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Antidepressant Withdrawal


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I so wish I had found this forum forever ago. I was started in Paxil over 25 years ago for what was really pretty mild premenopausal sxs. It did smooth out the edges. As you will see by my list of meds in my signature I have been so over medicated it's just hard for me to even read. Stopping the Paxil was not ever mentioned by any Dr. I just took it like a good little patient. Almost all my family and friends of the female sex were on one AD or another.

This past fall I had gotten off a ton of stuff- morphine, methadone (high dose- pain clinic) lyrica, a statin. I decided I was so good I would quit the Paxil, basically CT. I was mainly tired and had the eye movement/brain shocks for a few weeks but thought I was good, I could cry again. When major symptoms started weeks later I didn't even think about it being the paxil. I was dizzy, weak, horribly nauseated, racing heart, chest pressure, fainted.. ended up in the ER twice and honestly thought I was going to die. I had never felt so bad. When it hit me that it was possibly the paxil I looked it up and saw that some people had experienced the same symptoms. For months on end. I immediately got back on it and after a month of improvement I was finally better. The thoughts and memories that were unbearable before going back on it were hell. My poor husband would say "do we need to go somewhere?" as in a mental facility, but I kept saying I was not a threat to myself or anyone else so what would they do? I was not nearly strong enough to wait and see if there was life or something better on the 'other side' of the torture. I feel OK on it. I would love to be off. But my latest Rx for xanax after my chronic pain that has had me in bed for 90% of the last 17 months ended in yet another disaster. I was put back on morphine, which I am trying to take as little as possible  and xanax which was not used nearly as often as allowed- I didn't want to get addicted so I quit it CT. And here I am. Being totally ignorant of the dangers of sudden WD and finding myself in a big mess I found BB. I have had some people tell me I need to get off the paxil but that is way down the list at the moment. It will be a while before I am off the xanax. I just want to say that having this forum and knowing what it teaches is the best thing I have ever found when/if I do decide to try again to get off paxil. God bless each of you on your journey and for the support you can get only from someone who has walked in your shoes. We each have our own experience but we all can understand what others are going thru even if it's not exactly the same. The non-judgment means as much to me as anything else!

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  • 1 year later...

Hi! Is there anyone on the forum tapering an SSRI after benzo withdrawal? If so, let's be buddies!

 

Hello I’m tapering off an NDRI Wellbutrin not an SSRI but still an antidepressant after having just come off 2mgs of klonopin July 31st

 

I need some buddies too. Thanks

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  • 1 month later...
I’ve been away from the site for a while, but am back to connect with others.  I’ve been off of Zoloft for five weeks and going through withdrawals. I never wanted to feel as bad as I did a couple of years ago, but here I am just trying to get through another day again.
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  • 3 months later...

I’ve been away from the site for a while, but am back to connect with others.  I’ve been off of Zoloft for five weeks and going through withdrawals. I never wanted to feel as bad as I did a couple of years ago, but here I am just trying to get through another day again.

 

Hi. I’m currently tapering Sertraline. I’m curious to hear how your taper went? Did you reduce slowly or cold turkey?

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  • 3 months later...

I’ve been away from the site for a while, but am back to connect with others.  I’ve been off of Zoloft for five weeks and going through withdrawals. I never wanted to feel as bad as I did a couple of years ago, but here I am just trying to get through another day again.

 

Hi. I’m currently tapering Sertraline. I’m curious to hear how your taper went? Did you reduce slowly or cold turkey?

 

 

I’m not sure why I didn’t get an alert.  Sorry for the late reply.  I tapered down from 25 to 12.5 to 6.25 and off.  The next med I tackled was gabapentin.  It seems like I get the same withdrawal symptoms from any brain altering medication.

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  • 4 months later...

After a 2 year horrid taper off K and now 9 years benzo free I have been hit with an awful 2 month wave of the exact same w/d symptoms. It may or may not have been triggered by my covid vaccinations though the timing suggests that yes it was.

 

My neurologist prescribed daily 25 mg Nortriptyline. Took for 2 days, now feel horrible with additional symptoms. Seems I made a big mistake.

 

My question is do I need to taper off this after just 2 doses or best just yo stop now???

 

Any advice appreciated.

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After a 2 year horrid taper off K and now 9 years benzo free I have been hit with an awful 2 month wave of the exact same w/d symptoms. It may or may not have been triggered by my covid vaccinations though the timing suggests that yes it was.

 

My neurologist prescribed daily 25 mg Nortriptyline. Took for 2 days, now feel horrible with additional symptoms. Seems I made a big mistake.

 

My question is do I need to taper off this after just 2 doses or best just yo stop now???

 

Any advice appreciated.

 

Just stop. If you stay on it to taper you will only deepen your dependency. I am not saying you will not have any withdrawal symptoms I am just saying that I believe it will be the easiest route on your CNS. When I took Zoloft for 4 days I just stopped CT. It took a few weeks to get back to baseline after I stopped. I took Remeron for 8 months and then tapered for 2 years. I feel I made the right choice in both scenarios.

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I tried multiple different AD's in the past.  Took some for a few days and others just one day.  I just stopped taking them.  If it's only a few pills, I'd just stop taking it.
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Hi How much or dangerous will withdrawal be from 12 days of Amitriptyline at 10mg / day if I stop?

 

As I get too much constipation on these and yesterday night I didn’t take one and now I feel dizzy and groggy in the head, and some brain zaps. How long will it last? If any ideas

 

45kg / 90lbs

 

Thanks

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If I were only taking an AD no matter the type for only 12 days I'd just stop taking it.  You don't mention in your signature if you're still taking benzo's?  If you're still on benzo's, the symptoms you're experiencing could be from them.
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  • 2 months later...
  • 6 months later...
Thank you for doing this work, mind. I am nearly 3 years off of benzodiazepine and a very slow taper. I stupidly started Lexapro back in mid April. I’m up to 15 mg. I’m wondering if I can taper more rapidly because I’ve been on it for such a short amount of time. I took Lexapro probably about 20 years ago and had no problem getting off of it but I was on Clonopin at the time.
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  • 2 months later...
I know this is an old thread, but when I stopped my antidepressant, 2 or 3 months out, I was hit akathisia and Dr. Shipko (spoke to him on the phone) strongly encouraged getting on a benzo (which I did). However, he contradicted himself in the article posted here and said to fully reinstate my SSRI which greatly exacerbated my symptoms. 
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  • 3 months later...

Hi. I mistakenly rapid-tapered Ati. in 2021. I have been off for 20 months. My nervous system is still unstable. Eventually I want to begin a taper off of lex. and mirt. I'm wondering if anyone can advise me on which I should taper first. I take 30 mg of mirt. and wonder if I should try to get to a lower dose of that and then work on the 20mg of lex.; but save the rest of mirt. until the end because it helps me sleep.

 

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Just a warning, but Effexor...always taper.

I stopped it coldturkey...it was as bad as klonopin wd. Absolutely not kidding: massive anxiety, derealization,  depersonalization,  nerve pain, insomnia, akathisia and the list goes on.

 

Went on for a good 3 or 4 months; intense but short.

 

Brainzaps lasted a few weeks.

 

Effexor is definitely one that should be eased off of. Terrible medicine.

 

SSRIs are vile just like the tranquilizers.

 

I'm just saying...never throw Effexor down. Wisely chip it away.

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  • 2 months later...

Thank you for writing this it is scary that doctors don't follow this my mom was taking a mix of Zoloft, Trazadone and Busbarone.  this is about 7 months out of a 4 month taper off of Lorasapm 2MGS (8 years of use under PCP control).  Since she has been on this cocktail she has developed a phobia of fallng and the doctors will change meds without a taper at all.  My family and My mom who is the one on this crap decided to scale back under the Doctors consent (not really willingly since psychiatrists are just pill pushers) she cold turkey said to stop taking the zolft after a month of use.  Next month we are going to pull the Busbar.  this is our 4th psychiatrist we have been to all don't believe there is a post withdrawl phase of these medications.  This is taking a toll on my family and my mom she is a very strong person still goes does her work outs at the senior center but since no one is willing to help in the medical field or just push meds it is not easy.  Also i wonder what damage these other drugs are doing to the healing

 

brad

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  • 4 months later...

Hello all. I recently got off of Zoloft in January this year after tapering since last October. I was doing fine for 2 months until I got protracted withdrawal symptoms from it and had to reinstate the medication. The symptoms and restlessness I had was so bad I was put on Klonopin. I thought that taking the Klonopin would only be temporary and I tried getting off after the initial 2 weeks but it was too difficult. I tried stopping again a week ago after a hasty two week taper going down to 0.125mg from 1.5mg daily and jumped but it was so bad I had to updose again and still haven' t fully recovered yet.

 

I've heard people say that it is more ideal to taper the antidepressant first before doing the benzo but I wanted to ask if there are scenarios where it would be possible to taper the benzo first and if there's any information on that. I am still adjusting to the antidepressant reinstatement and know getting off now would be really bad but at the same time I have been taking Klonopin for 9 weeks and want to minimize how bad withdrawals will be while I still have the chance. After two failed attempts to stop it has been very disheartening but reading the stories on here makes me all the more motivated to get off of these meds.

 

Antidepressant withdrawal has been absolutely brutal for me but I can't imagine how much worse benzo withdrawal would be on top of this. I was extremely desperate at the time when I started it and had never taken a benzo prior except on 2 emergency occasions in my life. I really don't want to go down this road, I didn't know dependency could develop this quick. The worst of it is the brain fog, head pressure, fatigue, palpitations and restlessness. With these already heightened senses it makes them 10 times worse than they already are.

 

I'm really at a loss at what to do now. I see my doctor soon and am going to try and maintain taking 0.5mg daily for now. I am glad to have gotten it down from 1.5mg and that I can manage on that dose but I am so, so scared.

 

Anyone who reads this post, thank you. I know I haven't taken it for that long but even coming off of it now is awful, I can't imagine how bad it will be in the future. I wanted to live a life without meds and ended up on another one with even worse withdrawals.

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