Anyone tried anti depressants to help?

Has anyone tried anti depressants to help withdrawal did they help or make things worse? Been trying sertraline for 4 weeks, I'm 10 months off zopiclone awful intrusive thoughts & anxiety. Anxiety wacked up at moment people advise can take 3 months to kick just really worried will make things worse no idea which way to go. Just got desperate for some sort relief as no improvement in 10 months

Hi, I see you're off all meds. I' m still tapering.  Tried AD three times this year, had to stop each time after just a couple of days. Things  got really awful. So not for me. They might help you, though, since you're off for almost a year now. Wishing you relief soon!

Thanks not sure what to do at the moment they're making me feel a lot worse. Can't believe 10 months Down the line I'm no better. Going to try decreasing the dose. Tried everything nothing helps

AD's made my withdraws from Benzos worse, but were all different. Keep in mind getting off AD's is no fun either. They claim there non addictive and dont cause withdraws. Folks getting off of them will most likely tell you different.

I used trazodone. It didn’t help with my withdrawal per se, but certainly helped with my sleep. After I finished my taper it started keeping me awake, so I did a rapid withdrawal off it.  My sleep is better now.

Can you remember if it made your depression worse at first? Just don't know if the meds making me feel worse been on them 4 weeks but this week felt rock bottom loosing all hope ever recovering

Can you remember if it made your depression worse at first? Just don't know if the meds making me feel worse been on them 4 weeks but this week felt rock bottom loosing all hope ever recovering

 

If you’re talking about me, I never had depression. That’s one thing. So no it didn’t cause any..

For me it was hell to come off Lexapro. For many, ssris are difficult to come off. I'm on trazodone low dose for sleep. Trazodone support group has only 250 people so I thought I'd go for it. Trazodone low dose helps with sleep, not with depression.

Ok thanks, sleep actually hasn't been too bad since I've stopped just the anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Don't think anything could be as bad as zopiclone to come off just goes on and on. I'll try sertraline for bit longer see how I get on. Have looked on another forum and having a bad patch at 4 weeks seems quite common. Figure worth trying

I had depression and the AD's made it worse for me. I was only on them a month and stopped. The Depression/DR/DP all lifted and stopped for me 7 months in. I know its hard but it will lift for you to. Give it time.

If you've been taking them four weeks and not feeling any better, isn't it safe to assume they aren't helping?

I would think so unless it’s the wrong dosage.

I’ve been on antidepressants throughout because I have long suffered from depression.  I’ve tried several different ones since getting off K.  Currently on mirtazapine and Effexor.  The mirtazapine has helped tremendously for insomnia, anxiety, and restlessness  I couldn’t sleep or sit still until I started taking it six weeks out.

I’ve been on antidepressants throughout because I have long suffered from depression.  I’ve tried several different ones since getting off K.  Currently on mirtazapine and Effexor.  The mirtazapine has helped tremendously for insomnia, anxiety, and restlessness  I couldn’t sleep or sit still until I started taking it six weeks out.

 

I’m glad they help. Anything to reduce this nightmare is great. I had an eight month bout of terrible insomnia that made me psychotic. Trazodone really helped me sleep until I got off benzodiazepines. Then it kept me awake.

The 10mg of Mirtazapine(Remeron) that I'm currently taking has been an absolute life saver for me during WD. It takes the edge off of the anxiety/depression and has left me with very few sleepless nights during the WD process. I'm pretty sure the reason I've been functional most of the time during WD is thanks to the small dose I'm taking. It's not for everyone of course, but it's been a huge help for me. It's been mentioned in other posts before, but the Ashton manual also covers taking anti-depressants during WD and that it's OK to do so if you think it's necessary.

Ive taken mirtazapine throughout this whole experience. 15mg to start and went up to 30mg after 6 months because i was just getting so much worse from benzo withdrawal. As i started to pass the 2 year mark i felt like id turned a corner so i wanted to reduce the dosage. Went to 22.5mg for 2 months then 15mg for 3 months and have recently gone down to 7.5mg. I plan on getting off completely early next year but the mirt has been a life saver. I doubt i would have got through this otherwise as its helped so much with sleep .. the insomnia was brutal during my first attempt getting off diazepam to the point i reinstated after 6 weeks. 2nd time lucky after i was prescribed mirt.

Being on other psych meds made withdrawal last 2x longer for me

I got off all of them and I’m healing faster

AD's made my withdraws from Benzos worse, but were all different. Keep in mind getting off AD's is no fun either. They claim there non addictive and dont cause withdraws. Folks getting off of them will most likely tell you different.

 

 

 

Interesting, they made my withdrawals worse too. The second I stopped AD’s....my symptoms got 90% better

AD's made my withdraws from Benzos worse, but were all different. Keep in mind getting off AD's is no fun either. They claim there non addictive and dont cause withdraws. Folks getting off of them will most likely tell you different.

 

 

 

Interesting, they made my withdrawals worse too. The second I stopped AD’s....my symptoms got 90% better

 

That’s interesting.  I’ve been trying different things with my psychiatrist for depression and panic but nothing works other than mirtazapine helping with sleep and nerves.  I think it may depress me some though and makes me lethargic.  So, I want to ask my doc about going all-natural.  I’ve had depression for many years but I think a lot of it was fatigue induced by the Klonopin.  I’ve never been one to get that down about certain issues.  I just kind of felt crummy all the time.

I took Sertraline as well, started it while tapering Ativan. It made the anxiety and insomnia much worse during the first 3-4 weeks. While continuing on it after I jumped from Ativan, it caused night sweats, worsening of depression, anger, and anxiety. Wiped out the sex drive 100% and caused a 16 pound weight gain. The possible upside of taking Sertraline  was that it (seemed) to help me have a bit more energy to go out and do things and work out  but that could have been simply because I no longer had Ativan poisoning my energy levels.

Use SSRIs with extreme caution. Risks outweigh the benefits by far IMO

 

I went bonkers on SSRis. I swear if I stayed on them I would still be in a psych ward. Bad drug!

Here are the ADs and SSRIs that I took:

 

Wellbutrin, valproate, Paxil, Prozac (way too much), Lamictal, lithium, zoloft, zyprexa . . . and none of them made me feel better. Not one bit better. And some of them made me feel a hell of a lot worse. Like zoloft -- 2 doses and I thought I'd died.

 

So . . . those are my experiences.

 

If you're asking for advice, I would advise skipping the ADs/SSRIs and focusing on eating sensibly, trying to get sleep, doing a little exercise, and employing a lot of distraction techniques.

 

Best to you,

 

Katz

Cymbalta helped me very much with the DP/DR, anxiety and sleeping.

Here are the ADs and SSRIs that I took:

 

Wellbutrin, valproate, Paxil, Prozac (way too much), Lamictal, lithium, zoloft, zyprexa . . . and none of them made me feel better. Not one bit better. And some of them made me feel a hell of a lot worse. Like zoloft -- 2 doses and I thought I'd died.

 

So . . . those are my experiences.

 

If you're asking for advice, I would advise skipping the ADs/SSRIs and focusing on eating sensibly, trying to get sleep, doing a little exercise, and employing a lot of distraction techniques.

 

Best to you,

 

Katz

 

Yikes!