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SSRI support group - tapering while on benzo's or after recovery


[Ki...]

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Can I join this thread? I am 4.5 months off Ativan and I am  planning my taper off Zoloft.

 

I am not yet fully recovered from benzo withdrawal yet, though I am functional for the most part and back to work.  I’m eager to taper off the Zoloft because I think these medications are poison and it’s also making me fat ! :(

 

However I tried cutting a small amount and started to feel symptoms after three or four days ...  I reinstated and now I’m considering waiting another month or so.  Perhaps my poor nervous system cannot handle a taper right now since I’m still in benzo withdrawal?

 

I’ve only been taking Zoloft about seven months and I don’t want to take it any longer than I have to!  But I would like to remain as symptom-free as possible while still getting this poison out of my system  ... Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated. Thank you!

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if you tried to make a cut and you felt it already i would wait until you were like 8 months off benzos at that point i went 10 percent every two weeks by again everyone is different  could be 10 percent a month might be good for you .
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  • 3 weeks later...
I am posting for my sister. Three years ago she began taking mirtazapine 7.5 mg for sleep. In January she decided to taper and by March 6 she had completed the taper. I know this was extremely fast. For the next two months everything was fine she slept in everything was non-symptomatic. On May 20, she was bolted awake by ear buzzing. She thinks the two are unrelated. I do not.  she does not sleep more than three hours a night is always bolted awake I think this is tinnitus ands a delayed reaction from the taper.  Can anyone offer me any information comments. On how to proceed at this point she is 72 lives alone had to stop her part-time job and I want to be able to offer some kind of support. Thank you
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  • 1 month later...

Great thread! I am 6 months off benzos and am now planning my SSRI taper. Is there anyone else out there in this boat?

 

Also, has anyone noticed changes to your weight on while taking a SSRI?

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  • 11 months later...
I started celexa at the same time as klonopin. I thought it helped but I can’t be sure. No evidence that it didn’t help. But how the hell am I supposed to know if it’s helping me or hurting me as a get off klonopin?
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  • 1 year later...
This is an old topic so I don't know if anyone contributes to it any more.  I keep doing all the wrong things, I think.  Please read my profile for history of ssri and benzo use.  I went back on Prozac just prior to stopping benzos.  I am in a pretty bad stage of benzo recovery, but I have convinced myself that I want to taper Prozac.  I keep wondering if Prozac is making me worse this time.  And I hate the fact that I am on any drugs after what I have experienced with benzos.  EVERYONE on this forum and on Surviving Antidepressents tells me to wait to taper Prozac until I am more stable in my benzo recovery, but that could take years!  I am 71 and want my life back.  I took Prozac for anxiety and anger issues.  I guess it worked for me, but it also numbed me and in the end I wasn't sure if it was doing anything to improve my quality of life.  So in October I did my first 10% cut.  That was 3 months ago.  I haven't noticed anything different except for my normal up and down benzo symptoms - but how would I even know?  One day I say I am not going to cut any more, then the next day I want to.  So this week I did a 5% cut, just to advance it a little.  And now I am terrified that I have harmed myself and will never recover from benzos either.  The problem is that when I CT Prozac in August 2020 I did not feel any WD for 3 months, then it got progressively worse month after month.  It got really bad - I ended up in the ER twice.  And I didn't know what it was.  When I started feeling Prozac WD, not knowing what it was, I started taking a benzo.  Screwed upon screwed.  The delayed reaction to stopping Prozac made it all impossible to sort out.  I read where some people will not go into withdrawal for months or even a year after stopping an SSRI.  So I fear now that it is all going to hit me at once.  I am rambling and don't even know what I am asking.  But if ANYONE has gone through something similar trying to taper an SSRI during benzo recovery, please reply.  I was on SSRIs for 20 years and I am now thinking I will never be free, or that it will take the rest of my life to free myself from this drug.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life in WD.  I don't know if a really slow taper will prevent symptoms during and after jumping, or might I still have to go through years of recovery after jumping?  Or years of symptoms tapering, all the while trying to recover from benzos.  Help!
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I've withdrawn from paxil several times....walk in the park compared to this.....but in all three instances, I was hot with severe depression and anxiety around the 4-5 month period...

 

I recommend a very slow taper over a year such that you can guage whether you are getting worse at which time you may hold or increase of necessary.....or you could always  withdraw over a short period of six weeks and then reinstate if necessary.

 

For some it's quite simple to stop and prozac is a fairly easy one.  I'm on 300 MG's of effexor as I'm so depressed and sick from these benzos.......SSRI use had not been bad for me in obvious ways....maybe it's bad for me in ways I don't know I'm sure but I personally need an SSRI and as gross as it sounds probably always will. My grandmother had been on them for 50 years. She's 94 and healthy!  But many are struggling with them and understand....I don't mind them at all. I jumped up from 225 to 300 a few months ago and a huge help.

 

You may be fine....if you're worried slowly withdraw over a year and if you feel at some point you're worsening, you can hold or increase. If not you may need 4-8 weeks to reinstate and get benefits of it..♥️🙏

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  • 4 months later...
I got cold turkeyed of a lot of meds and am in really bad WD. Is it even possible to safely taper after this? And if so how long after WD?
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  • 3 weeks later...

I got cold turkeyed of a lot of meds and am in really bad WD. Is it even possible to safely taper after this? And if so how long after WD?

 

I found that after 1 year off benzos, I was able to taper my SSRI by 50% with no reaction, and after 2 years, I was able to taper my Remeron by 50% with no reaction. I had been on the SSRI pre-benzo, but the Remeron had been used to patch benzo withdrawal. When I had just finished benzo withdrawal and for at least 10 months after I couldn't even taper by .00005% of either. So over time, with eating healthy and getting my nutrition up, I could come down on both much more easily than right after benzo withdrawal.

 

However, I was stable the entire time, so I could eat and replenish my body of nutrition. I had gone on 60mg of Remeron to eliminate my benzo withdrawal symptoms altogether. I had no symptoms really from the time I went on 60mg Remeron until the time I tried to taper from 15mg Remeron many years later. The history is in my signature.

 

If I had it to re-do, I would still have gone on the Remeron, because I do believe that its easier to get off of than the benzo if you wait long enough for your body to build up the nutrition to do it. I am having a much easier time with it than I did with benzos, mainly because I'm using nutrition and DAO enzyme to address the histamine.

 

Sending healing thoughts to both of you. -Quinn  :therethere:

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  • 7 months later...

Hi hi,

I have tapered zopiclone 3 months ago, and now I am planning to taper cipramil soon,  an anti depressivant. I am on 40 mg, and I want to use liquid cipramil to do it very slowly. 2mg per step. I hope I will get relieve from my morning grogginess. But first I go an exhibition of Vermeer, tomorrow with my father, on the birthday of my mother, who passed away 2 1/2 years ago,

Huggs Jerry  :thumbsup:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi There…

CAN ANYONE PLEASE TELL ME IF ESCITALOPRAM (Generic for Lexapro) can be tapered with WATER TITRATION? Thank you in advance…

 

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Hi Rikki,

You can get escitalopram in liquid form. I am now also using liquid citalopram for my taper. I have started last friday with my taper. I use 30 mg in pill form and 10 mg in liquid form. Every drop is 2 mg. So now I am now on 38 mg. I hope to go to 36 mg next week.

Jerry

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  • 3 months later...

Hi, are there others tapering an Ssri?

After a long pause I now restarted my escitalopram taper since thursday. I am now on 34 mg, so 6 mg off. The last couple of days are quite tough, especially in the mornings. I feel more depressed. I try to distract myself. Monday Wimbledon starts, so I will be following this tournament. I am also busy making a new website. With this website I promote my website making skills. How do you make it through the day? Hugggsss, Jerry  :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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