Jump to content
SurvivingAntidepressants.org is temporarily closed to new registrations until 1 April ×

wildchild93: Long term Effexor use, is there hope?


wildchild93

Recommended Posts

Hello, my name is Danielle. I am new to this site, but have been reading it for quite some time now. My parents put me on effexor xr when I was 6 years old for severe anxiety and childhood phobias. It worked great for years. I had very little side effects and life was hunky dory. I am now 24 years old and the medication is no longer working. I stupidly tried to come off of the Effexor over the coarse of 3 months under directions from my psychiatrist. Obviously, I crashed and I have been desperately trying to get my life back for the last 10 months. During those months, I was under the impression that I was ‘very ill’ and a ‘special case’ based on the severity of my symptoms, but now I am realizing what has happened to me is not my original illness resurfacing, but the effects of the discontinuation of the medication. I’m an RN and have been out of work for the last 6 months. I have read stories on here of people eventually recovering from ssri and snri withdrawl, but was wondering if anyone has any experience or knows of anyone who was prescribed one of these drugs as a child. Is there hope for me or will I have to live with the consequences of my parents decision for the rest of my life? Will these dehabilitating symptoms ever go away or are my receptors f***ed for life? 

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • ChessieCat changed the title to wildchild93: Long term Effexor use, is there hope?
  • Moderator Emeritus

Hello, wild child and welcome to SA.

 

To start, in order to give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?
  • Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years. 
  • Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago) 
  • Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016. 
  • Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses. 
  • A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. 
  • Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

Yes, there is hope for you.  We recently had a similar question from someone who was drugged as a child.  We've had a number of members over the years who started out extremely young and made good recoveries.  Unfortunately, no one can say how long it will take.  Some recover fairly quickly, while other may take longer.

 

 Those drugged as children or teens may not have developed self-soothing strategies to deal with emotional problems at key developmental ages.  So the non-drug coping strategies would be important for those drugged as children are teens.  I encourage you to read through the techniques and strategies in the following link:

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms 

 

As you know, you tapered too fast.  You wrote that the Effexor was no longer working.  Could you explain a bit more about that?  Was there an adverse reaction?

 

Your receptors are not messed up for life, though it can take take a while for them to recover.  This post explains the process of the recovery of the brain.

 
No, you are not a "special case" and it is not your "original illness resurfacing."  It is withdrawal.  When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur.  Some people have found the information and explanations at these links helpful.  The first deals with protracted withdrawal.

 

These two posts deal with differentiating between withdrawal and relapse.  From your description, it appears you are in extended withdrawal.

This post and Is it withdrawal or relapse?

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Please research all supplements first and only add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems. 
 
This is your introduction topic--the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community. I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but I am glad that you found us.


 


 

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

Hi Wildchild, welcome from me too. I am so sorry to see that you were given effexor at such a young age,  it upsets me that little ones are put on drugs so easily.  As Gridley said we need a bit more information, you say the effexor is no longer working, so I assume that you reinstated after the fast taper? Can you tell us what dose you reinstated at? Often when someone has been off a drug for a while, even a short time, the brain does not accept the same dose and reacts to the high dose. If you can let us know the details and filling out the signature it would be a great help. 

**I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge.

 

 

Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem)

1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat

2002  effexor. 

Tapered  March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads.

Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013

Restarted taper  Nov 2013  

OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015    :D 

Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014

 

Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg  

 July 2017 30mg.  May 15 2018 25mg

Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. 

 

My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33

 

Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible

 

 

Link to comment

Effexor xr age 6-23. Tried coming off cold turkey once senior year of high school. crashed, reinstated effexor, and recovered. 

 

Last year, I was working in the hospital as a nurse, loved my job, met a great guy, we had been dating for 3 months and I decided I wanted to try to work with my psychiatrist to try and come off again. I had been so so stable for the last 6 years, like i’m talking hardly any anxiety whatsoever and absolutely no depression, insomnia, or bipolar symptoms. She agreed and had me taper off over the coarse of three months. This was March-May 2017. I got down to 37.5mg and still had no symptoms of anxiety depression or withdrawl. 2 Days after I took my last pill, I started to get the chills and sweats at work. I knew this was withdrawl so I didn’t really freak out cause I had been here before and knew it was going to pass. I waited maybe 5 more days on no medication, the acute WD symptoms were going away, but I started having that strange out of body feeling and inner restlessness and started to get concerned. I decided to go back on 37.5mg and stay there for a little bit. I don’t really remember how long after that, maybe a couple more days and I started having intense crying spells and could not get off of the floor. I also had pretty intenese racing thoughts that weren’t really about anything. They just felt like fragments of thoughts that kept attacking me.  would try to run to calm myself down, but it was like as soon as I stopped, I would just start crying again or get really restless or depressed. I called my psych and she was like, “yea, sometimes this happens.” and told me I did the right thing going back on 37.5mg. Things did not get better and I worked my way back up to 150mg. I don’t remember exactly how fast a i went, probably too quickly, but I wanted relief bad. After that, I remember having like a week of relief where I thought that I was coming out of it and the medicine was taking again, but the n the following week i would crash. Dr increased me to 187.5 and I had another good week and a half where I started to get my hopes up again. This was he middle of May 2017. After that, I never had anything close to a weeks worth of relief again. I continued to work May-July because my Dr told me that things might get worse if I stopped working and if I was able to work, then i should work. In my mind I thought, yea, technically I am able to work and I just have to give the medicine more time to kick in again. I would go into work, take care of my patients, run to the break room and cry. I worked 12 hour shifts so I did that probably about 4 times per shift. It was miserable. My head felt like I had 100 cotton balls inside of it and I was having trouble focusing on things. Talking to coworkers felt weird like I couldn’t just freely communicate, cause my mind was racing so fast. I had a couple panic attacks, but mostly just insanely high levels of anxiety that would not come down no matter what I did. In June-July I had a really hard lie sleeping. I remember at my worst, I would go 4 nights without a wink and then get up and run 8 miles and get thoughts of suicide. INSANE. I’ve never been diagnosed bipolar and there is no history in my family. My psych then prescribed me klonopin to sleep. Being a nurse, I was hesitant to take too much klonopin because I didn’t want to get addicted and then have to wean myself off of another medication because that’s what started this whole mess in the first place. Benadryl, vistaril, passionflower, melatonin wouldn’t touch me so I also got a prescription for seroquel which i used some, but it would make me very depressed and zombie like. End of July, it became too much at work and the crying was getting worse, the secretary asked if I wanted to kill myself and if i had a plan. I didn’t really want to kill myself, I just wanted the pain to end and I said I would jump. She and my manager and a couple other nurses took me down to my hospitals ED where I was on psychiatric watch for the evening until my mom came and I was discharged. They set me up with an outpatient day program the next day, but it was terrible and I drove myself home. After that, I gave the zoloft some time to work at home, then ended up commuting to a php for 2 months. the therapy was beneficial, but they told me that I was hypomanic and started me on lamictal and wanted me to continue to take 1 mg klonopin every night to sleep because I was too unstable to try to come off. I later weaned myself off November 2017-January 2018 and have been klonopin freee for about a month now. After the php, I started with a new psych and switched from zoloft back to the effexor with the addition of deplin and then started prescribing all of these boosters.The idea was that effexor had worked so well for so many years, that it didn’t make sense for it not to work now.

 

zoloft 50mg-200 mg end of July 2017-Middle October 2017. I was a basket case, cried even more than before

klonooin 0.25-1mg june 2017-january 2018 for sleep. memory problems, decreased effectiveness over time 

seroquel 50 mg prn

Lamictal 50-100mg end of September 2017 -end of  November 2017 no effect that i noticed

Deplin end of October 2017- beginning January 2018 no effect that i noticed

back to Effexor- beginning of November 2017-present

mirtazapine- 2 weeks in November 2017 huge appetite, major weight gain regardless of calories consumed, bloated, zombified, hard to workout

Rexulti-2 weeks in December 2017 zombified, hard to workout

tms therapy middle of January 2018-present. too soon to tell.

 

Currently on 75 mg Effexor and 1000 mg fish oil . 

 

I was having severe constipation, weight gain, bloat, sweats on higher doses of effexor even though I was eating a high fiber diet, drinking water, exercising daily, and taking stool softeners. I was giving myself enemas 2xs per week. I was done so gradually decreased the dose and dealt with the withdrawl. My anxiety/depression were already all over the place so I didn’t really care if they got worse for a little bit. 

Physically, I’m feeling a lot better now, I’m regular and the weight fell off in just one week. 

 

Recently, I saw a naturopathic doctor who prescribed me a high dose of omega 3s (apparently that’s different then fish oil), taurine, and l-theanine. These are supposed to arrive this weekend. He also told me to keep the Effexor at 75mg and stay away from Klonopin. If I am really having a hard time sleeping, I have been taking seroquel 50mg. I am still not working as a nurse, but have been walking dogs, exercising, taking long baths, and working out with my boyfriend. I am lucky to be able to live at home with my parents for the time being. My boyfriend, who I had only been dating for 3 months before I crashed, has stuck with me and wants to see me recover. Both of us are very tired however, and Idk how much more of this we can take. I told my psych about the naturopath before he got the chance to but me on trintillex and a stimulant (he also wanted to see if I would qualify for a ketamine trial). I said that’s ok, I’m not interested. We agreed to take a break from the pharmaceutical approach as a i pursue treatment with a phycologist, naturopathic doctor, and complete tms therapy. 

 

Today, I am actually having a pretty good day. My main symptoms now are anxiety (social, general, almost like overstimulated), aggitation ( worst one for me, hard to sit still and watch tv, hard to drive long distances), difficulty concentrating, crying spells, muscle spasms, occasional nerve pain that shoots down my legs to my feet, occasional major depression that i can usually pull myself out of, insomnia comes and goes, anhedonia. 

 

I am now convinced that I am not really ill, I don’t even know if I have that much anxiety. Honestly, I don’t really know how much anxiety I would have because all I remember is life on effexor. It may have been necessary at a time in my life (I know my parents tried therapy with me for a year), but now it is obviously not having the same effect that it had for all of those years. I think my cns is freaking out, and that recover could take awhile. I feel like if I was truely a super anxious, depressed, insomniac, bipolar, then I would have been showing at least some signs while taking the medicine. This was not the case, and I functioned very well in a high stress nursing unit for 3 years.I have been sleeping a lot better recently and my appetite is good. I do the best when I’m on the go whether that is walking dogs, working out,  or hiking. Movement really soothes me as well as hot baths in the evening. I really hope me and my boyfriend can make it. We’ve been though so much and I don’t want to lose him, but at the same time, I don’t want to keep him holding on not knowing if I’m even going to be able to get back to being the person who I was before I decided to try coming off of effexor.

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

wildchild93,

 

Thanks for the information.  Let me see if I have your Effexor dosages and dates correct.  Also I have a few questions.

 

March-May 2017  3-month taper down to 37.5 and then 0.  QUESTION:  What dosage did you you start your taper from?

 

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

 

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

 

June or July  Klonopin  QUESTION:  What dosage?  How often did you take it?  Did you continue up until November?

 

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

 

Nov. 2017 - Jan. 2018 weaned off klonopin

 

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

 

Current Seroquel 50mg if having hard time sleeping  QUESTION: When did you start the Seroquel and how often are you taking it?

 

is this right?  

 

Thanks.

 

Gridley

 

 

 

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment

yea sorry that was a lot of information, kind of confusing. 

 

started on effexor 150mg with three mi th taper. 

 

Klonopin 0.25mg mid may-beginning  june. 0.5mg beginning june-beginning august.

1mg beginning august-mid september. 0.75mid september-mid october. 0.5mg end october-mid november. 0.25mg mid november-mid december. 0.125mg mid december-beginning jan. jan 1-off.

 

Nov switched back to effexor 150mg, increased to 225mg thanksgiving. decrease to 150mg christmas, decrease to 75mg january 10th.

 

started seroquel prescribed sometime in june or july. only took consistently for like a week, mainly stuck with klonopin until i got off in january. last week was bad so i took it like 3 days in a row, last two days i slept fine so i really just play it by ear. if i don’t sleep one night and am having a hard time sleeping the second night, then i’ll usually take one. but very sparingly.

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

Thanks, wildchild.

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

If you're up to it, could you put the whatever's correct about my version of your drug history plus your corrections into a drug signature?  This is a big help to us.  Here are the instructions and the link:

 

in order to give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?
  • Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years. 
  • Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago) 
  • Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016. 
  • Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses. 
  • A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. 
  • Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

 

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment

Welcome WC   Wildchild

I cant believe you were drugged for 6 yr old normality. 

So glad you have found sa.

 

Have you considered making a complaint against your doctor for this. Please give it some thought.

I am so sorry you are in this situation.

Have you considered filing a report with the FDA also regarding adverse events. Wdl is an adverse event. A very serious one that they need to know about.

 

I'm sure you are aware that benzos are very addictive. 

nz11

Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen

We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. 

URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting  for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing.

http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651   

Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos.

Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you

Recovering paxil addict

None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. 

This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! 

  "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped."  Dr Mosher. Me too! 

Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015

I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015

Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017

 

 

Link to comment

Hard to notice the positives when you’re in it, but recently I haven’t felt as depersonalized as before, am no longer nauseous, and am able to sleep most nights without any medication before bed. Still feel like I need something to calm me down most of the day, preferably alcohol, but I have been fighting that urge. 

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment

Yes, I know benzos are very addictive. Honestly, there was a period of time where I wasn’t sleeping for 3-4 nights in a row after trying every self-soothing technique and non addictive medication out there. I think they got me through some of the really nasty parts of my withdrawl, but I am glad to be done with them now.

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus
6 minutes ago, wildchild93 said:

Still feel like I need something to calm me down most of the day

 

One of two supplements which SA recommends is Magnesium.   I find that it takes the edge off my anxiety. 

 

The other supplement is Omega-3 Fish Oil

 

If you do try them, take a small dose of one to see how you react.  You can then increase the dose.  Only try one at a time, and only make one change at a time, ie if you make a dose reduction don't start a supplement at the same time. 

* NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA *

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:  (6 year taper)      0mg Pristiq  on 13th November 2021

ADs since ~1992:  25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq:  50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity)  Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021   LAST DOSE 0.0025mg

Post 0 updates start here    My tapering program     My Intro (goes to tapering graph)

 VIDEO:   Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management

Link to comment

I’ve been taking fish oil for about 8 months now. Was putting magnesium crystals in the bathtub before and absorbing  it that way, but now I am swallowig magnesium supplements instead in addition to taurine and l-thenaine that my naturopath added. Just started with the last two, so I’ll see what happens. 

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

Start low on the magnesium as it can have a laxative effect.

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment

Also, I know someone mentioned that there were others who were started on meds young. Is there anyway I could get in touch with them or at least read their stories?

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

The moderator who told me about the others doesn't remember their names (it was a while ago), just that they started young and turned out fine.  

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Hi Wildchild-- getting put on these drugs at six years old, I don't have the words to express how I feel.  I mentioned to Gridley a few days ago that I have known a number of others who were in the same situation. There were several on this forum, but most of them were on another forum called Paxilprogress.com.  It's been closed down for several years, so unfortunately all that information is no longer available.  I do have a personal friend who is not on either forum who started on 20mgai paxil at the age of six.  He started a taper when he reached 19 and has been drug free for many years now.  He is a fine young adult with a good job, apartment and girlfriend.

 

In dealing with all of these young starters a couple of things really struck me.  First is that the brain is an incredibly adaptable thing, it can be abused to a huge extent and still bounce back and function properly.  The other is that, although they  missed out on their formative years all of these people turned out fine.  The lack of socialization caused some problems for a while, but that is all a matter of learning some skills, making mistakes and developing way of handling life's lessons.  A big key for all of them was the realization that, although they were behind at the start because of the drugs, there was no reason that they couldn't catch up and even surpass their peers.  It was a matter of not giving up, being their own person and finding their way in life. 

 

Even growing up drugged a lot of life's lessons have been absorbed.  They just need to be dragged to the surface and polished. Also the act of taking control and getting off of the drugs will provide the opportunity to explore life, beliefs, personal strengths, relationships and much more.  Once a person has finished removing these drugs from their life they are much stronger than they ever imagined, have a better idea who they are and their place in the world.

 

Brassmonkey

20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013.

Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks.  The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better.

Final Dose 0.016mg.     Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017

 

"It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general."  Stephen Hawking

Link to comment
On 2/2/2018 at 3:26 PM, wildchild93 said:

Effexor xr age 6-23. Tried coming off cold turkey once senior year of high school. crashed, reinstated effexor, and recovered. 

 

Last year, I was working in the hospital as a nurse, loved my job, met a great guy, we had been dating for 3 months and I decided I wanted to try to work with my psychiatrist to try and come off again. I had been so so stable for the last 6 years, like i’m talking hardly any anxiety whatsoever and absolutely no depression, insomnia, or bipolar symptoms. She agreed and had me taper off over the coarse of three months. This was March-May 2017. I got down to 37.5mg and still had no symptoms of anxiety depression or withdrawl. 2 Days after I took my last pill, I started to get the chills and sweats at work. I knew this was withdrawl so I didn’t really freak out cause I had been here before and knew it was going to pass. I waited maybe 5 more days on no medication, the acute WD symptoms were going away, but I started having that strange out of body feeling and inner restlessness and started to get concerned. I decided to go back on 37.5mg and stay there for a little bit. I don’t really remember how long after that, maybe a couple more days and I started having intense crying spells and could not get off of the floor. I also had pretty intenese racing thoughts that weren’t really about anything. They just felt like fragments of thoughts that kept attacking me.  would try to run to calm myself down, but it was like as soon as I stopped, I would just start crying again or get really restless or depressed. I called my psych and she was like, “yea, sometimes this happens.” and told me I did the right thing going back on 37.5mg. Things did not get better and I worked my way back up to 150mg. I don’t remember exactly how fast a i went, probably too quickly, but I wanted relief bad. After that, I remember having like a week of relief where I thought that I was coming out of it and the medicine was taking again, but the n the following week i would crash. Dr increased me to 187.5 and I had another good week and a half where I started to get my hopes up again. This was he middle of May 2017. After that, I never had anything close to a weeks worth of relief again. I continued to work May-July because my Dr told me that things might get worse if I stopped working and if I was able to work, then i should work. In my mind I thought, yea, technically I am able to work and I just have to give the medicine more time to kick in again. I would go into work, take care of my patients, run to the break room and cry. I worked 12 hour shifts so I did that probably about 4 times per shift. It was miserable. My head felt like I had 100 cotton balls inside of it and I was having trouble focusing on things. Talking to coworkers felt weird like I couldn’t just freely communicate, cause my mind was racing so fast. I had a couple panic attacks, but mostly just insanely high levels of anxiety that would not come down no matter what I did. In June-July I had a really hard lie sleeping. I remember at my worst, I would go 4 nights without a wink and then get up and run 8 miles and get thoughts of suicide. INSANE. I’ve never been diagnosed bipolar and there is no history in my family. My psych then prescribed me klonopin to sleep. Being a nurse, I was hesitant to take too much klonopin because I didn’t want to get addicted and then have to wean myself off of another medication because that’s what started this whole mess in the first place. Benadryl, vistaril, passionflower, melatonin wouldn’t touch me so I also got a prescription for seroquel which i used some, but it would make me very depressed and zombie like. End of July, it became too much at work and the crying was getting worse, the secretary asked if I wanted to kill myself and if i had a plan. I didn’t really want to kill myself, I just wanted the pain to end and I said I would jump. She and my manager and a couple other nurses took me down to my hospitals ED where I was on psychiatric watch for the evening until my mom came and I was discharged. They set me up with an outpatient day program the next day, but it was terrible and I drove myself home. After that, I gave the zoloft some time to work at home, then ended up commuting to a php for 2 months. the therapy was beneficial, but they told me that I was hypomanic and started me on lamictal and wanted me to continue to take 1 mg klonopin every night to sleep because I was too unstable to try to come off. I later weaned myself off November 2017-January 2018 and have been klonopin freee for about a month now. After the php, I started with a new psych and switched from zoloft back to the effexor with the addition of deplin and then started prescribing all of these boosters.The idea was that effexor had worked so well for so many years, that it didn’t make sense for it not to work now.

 

zoloft 50mg-200 mg end of July 2017-Middle October 2017. I was a basket case, cried even more than before

klonooin 0.25-1mg june 2017-january 2018 for sleep. memory problems, decreased effectiveness over time 

seroquel 50 mg prn

Lamictal 50-100mg end of September 2017 -end of  November 2017 no effect that i noticed

Deplin end of October 2017- beginning January 2018 no effect that i noticed

back to Effexor- beginning of November 2017-present

mirtazapine- 2 weeks in November 2017 huge appetite, major weight gain regardless of calories consumed, bloated, zombified, hard to workout

Rexulti-2 weeks in December 2017 zombified, hard to workout

tms therapy middle of January 2018-present. too soon to tell.

 

Currently on 75 mg Effexor and 1000 mg fish oil . 

 

I was having severe constipation, weight gain, bloat, sweats on higher doses of effexor even though I was eating a high fiber diet, drinking water, exercising daily, and taking stool softeners. I was giving myself enemas 2xs per week. I was done so gradually decreased the dose and dealt with the withdrawl. My anxiety/depression were already all over the place so I didn’t really care if they got worse for a little bit. 

Physically, I’m feeling a lot better now, I’m regular and the weight fell off in just one week. 

 

Recently, I saw a naturopathic doctor who prescribed me a high dose of omega 3s (apparently that’s different then fish oil), taurine, and l-theanine. These are supposed to arrive this weekend. He also told me to keep the Effexor at 75mg and stay away from Klonopin. If I am really having a hard time sleeping, I have been taking seroquel 50mg. I am still not working as a nurse, but have been walking dogs, exercising, taking long baths, and working out with my boyfriend. I am lucky to be able to live at home with my parents for the time being. My boyfriend, who I had only been dating for 3 months before I crashed, has stuck with me and wants to see me recover. Both of us are very tired however, and Idk how much more of this we can take. I told my psych about the naturopath before he got the chance to but me on trintillex and a stimulant (he also wanted to see if I would qualify for a ketamine trial). I said that’s ok, I’m not interested. We agreed to take a break from the pharmaceutical approach as a i pursue treatment with a phycologist, naturopathic doctor, and complete tms therapy. 

 

Today, I am actually having a pretty good day. My main symptoms now are anxiety (social, general, almost like overstimulated), aggitation ( worst one for me, hard to sit still and watch tv, hard to drive long distances), difficulty concentrating, crying spells, muscle spasms, occasional nerve pain that shoots down my legs to my feet, occasional major depression that i can usually pull myself out of, insomnia comes and goes, anhedonia. 

 

I am now convinced that I am not really ill, I don’t even know if I have that much anxiety. Honestly, I don’t really know how much anxiety I would have because all I remember is life on effexor. It may have been necessary at a time in my life (I know my parents tried therapy with me for a year), but now it is obviously not having the same effect that it had for all of those years. I think my cns is freaking out, and that recover could take awhile. I feel like if I was truely a super anxious, depressed, insomniac, bipolar, then I would have been showing at least some signs while taking the medicine. This was not the case, and I functioned very well in a high stress nursing unit for 3 years.I have been sleeping a lot better recently and my appetite is good. I do the best when I’m on the go whether that is walking dogs, working out,  or hiking. Movement really soothes me as well as hot baths in the evening. I really hope me and my boyfriend can make it. We’ve been though so much and I don’t want to lose him, but at the same time, I don’t want to keep him holding on not knowing if I’m even going to be able to get back to being the person who I was before I decided to try coming off of effexor.

 

Though I was not on the same drug as you, seems like we had pretty similar 2017s. Hoping you start to see some stability!

2008 - October 28th, 2016: Zoloft 50 - 150 mgs, settled on 50mgs from 2011 - 2016.
January 23rd - March 1st 2017: Zoloft 50mgs, direct switch to Lexapro.
March 1st - May 1st 2017: Lexapro 10 mgs, down to 5mgs for a week, then off.
June 1st - July 31st 2017: Paxil 20mgs, Lyrica 600mgs
August 1st - September 30th 2017: Paxil 40mgs, Zyprexa 2.5mgs
October 1st  - November 12th 2017: Paxil 60mgs, Zyprexa 2.5mgs
November 12th, 2017 - September 4th 2018: Paxil 40mgs, Zyprexa 2.5mgs 

September 4th - September 27th: Paxil 30mgs, Zyprexa 2.5mgs

September 28th - November 7th: Paxil 20mgs, Zyprexa 2.5mgs (Also Testosterone Therapy started in June 2018 and ended in November 2018)

November 7th 2018 - February 22nd 2019: Paxil 10mgs, Zyprexa 2.5mgs

February 22nd 2019 - April 17th: Zyprexa 2.5mgs, Klonopin 1mgs

April 17th - Now: Zoloft 25mgs, Zyprexa 2.5mgs, Klonopin .5mgs

Link to comment
1 hour ago, brassmonkey said:

 

In dealing with all of these young starters a couple of things really struck me.  First is that the brain is an incredibly adaptable thing, it can be abused to a huge extent and still bounce back and function properly.  The other is that, although they  missed out on their formative years all of these people turned out fine.  The lack of socialization caused some problems for a while, but that is all a matter of learning some skills, making mistakes and developing way of handling life's lessons.  A big key for all of them was the realization that, although they were behind at the start because of the drugs, there was no reason that they couldn't catch up and even surpass their peers.  It was a matter of not giving up, being their own person and finding their way in life. 

 

Thank you, that is encouraging. I guess the  difference for me is that I functioned normally for so many years growing up on Effexor. It wasn’t until last spring when I tried to stop, that I was unable to regain stability again even with reinstating. I don’t know if I was experiencing tachyohylaxis of the drug when I was trying to come off or if it’s effects wore off a long time ago, but I still had to take it because the discontinuation and protracted withdrawl were too much.

 

I have lots of friends and I’ve always handled stress well being a nurse. Or at least I thought l did. Now I don’t know if it was me or the drug. It’s confusing because I don’t remember my life before effexor so I don’t really have anything to compare it to.

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Okay, I'm getting a better picture. Things were fine until you tried to get off of Effexor last spring, and there is no reason that they won't be fine again.  Effexor is a very hard drug to get off of.  It is very unpredictable in how it will affect any given person.  Some people can start and stop a number of times with no problems, while others can become overly sensitized to it by making one reduction.  The three month taper you did between March and May was way, way too fast and left your body sensitized to the drug.  The subsequent reinstatement tripped off the sensitivity and the increase above your original dose only added fuel to the fire.  Throw in the switch to zoloft and then back to effexor and your body doesn't know what hit it.

 

The good news is that by staying on a steady dose things will stabilize with time and a slow taper would then be possible.  It's only been just over three months since you went back on the effexor, it's going to take several more months before things start to really settle down.  I can assure you, however, that it's the drug and not you that is causing the problems.

20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013.

Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks.  The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better.

Final Dose 0.016mg.     Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017

 

"It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general."  Stephen Hawking

Link to comment
19 hours ago, brassmonkey said:

It's only been just over three months since you went back on the effexor, it's going to take several more months before things start to really settle down.

That’s true. And less than half of that on 75mg. A year is a long time to feel this much discomfort and agitation. I wake up in the morning super anxious and uneasy and then at night my aggitation just takes off. It’s like and extreme discomfort and inner restlessness deep in my stomach that spreads all throughout my body. I get so close to taking a klonopin or drinking but I never do cause I’m so stubborn and would rather sit in pain than swallow anymore pills or depressants. Eventually it becomes too much for my brain to handle and I flip over into depression for a little bit. Then I wake up and the whole thing starts over again. 

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator

It's a good idea to stay away from more drugs they will just add to the problem.  Alcohol  has derailed many a good taper too, so I would stay very far away from that one.

20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013.

Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks.  The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better.

Final Dose 0.016mg.     Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017

 

"It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general."  Stephen Hawking

Link to comment
  • Administrator
On 2/2/2018 at 3:44 PM, wildchild93 said:

Nov switched back to effexor 150mg, increased to 225mg thanksgiving. decrease to 150mg christmas, decrease to 75mg january 10th.

 

 

Hello, Wildchild. How are you feeling now?

 

What times of day do you take your drugs, at what dosages? Please keep daily notes on paper about your symptoms, when you take your drugs, and their dosages.

 

Have you tried taking 25mg Seroquel instead of 50mg? Best to minimize that drug, too.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

Link to comment
5 hours ago, Altostrata said:

Hello, Wildchild. How are you feeling now?

I’m doing ok. My worst symptom is severe aggitation and restlessness. I’ve been able to fall asleep on my own for the last 2 weeks now so haven’t taken any seroquel. I take 75mg effexor in the morning with fish oil and that’s it. 

 

The one one thing I do have going for me is that I’m in pretty good shape so when I’m really struggling to get relief from the aggitation, I like to turn on some angry music and pound it out on the treadmill. I’ve also been walking dogs during the day so that at least I’m doing something productive. There is no way I could go back to work at the hospital, hopefully one day.

 

Mornings are hard, middle of the day I get the most relief, and then evenings and nights are also really hard. I also have constant cravings for sugar and alcohol throughout the day.

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment

Hi, I started jogging as soon as I got up in order to take the edge off the terrible morning anxiety.  It seemed to help for while after the jog, but It was a mistake.  I found out that it caused more anxiety later in the day.  Apparently, that's common in WD as hard exercise increases cortisol.  The recommendation if this happens is to try gentle walking instead.  After I stopped jogging the afternoon anxiety and inner restlessness finally went way. It didn't happen immediately.  It's very rare that I have in the afternoon or evening now (except that currently I'm having a rough wave.)

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16629-rosetta-ct-may-2011-too-fast-taper-feb-2017/?page=25

2001-2011 Celexa 10 mg raised to 40 mg then 60 mg over this time period

May 2011 OB Doctor's Cold switch Celexa 60 mg to 10 mg Zoloft sertraline (baby born)

2012-2016 - Doctors raised dose of Zoloft up to 150 mg

2016 - Xanax prescribed - as needed - 0.5 mg about every 3 days (bad reaction)

2016 - Stopped Xanax

Late 2016- Began (too fast) taper of Zoloft

Early 2017 - Trazodone prescribed for bedtime (doseage unknown)

Feb 2017 - Completed taper/stopped Trazodone

Drug free since Feb 2017

2017 - Unisom otc very rarely for sleep

Link to comment
  • Moderator Emeritus

Gentle walking is the way to go.

Gridley Introduction

 

Lexapro 20 mg since 2004.  Begin Brassmonkey Slide Taper Jan. 2017.   

End 2017 year 1 of taper at 9.25mg 

End 2018 year 2 of taper at 4.1mg

End 2019 year 3 of taper at 1.0mg  

Oct. 30, 2020  Jump to zero from 0.025mg.  Current dose: 0.000mg

3 year, 10 month taper is 100% complete.

 

Ativan 1 mg to 1.875mg 1986-2020, two CT's and reinstatements

Nov. 2020, 7-week Ativan-Valium crossover to 18.75mg Valium

Feb. 2021, begin 10%/4 week taper of 18.75mg Valium 

End 2021  year 1 of Valium taper at 6mg

End 2022 year 2 of Valium taper at 2.75mg 

End 2023 year 3 of Valium taper at 1mg

Jan. 24, 2024: Hold at 1mg and shift to Imipramine taper.

Taper is 95% complete.

 

Imipramine 75 mg daily since 1986.  Jan.-Sept. 2016 tapered to 14.4mg  

March 22, 2022: Begin 10%/4 week taper

Aug. 5, 2022: hold at 9.5mg and shift to Valium taper

Jan. 24, 2024: Resume Imipramine taper.  Current dose as of Feb. 22: 7.6mg

Taper is 90% complete.  

  

Supplements: multiple, quercetin, omega-3, vitamins C, E and D3, magnesium glycinate, probiotics, zinc, melatonin .3mg, anti-candida, iron, serrapeptase, nattokinase


I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice but simply information based on my own experience, as well as other members who have survived these drugs.

Link to comment
23 minutes ago, Rosetta said:

 

Hi, I started jogging as soon as I got up in order to take the edge off the terrible morning anxiety.  It seemed to help for while after the jog, but It was a mistake.  I found out that it caused more anxiety later in the day.

 

Really? I’ve found a steady jog to be ok or running with a dog, but find that lifting weights has been really hard on me recently both physically and mentally. Maybe swimming? The gym has been the only thing that i have to look forward to, pretty much keeping me alive, I can’t give that up too.

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
1 minute ago, wildchild93 said:

  It's very rare that I have in the afternoon or evening now (except that currently I'm having a rough wave.)

How long did it take for you not to have much restlessness in the evening? My mornings and evenings are BAD. I get maybe an hour, 2 hour relief around noon and that’s it.

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment

You can't really compare yourself to me, I suspect, but I'll answer your question below.  You might see your anxiety abate more quickly when you finally adjust back to taking Effexor.  I hope so.  I never went back to Zoloft, so I have no drugs at all to help me.

 

If you love going to the gym, don't stop.  You need that contact with people and to be leaving the house.  Try to stay with it.  The fact that you can go there means you are doing better than I am. 

 

You can do gentle exercise at the gym.  Walk on the treadmill, Hatha yoga, stretching classes.  Do weight lifting slowly and carefully with lighter weights.  If you can keep up the weight lifting I would recommend it so that your muscles don't get too soft and start to ache, but do this very gently, and be sure to stretch after and been sets.  You can swim if you keep it short and go slow.  I've often thought about taking a water class exercise for older women.  I wish I could get myself ready and to the gym by myself.  

 

I'll answer your question about anxiety just in case it helps you: My WD symptoms consisted of insomnia when I first stopped Zoloft and then everything seemed to get better for several months.  My symptoms did not get bad enough for me to start realizing something was seriously wrong until about 5 months after I quit Zoloft.  So, that was July or August of 2017, but I think this was because I was in WD for the whole 5 years I took Zoloft.  

 

I had just given birth when I started Zoloft on a cold switch.  I had insomnia at first, and then I felt better for a few months.  I had anxious mornings for years on Zoloft, and I starting having insomnia and mania in 2015 while still on Zoloft.  The higher the dose, the worse things became.  Due to anxiety, it became hard for me to leave the house early in the day at some point; and I recognize that now as a cortisol reaction. In 2016, I found it very hard to leave the house even later in the day.  It was often late afternoon before I could leave unless it was very important.  

 

I found SA in about August or so of 2017, and I started reading.  I couldn't process what I read, but I can remember that I kept going as the all day anxiety and the cortisol mornings became worse and worse.  I kept going because this site said it would get better.  The cortisol mornings and all day anxiety were so bad that I tried jogging.  I was desperate.  I think I started jogging in Sept or Oct, and I stopped, I think, in November, but I am not sure what date.  By the second week of December I started feeling better in evenings.  I remember that it started with better evenings, then better afternoons and evenings and then, finally better mornings -- sometimes.  I still have cortisol mornings, but until recently the anxiety wore off much earlier and was less intense overall.  I felt I was doing quite well until about a week ago.  I think think this wave will end soon.

 

Hang in there, Rosetta

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16629-rosetta-ct-may-2011-too-fast-taper-feb-2017/?page=25

2001-2011 Celexa 10 mg raised to 40 mg then 60 mg over this time period

May 2011 OB Doctor's Cold switch Celexa 60 mg to 10 mg Zoloft sertraline (baby born)

2012-2016 - Doctors raised dose of Zoloft up to 150 mg

2016 - Xanax prescribed - as needed - 0.5 mg about every 3 days (bad reaction)

2016 - Stopped Xanax

Late 2016- Began (too fast) taper of Zoloft

Early 2017 - Trazodone prescribed for bedtime (doseage unknown)

Feb 2017 - Completed taper/stopped Trazodone

Drug free since Feb 2017

2017 - Unisom otc very rarely for sleep

Link to comment

Is there anyway I can sue for being put on effexor xr 1999 age 6? I’m furious. I have been out of work for the last 8 months and counting. Even if I can’t receive compensation, is there somewhere I can write where my voice will be heard?

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
On ‎11‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 5:45 PM, wildchild93 said:

Is there anyway I can sue for being put on effexor xr 1999 age 6? I’m furious. I have been out of work for the last 8 months and counting. Even if I can’t receive compensation, is there somewhere I can write where my voice will be heard?

Hi WC I thought ide come to your thread ,its true .I'm furious also ,this is abhorrent ,I'm so sorry ,this is disgraceful .

You have a good case to sue that's for sure .

Just read your thread ,your in great hands with all the help .

Park that bus for know about sueing  ,get yourself stable and on a good footing .

You are still so young .this is a huge advantage for you .

Take great care .

 

 

Alcohol free since February 2015 

1MG diazepam

4.5MG PROZAC.

 

 

 

Link to comment

Yea I have, I’m 100% dedicated to my recovery now that i know what’s going on. I’m the oldest of three siblings and the younger two have both been on antidepressants since they were young too. Not as young as me, maybe more like in the 8-10 range. They are both stable and take their zoloft every morning. I just don’t want them to ever have to go through  what I’m going through now. 

 

Thanks for the encouragement, I feel like I’m on the right path now and definitely am using my youth and good physical health to my advantage. I am sleeping better now. Generally getting around 6-8 hours of sleep. It’s still hard to get to sleep, but I give myself lots of time since I’m not working right now. I’ve heard that getting consistent sleep each night is a good sign that your cns is starting to settle. 

32 minutes ago, powerback said:

Park that bus for know about sueing  ,get yourself stable and on a good footing .

 

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment
8 minutes ago, wildchild93 said:

Yea I have, I’m 100% dedicated to my recovery now that i know what’s going on. I’m the oldest of three siblings and the younger two have both been on antidepressants since they were young too. Not as young as me, maybe more like in the 8-10 range. They are both stable and take their zoloft every morning. I just don’t want them to ever have to go through  what I’m going through now. 

 

Thanks for the encouragement, I feel like I’m on the right path now and definitely am using my youth and good physical health to my advantage. I am sleeping better now. Generally getting around 6-8 hours of sleep. It’s still hard to get to sleep, but I give myself lots of time since I’m not working right now. I’ve heard that getting consistent sleep each night is a good sign that your cns is starting to settle. 

 

You seem very well tuned into your recovery WC ,best of luck .

Take care .

Alcohol free since February 2015 

1MG diazepam

4.5MG PROZAC.

 

 

 

Link to comment
On 2/5/2018 at 7:55 AM, wildchild93 said:

Also, I know someone mentioned that there were others who were started on meds young. Is there anyway I could get in touch with them or at least read their stories?

Hi Wild Child,

 

I am 27 and have been on SSRIs and SSNRIs since I was 8, most recently Effexor XR.  Did you find anyone who has successfully gotten through withdrawals and was prescribed as a child? I am here if you want to talk. You are not alone. 

 

 

Link to comment
2 hours ago, ittakesavillage said:

Did you find anyone who has successfully gotten through withdrawals and was prescribed as a child?

I didn’t find anyone as young or younger than me on here who has successfully gotten off and stayed off. I know that length of time on the meds can make the withdrawl process more difficult. I’m really hoping that six isn’t too young and that my brain will be able to bounce back just like anyone else’s who’ve been on for 10+ years.

 

I think it comes down to lifestyle and self care. Obviously if you eat a bunch of sugar, alcohol, caffeine, don’t exercise, are under a lot of stress, and stay up all night; then it’s going to be harder for you to heal. 

 

Lucky that you you at least took 6 months to taper. My doctor told me 2 1/2 months which I now know was WAY too fast and very dangerous. When a i first came off, my body went into this strange hypomanic state where I couldn’t relax or sleep. I basically worked out and walked around all day, it was horrible. I’ve come a long way since then, and am sleeping regularly now. I still have difficulty relaxing and performing passive activities, but much better than I was. The thorn in my flesh is the constant aggitation and inner restlessness, makes me want to just down some alcohol to make it go away, but I know that I can’t. I find that daily exercise really helps this. My body can tell when I skip a day at the gym because it’s a lot harder for me to wind down. 

 

Did you try reinstating? I came off in May 2017, crashed, tried to reinstate, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t regain stability again on or off of the effexor. So I basically spent the rest of 2017 bouncing from different psychiatrist, trying different meds, and getting my hopes up until I decided that enough is enough and that I couldn’t live this way anymore. I wish I knew what I know now about long term withdrawl and could take back all those months of being a human guinne pig, but you live and learn. 

 

How are you feeling? Are you currently working? How much effexor were you on and for what? Even though 6 months seems like a short time to decrease, it’s a lot better than going cold turkey. Your brain will definitely appreciate that. I’ll be praying for as smooth and painless of a recovery as possible. 

6 years old- 23 years old Effexor XR 75-150mg 

March-May 2017  3-month taper of Effexor XR from 150mg down to 37.5 and then 0.  

After a week reinstated Effexor at 37.5 and quickly worked your way up to 150.

Mid-May increased to 187.5.

End of July to mid-October switched to 50-200mg Zoloft

Nov. to present  switched back to Effexor 75 mg

March 29, 2018 Increased Effexor dose to 150mg (original dose). 

May 12, 2018 Began a 10% AT LEAST monthly taper off of 150mg Effexor XR.

Link to comment

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use Privacy Policy