ikam: tapering escitalopram

[brassmonkey]

Hi Ikam-- it all depends on how you feel Tuesday. In my experience the symptoms from each slide tend to settle by the end of the week. Maybe not disappear, but settle, so then I would take the next slide.  The extended hold is for letting the accumulated symptoms of the four slides sort themselves out before starting on the next set of slides. The whole purpose is to spread the symptoms out over time so they're more tolerable than getting them all at once with a big drop.

 

It sounds like it's really going well.

 

Brass

[ikam]

Thank you Brass.

 

This was the reason to move to Tuesdays so I have fourth day on Friday...then weekend when I dont work, so a bit less stressful time...

It was very bust at work today...additionaly we have a heat wave here, really hot...

 

Hopefully, I will get settled over the weekend...

 

I like this procedure, it helps me to accomodate to changes and my body does not need to deal with a "sharpness" of bigger step (e.g. %5)...

 

I am not too bad, just started feeling a bit on edge today and type of like having a cold, a bit runny nose and feeling cold. also more tired, but it could be just "Friday- mood", after 5 days of working...

[ikam]

5th day of 3%

Woke up with anxiety around 7am, decided to ignore it, decided that this is not an indication of anything dangerous, hence did not connect to it...

 

there are symptoms I would feel anyway, such as morning anxiety, they are only sharper and more difficult to stop...

 

not engaging with them, if it is possible, helps with an additional response, type of being anxious over anxiety...

treating it as a "normal" response to chemical imbalance in my body

observing rather than engaging...

 

it is simpler when there are no extra stimulus, like I had yesterday at work...somebody made me really angry, and anger was a "natural" response, only it was stronger...

[ikam]

How are AD/WD connected to the inflammation? Woke up with more physical pain today...my hands mostly...this is intersting, as when i just started taking escitalopram, the main area i had problems related to paresthesia was in my hands, i had severe pins and needles...so maybe now my pain is an aftermath of that process...

My ESR is bordeline, 17%...so i have had some inflammation...

i wonder f this will improve?

Pain always triggers my low mood...

[AliG]

Ikam. " Ignoring and not connecting with the dire thoughts - observing rather than engaging." This sort of positive thinking will hopefully carry you through most of the symptoms with a minimum of stress and aid your healing and recovery at the same time.  You are doing so well and your attitude has done a 180 degree turn lately . I hope it keeps up for you. 

 

Inflammation/ pain / pins & needles is common in withdrawal. Hopefully it will ease with time and tapering.

 

Have you tried Yoga yet ?

It helps with pretty much everything.

Ali

[brassmonkey]

" Ignoring and not connecting with the dire thoughts - observing rather than engaging."  A similar strategy can be used on the pain in your hands, with the addition of some physical therapy. For a while I thought I was going to have to quit my job and go on disability because to the swelling and pain in my hands. It finally started to pass and over time and taper has improved to a great extent.   Short soaks in very cold water help reduce the swelling, then almost constant rubbing, flexing and stretching helps keep them "limber".  The "pins and needles" come and go in waves and windows and I haven't found much that really helps on that except to shift position and shake it out.  After a while it all becomes habit and I don't even think about doing it.

 

I don't often recommend supplements but I've found magnesium and curcumin phytosome to be very helpful.

[ikam]

I take magnesium glycinate regularly, it is helpful. Also some herbal remedy...

I cannot find any pattern nor trigger to hands pain... Sometimes it happens when I do nothing, like last night...

Physical pain is something that I find difficult to distract from. It attracts my attention...

But I do try...

I also get a kind of sciatica pain and pain in my foot...it has been more than half a year...

 

Lots of these physical symptoms have started with escitalopram, although I had some problems after stopping effexor...that time I did not know it was associated with AD...

 

Pain always connects me to my health related fears...

I try not to panic...

 

I try to stay positive and listen to others who have made this journey already...

[brassmonkey]

((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))

[ikam]

Thank you

[ikam]

I read something about black cumin, I may give it a try...

[ikam]

1st day of 4%

I have had a headache today...

[ikam]

2nd day of4%

 

Have noticed that my headache is more ongoing...also sleeping a bit worse and feeling tired...

No problem with concentration or being active...

 

This coinsided with some "core work" in my therapy, related to childhood neglect, abandonment feelings and severe depression I have had for years...

 

I realised that taking antidepressants was my way to conform to people's expectations, as they did not know how to deal with my depressive mood...

 

i was able to tell my therapist for the first time how deep my depression was and I have connected to this feeling...

 

So it is difficult to tell if i am affected by my therapy or WD or- most likely both...

[ikam]

better at home, where thee are not so many external impulses...

 

I have also had some histamine response, developed very itchy rash under my arms; I used to get this before as an allergy to deodorant...have stopped everything now until it goes away...it is really bad...

[ikam]

Just found This: http://alisonvickery.com.au/the-anti-depressant-brain-fog-and-histamine-intolerance-connection/

[nz11]

Interesting article ikam

Thanks for posting

[ikam]

_{I wonder if I should stay with 4% or get to the 5% and then stop?}

 

_{Also, I was thinking that maybe I could risk 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% in the next slide, meaning to decrease 2% each week (instead of 1%) each week and then hold? As it was suggested by BrassMonkey that the slides were 2.5% each time...}

 

_{Just an idea, not "jumping" to it yet...}

 

_{I am OK, it is my 3rd day of 4%...Mild irritation, feeling less patient. Generally worse at work, better at home...}

 

_{The main problem now is the irritation, rash underm my armpits which is pretty bad, but I think it may be to do with histamine levels...}

Edited August 19, 2016 by ChessieCat
Increased font size

[brassmonkey]

Hi Ikam-- Do not use cortisone cream on the rash!!!  You haven't mentioned doing so, but please don't start.  It is coming to light over the past few days that cortisone cream may cause some adverse reactions to people in WD and it's not worth the risk. I think you mentioned getting some Vitamin E oil, that should help also do a google on oatmeal packs.

 

I'm so glad that your slide is going well.  It might be an idea to try the larger cuts, but lets see how the hold period goes first.

[Martina23]

I had also problem with cortisone cream which one doctor gave me against tinnitus. I felt hyperenergized, could not sit still and was very nervous. So I put down the cream, and then I felt again very well.

[ikam]

hmm, this may explain the way i have felt, as i started hydrocortisone and felt strange...

 

i am using now nappy rash cream, the one for babies...

[ikam]

4th day of 4% feeling ok

[ikam]

5th day, so far so good, mild symptoms, but easy to distract...

[ikam]

Hi, I read yesterday few threads to discover that many of us suffer from unexplained pain. I remember when I was hit by pain in my knee few moths after tappering off effexor (my tapper was succesful, it lasted around 3 years) and other meds. I was drugs free that time. The pain was unmaneagable and did not make any sense that time. I did not know that time that it was WD, so i went to doctors, I even had MRI scan...I was prescribed stronger and stronger painkillers that did not help...Eventually the pain was gone, to appear in a different part of my body, it was a deep pelvic pain, I was unable to sit, but because of my work I had to sit for hours...that time I wrongly assumed that doxepin may help...Eventually, it was helped by Physiotherapist and exercices...

 

The pain i have developed recently affects my hands; i try to "disconnect" from it, to ignore it...There are days I am more able to do this...there are days i still panick and worry that this will make me unable to work at some point...

Apart from pain , there is a strange clicking in my joints..I dont have any Reumatism, just bordeline inflamation...

 

I wish I had this knowledge at the time of my knee pain. I would have never restarted the meds...

[ikam]

How to distinguish WD symptoms from "normal" life experiences...

e.g. I am more tired today, but this is my first day of holidays, so I may be just ordinary tired...

I am so sad today, but I have been sad all my life, since I remember...

 

I don't want to create something that is not there, but I also don't want to minimise something that is the sign of WD...

 

I am OK, but tired...

[ikam]

9th day of 4%

the emotions I feel are not different from my "normal" emotional states, they are only more difficult to stop and they seem to affect me on a deeper level...

I was crying today, I think for the first time since Escitalopram...it was a good cry, kind of refreshing...

[direstraits]

Hi,ikam,

 

I was just reading in the symptoms forum how you had blurry vision that was worse in one eye; I have this too and was just wondering if it has improved for you.

 

thanks. ds

[ikam]

Hi Ds, I don't have any problems with my vision anymore. It was long time ago, I guess just after I tapered, I had to go faster as I had an adverse response...

I am now decreasing very slowly...

[direstraits]

thanks for your response...that's good to hear;it gives me hope that this will resolve at some point.

 

wishing you well...ds

[ikam]

Bit of crisis, emotions feel too strong and not easy to control...when they start, eg anxiety or irritation, they last longer and feel deeper...

[KarenB]

Can you give them an outlet?  A constructive way to let them flow for a bit, acknowledge them, and then also acknowledge that they are intensified by neuro-emotions.  Perhaps writing down how you feel in a private journal.  And then move into some practices like meditation, or other ideas in Non-Drug Techniques

 

They won't stay difficult forever, so it's about finding a way to cope now. 

[ikam]

Thanks Karen. I completely forgot about neuro-emotions. This makes sense, as I definitely feel more and emotions seem much deeper and sharper. Difficult to switch off when they start.

As I have had builders around (neighbours house), I responded hugely to the noise, but also felt powerless...This triggered me badly...felt really overwhelmed...they gone for next three days, but I have been triggered so I have difficulty to "trust" that I will have more peaceful time...

 

Looks that avoidance I recently use a lot (don't go out much) seems my coping with being triggered; when I am at home, with my usual routines, with no people around I feel much calmer...

 

I am losing hope again. I felt so good, I am tired again and bit shaken...also worried that I will never manage to stop meds I am on...

[ikam]

I had a consultation with gastrologist today. He wants me to do CT Colonography, as he wants to find the reason for my anaemia. Unfortunately I will need to take some contrast medication prior to the procedure: https://www.drugs.com/sfx/omnipaque-300-side-effects.html

 

I am really concerned that this will affect me badly...

 

I tried to talk to him about PPI, and he said "it looks you are dependant so you will need to take it for life!"...

 

He was talking about anaemia and iron deficiency and did not even mention they may be a result of PPI!

[brassmonkey]

Guests just arrived so I can't talk long.  All of your last drops are hitting full force about now so you're going to feel more sensitive to just abut everything.  This is why you now need to hold for a few weeks, to let things settle out.  I will bet that you'll be feeling a lot better in a week.

 

((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))))

[ikam]

thank you. i never thought about this as you described...makes a lot of sense...i will try to be more patient with myself...

[ikam]

22.07=1%

29.07=2%

9.08=3%

16.08=4%

 

It has been 37 days since I have started. It has been 11 days since my last decease of 1%...

 

I am now on 2.4mg...I have managed to get off 0.1mg...I wish I could tapper faster...I am unsure if I can...

 

I have been crying a lot, kind of refreshing tears, cathartic ones...

I have been very sad...but sadness is "my usual mood"...

Since I remember I have always been internally very sad...I acted for the outside world, but my inner world was deeply depressed...

I tried to fix myself with meds...

So, as it seems, the sadness I feel now is just my usual mood?

I also don't feel like connecting to people outside...isolate a lot...but again, this is my usual self...

maybe i am just getting connected to the pain i tried to suppress?

[scallywag]

The sadness is probably one of those Neuro-emotions that happen during withdrawal. It's not who you are.

 

What are the numbers in your post -- dose calculations?

[ikam]

Yes, the numbers are dose calculations, just for myself to recall it better, so on 22nd July I started 1% of 2.5mg...and it has been 37 days since then...I was using sliding method, each week 1% up tp 4%, which gave the decrease of 0.1mg...So i am now on 2.4mg...

 

Since I remember I have been very sad, with suicidal thoughts when I was 14 years old...

I did not show it outside, I was always internally very lonely...

And this is how i feel now, terribly lonely, sad and crying...

It is as if something opened up and I cannot hold it anymore...

 

I don't really know my real self...I was not welcomed by my mother, emotionally neglected, abused by my father...I would say I suffered from complex ptsd...and I am now just beginning o face the abandonment issue in my therapy...this has coincided with tapering and "neuro-emotions"...

As it seems it is good that I feel at last, but I feel a bit overwhelmed...

 

I am in a complete isolation, and have no desire to contact anybody...I mean in the outside world...the world overwhelms me additionally...