SSRI's but not Imipramine affect GABA through Neurosteroid increase

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/11/991110061714.htm

 

Was looking into allopregnanolone because it mediates GABA activity, and ran across this article. Essentially SSRI's increase this neurosteroid 10-30x and is implicated in its anxiolytic effects. This helps uncover the picture a bit possibly as to why SSRI and Benzo withdrawl have some similar symptomology. If true, this could be important for future buddies who are wanting to get on an antidepressant, as perhaps an SSRI could slow recovery wheres something like imipiramine, which showed no increases in allopregnanolone, might be a better option. Obviously one would have to weight the risks and benefits as TCA's do have more side effects generally, but its something to think about.

 

 

EDIT: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s11123.htm  also another interesting article

I also read something about SSRIs affecting neurosteroids.

wow.....they really have little to no idea how these pills they hand out like candy work!  it's a disgrace that they were ever allowed to market.

So I have been on 20 mg of Prozac for 17 years, the same amount of time on Klonopin @ .125.  I am benzo free for almost 9 months but still suffering w/d sx.  I am getting some windows.  A doctor I saw said that he didn't think the Prozac was doing anything for me anymore, but I was afraid to stop it.  I have weaned down to about 15 mg (I use liquid prozac and don't have a great way to measure it) and after I just read the above post, feel that maybe I should try to get off it as it may be preventing me from healing more quickly.  Do any of you have any thoughts on this subject?  Prozac is known to also help with anxiety so I feel it may be one of the A/Ds that would have the most effect on the GABA portion of the brain.  Any thoughts or suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!!!! Hoping2BFree

I also was on 20 mg of Prozac for 20 yrs and was prescribed it simultaneously with Xanax.  Oh boy, I don't know what to tell you.  See I had a horrible w/d from Prozac.  I couldn't eat because of SEVERE nausea and had severe diarrhea, so bad that my weight plummeted from 110 1lbs to below 90 lbs in a few weeks, a very short period of time.  I am 5'6" tall and looked like a Nazi war camp prisoner.  I also had alot of other w/d symptoms, I can't remember them all, but I remember being extremely miserable.  I went to the doctor but he was unaware of any withdrawal associated with Prozac.  Big help!

 

I however weaned off Prozac a year before I stopped benzos.  I did the Prozac first.

 

What I am afraid of for you is w/d on top of w/d.  I don't know if Prozac would hinder your Benzo recovery.  But I shudder to think of becoming as sick as I was on top of benzo w/d.  I would contact all the ERs in your area to see if any of them has an Addiction Specialist on staff to ask.  A Psychiatrist may know, since they prescribe both types of meds simultaneously.

 

Wow, I will definitely pray for you.  I think the main point we were trying to make was that people should be cautious if they were thinking of starting an SSRI while in benzo w/d.

 

 

So I have been on 20 mg of Prozac for 17 years, the same amount of time on Klonopin @ .125.  I am benzo free for almost 9 months but still suffering w/d sx.  I am getting some windows.  A doctor I saw said that he didn't think the Prozac was doing anything for me anymore, but I was afraid to stop it.  I have weaned down to about 15 mg (I use liquid prozac and don't have a great way to measure it) and after I just read the above post, feel that maybe I should try to get off it as it may be preventing me from healing more quickly.  Do any of you have any thoughts on this subject?  Prozac is known to also help with anxiety so I feel it may be one of the A/Ds that would have the most effect on the GABA portion of the brain.  Any thoughts or suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!!!! Hoping2BFree

 

I would hate for you to have to suffer an AD w/d on top of the benzo withdrawal.  That being said, I do know there are people who felt better once they came off their anti-depressants after benzos.  Makes me wonder if anti-depressants have a different effect on people who recovered from benzo use.  I went through some of the posts of a member named Natedogg.  He was a posting about being off benzos for a year and still feeling horrible, he suspected the Celexa he was on was holding back his recovery.  I believe he got off and within another 2 months he posted his success story and said he was finally healed.  

 

Of course everyone is different. I think he got on Celexa shortly after his taper  (like within a month) so he was on it for about a year... whereas you have been on Prozac much longer.  If you suspect your Prozac is the culprit and want to get off... just taper as slow as you can.  Gotta treat your CNS with kid gloves.

Thank you all for your thoughts - I don't know what to do - I just know I am suffering pretty badly right now so maybe I will just hold on the Prozac where I am for now.

Hoping

Hoping2BFree, I am benzo-free the same amount of time as you, still on Neurontin and Celexa, and still suffering. When I was tapering Klonopin, the advice I received was taper one drug at a time, so I decided to get the Klonopin out of the way first. I too wonder how much the Neurontin and Celexa might be holding back my benzo recovery, but just can't imagine doing anything to make myself feel worse at this juncture. I know they'll have to be tapered eventually and that scares me. I don't think I or my long-suffering husband have another hideous taper left in us.

 

You and I need to remind ourselves that antidepressant tapers like Perseverance endured are not the norm. I once quit Paxil cold turkey and suffered a month of mood swings. I thought it was awful at the time, but that's because I hadn't yet encountered benzo withdrawal. This time, when I quit my antidepressant, I will use all the knowledge I gained tapering Klonopin. I'm going to turtle taper off Neurontin and Celexa using water titration. Hopefully that will make all the difference.

 

I'm not sure when I'll start. I'd like to be more solid in my benzo recovery.

All of my other w/ds were a cake walk compared to Benzos.  They lasted for only a month or two and as the symptoms went away they did not keep coming back as with benzos.  I think the severity of your w/d depends on what the experts say: What drug you were on, how long you were on it, and personal body chemistry.

 

I was able to stop taking each drug at will early on.  But as time progressed and I kept taking it I always noticed a sort of "point of no return" if you will, where suddenly I could not just stop taking it without physical w/d symptoms.  Like somewhere along the way the addiction switch was turned on.

 

I was concerned that there is a parallel between us.  We were both on Prozac the same length of time, and the experts state that is a factor.  Due to this I only want to instill caution and provide information should these w/d symptoms arise you would have some kind of first hand knowledge of what might be going on.

 

I am all for getting of psychotropic drugs.  As a matter of fact I feel rather strongly about it and have to pull back the reigns and keep my emotions in check when I am discussing this topic.  I feel betrayed by the psychiatrists and have lost alot of my life to these drugs.  I worry for our country as a whole as I see so many of our citizens taking these drugs.

Thank you Andrea and Perseverance for your comments.  I thought I was long enough out on my benzo freedom to start tapering the Prozac....but i guess I am not because I don't know whether what I am feeling is still Benzo w/d (8 and 1/2 months) or is it the result of the Prozac tapering.  I will stop tapering now - I just didn't want to keep taking the Prozac IF it was causing some problems or prolonging my

benzo withdrawal.  It threw me into a tizzy and I have had some clarifications on it and feel better and will continue on my prozac but just hold where I am right now.  Thank you all!

Hoping2bFree

I really feel for you.  I was really lucky that I chose to stop the benzo as the last one out of all the drugs I have gotten myself off of.  I don't know why I chose the order I did.  If I would have chosen the benzo first I sometimes wonder if I would have been too scared to stop taking the other drugs.  Keep up your determination to be free of these nasty psychotropic drugs.  You have more courage that you know.