is at hand. More rebellious, basically. I don't think that's such a bad thing. Anyhow.. I hold the strong hope that I am able to recover from these debilitating effects. I'd like to add, that if any doctors are reading this.. PLEASE consider VERY CAREFULLY whether it is worth it to use Atypical Antipsychotics such as Risperdal on children with mild autistic disorders such as PDD-NOS. As you can read in my story, the long-term effects are not worth it, at all.

Please help, 2 weeks ago I was prescribed 50mg sertraline for intrusive thoughts, but was not depressed. I took my first one and about 6 hours later I had a very bad reaction I had a fever my blood pressure was high, I had diarrhea and my mind was cray I knew instantly that I had poisoned myself, it wasn't until a week later I read up on serotonin syndrome and realized I experienced all the side effects and still suffer some of them to this day, here are my symptoms I have and have got worse short term Memory loss, agitation, irritability, muscle twitching, shivering, restlessness, sweating(up my neck and scalp mostly), hallucinations derealization/depersonalization, feel disoriented at times, muscle spasms which are painful at times, tingling/prickling sensations in my hands feet chest arms and legs, pressure at the back of my head. I don't get it I was a happy outgoing person until the doctor insisted the tablet would take away intrusive thoughts, not only do I still get them but get even worse! hallucinations! I don't want this Have I got the effects from serotonin syndrome or is this permanent nerve and brain damage? please help I am quite worried and no one wants to listen to me

Hello. My husband (of 26 years) has dealt with depression since he was 18. He is 50. For the last 8 years, he was on 100 mg Pristiq and 150 mg Wellbutrin and doing pretty well. (Tried many other things and quit for various reasons.) Only really bad side effect was nightmares. Insurance quit covering Pristiq so he switched to Effexor for four months, first 150 mg then 75 mg. No problem making the switch, but sexual side effects were very bad and he felt a little "fuzzy." So when we got the insurance company to agree to cover Pristiq (long battle), he switched back to 100 mg Pristiq. That was three days ago. He's about to lose it -- off-the-wall angry, tearful, shaking, insomnia. Sexual side effects of Effexor are completely gone, which is great, but doesn't mean much compared with everything else. Why is this happening -- is it Effexor withdrawal or Pristiq side effects? What should his next step be? Would LOVE some immediate help!

I f have been on Pristiq now for over four years, 2 x 100mq a day. I am finding i am suffering from serious mood swings, (and i am talking serious!!!). MY whole life I have been a very calm rational person butthese days I can seem to go clean off at something or sombody for very little reason. Has anyone heard if this is a long term side effect of the drug?

We are working on a documentary film about the dangers and false promises of psychiatric drugs. We have a team that includes an experienced director who has worked on Oscar nominated films. We hope to reach a mainstream audience with a high quality film that will lead people to question the medical model of treating human suffering and distress with pharmaceutical chemicals. We have great advisors including Bob Whitaker and Laura Delano. The heart of the film will be survivors' stories of how psychiatric drugs harmed them. We are looking for people willing to share their story on camera. If you are interested please contact us, Lynn Lynn_p_cunningham@yahoo.com, 917 282 0710 Wendy wenractliffe@gmail.com