Please Help!

[[Buddie]]

Ok thank you. Do you think that the tinnitus will get better? I’m tempted to not taper and just stop because it’s so screeching.

Do you mean, quit cold turkey instead of holding?  I doubt that will eliminate the tinnitus, at least it didn’t for me when I quit cold turkey.  If finally left around the 10 month mark.

[[Buddie]]

Ok thanks

[[Buddie]]

Do you know why it seems like my tinnitus and muscle twitching gets worse when I take my dose? It seems like I do better in between doses.

[[Buddie]]

I sure don’t but I’ve read other members talk about it, they wonder if they’re experiencing paradoxical reactions but I don’t think this qualifies.  How long after you take it do you begin to feel better?

[[Buddie]]

Anxiety lifts in about 1.5 hours after taking it and the tinnitus is better the next day. About 12 hours after taking it. I take it at night.

[[Buddie]]

Hi [...]

I’ve used to consistently experience the uptick in symptoms after dosing also, and I’ve also seen others experience it. When I stabilised properly, these symptom upticks soon after dosing, ceased altogether, and I’ve heard the same reports from others, so please don’t just jump to the conclusion that you are experiencing a true paradoxical reaction to the medication.

I’ve think I’ve noticed a change in your signature overnight… Zoloft 37.5 mg? You had been off it for over 4 months, is that right? Was there a reason you have added it back in, even at a higher dose than the 25mg you were originally taking months ago? I hope it wasn’t because I mentioned you really should’ve tapered off back in September, rather than c/t?

[[Buddie]]

I stopped taking the Zoloft last year but then I had my baby and I got pretty severe postpartum anxiety. I was afraid of it turning into postpartum psychosis so in the hospital I asked to be put on the clonazepam and I started back on Zoloft 25mg. Then my doctor pushed me up to 50mg where I started to feel dizzy and lightheaded most of the day. So they switched me to Escitalopram and I had increased ringing in my ears although now I’m thinking that it was the clonazepam because she told me to stop taking it everyday and to just take it as needed which ended up being 2 times a week for me at .25mg. I listened to her because she said that I hadn’t been back on the clonazepam that long and was at a low dose. The longer I go without the clonazepam the better the ringing gets. So we were going to try the Effexor and she told me to take a break between antidepressants for three days and I started to get discontinuation syndrome from not taking an antidepressant. I shouldn’t have listened to her. I got mad and found another doctor because it set me back and I ended up taking way more clonazepam than usual just to help with the symptoms.. So now I’m on 37.5mg of Zoloft but I’m trying to get back up to 50mg again because I think I figured out why I was getting dizzy and how to stop it. I think it’s because I was sweating a lot at night and was dehydrated.

Also I didn’t CT the Zoloft last year. I did a taper on it. I was doing pretty good off of psych meds until a couple of days after I gave birth in November. I haven’t really stabilized on my anti depressants yet. We have been moving up and down and trying all kinds of different meds. Sometimes I wonder if I should try to stabilize on an antidepressant before I start to taper again but then I get a lot of anxiety thinking about what if my doctor doesn’t understand that I need to taper when the time comes and just cuts me off and I won’t have enough pills to slow taper? Right now I have enough pills to slow taper. Last night I had panic attacks that wouldn’t let up even with me taking my .25mg dose so I had to take .5mg last night. I’m going to skip tonight if I can and take my dose tomorrow probably or just wait until I feel like I really need to take it sense it’s as needed. I just really need to stabilize on an antidepressant. The tinnitus got a lot better after I took the .5 and I would like to start at stabilizing there but if I do then that means I will definitely probably need a couple more prescriptions and I hate having to rely on a doctor to prescribe it to me in order to continue the taper in order to not lose it. I could stay where I’m at at .25mg and just suffer the tinnitus and then jump down in a week in a half and so on and then I won’t have to rely on a doctor to prescribe me pills in order to slow taper. The latter is safer as far as the taper goes but the former is healthier for my mental health because then I can stabilize. I don’t know what to do. I hate that the doctors have so much control over our mental health with these meds but I needed it in November or I’m sure I would have slipped into postpartum psychosis.
L

[[Buddie]]

Hi [...]

I’ve used to consistently experience the uptick in symptoms after dosing also, and I’ve also seen others experience it. When I stabilised properly, these symptom upticks soon after dosing, ceased altogether, and I’ve heard the same reports from others, so please don’t just jump to the conclusion that you are experiencing a true paradoxical reaction to the medication.

I’ve think I’ve noticed a change in your signature overnight… Zoloft 37.5 mg? You had been off it for over 4 months, is that right? Was there a reason you have added it back in, even at a higher dose than the 25mg you were originally taking months ago? I hope it wasn’t because I mentioned you really should’ve tapered off back in September, rather than c/t?

I noticed that what I wrote can be a little confusing maybe because of how I wrote it so I’m going to write a timeline of events:

2021 - tapered anti-depressant due to heart palpitations
2021 - realized that heart palpitations were caused by clonazepam and started to taper
2021 - had weird symptoms cause taper was too fast and started slow taper and started Zoloft 25mg 
May 2022 - jumped clonazepam in first trimester of pregnant after slow taper that almost took a year. Things were good. And stayed on Zoloft.
August-September 2022 - slow tapered Zoloft things were good. Some anxiety which increased at the end of pregnancy.
November 2022 - had baby, couple of days after birth extreme anxiety returned with baby blues and had a hospital re-admission due to several health issues including postpartum mental illness issues
November 2022 - started taking 25mg Zoloft and .25mg clonazepam daily
December 2022 - started taking 50mg Zoloft and .25mg clonazepam as needed which turned out to be about twice a week
January 2023 - switched to 20mg Escitalopram and still taking as needed clonazepam.25mg. One week I took about an extra 1.5mg. Had increased tinnitus thought was Escitalopram. Doctor switched me to another AD but told me to wait 3 days and not take any AD before switch. Started to have discontinuation syndrome from AD. Had to take 1mg of clonazepam to stabilize on Sunday, Monday .5mg clonazepam and Tuesday 5mg clonazepam. Got a new doctor. Started back on escitalopram but ringing came back louder. Switched back to 37.5mg Zoloft. Been taking .25mg of clonazepam everyday for four days, fifth day had to take .5mg for panic attack.
January 2023 - currently at 37.5mg Zoloft and .25mg clonazepam and am thinking about going back to taking it only twice a week, slow taper or cold Turkey.

[[Buddie]]

I can see you’re struggling with what to do about the Clonazepam, I don’t advise a cold turkey but I think making a decision will help you.  Indecision is really hard on us, it creates pressure and stress which will make symptoms worse. 

[[Buddie]]

Hi [...],
I don't have any particular advice to add but just wanted to say "Hi" and that I'm really pulling for you to feel better soon!  I know how intense the postpartum depression and anxiety can be and now the stress of worrying about how much you can trust Doctors on how to handle it without causing things to get worse.  I'm stressing on the other side of things with figuring out my menopause situation!   Hang in there and hugs!