Hello there from henwhen

[henwhen]

Hello board. My name is Lauren. I am currently off all medications as I am trying to start a family/get pregnant. Over the last two months I have weaned off the following medications: Celexa, Trazadone, Buspar, and Ritalin. The last (and the absolute worst) medication I weaned off of was the Celexa. I have been keeping an online journal of withdrawal symptoms and moods since I began the process. It was a reply to that blog which brought me to this forum.

 

I had very few problems with getting off of the Trazadone (there was some mild nausea for a few days after each step down), Buspar (extreme anxiety and anger for app. 2 days after last dose), and Ritalin (no withdrawal symptoms).

I am currently doing well with the physical symptoms of the Celexa withdrawal, but am having some not so awesome mood-swings. EVERYTHING makes me cry. The withdrawal symptoms from just this last week included constant dizziness/vertigo, extreme fatigue, GI problems, and nausea. The dizziness/vertigo lasted approximately 8 days while the GI problems are still a problem at day 10 though are much improved. My primary concern at this time is overcoming the urge to drink alcohol in order to deal with the emotional roller coaster I'm riding at the moment as I am an alcoholic with 4+ years of sobriety.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Lauren

 

p.s. also abruptly stopped using nicotine gum this week.

[dalsaan]

Hi Lauren

 

Welcome to the site. You will find people very supportive and well informed

 

Congrats on being 4 years sober that's a great achievement. You obviously have a lot of strengths that you can draw on now

 

Re your drug withdrawal, it has been very fast and your system will be going haywire. Keep monitoring your reactions and if necessary think about restarting your ad and tapering more slowly. Risking your sobriety and wellbeing is not a good thing for your goal of starting a family, so I wouldn't rule out restarting your medication if you need to

 

I'm sure others with more knowledge and experience will be along soon to provide their input

 

Take care

 

Dalsaan

[Altostrata]

Hi, Lauren. When was your last dose of Celexa?

 

It's a good sign that withdrawal symptoms are decreasing, and you're keeping a journal of them. Please keep in touch and let us know how you're doing.

 

What was your tapering method for each of trazadone, Buspar, and Ritalin?

 

(That's a lot of medication! Trazodone and Buspar put on the brakes, while Ritalin hits the accelerator.)

[henwhen]

Hello Altostrata and Dalsaan,

 

To answer your questions, my last dose of Celexa was 6/9/12. Prior to that I was instructed to cut my pill (40 MG) in half and take one half daily for one week, then one half every other day for one week, and then stop all together.

For the Trazadone, I can't remember the milligram, but I was taking two pills. I began reducing my intake to one pill a night for a week, then one half pill a night for a week, and then stopping.

For the Buspar, I was taking one pill twice daily. I cut both pills in half for one week, and then stopped the next week.

For the Ritalin, I stopped abruptly and had no ill effects.

 

Dalsaan,

 

I spoke with my doctor and she suggested I do this and begin the process over again at a lower dosage. I've taken her advice into consideration, but I made the decision to stay off the Celexa as I was already a week into the process and did not want to take that step back and lose time. In fact, that was her ONLY suggestion for managing the withdrawal symptoms, which was incredibly frustrating. Enough drugs have been thrown at my problems...I just really didn't feel as though more could be the answer.

 

Altostrata,

 

Yeah, it was a lot of medication. What's disturbing to me now is that I feel just fine without the medication...which begs the question "why was I on so much?" I'm not sure I actually needed it. I feel as though my doctors have failed me...feels like they threw medication at a problem that could have been better solved without it, but that was much easier to "solve," with it. Drug her! Shut her up!

Can't concentrate? We have a pill for that. Can't sleep? We have a pill for that! Stressed out? We have a pill for that! Angry? WE HAVE A PILL FOR THAT! Living "better," through chemistry! *sarcasm*

[henwhen]

Also, I would like to include my history with medication:

 

I have been on medication for as long as I can remember. I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 5 and have been taking medication ever since. As of this writting (06/21/12) I am 30. I was diagnosed with depression in my early teens (after having developed a nervous habit of pulling my hair out called "Trichotillomania." in sixth grade and having dealt with bald spots for...months...) and was prescribed Zoloft, which did nothing...or at least I did not believe it helped anything, so I eventually just refused to take it. I was angry all the time and had occasional uncontrollable anger outbursts. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety in my late teens after spending several weeks hyperventilating. I am now convinced that the true culprit was a new drug I was taking for my ADHD called Adderall which caused a host of horrible symptoms including rapid/extreme weight loss and insomnia. It was around this time that I discovered the sedative effects of alcohol, and began self-medicating on a regular basis. I was given Paxil to counteract the effects of the Adderall. The Paxil was wonderful except that it caused several more very uncomfortable side-effects including GI upset, fatigue, and it caused me to overheat very easily, if that makes any sense. I was volunteering for a fire dept. as a fire fighter at the time and could not tolerate such symptoms, so went to see a psychiatrist about changing up medications. The Psychiatrist took me off Paxil, and put me on Lexapro and Xanax. Eventually I found some quack doctor who was willing to do pretty much whatever I told him to do to continue giving me scripts for these medications, and began demanding that he work with me in order to change them again. I was given Concerta to replace the Adderall, and then a non-stimulant ADHD medication called Straterra in order to try to battle the ADHD. The Concerta caused anxiety...the Straterra cause massive stomach upset and horrible, VIVID nightmares. I began taking Ritalin at a very low dose at this time in order to try to combat my ADHD with as few side effects as possible.

Around this time I met my future husband. I had been in recovery from alcoholism before, but was currently back on the bottle. (You just become so desperate to feel normal and to stop hurting that you become willing to do whatever it takes...drinking gave me a reprieve, however brief, from the emotional torment I was suffering through...)

I began to see my husband's doctor around the time I turned 26 (around the same time I quit drinking alcohol). She continued to try to work with me. She is the one that prescribed the Celexa (to replace the Lexapro), Buspar, and Trazadone. It began with her taking me off of Xanax, which was absolute hell. Xanax was my security blanket for many years. She later went on to prescribe Trazadone for the insomnia I was still suffering from, and then Buspar for the anxiety, and then she upped my Celexa to 60 milligrams...Past that point I continued to struggle with my anxiety and so we changed my medication to Zoloft, which made me very aggressive and also caused major disturbances to my short term memory. It was as though every few minutes I would forget what I was doing...so I was put back on the Celexa after complaining about the Zoloft for about a year (and insisting that I was having horrible side effects but being ignored...) Once the FDA proved such a high dose of Celexa could be harmful, my doctor forced my dose down and when I had problems she prescribed Wellbutrin for a short time in addition to all of the other medications, but I felt so drugged that I just refused to continue to use it. This last year we decided to begin trying for a family. I began talking to all of my doctors about getting off the medications. Since then I have attended counseling in anticipation of major emotional upset...but discovered that I did not need it. I stopped having to take tons of antihistamines because my allergies have improved...though my allergist would like me to continue the shots. I used to feel tired and sick all the time...I used to be at the doctor every few weeks complaining of sickness...and now I have tons of energy and I feel wonderful.

 

I honestly feel as though my doctors have failed me. I feel betrayed. I feel as though a large part of my life has been lost...time that I can never get back. I feel cheated...

[Altostrata]

That is terrible. Children often grow out of "ADHD" without medications. It sounds like you've been overmedicated for a very long time.

 

Most of us here share your sense of betrayal by medicine.

 

You are lucky you've had such a relatively easy time going off all of those medications, finally.

 

I am a bit concerned about the mood swings, etc. Your doctor may have been mostly clueless about tapering but she was correct in that the fix for withdrawal symptoms is partial reinstatement of the medication.

 

If the withdrawal symptoms get worse, you might get liquid Celexa and take 1mg-3mg (yes, that's correct, as low as 1mg) for a month or so, then taper off in very small decrements from there. This gives your brain a gentle ramp to go down, to get used to the absence of the medication.