Immediate adverse reactions to an antidepressant or within a few doses? How long for recovery?

[keogh08]

Hi

 

does anyone know of any other sites from immediate adverse reaction success stories?

 

At 5 years out I am seriously starting to loose hope. 

[Ariel]

42 minutes ago, keogh08 said:

Hi

 

does anyone know of any other sites from immediate adverse reaction success stories?

 

At 5 years out I am seriously starting to loose hope. 

 

Hi @keogh08

Have you searched SA's recovery forum for success stories? There are numerous examples there.

For instance, I just did a quick search and found this

That's just one post of many!

[keogh08]

1 minute ago, Ariel said:

 

Hi @keogh08

Have you searched SA's recovery forum for success stories? There are numerous examples there.

For instance, I just did a quick search and found this

That's just one post of many!

Thanks Ariel I’ve been here a very long time I’ve read all of the adverse reaction stories. There are only a handful of immediate adverse reaction stories and I seem to have exceeded those time frames. 
 

Thanks for sharing the link, I have read them multiple times, they are a little misleading people who took meds for a number of months/ years. 
 

[Celeste1990]

Hi @keogh08,

Can I ask what your symptoms are and if you’ve seen any improvements over the years? I read through your intro thread and it seems like you did see improvements at some point especially at the beginning. I’m just curious if you had seen improvement and then symptoms came back, or if your recovery just plateaued at some point? I had an adr to one pill 4 months ago. 

[Farm24]

1 hour ago, keogh08 said:

Hi

 

does anyone know of any other sites from immediate adverse reaction success stories?

 

At 5 years out I am seriously starting to loose hope. 

Are you on any other meds? I think my antihistamine and birth control maybe adding to my issue

[keogh08]

18 minutes ago, Celeste1990 said:

Hi @keogh08,

Can I ask what your symptoms are and if you’ve seen any improvements over the years? I read through your intro thread and it seems like you did see improvements at some point especially at the beginning. I’m just curious if you had seen improvement and then symptoms came back, or if your recovery just plateaued at some point? I had an adr to one pill 4 months ago. 

Hi

 

yes I did see some improvements but I’ve been the same way for the last few years so possibly a plateau. 

[keogh08]

8 minutes ago, Farm24 said:

Are you on any other meds? I think my antihistamine and birth control maybe adding to my issue

I have never taken any other meds since the reaction. Sorry to hear you think other stuff could be contributing. 

[Ariel]

I cannot tell you how many times i have read and re-read the first two posts of this topic -- always helps!

 

 

[Celeste1990]

Do adverse reactions recover differently from withdrawal? I read that adverse reactions typically recover faster but I’m really discouraged since there are fewer adr recovery stories. Is this actually true? Do some adr’s not recover at all? I’m so scared I’m stuck like this and haven’t seen any improvement in 4 months😢

[keogh08]

8 hours ago, Celeste1990 said:

Do adverse reactions recover differently from withdrawal? I read that adverse reactions typically recover faster but I’m really discouraged since there are fewer adr recovery stories. Is this actually true? Do some adr’s not recover at all? I’m so scared I’m stuck like this and haven’t seen any improvement in 4 months😢

I think there are fewer stories because it’s not as common as typical withdrawal and not that people don’t recover. People do seem to recover from the adverse reactions as there are success stories here of that but just not many. 
 

Dont be disheartened that at four months out you haven’t seen much improvement, that is still really early in the healing process. The worst thing you could do is be scared you won’t heal, this will ramp up your nervous system more. Tell yourself each day you will heal. 

[Whatheheckhappened]

I was taking Zoloft for a couple months (up and down on doses) but felt fairly normal. My dr prescribed lexapro 10mg to try. Told me to just stop Zoloft and start lexapro the next day. I woke up the morning after my 2nd dose of lexapro with SEVERE OCD, intrusive thoughts, anxiety and the worst, my emotions and empathy gone! I continued lexapro for 4 doses before reinstating Zoloft. Would you consider this an adverse reaction, withdraws, or something else?

[Celeste1990]

Is it a sign of healing if just one symptom goes away? When I first had my adverse reaction I had two main symptoms, dizziness and muscle jerking when trying to sleep. The muscle jerking lightened up about a month ago and I haven’t really had it since. I still get small twitches but it doesn’t really bother me and I can sleep 8-9 hours. But the dizziness is still as bad as ever so it doesn’t really feel like an improvement. 

[Ariel]

2 hours ago, Celeste1990 said:

Is it a sign of healing if just one symptom goes away?

 

Yes @Celeste1990

Healing is non-linear, it doesn't happen all at once or in any sort of predictable fashion. 

The windows and waves and fluctuations and changes are ALL signs of healing. 

 

2 hours ago, Celeste1990 said:

I still get small twitches but it doesn’t really bother me and I can sleep 8-9 hours.

 

This sounds like a very good sign! 

It's amazing that you're able to sleep 8-9 hours. 

Many of us here would give an arm and a leg to experience that kind of sleep!

Definitely a sign of healing <3

 

2 hours ago, Celeste1990 said:

But the dizziness is still as bad as ever so it doesn’t really feel like an improvement. 

 

This is your mind focusing on the negative.

 

Our human brains have a negative bias because of how this has evolutionarily helped us survive. Our WD brains are hyper-alert to anything perceived as danger or threat, and this makes the negative bias even stronger. Our minds are always going to say, "Yeah, BUT..." and "No, BUT..."

It's an automatic response, it is NOT necessarily true or accurate. 

 

The truth lies in the BOTH AND. You are experiencing improvement and healing, AND you are still dealing with dizziness. BOTH of those things are true. It's not a BUT it's an AND. This is where you have to actively work to retrain your brain, practicing constructive thought patterns such as reminding yourself to say BOTH AND. There's a psycholinguistic thought experiment you can practice of giving up the word "but" for a week, routinely replacing it with "and". I did that once and pretty much never went back! Using "and" instead of "but" is incredibly freeing and relaxing and soothing, and guess what? It doesn't change the truth of a statement! 

 

Start practicing those non-drug coping techniques, Celeste. The overall duration of the recovery process is unknown, and there isn't much we can do to speed it up, as much as we'd like to. You will heal, and you do have an active role to play along the way. You have the power to influence your experience by practicing acceptance, patience, and faith -- and learning non-drug coping skills to help yourself along the way. It makes a big difference in being able to tolerate challenges as we go. 

 

This is another topic I find myself returning to again and again -- I love how it encourages us to explore agency in noticing the little things. 

 

It's extremely important to cultivate the positive, to practice gratitude and engage in other proactive exercises that retrain our brains to notice and remember good things. This is not just some woo-woo, new age bullsh*t, I promise you. This is the real-life, evidence-based science of neuroplasticity and it has to do with how our brains learn, grow, heal, and remember. As neuroscientist BJ Fogg says, what we celebrate, we integrate. The more attention we give to what we want -- celebrating our wins, sharing improvements -- the more we reinforce those neurological connections. It's like when we do behavioral training with dogs, giving them treats when they do something we want to encourage. Reward reinforces the desired behavior in humans as well -- and we can do this for ourselves by focusing and insisting on felt progress and welcome developments. 

 

You got this, Celeste <3

Healing is happening! 

Healing is happening all the time, even when we don't consciously perceive it. 

 

Love,

Ariel

[Celeste1990]

Thank you so much, @Ariel ❤️ I’m trying so hard to not be this way and need constant reassurance. But i always appreciate your insight and wisdom. You are so sweet.