In trouble with an antidepressant and antipsychotic

Hello

 

I am a 29 year old female from Eastern Europe.

I suffer from depression, anxiety, pure-o ocd, and panic attacks since 2004. I've been on multiple different psychiatric drugs since 2006. Never had a significant withdrawal problem before, only brain zaps for a month and then I'd be fine.

I've been on Cipralex (escitalopram) 15 mg and Fluanxol (flupentixol) 1 mg since September 2014. Stopped taking the Cipralex after a fast 20-day taper.Took the last 5 mg Cipralex on Feb 5th, 2015. Then took Seroxat (paroxetine) 10 mg for a week, felt bad,and stopped it too. Severe withdrawal started suddenly on Feb 16th. Reinstated 5 mg Cipralex on Feb 18th, 2015. The reinstatement worked and was relatively stable for a while.

April 7 - decreased Fluanxol from 1 mg to 0.5 mg and took it at this dose for a week. - BIG MISTAKE; April 13 - withdrawal starts creeping in; April 14 - reinstate full dose of Fluanxol 1 mg => symptoms are severe muscle twitching and jerking when trying to relax and fall asleep, overwhelming sense of doom, dread, terror, and horror (is this akathisia?), insomnia.

Managed to stabilize in the following weeks and was doing fine.

Tried doing a 10% cut off Fluanxol in the end of May for a few days, but quickly updosed to full dose because the twitching returned.

Experiencing waves and windows in the following months.

Unsuccessful brief taper attempt of Fluanxol by 5% on November 1st. Symptoms hit the next day. Too scared to continue tapering, reinstate full dose.

Severe crash in November after stupidly trying a 350 mg barbiturate on November 9th. Grave mistake. Sense of unshakable inescapable internal torture, like my soul is in hell being tortured, terror/horror/dread/doom (probably akathisia?) that gets especially bad when trying to relax and fall asleep, muscles twitch, jerk and move on their own, shaking, insomnia, can't eat, confusion, disorientation, brain not working normally. Never felt so bad in my entire life. Never experiment with other meds while in withdrawal! Praying to God I stabilize and get back to my baseline. Fighting for my life at the moment.

 

I want to ask if these feelings I am exepriencing are akathisia. The psychiatrist said no because I don't feel restless and I don't pace and move around. But I feel tortured and terrifiied and I've been told this means it's akathisia.

 

Do you think I will recover from the barbiturate crash and get back to my normal baseline? I want to stabilize to be able to taper off these terrible drugs, especially the antipsychotic.

Hi, bluebalu.

 

Yes, your comment right here - "Sense of unshakable inescapable internal torture, like my soul is in hell being tortured" is the very definition of akathisia.

 

A lot of doctors don't really understand akathisia because they are taught that it's a movement disorder. And the fact is, many people do move around as a way of compensating for the agitation. However, the worst part of akathisia isn't in how restless it makes the body, but in how restless it makes the mind.

 

All psychiatric drugs - benzos, antidepressants, and antipsychotics - can cause akathisia, so it's quite possible that's what it is. I know it's a very miserable feeling, so I hope it passes soon for you.

 

If you can, try to stabilize on your meds. By moving the doses around and coming off and on them, you're destabilizing your CNS (central nervous system) even more. It will be easier in the long run to get on a steady dose and decrease very slowly over time.

 

You may wish to read this post on coming off of antidepressants. It has a lot of information, including links to other sources of information - Antidepressant Withdrawal. There's also information on figuring out which medication to taper first which will help you set up a strategy for how to come off your particular cocktail of meds.

 

Also, please list your medications and doses in your Signature.  This will help members give you relevant advice. This link shows you How to Create a Signature.

 

And please keep posting and let us know how you're doing. 

Yes it is... Do u have the desperation and anguish, as if your soul wants to escape your body and run down the street screaming ?

No, not really. I just feel tortured and it's very hard to bear. traumatized, do you pace?

The doctor said it's not akathisia because I don't feel restless and have no need to pace or move around. My mind doesn't feel restless, it feels tortured. I also have severely twitching muscles and shaking. Is this part of akathisia too?

So I don't know.

Whatever it is, it's very nasty. I hope it subsides. I'm not sure I want to taper off at this point, I can't deal with this feeling. All else I can bear but this is too much for me.

It's called psychic akathesia and it's very real.

It's been 5 weeks since I took that barbiturate and I still can't stabilize. Losing hope...

What i have to say its that when u stop abruptly , any med can cause this type of extrapiramidal symptoms

 

you should try biperideno - its something like that . to see if it give u a little help even after u stop those meds u can feel what they did

its not because of that u already stoped , that i undo what made ..

 

those meds induce ur system(brain) to function in another way they should and when u stop those changes still there until u brain reverse the "behavior" he was lead to .

 

i remember when i tried to stop antiphsicotics abruptly i would twich my self like that exorcist girl of the movie .

and the feeling like the buddie told above as if your soul wants to escape your body , and it cant get out , so u suffer ...

 

 

 

i know that i had this type of thing mostly with the antipshicotis medications , and u felt like a desperate feeling inside , rls and

A kind of angony , if u already stopped it , keep that way ,  u will feel better soon .

I didn't stop anything. My experiences are in my signature.

I got sick because I took the barbiturate. I was stable before that.

Hi:

 

I was on a very heavy dose of pheno for less than a month and decided I couldn't handle it anymore (terrible drug) and just stopped it C/T. BTW, your English is very good. My family comes from Poland and it's difficult for me to learn that how to speak Polish. How many doses did you say you took?

Bets

I took one dose, 350 mg, but not Phenobarbital, I took Pentobarbital. Please don't ask me why, it was a stupid mistake.

I am now in hell for 6 weeks and it's not improving.

Will this ever settle down??? I feel HORRENDOUS. It's been 6 weeks... Why is this not getting better.

SHould I go to the hospital? I'm desperate and feel extremely sick and not normal.

Hey , as i said , about antipsichotics , it leads to your brain "stop" some of their normal functions or blocks a pathway of your brain its used to use  , and then ur brain try to find another path to function  , and this can be unconfortable .

After u stop the use of it  , the change it have made into ur brain fuctions remains there , but ur brain will try to reverse those changes

and u will feel bad inside because of that mess this meds caused .

 

Fenobarbital , penobarbital whatever , its an antypsicotic ,  u taked it only once or you took it for some days or weeks ?

 

Do you read about extrapiramidal symptoms ? if u did , u can relate to that ?

 

Did you tried biperiden ? when i was struggling because of antipsychotics , this give me some relief of the internal torture they made me feel

 

what meds  are u taking nowadays ?

 

if ur not taking antipsichotics anymore , i think u should wait a little more for ur brain to settle down

8 weeks of hell... Is there hope that this barbiturate crash will settle down? It's not getting better, in fact I think it's getting worse this week.

I am losing hope... I was stable before I took that barbiturate. I only took it once 2 months ago. Why is this happening to me

Is there any hope that this will settle down? I feel so terrible. I was very stable before I took the barbiturate.

Can somebody please read my story and answer me, I don't know what to do. My condition has become truly unbearable. I am considering going to the hospital. I don't know what to do anymore.

Hey im sorry .... im really out of it and i didnt checked that post .

 

Tell me what are u feeling that you adress  as result of the use of barb or anthipsichotics , you only took it once ? well thats strange ....

 

Did you tried the biperiden ?

 

Be clear , what are you using of meds atm ?

wow what is that