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I'm so happy to have found this group through a link on the UK MIND website. This is my story so far. After a few years of poor sleep leading to debilitating anxiety, at the beginning of 2000 my GP prescribed me Seroxat (Paxil) and Zopiclone 3.75mg (Lunesta). I was in such a state and so relieved to have been helped, that I took Zopiclone every night along with the Seroxat as instructed.. for six years. In the first year I gained 4 stone (56 pounds) in weight but otherwise felt well. In 2006 I went on holiday and forgot to take my Seroxat with me. Three days later it didn't occur to me that the reason I thought I was dying was my forgotten meds, but I then realised and obtained an emergency supply. This incident frightened me and as I felt well and was sleeping, I decided to stop taking Seroxat. My GP told me to 'do it gradually' over a two-week period. After starting to feel unwell having halved my dose (can't remember what I was on but it wasn't the highest or the lowest) I googled and discovered tapering. With the help of a wonderful online support group I used liquid Seroxat (the GP didn't know it was a thing) and having nevertheless been through appalling withdrawal over 18 months, I was free of it. Even having tapered by a droplet every two weeks, the withdrawal was intolerable. I lost 18 months of my life doing little else but lie on a sofa. In 2007 I presented myself, a weeping mess, at the GP's again and was offered Trimipramine, a sedating tricyclic AD (proprietary name then was Surmontil). Trimipramine was actually the answer to my prayers. It knocked me out for twelve hours at a stretch. I slept, but it dulled my mind and gave me heart arrhythmia which caused me to start a tapered withdrawal in 2017. It was going reasonably well until a GP I had never met rang me to say I had to stop taking the drug immediately as the price had sky-rocketed and the NHS could no longer prescribe it. My taper turned into a glorified cold turkey and I had every withdrawal symptom possible. My Zopiclone dose was doubled to 7.5mg and after 4 weeks I was back at the surgery, seeing a fourth different GP, who was adamant that what I needed was Mirtazapine (in spite of my protestations about its reputation for weight gain). I only took it for two weeks, I really wasn't invested in it and although I didn't really give it a fair chance, it was no help. I decided to see a psychiatrist in March 2018, who put me on Amitiyptilyne (Elavil), the thinking being that as a tricyclic had already helped me, this drug might get me out of crisis. I went from 25-75mg in a week. It didn't help my sleep or anxiety and gave me bladder issues, mainly false urinary urgency, which made my anxiety go through the roof and put a complete end to any hope of sleeping. I then did a quick cross-taper onto Escitalopram (Lexapro) going up from 2.5mg to 15mg in the three months to June 2018. Escitalopram was just wrong for me and my chronic insomnia. It was extremely stimulating, I was wired 24/7, I had tinnitus, ear and sinus pain, mania, twitching muscles, popping ears, panic, to name but a few. I did a quick cross-taper onto Venlafaxine (Effexor) 37.5mg, increasing after a week to 75mg. This drug was also stimulating. The bladder issues had gone after three months on Escitalopram, but Venlafaxine also gave me the jitters, the ENT symptoms and I couldn't sleep. I added Melatonin and CBD oil into the mix. The side-effects just worsened, I had stomach pain, digestive issues, acid reflux and my head was a sleep-deprived mess. I decided enough was enough and tapered off Venlafaxine, by myself, between September 2020 and 12 August 2022 when I took my last sliver of tablet. So I'm just approaching one year of being AD-free. I still take 7.5mg of Zopiclone nightly, but suffer from appalling insomnia and my quality of life is much-diminished from what it could be. I use CBD oil sometimes at night, melatonin, valerian. I practise slow breathing, I have had CBT and CBTi. I did a course on Vedic meditation which has helped somewhat, but I typically have 5/6 hours' sleep a night, I cry, I panic and I despair. I avoid socialising and going away from home: my sleeping is scant in my own bed, elsewhere it is an anxiety-ridden struggle. I wish that back in 2000, I had been offered CBT rather than pills, and that I could have been encouraged to use Zopiclone sparingly, occasionally. I'll never know if that could have been enough. Thank you so much if you've got to the end of this long initial post. I was planning to be brief.. I spent this morning dipping in and out of threads and have already found much to encourage and comfort.

2012-2023: 10 mg and 20 mg Citalopram. Had tried to get off, but felt weird below 10 mg every time. Then saw a YouTube video about hyperbolic taper and decided to do that. June 2023 - January 2024: 20 - 10 - 7,5 - 5 - 2,5 - 1,25 mg at random intervals. That's not good. Because I am an idiot who can't do math. 🤦 At first it was fine, finally I got below 10 mg. I didn't realise that I became more and more depressed and anxious. January 16th: Severe symptoms, almost incapable of eating, breakthrough anxiety. I had never dealt with anxiety (although in hindsight I can see that it has been increasing since the start of the pandemic, and) and didn't recognise it as such. Several visits to the doctor to figure out the stomach issue. From January 18th: Total insomnia due to nerve twitches/pangs and muscle jerks. January 22nd: Stilnoct 10 mg, then 31st: Zolpiclone 7,5 mg. Took and still tale every night, getting 4-5 hours of KO/"sleep". Because the constant nerve pangs otherwise kept me completely awake, no sleep. January 27th: Finally(!) realised Citalopram symptoms might be the cause. Reinstated 2,5 - 5 - 10 - 20 mg over the course of the next three weeks. Got Quetiapine/Seroquel, and tried for a few days. But it didn't work for the nerve pangs at all, so still awake. And very doozy for most of the day too. So stopped them after 3 days Update March 2nd: Brain zaps gone, full body chills gone. Speedily learned to accept and defuse some of the anxiety symptoms, which made them go away. But having bad sleep anxiety. The 4-5 hours of "chemical sleep" on Zolpiclone keeps me - minimally - functional. Can't work, bare mimimum home chores. This late night/morning I actually didn't have nerve pangs, but in stead was extremely restless in bed. I can't decide if it is better or worse. I decide that it is better. The nerve pangs are worse. Doctors have absolutely no suggestions for what I could get for the nerve pangs instead of Zolpiclone other than this or that sedating meds. I don't need sleeping pills, I can fall asleep just fine. It is the nerve pangs that keep me awake, like being pricked with a needle randomly all over the body. Oh, and bought a precise weight for weighing meds.

Hi there, I have been through polydrug hell, suffered insomnia after medical shock then given host of sleep meds but believe they caused paradoxical breathing or possibly withdrawals maybe from mix, was given zolpiclone and Xanax and no in breath when going into deeper sleep and would wake constantly? Has anyone experienced this? Continued and given mirtrazapine at morning time! Then amitriptyline which caused urinary retention stopped both, no sleep still so kept on Xanax and zopiclone, then stopped and the same scenario no in breath? If anyone knows what this is? I was then given Xanax to keep me asleep, never more than 1mg ar night only, would you have withdrawals from that if just at night? Panic attacks as no sleep only an hour or so, myoclonus, can’t sleep during day time jerks hypnic. Then started sertraline and hyperacusis started and Xanax still. Then went to psych hospital as wasn’t sure what was happening? Was treated horrifically told agitated depression, never had depression in life, we thing misdiagnosed badly, by power tripping psych as I challenged that. Given Effexor, then clonazapam at night 1mg kept pushing Effexor up, no benefit. I was so worried as they were leaving me on clonazapam, I was only taking at night, day was cut cold Turkey as I was too sleepy. No weaning. Then told take more at night! But got trazadone added 100mg and cut clonazapam to .5 from 1mg, hyperacusis back as had gone but worse than when went in! Effexor pushed up more, phergen added night and clonazapam cut to .25mg from .5mg, Effexor up at 150mg, hyperacusis unbelievable now! Odd as if was depression should the Effexor now get rid of hyperacusis? No benefit. Then told take more, 187 and I couldn’t sleep at all. Myoclonus so bad. Was left even though had bruising everywhere ignored amongst so many other symptoms panic attacks so bad, let out as insurance up, left in lurch, cut to 150 Effexor then 112 and hyperacusis worsening. Got public psych but she said thinks misdiagnosed but no disgnosis and said cut Effexor to 75 and hyperacusis was too much to bear I had to go back to 112.5 mg. What is going on, I’ve never dealt with drugs like this before and don’t know what’s going on and very bad care here, told hyperacusis ENT thing but ruled out but ignored. Hypnic jerks, sleep not great at all, panic so bad in morning feel in total trauma ptsd all time freeze mode. Treated so badly. No info given on anything when in hospital just ignored and wouldn’t wean me off clonazapam yet told me Im on addictive meds now for life! Can anyone help me on hyperacusis and what’s going on breathing at night and hypnic jerks. Breathing is separate than jerks, no in breath in deeper sleep stage. I am at wits end and no life. Left without help. Clonazapam Now out of stock. I’m on it still what left .25mg trazadone and melatonin now might, wake up in horrors. Is it possibly to have withdrawals daily? If low dose? I’m so confused. Pharmacist said possible, my nervous system in total disarray. The 112 to 75 was too much. Too fast just cut fast. Any help on how to cut as tried opening beads out but even that hyperacusis was getting worse? Please help me make sense of this all? Thank you. Is it trauma PTSD, withdrawals, as I am worse now than ever, do get some sleep which is good thing. But wake in horrors. All day panic attacks constantly no let up unless lying down. BP all over place. Get so weak. Have thyroid condition and period issues, fibroid and lot of blood loss monthly. Skin is so dry. Diarrhea all time, gastro issues, reflux. In such panic I just need some advice what May be going on? Thanks so much

Well my signature will tell you most, but I found this site as I was searching for how to wean off of my antidepressants. I read quite a bit all over on this site and found out that I need to start with 10% reduction. And I am also going to get a scale to help in my reduction of the effexor, money going towards my health. I tried going off the wellbutrin once and I became seriously depressed so had to go back on it. I thought it would be easier to start with that one since it was so low, but did not realise as I read on here that it is a slow release one and I need to change to another kind to be able to slowly go off of it. I do not know if my doctor will allow me without knowing what I am doing, and I do not want to tell her as she does not support me going off the medication, so not sure what to do for this drug? The Effexor, I went one does lower almost a year back because I found it was causing my vision to be blurry after allot of investigating to find out the cause. I just went one dose lower and I had brain zaps for a few months and the first week was like I was a drug addict on withdrawals for 3 days, crazy! I have not been able to go lower without allot of problems, so I am hoping the 10% reduction rule will help me, I will wait until I get my scale to begin. I am wondering, as a read early on another sight how some people are able to lower there dosage by using other natural supplements for the brain chemistry to help them to have less anxiety and depression as they came off there medications, some had to use alternative supplements to keep from getting sads or help with there anxiety, anyone know anything about this? it interests me as I have both long before I went on antidepressants and wonder what I can do to keep the anxiety and mild depression at bay from the long winters, and because for some reason, no one and nothing I have tried or read in almost 30 years has helped with my anxiety and I have been stuck with the clonazepam as my only option, and not a great one at that, as the more you take it, the more you need for it to stay effective and thus the addiction starts up. I have learned to sit still and meditate since then, but still it is not enough for the anxiety, I just do not know what to do about this problem when I am off of the medication, the antidepressants do not help with the anxiety unless I am on a higher dose that I cannot feel or cry, and I feel like I exist and that's it, so I will not take that high of dosage. Long story short, I do not like the side affects and the longer I am on these drugs the more drugs they start to prescribe for the side affects I am starting to get, this is unacceptable to me and I want off this drug roller coaster ride. Thank you for listening to my first long post. I like the saying "a problem shared is a problem halved" and so this site will be a great help as we all help each other. Here's to being the warrior, not the victim!

Hi all I'm a newbie, was made to CT zopiclone 18 months ago after being on it 12 years when my GP retired resulted in intrusive thoughts mainly thinking may have knocked people over while driving. After about 8 months Tried first citalopram then sertraline for about 6 months in total, been a total nightmare, made the thoughts lot worse don't want to trigger anyone so won't expand, also given me full blown OCD with compulsions, now literally have check everything before it goes in the bin. Did go though period of quite suicidal thoughts and crying every day, that has passed but still very low. Stupidly stayed on them too long as people kept saying they will work. Literally have no life, husband ends up doing lot of cooking as don't feel like eating. Frightened to go out the house because I'll start getting awful thoughts. I was normally functioning person before going on these meds, now realise even though life challenging before taking anti depressants was so much better than this'd I did have some sort of life. I stopped them 9 weeks ago. Tried everything CBT, mindfulness, counselling nothing helps. The OCD crippling never had this before in my life, just terrified will be like the forever

I would like some advice on withdrawal please. I was on 20 mg prozac for about 5 years and 3 years ago I came off, after a 3 month taper. I started to get a serious ringing in my ears and severe insomnia and then I had a year of anxiety, terrible insomnia and intense anger which got worse and worse. The doctor said that I was obviously depressed and advised me to go back on the prozac, which after a year I did, starting with 40mg as the symptoms were so bad. A year later, one year ago, I lowered the dose and started suffering drowsyness and fatigue which lasted 5 months. Then in September I started suffering from the drowsiness and fatigue again and the doctor eventually told me that I needed to come off the prozac as it wasn’t working for me any more. That was about 3 weeks ago. I had a week tapering and then started sertraline. Since then the drowsiness has got worse, accompanied by really bad tinnitus. My query is about the year I had with anxiety, anger and insomnia. Could that have been withdrawal from the prozac? It didn’t get any better over the year – if anything it gradually got worse and worse. At the time I suspected that it was withdrawal as every so often my face would go numb, which was one of my symptoms when I first came off prozac but the doctor said that the symptoms had gone on far too long and I was just depressed/anxious again. (I had suffered form anxiety for a couple of years previously, which had led to CFS, which was why I had gone on the prozac to begin with.) Could that year have been withdrawal? In which case what do I do now? I can’t go back on prozac as it had started to have a bad effect on me. I’m a bit despairing at the moment – I have recently had to put my PhD on hold because the drowsiness got so bad and I’m dreading the withdrawal if it’s going be as bad as last time. Does anyone have any techniques which might help? I don't want to go back on, however long it takes to even out again.

Sweet scallydaddy is in the hospital after falling then being confused. He is uninjured but has been hospitalized for several weeks because recovery from the fall is complicated by previously diagnosed early or middle stage dementia. While in the hospital, the dementia sometimes results in confusion about where he is and he gets "agitated." The first instance of agitation resulted in the "as needed" administration of zopiclone and trazodone. After an extremely unproductive cycle of late night PRN dosing that left him slurring his words well into the next day and too weak to do the brief physio recommended exercises, I asked that they pick one medication and provide it regularly. Thank you to all here at SA who helped me educate myself about this. Somebody (I've yet to find out who <grrr> ) started him on trazodone with dinner and citalopram with breakfast. WTAF?? Major interaction effects which include confusion, fever (dangerous for someone with a diagnosed arrhythmia), and increased risk of arrhythmia. Fortunately he's been stable on that for 10+ days until a confused agitation episode today. After the early "cocktail," I knew enough to ask about PRN (as needed) meds in the event of agitation. The PRN med that will be administered is halo-effing-peridol which, imagine your surprise, interacts in major ways with both trazodone and citalopram. It's beyond me how anyone thinks that's going to help him recover to a condition for safe discharge. I anticipate talking with his doctor about next steps and will ask, "Sometimes medications interact with each other. Are there effects we should be concerned about with Dad's prescribed meds?" Not sure what I need from other members of SA or the moderators. I guess the good news is that I've learned a few things and that it's early enough to interrupt predictable negative outcomes. Teasing out which symptoms are dementia progression and which are iatrogenic might not be possible until he's off all the meds.

I have OCD and because of it I have some sleeping problems . My doctor put on olanzapine 5 mg and zopiclone 7.5 mg(sleeping pill) . Olanzapine gave me some bad side effects like problems thinking , with memory , anhedonia ,suicidal ideation and finally decided to quit .I still find difficult to focus on studies but I hope for the better .I took it for about two weeks and in the second week a bit randomly . I have one week since I stopped and apart from some sleep difficulties and some sleep hallucinations (which last night i didn't have them at all) I am quite ok . I also take suppliments like multivitamins( magnesium, thiamin , niacin , vitamin C, B 6 , B12 ...etc). Reading the stories on this forum made me sad and worried . Right now I am bit confused in the sense that i do not know if what i am going through are withdrawals or not. The reason why I am on this forum is to ask for an advice on what to do if the things are getting worse . I know nothing about the taper method at that time and now I wonder if would be ok to taper just in case the withdrawals are coming and they're going to be unbearable. How is it safe to taper from 2weeks of 5 mg . I've read about the 10% in four weeks rule but that applies to my situation also? Would be sad to live in that state for so long . Please help! my timeline with olanzapine and zopiclone 28 ian 2021 - 4 feb - 5 mg ( on 31 feb I also took 7.5 mg zopiclone) 5 feb - off 6 feb -5 mg 7 feb -5 mg + 7.5 mg zopiclone 8 feb -2.5 mg 9 feb - 2.5 mg 10 feb 3/4 of 5 mg 11 feb - off 12 feb 5 mg 13 feb - 7.5 mg Zopiclone 14 feb - 7.5 mg Zopiclone

Hello! I’m 62 years old, female. I first started with antidepressants, Anafranil, in the early nineties. I quit ct after a year and 6 months later I ended up in hospital where I stayed 6 months before they kicked me out with a new prescription of Anafranil and with Rohypnol for sleep issues. A couple of years later I switched to SSRI, can’t remember which, and Rohypnol switched to Zopiclone 7,5 mg. No one ever told me I ended up in hospital because of withdrawal syndrome. I medicated for years and years. In 2022 I switched Cipramil and had Sertraline instead. The symptoms when I switched became so bad I had to take 10mg Oxascand 4 times a day. The doctor called it chemical anxiety. About three years ago I went off Zopiclone cold turkey. The only thing that happened was that I slept very bad. After about 6 months off Zopiclone I started tapering my 75 mg Sertraline dose. I went to fast. When I was down to about 25-30 mg I experienced hell. I don’t know if it was post-acute withdrawal syndrome from the benzo or if it was acute withdrawal syndrome from Sertraline or both. Doctors never said anything about withdrawal syndrome. They said I had to take more pills. They prescribed 100 mg Sertraline, 7,5 mg zopiclone, 20 mg Brintellix, 10-40 mg Oxascand and some other stuff I never took. Since I quit cold turkey and tapered AD too fast I suffer from agoraphobia and anxiety. During the last three years I tapered and quit Brintellix and didn’t get any symptoms. I also tapered Oxascand to 5 mg. And Sertraline from 100 to 75 mg. and Zopiclone from 7,5 to 5 mg. In April this year I learned about the 10% method. And since then I tapered 10% off zopiclone ever month and I’ve gone from 5 mg Oxascand to 4,5 mg. Currently I only taper Zopiclone.

Hi friends, My name is Gibby and I'm a 25 year old male with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder. I have been on medication for 5 years. I have been fairly stable while on medication, but I've been unhappy about taking olanzapine, even though my dose is very low (1.8mg for five years) and the physical side effects are more annoying than dangerous. However, I understand that serious complications can arise from taking this drug for a long time, so I've been looking to come off it for quite awhile. I started a withdrawal at the beginning of June, but it was mostly an experiment and I lasted about three days; I didn't really know what I was doing. Last Saturday night (with my doctor's consent!), I decided to try again with some more supports in place and some more coping techniques. These helped but I wasn't sleeping at all, and these last few days have been very bad. I haven't been able to eat or exercise much and my parents are exhausted in trying to care for me. I still feel like "me", my personality hasn't changed but I feel physically really unwell and anxious and depressed. I've decided to go back on the medication for awhile to get stable again (I expect to be a little zonked for the first five days or so back on, no big deal) and then try a different plan. My family wanted me to keep trying to get over the hump, but I can feel my nervous system freaking out and I don't have the practice in CBT techniques or keeping my mind safe, especially with no sleep and no real plan. I did my best for five days, and I hope that giving up now to try later doesn't make me some kind of chicken. I really wanted to but I guess my body-mind isn't ready. Do you guys/gals/others have any advice for next time? Anybody else gone through this? I'm also going to go off the citalopram eventually but the olanzapine is the main goal for right now. Thank you!

Hi everyone! My background is that in the summer of 2020 I was still a normal, functioning person - I enjoyed time with my family and friends, was often jogging in the forest, swimming, doing daily yoga, gardening etc. besides my work. I did not have any special health issues that needed attention or medication. Then I got sleeping problems in Oct 2020 mainly because of stress at work and physical injuries in my back, which prevented me from sleeping well. In Nov 2020 I was prescribed Imovane (zopiclone) for my sleep, but I still slept only 3 hours a night due to pain in my back and was very exhausted. I was diagnosed with fatigue syndrome in Dec 2020. In the middle of Dec 2020 I began having fever and could not sleep at all. I also got symptoms such as breathing problems and a feeling of "burning legs" and I quickly got anxiety due to the frightening symptoms. My normal doctor did not know what to do and sent me on to a psychiatrist, who prescribed Mirtazapin for my sleep, declaring I had general anxiety disorder. I was also advised to take fast walks outdoors for my anxiety. I started out on a high dose (30 mg). The drug did not help me sleep more than 5-6 hours per night at most. My breathing problems got worse and the fever came back. I was extremely fatigued and the walks outdoors made me extremely sick, but the psychiatrist still advised me to exercise "to keep my anxiety down". Eventually the tests for covid-19 finally returned (after more than a week) and I realized I had been sick all along in covid-19. I was now instead prescribed to rest and not exercise. However, my breathing problems got worse and I was eventually hospitalized for a while. Also, after two weeks on Mirtazapine I developed severe tinnitus (which I had not had before in my life) and immense sensitivity to all sounds inlcuding my own internal sounds (like swallowing). In the beginning of Jan 2021 I got a new doctor (while my doctor was on leave), who took me off Mirtazapine cold turkey ("this is not a problem after just a few weeks"). After 3 days I got severe anxiety. The good news was that my tinnitus disappeared and I was very happy about that part. However, the anxiety was not like anything I had ever before experienced in my life so I returned to the doctor after 5 days. The doctor now diagnosed me with depression and prescribed Sertraline. For my sleep I was prescribed Olanzapine 5 mg. After two days I got back tinnitus, but now much worse than before. After 3 days I got numbness in my arms and strange feelings in my skin. Also after 3 days I felt as if I were "drugged" and outside of my body. After 4 days I got permanent dizziness, that has not got away ever since then. My doctor advised me to "keep pushing through". At least I slept well now and was slowly recovering, but I was extremely foggy and tired all the time. I could hardly chew my food. After 1 week I discovered that my eye sight had changed, I had trouble focusing and I had got very light sensitive. The symptoms described above did not vanish, so my doctor let me quit olanzapine after a few weeks. Cold turkey was not a problem, she said, because you have only taken it for a few weeks. After 4 days of stopping olanzapine the dizziness got much worse and I felt numbness in my face and my scalp in addition to all the other problems. The doctor explained that it was impossible to be related to olanzapine. Another doctor examined me and declared that the dizziness and eye problems came from taking Sertraline. He decided that I was to immediately quit Sertraline cold turkey. After a few days I got really sick - more dizzy, paresthesia etc. The doctor explained that it was impossible to be due to taking the prescribed medications. Instead the doctor suggested that I suffered from post covid symptoms. For two months I was taken on and off olanzapine a few times by different doctors. For example one doctor thought it was a great sleep aid medication to take, while another thought I should quit because it was not suitable for someone with my problems. Every time I quit I would feel great for two days and then develop severe anxiety, paresthesia, chills, insomnia and severe dizziness. I was eventually referred to a doctor specialized in post covid symptoms (neurologist), who made a very thorough examination. But she declared that my symptoms were not at all typical of post covid. She instead suggested that my symptoms were due to fatigue and anxiety problems, but also said that she was not an expert on this. She had not idea whether my symptoms could be caused by medication and did not comment on that. My normal doctor was now back from his leave and said that he belived all my symptoms to be related to fatigue. He prescribed Escitalopram and I started taking it on 30 March 2021. At the same time I took olanzapine for another two weeks. I felt relatively OK on 5 mg escitalopram, although I had some side effects with cramps, insomnia and tight jaws. After two weeks I was taken off olanzapine and at the same time the Escitalopram dose was increased to 10 mg (which according to my doctor is the lowest therapeutic dose). My anxiety returned with vengeance, the dizziness got much worse and I felt thoroughly sick. This lasted for a couple of weeks. I got some new side effect: hand tremor, different parts of the body would shake involuntarily when I wanted to sleep, my eyes did not function properly anymore (extremely hard to focus), very light sensitive and the colours were all "wrong" (a yellowish kind of colour). So my doctor decided to up the dose to 15 mg, because in his experience this would help. However, it did not. I felt more foggy, the tremor in my hands was so bad I could not hold a fork, I was extremely dizzy and barely managed going to the bathroom - and I had horrible anxiety. After 3 weeks the dose was decreased to 10 mg and I felt somewhat better. My doctor advised me to stay on this dose for at least 6 weeks, but after a couple of weeks I decrease my dose to 7.5 mg and I felt even better. However, "better" is a relative term - I still had permanent dizziness, light sensitiveness, eye problems, tinnitus, tremor and involuntary shakes. But the anxiety was much better, which my doctor thought was very strange. Also, I could take walks and enjoy a little bit of things in my daily life again. My doctor now belived that I am very sensitive to all kinds of medication and we agreed to try to stop taking escitalopram. However, when going down to 5 mg I developed severe physical withdrawal symptoms - paresthesia, chills, headaches, worse eye problems, worse tinnitus, and severe dizziness. According to the guidelines my doctor was following, withdrawal only lasts for 1-2 weeks (at most 6 weeks). I got a new doctor, because my previous doctor quit his job. My new doctor told me that it was obvious the medication never gave me any positive effects, which I agreed on. So I stopped the medication from 5 mg and after two days experienced extreme symptoms. I was entirely incapable of anything at all for weeks. My family was and is taking care of me. Now it has been more than 6 weeks. To be specific it has been 9 weeks and 2 days. My doctor tells me it is impossible to have withdrawal symptoms after 6 weeks so I really feel I am on my own here. I strongly belive I have been having withdrawal symptoms and side effects all along. Being fatigued (and also covid-19) has probably made my whole system more sensitive to all kinds of medication in the first place. I have now finally found this great forum. Unfortunately, a bit late. My withdrawal symptoms are the following: Constant dizziness (like being on a rocking boat), cramps in the scalp, pressure over the temples (which I associate with cramps in the head muscles), paresthesia (numbness/tingling) in my face, scalp, hands and feet, eye problems (extremely sensitive to lights, difficulties with focusing, floaters), feeling foggy in my head, memory problems, extreme fatigue, severe tinnitus, feeling "swollen" in my body and limbs and ears, occasional "brain zap" (although this symptom has got much better lately). Also after I quit Escitalopram I cannot eat anything with sugar, I cannot drink coffee or tea, because these all make me much more sich within minutes. A few times a week I also experience bouts of anxiety, but they usually last for only around 30 minutes at a time. My main problems are the physical symptoms. I do feel rather worried about my physical symptoms, which is understandable. Will they pass? Did I "destroy" my nervous system by quitting from 5 mg to 0 mg? I realize that my nervous system is over-sensitized now. Since my withdrawal symptoms are still severe I wonder if I should reinstate medication? My doctor suggests taking 5 mg again (although he does not acknowledge that I should experience these symptoms at all after 6 weeks), but reading through some of the information in this forum makes me believe that 5 mg may be much too high for me. Also, I understand from your information that after 1 month of quitting (I am currently at more than 9 weeks after quitting) there are no guarantees that my system will react well to reinstatement. I also understand from the information here that reinstatement may even make me more sick. But I also understand that there IS a chance that I might feel somewhat better with reinstatement at a low dose. To sum things up, I would happily receive some experienced thoughts about different options in my situation. My days are extremely limited right now and I am entirely taken care of by my family. I manage some meditation, qigong breathing exercises, a short outdoor walk per day and making my own breakfast - that is more or less all due to the physical withdrawal symptoms. If I want to attempt a reinstatement - how much and how should I do it? Is it the same drug (escitalopram) or should I try to get citalopram instead and why so? Many thanks in advance! I am so glad I eventually found this forum!

Hi All, I had quite a severe bout of depression and anxiety towards the end of August and was diagnosed with depression. I was prescribed 15 mg of mirtazapine daily. I felt like it worked quite well over the course of 3 weeks, felt the sedation but still needed the odd zopiclone for sleep, got on well at work, etc. I mentioned I still wasn't sleeping brilliantly on 15 mg to my doctor (I'd wake up with night sweats) and he suggested going up to 30 mg. I tried it once and didn't like it - felt very ropey. From then on I decided to take 7.5 mg to help with sleep and it worked a treat, then 3.75 mg - still good. Then I started questioning whether I'd done the right thing and started upping it again. Basically, after 3 weeks of 15 mg and 3 weeks of either 7.5 mg or 3.75 mg I started getting really anxious, ridiculously so at points. The doctor suggested going back up to 15 mg which is what I've done - I sleep okay on it, but only okay (I've actually started splitting it and doing 7.5 mg before bed for the sedation, and 7.5 mg when I wake up to try and chill me out), and my anxiety is through the roof, verging on panic sometimes. I've felt so desperate at times I've briefly considered doing the worst - usually during the early hours of the morning when I 've woken early and the panic has set in. I've spoken to the doctor about this and he's suggested I can just stop it - it doesn't feel like I can to me. I'm guessing I've messed my serotonin levels around or something and my brain doesn't know whether it's coming or going. I'd like to do whatever I can to stabilize and then take it form there. Any suggestions, or reassurance would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

Hi Everyone I apologize for so much information at once I'm too sick to do a full brand new post so I have copied and pasted posts from support groups on facebook I was directed here too for help. I am in desperate need to know if I should reinstate any of my medications or if it is too risky. I was wondering if I should try taking the lyrica again then do a proper taper, the psychiatrist put me on for my anxiety I never had pain before I took it until he took me off it too fast I first started getting the muscles contractions and horrible muscle cramp pain and had my first uncontrollable muscle movement episode of my face after the lyrica was stopped with only a 4 day taper which I did not know was too quickly I had been on it for 5 weeks. I think the lyrica stopped so suddenly started it all but then the escitalopram and trazadone tapers and getting off them too quickly just made everything worse. I have been so desparate in my thinking to see if there is a way to reverse this what I think may be dystonia that I have been thinking should I try to go back onto the lyrica to see if this disappears and then do a really slow proper taper but then I think it is so risky what if I really mess myself up worse but living with this and with it only being so soon 4.5 months and I have so much pain already I already cannot handle it I cannot imagine handling it any worse. I'm so afraid and do not know what to do I'm afraid that this will not go away with time if it is the dystonia. What does anyone think do you think trying lyrica again would be worth the risk? it is so hard to know what to do considering I had 3 too fast drug tapers. Does anyone think this would be too risky? I'm sure I have developed dystonia more and more everyday it scares me. I can feel my waist and hips turning to the left and I have less control of my legs then normal and the feel wobbly or like spaghetti or elasticy I don't know how to describe it and my neck and head want to turn to the left I feel like a force is pushing it to the left. Also I feel the muscles in my face moving mainly wanting to pull down especially in my jaw area and my neck and face muscles get tight. I also have had 3 times where I have had uncontrollable movements of my face that lasted for hours the first one was the worst that happened right after I was stopped on the lyrica in the hospital that included my eyes, tongue protruding and mouth, pretty much my whole face and my neck and right arm twisting to the left the nurse told me it was anxiety and to calm down I did not believe her that it was anxiety I have had anxiety long enough to know it does not do that. Since then I have had 2 more episodes that involved then same area's but not my tongue. I'm very scared of my future and no doctors will say the drugs have anything to do with it. Also my hands, wrists and lower arms get stiff throughout most of the day. My muscles get unbearably painful a very very deep bone consistent aching pain. I was able to move around today more and do some things in the kitchen and I did notice the pain lessened while I was more active. This is when I really noticed though I'm definitely dealing with the twisting of my right side of my body to the left. It makes me walk around like I look intoxicated. I really respect all you peoples opinions and knowledge and have some questions to ask if you would not mind. I was wondering could it get better or go away and just be a part of withdrawals or once this happens do you have it for life? Have been off antidepressants for for 3 to 4.5 months (too fast tapers) had been on poly drugged for 1.5 years then before that on citalopram for 10 years. A huge mess I was fine for the first 10 years developed insomnia and my anti was switched to trazadone and when that did not work the poly drugging happened for 1.5 years (I was a zombie and almost entirely non function able still am but no longer a zombie but I am extremely sick now riddled with unlivable pain still suffer from insomnia and take unfortunately 7.5mg zopiclone and 1mg clonazepam a day) but these last few days my muscle pain, uncontrollable cramping, stiffness, tightness in my head, face, throat, neck, right arm/hand, shoulder and sometimes my left arm/hand and also episodes of uncontrollable muscle movements of my face is so unbearable lately I cannot handle it any longer. Today I have been at my wits end desperately not thinking I can go on any longer. I am so sick fluish this last few months also I'm getting to the point the pain in intolerable another minute it is almost 24/7 I have only had the muscle pain or tightness cramping go away for maybe a half hour a few times in the last month. It is too much. I was so sick before all this for the last 1,5 years that I am so weak I cannot this week get myself to hardly eat and bathe the pain is so intense I want to it all to end. No one can help me. I need to desperately no what to do. The pain is like you have if you get a severe cramp or charlie horse for instance this morning it has been a constant charliehorse in my lower right arm and hand, right shoulder, neck, face and head. It is so painful I only could sleep for a couple hours last night. I even took a baclofen (which I only have taken maybe 6 times in the last 3 months when I feel I can no longer take the pain another minute), 2 advils, clonazepam and all my vitamins. I just do not know how to go on any longer. I have no support group at home. My husband is my only person I have and he along with my doctor think my pain is psychosomatic. My husband cannot tolerate my complaining or crying or making any sounds of or about my pain. I don't know how to make the pain stop or live with it anymore so it is tolerable. I cannot handle the suffering anymore I literally am desperate for help so badly. Since lyrica was one of the last meds I was on that the pain started after the psychiatrist took me off with only a 4 day taper and that is when the nerve and muscle cramping, movements and severe head pain started I do not know if I should try to reinstate after being off it for 4.5 months but I think it is too risky but then again I'm desperate for this muscle pain relief i am so afraid I have the early stages of dystonia too. I have had episodes of uncontrollable muscle movements of my face, neck and right arm. I am so afraid of that. But this muscle pain is so intense it is unimaginable I really need to numb this pain somehow. The severe head pain migraine burning so painful 24/7 and the piercing tinnitus. Even the numbness, tingling burning nerve pain allover but the worst is the muscle pain it is so severe. Whenever I try to type on the computer this all makes my pain levels go up so much worse but I need the help so badly, emotional support. I am desperate I feel for my sanity and my life, I need knowledge so bad. I want to do everything right now. I want to get better if there is any chance. I need something to keep me strong to endure this it feels like I am being tortured daily and have to put up with it because no one will listen to me. I wish I would have been thinking clearly enough to search out support groups before I let him put me on these meds or atleast before they were stopped or the too quick tapers. I cannot stop thinking about wanting to turn back time. I hope my life is not ruined forever unless I can get this pain under a tolerable level and I pray to god I do not have dystonia but I fear I do from having joined a dystonia support group on here it sounds all to familiar. I do not know how I can make it through life with no support, knowing my doctor is not listening to me and my husband is not trying to help get me better just not wanting me to bother him with my pain or worries, be silent. How do I survive this? I cannot hardly look after myself being so sick, I have nowhere to go. Does anyone else that had been off antidepressants for as around long as I have 4.5 months or longer experience this muscle cramping, severe pain? Please explain where in your body and the level of pain? Also any uncontrollable muscle movements? What do you take besides magnesium for the pain? Does anyone ever recover from antidepressants withdrawals/pain after stopping them too quickly after being on antidepressants for 12 years? Brief History Born August 1, 1970. Female 48 years old. At time of illness Tracy had been a National Lifeguard Instructor Trainer and Lifesaving Society Instructor Trainer with a career as an Aquatic Supervisor at an indoor town pool for 5 years. Training and certifying Lifeguard/Swimming Instructors, supervising daily duties of lifeguards/Instructors/front deck staff as well as implementing and maintaining programming, scheduling, operational procedures and guidelines. Before that Tracy had owned and operated her own Day Spa for 10 years as well as worked in advertising. She graduated from college in 1993 in Graphic Design/Advertising Art. Tracy fell ill from insomnia in September of 2018 she had been just diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and had just started cpap therapy but found the treatment invasive and could not tolerate the cpap treatment enough to fall asleep with the cpap machine. She had been lead to believe she would die in her sleep if she did not use her cpap machine and became fearful and so persistent in always using her cpap machine while sleeping that her intolerance to the therapy resulted in severe insomnia. Citalopram 20 mg/day and 1mg Clonazepam as needed for 10 years prior to her insomnia. Clonazepam was rarely needed. Dec. 14, 2018 Citalopram 20 mg/day was changed to Trazodone 100mg/day. Clonazepam 1mg/twice a day. Mental Health declined due to sleep deprivation, becoming emotionally weak and sensitive, frequent crying, anxiety and ability to function daily declined. Was no longer able to work due to 3 months of insomnia and mental health decline after medication change. Feb. 9 -16, 2019 Psychiatric Ward Sertraline 20mg/day was tried but discontinued due to side effects. 20 mg/day Citalopram was added to the Trazodone 100mg/day. Clonazepam 1mg/ twice a day. Was very ill on the combination. After Feb. 16 – June, 2019 Citalopram 20 mg was discontinued and Trazodone 100mg was tapered and stopped. Clonazepam was tapered to .5mg then switched to Valium 10mg and tapered to 2mg, Buspirone 10mg was added then stopped. By this time insomnia had become extremely severe and ability to function daily on the most basic level was lost. Anxiety was severe and dehabilitating. June 1 - August 9, 2019 Psychiatric Ward Quetiapine 100mg/day added. Citalopram 50mg/day started then after 5 weeks discontinued due to intolerable side effects and switched to Mirtazapine 45mg/day, Fluoxetine 20mg/day, Zopiclone 7.5 mg, Clonazepam .5mg/twice a day. Discharged feeling very drugged. Was able to sleep with cpap machine 7-8 hours/night(every 24 hours) Had regained ability to keep up hygiene and function on a basic level. Mentally was very out of it. Aug. 9/2019 – Nov. 12, 2019 Due to feeling so drugged from Sept. 9/2019 Fluoxetine 20mg was tapered and stopped on Oct. 2/2019. Clonazepam was increased to 1mg/twice a day. Oct. 14 – Oct. 19/2019 felt the best that I ever had felt since falling ill in fall of 2018 but my mind and body felt very weak and fragile but then for no known reason I went past the feeling better stage and started to decline back into having a hard time functioning mentally and physically but could still do daily functioning tasks. I was able to keep good daily hygiene, cook supper, keep the dishes washed, take on a small cleaning task every day for example wash off a coffee table or do wash a load of clothes. Nov. 12/2019 – Dec. 12/2019 Hospital Was admitted at routine doctors appointment to the hospital since I had declined from starting to feel better and I continued to decline during the Quetiapine taper. Quetiapine 100mg was tapered and stopped, Zopiclone was reduced to 3.5mg/day, Clonazepam was increased to 1mg/three times a day After this I started to feel like I was improving as in not feeling so drugged and I was mentally and physically able to function better. I suggested staying on Mirtazapine 45mg for awhile to see if I would stabilize on it and be ok my doctor did not agree so the Mirtazapine 45mg was tapered to 15mg and I was started on Escitalopram 10mg. I was on this combination for the last week I was in the hospital before going into a different psychiatric ward for a second opinion on a treatment. My body felt good no body sensations or pain but a small headache and my mind felt weak but not bad cognitively, my anxiety was mid range level to high. I questioned in my mind whether I should still go to the psychiatric ward and if I could handle living this way and if I would get better but arrangements had already been made and I thought at the time maybe I could get stabilized there on the Escitalopram if it worked and have my ability to sleep maintained. On my initial appointment my husband and I had with the psychiatrist before entering he had said his goal was to get me on only the Escitalopram and hopefully if my anxiety could get reduced I may be able to sleep without and sleeping medication. Being on only one medication sounded good. Dec. 12, 2019 – Feb. 3, 2020 2nd psychiatric ward Mirtazapine was stopped, Escitalopram had just been increased to 15mg/day, Clonazepam was reduced to 1mg/twice a day. Zopiclone was increased to 7.5mg. The first week of being there I felt really good I had no body pain or sensations, my mind was clear but felt weak but I was thinking well. My anxiety was high during the day but after my evening clonazepam dose of 1mg I felt anxiety free and really good but I was getting very tired again as my sleeping had started to decline since the Mirtazapine had been stopped. Escitalopram was increased to 20mg as the next couple of weeks progressed and then I felt drugged and out of it again, not fully present and was no longer able to think as clearly my basic functioning was on the low range but I was able to keep up my daily hygiene and attend groups. Lyrica 100mg/day was started on Dec. 29 for anxiety. Clonazepam was switched afterwards to Lorazepam .5 mg twice a day then shortly after discontinued. I had not wanted to take the Lyrica because the goal had been to have me on as little medications as possible and I did not have nerve pain but the psychiatrist said it was better to be on Lyrica then Clonazepam. Feeling pressured to try it I gave in. Trazodone 100mg/day was started on Jan. 14/2010 and within the first week after that I started to experience muscle pain throughout different areas of my body and developed a constant migraine headache, sweats, chills, ear pain, nausea and constant diarrhea. I did start to sleep longer but could not fall asleep with my cpap machine anymore. Since Trazodone had not worked well for me in the past while being on it and the citalopram at the same time I was not comfortable going on it but the psychiatrist told me he would take me off it if I did not feel well on it. At this point I was not thinking clearly and wanted to not make the psychiatrist give up on trying to get me better and I felt extremely pressured to not go against his treatment plan. I told the nurses and my psychiatrist during the last 3 weeks I was there that I thought the Trazodone and Lyrica had me take a turn for the worst and that I was very sick. I was desperate for them to listen to me but they turned a blind eye and had closed ears to my complaints of suffering. 7.5mg/day Zopiclone still continued but was raised to 10mg/day the last week I was there. Lyrica 100mg/day was discontinued on Jan. 27/2020 with only a 4 day taper. My psychiatrist was not happy that I wanted to go off it because I felt it was making me feel drugged and I thought it was contributing to my body pains and migraine headache. He told me I was to be discharged within that week. He told me to take whatever he wants me to take that week without question. He at the same time as discontinuing the Lyrica took me off my propranolol 20mg, enalapril 5mg, Atorvastatin, reactine. He raised my Zopiclone to 10mg/day and put me on another medication which I cannot remember the name I was told by the nurse when I was given the first dosage that it was an older type of drug that was often given to shift workers to keep them awake during the day. I started the first dose on Jan.29/2020 but only took it the one day because that was the first day after I took it in the morning around 10am I started to experience a burning searing excruciating headache/migraine, tinnitus, hot sweats, uncontrollable muscle cramping over my entire body including my neck and face, my legs and feet went numb and my body pain was excruciating. The nausea and not being able to eat much but digestive cookies and constant diarrhea was the state I was in at the time I was discharged on Feb. 3/2020. Dec. 12, 2019 – Feb. 3, 2020 2nd psychiatric ward I was in treatment trying to get better the psychiatrist put me on all these I got very ill and he took me off the lyrica too quickly which I did not realize at the time and then discharged me sick not knowing what to do and telling my husband and I that I had to start taking my treatment into my own hands and that I had been off and on enough medications in the last 2 years that I should know how to taper and what drugs are making feel bad that he had know idea that I knew my body the best. So my doctor tried to help I was in so much pain and sick (not as much as I am in now though) here are the too fast tapers Escitalopram 20mg Started on Dec.5, 2019 Taper: Feb. 16 - 20, 2020 15mg. Feb. 21 - 26, 2020 10mg. Feb. 27 - Mar. 2, 20202 5mg. Mar. 3 Stopped 0mg. · Reply · 1d · Edited Lyrica 100mg Started on Dec. 29, 2019 100mg. Taper: Jan. 24 - Jan.27, 2020 50mg, Jan. 28, 2020 Stopped 0mg. (only 4 day taper) · Reply · 1d Trazodone 100mg Started on Jan. 14, 2020 100mg. Taper: Feb. 4 - Feb. 14, 2020 75mg. Feb. 14 - Mar. 6, 2020 50mg. (Then paused Feb.16 -Mar.3 for Escitalopram taper) Tapered again: Mar. 6 - Mar. 25, 2020 25mg. Mar. 25 to Apr.6, 2020 12.5mg. Apr. 7, 2020 Stopped 0mg. I'm currently not on another antidepressant this last treatment scared me so much I did not want to start another one. I currently am still on the zopiclone 7.5mg and clonazapam 0.5 twice daily though unfortunately and will have to at some point try to get off those.

I was prescribed 2mg Clonazepam in Dec 2012 to help combat my worsening anxiety & OCD when my son deployed to Afghanistan. I was already taking 10mg of zolpidem as I’ve been an insomniac for years. The Clonazepam helped ease my anxiety & OCD and I was able to start living a ‘normal’ life again and my son returned home safely. My provider never informed me how awful this drug could be and never broached cessation in the years I continued to see her. I was cut off in Jan ‘19 when my provider couldn’t see me any longer because there was a change in my insurance. I was rapid-tapered by my PCP and that was the beginning of my over-a-year now withdrawal and everyday is a struggle

worrierprincess Hi all, I am currently looking after my dad who is taking Citalopram. He is in his 70s. After a cancer diagnosis in January 2020 he began not sleeping, eating less and less, having muscle spasms and kept insisting he was going to die of cancer very soon despite being told no treatment was even needed. By second week of February he was afraid to eat due to acid reflux and had lost 12kg in weight. He was prescribed Citalopram 20mg and Zopiclone 3.75mg for anxiety, depression and insomnia. After much begging and tears we persuaded him to take the prescribed medicines. In the first few days of beginning Citalopram he started having violent spasms that would lift him off his bed and his anxiety was much worse than before. Waves of panic would constantly wash over him. We told the doctor at a&e that my dad was on antidepressants but it didn't sound any alarm bells. Sent us home with a packet of senokot for his constipation. We told the GP the following day, he also told us to continue. Somehow we persevered with Citalopram for 3 more weeks. He became less anxious, was able to eat pureed food, but had become silent and he had developed a hand tremor. The GP said the improvements were too slow so increased the dosage to 40mg. I think at the time I was already researching all I could, but I was flustered from seeing my dad suffering from his illness. If I had been more clear of mind myself at the time I should have insisted on letting 20mg work a bit longer, or to only increase to 30 mg and see how well that worked first. The recommended maximum dosage for someone in their 70s is 20mg after all... With the little knowledge I had I did make some effort to lessen the side effects of the increase by increasing to 30mg first. I think we were fooled into believing the GP that an increase was the correct course of action because after 2 days on 30mg my dad started smiling. Then he had 2 bad days which caused my mum to become impatient and increased to 40mg. My dad did become more anxious and the tremors increased, but on the 4th day of 40mg he laughed. It felt like we were witnessing a miracle... After that he's had some good days with no anxiety episodes, started eating solids again, had very rare moments of clarity when he could hold a normal conversation, could watch tv. At around week 5 he was laughing a lot, but also that's when the crying started too. He started having feelings of helplessness, being a burden and wishing he was dead... We accepted it was because he was becoming more aware, but he was getting better. Then 2 weeks later everything changed. He had to go on a course of antibiotics Nitrofurantoin. The first couple of days he was dizzy and drowsy, common side effects of taking antibiotics. But as each day passed we could see my dad was becoming more anxious and restless, and he was getting brain zaps. The GP suggested we reduce his Citalopram dosage to 30mg, which should help with the dizziness and drowsiness. Another doctor we have access to advised us to reduce to 20mg. We waited until after the antibiotics before making any reduction. Having read up on reducing, we knew we should taper and not just drop to 30mg, and definitely not 20mg. We chose to reduce to 35mg. Unfortunately, things have not gone according to plan. We should have waited for my dad to settle after the antibiotics before making any reduction. Also, I was not aware that my mum had already reduced Zopiclone dosage 5 days prior. My dad became very anxious, strong brain zaps throughout the day, so restless he can't sit in a chair for more than a couple of minutes and crying when we're not within his sight. The crying and looking for us starts at around 4am. One day he woke up thinking everything around him, including us, are hallucinations. Another thing we hadn't noticed before, there's something wrong with his memory. 2 days ago, we finally managed to get him outside the house and into the garden after 2 months of not stepping outside. The following day we asked about it and he said he doesn't remember it at all. This forgetfulness is especially apparent when he looks for us again only moments after we leave the room. So where we're at now is that we've increased dosage to 37.5mg after 5 days on 35mg, hoping it will help with some of these symptoms. Maybe 1/8 reduction was too much for him? Or maybe if we waited a few more days he would've stablised? But his symptoms were becoming unbearable for him. We are day 2 on 37.5mg and the symptoms are still about the same. His anxiety was worse today. I guess it will take a few more days to settle. Curiously, my mum reported that my dad had 30 minutes free of brain zaps last night, and the night before...? Again, wish she would tell me these things before I changed the dosage again. The 2 doctors both said to go back to 40mg, but we don't want to do that. We want to at least taper him down to a lower dosage, closer to the recommended dosage. We will stay at 37.5mg for a few weeks and make sure he is more stable before deciding how much to reduce again. Sorry for rambling on... Not really sure if I have a question in there somewhere, but I guess I would just like some reassurance that we're more or less on the right path. It's difficult to know what to do when you know you can't follow doctor's advice, and the person you are looking after will not/can not communicate with you properly. Hoping a lower dosage will somehow let him speak to us again.

Hey Everyone, I'm sorry if this gets long, it's been a very hard journey that I know yall will understand. I'm really hoping to get some sort of help or insight if the road I'm currently on is causing more harm than good. Back in 2009, I started taking Lexapro (escitalopram) 10 mg for very mild depression and anxiety. I began my career as a graphic designer in 2008 and the working environment was a bit stressful and I didnt adapt very well leading to more anxiety than usual. After speaking with my doctor, we felt it was a good idea to go on a low dose of lexapro. After a month or so, I started feeling really good. I even felt great after being on it for a couple of years on top with excercising and eating better. Well, in April of 2013 I got an opportunity to work from home which was great, no more hostile working environment and I was away from an over bearing/obnoxious co-worker. I continued taking lexapro until August of 2013 and more or less quit taking cold turkey since I "felt fine." The doctor never stressed the importance of tapering over months, or the coarse of a year for that matter, so I tapperd in a matter of 2 weeks...maybe a little less. He said I would probably exerience some dizziness or lightheadeness after stopping, which I did for a few weeks...but then it went away by September. On January 29th of 2014, I woke up with vertigo. I wasnt sure what to think of it to be honest. I was like, "Wow, weird"...time to get a shower, and went about my day. I had a little lightheadedness that wasnt too bad that caught my attention, but didnt concern me. Then about a week later, I had another episode of vertigo. The dizziness and lightheadedness became more and more constant and intensified. At this time, lots of things started to stress me out, and for good reason. My dog started having seizures around the same time I started getting vertigo. My wife told me we were going to have our first baby in March. My sister was about to have brain surgery and almost didnt make it in April. I started working at the previous company as I did before, with the overbearing/obnoxious co-worker (who is now my manager.) In May, that's when the withdrawals hit me REALLY hard. The depression, the anxiety, the doom and gloom, the uncontrollable thoughts. The unbearable tension in my neck and shoulders, the fatigue, the intense headaches. When all of this began, I went to see an ENT specialist thinking the dizziness/vertigo was an inner ear issue. I racked up medical bills getting tests done, cat scans, an MRI, blood work, trip to the ER, doctor visit after doctor visit. Once the medical bills started pouring in, that added a whole other level of stress. I cried uncontrollably, I was lashing out, had panic attacks...I seriously wanted to die, to be honest. That's when I had to call my mom and she came to stay with us for a week. Here I am, a 32 year old man calling his mommy. Pathetic! This has already gotten long, but currently I am seeing a psychatirst who has no idea why I'm experiencing withdrawls this far out which is very frustrating. Shouldnt the be more aware of these type of things? I re-instarted lexapro 10mg in June of 2014 but it made me feel worse. We messed around with the dosage, but my psychiatrist has since put me on Celexa 10mg. Right now, I am just "maintaining." I still have light headedness and intense headaches. I get these headaches probably 2-4 times a week, and they leave me feeling VERY exhausted. I stay tired, but I know part of that is probably working 40 hours a week and taking care of a 7 month old...on top of dealing with all of this. What I would like to know though, is am I doing the right thing by re-instating an anti-depressant? These headaches that I get make life very difficult...I dont know if it's a side effect of the anti-depressant or if it's still withdrawals? I'm still at a low dose, and any time I try to go up...I start to feel worse. I now take topamax for the headaches/migraines and I've been put on blood pressure medicine since now I've developed high blood pressure. Sorry for the long post and introduction, it's hard to sum all of this stuff up in a couple of short paragraphs...either that or I'm just way too long winded! Thank you for any help and insight!

Was administered Sertraline due to a medium depression (in hindsight probably just because I'm overloaded with work and a newborn baby). Took the first pill at night and 6 hours later I awoke with a shock and since then I haven't been able to fall asleep without help. The first 12 days I had no sleep at all. I called my doctor, being more and more frustrated. At first she told me to get some over the counter anti-histamines that did nothing. After that I went to the ER in the weekend and they prescribed some melatonin. Did nothing either. The my doctor prescribed Zopiclone. At this point I hadn't slept in over a week, so I was so messed up that Zopiclone didn't work either. I was by this time a complete crying mess and again called the doctor. This time she gave me Prometazin and told me to take everything at the same time. So that night, I took 7.5 mg Zopiclone, 50 mg Prometazin and 2 mg melatonin. BAM. I slept for 14 hours that night and the following night. After this I have experimented with how little I need to take. Currently I take 3,75 mg Zopiclone and 25 mg Prometazin and it works for sleeping. I'm tired and dizzy all day though. Sometimes I try not taking anything but I'm awake all night then and a complete depressed mess the day after. So, currently I'm in week 5 after taking that one damn pill and am just waiting for the tinnitus and lack of sleep to go away so I can go back to just being my good old semi-depressed self. SSRI's are a major no-go for me now! I must somehow be extremely sensitive to it. I take long walks and listen to specially made sleep sounds/music but nothing works. I simply cannot fall asleep by myself at all. No alcohol or caffeine. Are the others out there who have had similar experiences with only taking Sertraline for a short time and reacting the same way as I do? It's rather depressing that it's now been more than four weeks without any improvement at all and I'm getting worried for how long I can get Zopiclone and when they will stop working or whether I will get addicted to them.

Hi. I've been on Paxil for 22 years with a few unsuccessful WDs in the past. I finally learnt that I was going way to fast so began during the 10% method from 15mg, everything was going well until I got to 7mg. I noticed that my last few prescriptions, I was constantly given a different generic and im sure my severe reaction was not only WD, but from being given yet another generic that I'd never has in the past ( paroxetine made by Milamed) as it coincides with the start of my severe WDs that started at the beginning of Feb 2019, I tried desperately to ride the storm but it got so severe with an endless list of symptoms that left me bedridden and had to give up work. 3 months of insomnia, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, panic, severe chest discomfort, etc left me wanting to end my life and I was taken to ER 3 times, they wanted to admit me to the psyche ward and I refused so each time, I went back home. From the 14th of May, 3 new meds were added.... Zoplicone.. to which I was grateful because i hadnt slept in months so have been taking half 375mg since. Quietiapine 25mg... to which I took for 5 days, then got scared and started tapering down and now on 8mg. Valium... I've been taking anything from 0.50mg daily to 4mg daily to try and take off the edge but obviously hasn't done much as mainly only taken 1 to 2mg on average for the past 4 weeks and now trying to taper that as to scared to just stop. On 1.3mg and trying not to keep switching doses. The only reason I kept switching as I never intended them to be permanent so wasn't paying much attention. As you can probably guess, I'm extremely cautious and trying so desperately not to rely on other meds and have a strong hate to big pharma. To add more confusion to what was once only 10 to 15mg of Paxil daily, I now have 3 other meds in the mix. And now it gets complicated... After hitting severe WD on the generic paroxetine from the 8th of Feb 2019, I updosed as follows... 29th April 19.... updosed to 8.5mg 07th May 19.... updosed to 9.5mg 14th May 19.... updosed to 10.4mg 29th May 19.... switched from generic brand to GSK Seroxat Paxil and stayed at 10.4mg and holding. The reason for my switch was because I had to decide on one brand and stick to it after finding out that generics can vary and I was so mad that my pharmacist kept giving me different generics. I strongly believe that the last one was bad and aided massively to my severe WD. Well, since switching to the GSK Seroxat Paxil, a new kind of hell broke lose, it felt so much stronger my head felt it was going to explode. It has been absolutely horrendous and I'm struggling to hold on and to make things more complicated, I don't know if the added meds are making things even worse. I'm so desperate to reach some stability and now know that messing with the other doses have probably not helped at all but was so desperate not to rely on other poisons. I don't know what to do to make things better, it's been a month since updosing but only 2 weeks on the GSK paxil and it's not working. Please can someone advise me??? Help me??? I feel like I've had an adverse reaction and being given more meds on a sensitized nervous system only complicated matters further... so desperate to know a way out. I would of given up if I didn't have an amazing 14 year old Son. I'm so sorry for the complication of my story and would truly appreciate if someone can offer some advise. I so wish I'd just held but I was so so desperate. Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate that others are going through hell too and it's such a lonely frustrating painful journey x

Hi you all! I am Athena. So my tough journey begins in 2001, when I am diagnosed with depression. I am then prescribed Effexor, which instantly gives me huge side effects: vomiting, tremors, sweats... But I am a tough warrior and I put up with them, for a year and a half. In 2005, depression comes back, and here starts the trial-and-error of many, many AD's: Celexa, Zoloft, Effexor, desipramin, Wellbutrin, mirtazepin, Lamictal, Remeron, Abilify, nortriptylin, Cipralex, Cymbalta, and others I don't remember. They all give me side effects that are almost as bad as the disease in itself. When I would try to stop them, I would have really bad symptoms of depression, so I began to believe that that was going to be my life, which is quite depressing in itself! Last summer (2012), while being on Cymbalta, I developped really bad sleeping problems: I would sleep maximum 3 hours per night, and only with a med called Imovane. So I started to be addicted to that in order to sleep. But I was so tired that I decided to stop the Cymbalta, so my doctor prescribed me Paxil. I was already on Wellbutrin as well. Paxil made me SO sleepy, that I tried to quit in Sept. 2012, first from 20mg to 10mg, which went well, and then 2 weeks later from 10mg to 0. Outch. That's when I found out about withdrawal symptoms, which I had never heard of before for AD's. It was awful, but it might have been my revelation, because they were really PHYSICAL symptoms. I started to read a lot about the subject on the internet. I have learned a lot, and I have started to think that the depression symptoms I have been having when I tried many times to stop my meds were maybe in fact WITHDRAWAL symptoms. My doctor didn't think so. Even so, I started to taper slowly from Paxil and to take good care of myself in other natural ways. So here I am now, on 7mg Paxil, 100mg Wellbutrin and 2.5mg Imovane. My doctor keeps telling me to try and taper Paxil faster than I am now... so he can be able to prescribe me something else... a MAOI (?).I am not really interested in trying a 20th (?) medication. All of the previous ones have given me really bad side effects that have put my life on hold for 10 years... Why would this one be different? He claims that I am going to have a depression relapse if I don't take any medication... So here is my first question: do you guys think what I have experienced as "depression relapse" when I was trying to stop the AD's many times in the last 10 years, might have been in fact withdrawal symptoms? And that if I taper them a lot more gradually, I might not have those "depression symptoms" forever? And therefore, I wouldn't have to take the so-called MAOI? My second question is: which one do you think I should taper first? Paxil or Wellbutrin? I wanted to get off Paxil as fast as possible because it was making me so sleepy, but right now, it seems like the side effects from Wellbutrin are more disturbing. It has always affected my breathing, like I have to make an effort to breath completely, and it has given me some joint pain. But right now these seem to be worse, breathing is more difficult and it makes the breathing muscles become too contracted and sore. Plus I know that breathing right is important during recovery... Also, the problem with Wellbutrin is that you're not supposed to cut the pill, since the covering is doing the "slow-release" job... Well this was my story! I know it's a looong and boring story but it's mine... If anyone would have any input or advice on one or both of my questions, I would be SO grateful!! Also, please forgive my English mistakes, it is not my mother tongue. I really wish a full physical and mental health to everyone here, and I am looking forward to know and discuss with you all!! All the best. -Athena

Moderator note - link to benzo forum thread - Freedom1975: Zopiclone and clonazepam So i have been reading advice on how to get off these drugs and following the protocol of the 10% taper. It is mentioned to only come off 1 drug at a time. Its a littlle scary thinking that this could take years just to get off one drug and then attempt the next drug after. I am not sure what i am looking for here. Just a friendly voice of encouragement and maybe some more guidance of how to navigate through this hell of withdrawal

Hi I am 43 and have been on numerous psychiatric drugs for over 20 years. I’ve been diagnosed with so many different mental health labels and have been on psych drugs for all. Over the last 8 years I have been basically bedridden. During the past two years I’ve had to fend for myself when I decided I wanted off all these pills. They have only made me worse. 2 yrs ago I came off cold turkey Abilify, Latuda and 20 mg of fluoxetine. I felt great until 3 weeks in the withdrawals set in. I haven’t felt well since but have managed to wean off 70 mg of vyvanse, 1 mg of clonazepam, 15 mg diazepam and 10 mg of fluoxetine. I am now working on the last 10 mg of fluoxetine. After that I’ll start tapering my trazadone or more of the benzos. All-of this has been a nightmare, nausea,vomiting, headaches etc. I can not leave my house most of the time because of debilitating anxiety. I guess what Im looking for here is information, support, and ideas on diet ( no gallbladder and severe GERD) and tips on helping withdrawal symptoms. I feel like I can’t think properly,my memory is shot and right now I really need some hope. Also I’ve gained 70 lbs.

Dear all, I have been on drugs for 20 years. Initial cause for going on drugs was insomnia (impossible to sleep and fear of not being able to sleep), anxiety, depression. Treatment was amitryptilline 150 mg. (Elavil). Then the medication was gradually tapered and the sleeping problem reoccured. I then never stopped drugs. I developped Pure O : fear of not being able to sleep so I did not sleep, unable to go to work because of lack of sleep and terrible anxiety. For many years I was on Prozac and it contributed to destroy my marriage.It made me mean. from 2007 to 2017 I was on all possible ssris, anafranil, but also all types of neuroleptics xeroquel 50 mg, risperdal for a short time...... I am now still unable to sleep in other places or when there are wifi waves, unable to sleep in the same bed as someone, and cant work because of extreme anxiety. After a suicidal attempt due to anafranil poop out I am now on brintellix 10 mg and think I must let my brain stabilize before doing any changes. I have no home and boyfriend so I am staying by a friend. I try to develop a mindfulness attitude to accept how my life has been ruined. has anybody developped this kind of obsessions, how do you address them? Do you know how i will taper Brintellix since I have ocd and as soon as I make a change my own brain thinks "this is going to make your insomnia and anxiety worse". Are people also disabled from drugs and requested disability? Thank you. Current drugs Brintellix 10 mg, Nozinan 20 mg, Zopiclone 7,5 mg

Greetings all. This is my very first post by the way. I have been reading a lot of the posts on this site and there is a wealth of information regarding tapering. However, what I would really like to know is why should I taper at all? I am currently taking the following drugs daily 187.5mg venlafaxine 150mg pregabalin (Lyrica) 2mg risperidone Sometime I take zopiclone to sleep but most nights I don't need it. I don't drink alcohol or take any other substances. I meditate and I eat reasonably well. I get moderate exercise. I am enjoying my work and in general I am feeling well. I was very ill in 2008 requiring hospitalisation though. The diagnosis was psychotic depression. I had a relapse in 2012 and I made a suicide attempt at that point. Since 2012 I have been reasonably well and I am getting better all the time. I can suffer from anxiety at times but it's very manageable. Sometimes I feel a little depressed but who doesn't. I have managed to taper the venlafaxine down to the current dose myself. I was taking 300mg not so long ago. Tomorrow I plan to taper it another 10%. I see a psychiatrist regularly and I told him that I was tapering. He just wrote my a prescription for the new dose. I will be back to see him next week. To be honest, I would like to be eventually free of these meds entirely but I worry that I may have a relapse of some sort if I stop taking them altogether. So far the tapering has been going well though. I keep a diary to monitor my mood and there has been no significant change since I started reducing the venlafaxine. I just don't know though. I feel as if I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I want to be free of the drugs but perhaps they are keeping me well? But, in the long term, from what I have been reading they could be doing permanent harm. I just don't know. Please advise

Hi I'm Kat At last after 25 years and after much begging my Mh team have said I can gradually withdraw from the cocktail of drugs I am taking. Starting a week on Friday. They have decided that the first med I should taper is the 30mg of Mirtazepine. They didn't explain why this particular drug should be the first to start with. They also didn't tell me what the lower dose will be. I take Diazepam, Risperidone, zopiclone and prn tamezepam. Any help would be appreciated so that I can make a decision whether to do what why MH team want me to do.

Hi I am new to the forum and only just getting to grips with the damage that AD s have wreaked on my life. I took Effexor and Mirtazapine, AKA Californian rocket fuel, for nearly fifteen years before deciding to come of the Effexor. About one month after my much too quick taper....150 mg to 0 in six weeks. I started having dreadful symptoms..nausea, vomiting, weight loss, feeling that my essence had been completely taken away from me. I put some of this down to a successful chemo I had undertaken the previous year. I am now certain it was the withdrawal from Effexor. I was presenting at the Doctor with symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, pain etc and was given pregabalin AKA Lyrica. This was a horrible experience and I managed to get off it after just under 3 months but in that short time it wreaked even more havoc on my CNS. It is over a year since I quit Effexor but am still taking 30 mg of Mirtazapine a night. I desperately want to get off that too but am only sleeping 3 or 4 hours a night as it is. I am going to have to be very gentle with myself and incorporate natural healing and healthy into my life. I have cut out wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol and take probiotic. multi vit, vit D, magnesium and try to do some Yoga and swimming. Am self employed but essentially not able to work at present . I am frightened that I will never come back. I look forward to being active on this forum and very best wishes to all