Celexa withdrawal he’ll... Wildflower65

[Wildflower65]

I’m going to try and do this correctly but I’m going on almost no sleep in the past 5 months..

 

Two years ago I started having numerous new physical symptoms (night sweats, bloating, headaches,etc.) and felt very drugged. I started to wonder how many of the symptoms were related to the meds I was taking. I decided to start by tapering the low dose of Valium I’d been put on 4 years before to help with sleep. I don’t remember how I tapered. Probably too fast. After stopping completely I spent a month in withdrawal (and menopausal) hell. I did not sleep for a month. In desperation, I visited doc and was given a low dose of Xanax which did help. I tapered slowly off of that. While dealing with various symptoms, doc tried various meds, such as lyrica, Wellbutrin and topamax. I didn’t like any of them. I got off them fairly easily compared to what’s happening now. Lastly, I decided to get off the celexa I’d been placed on 10 years before. It was to “prevent” any depression after giving birth to a baby who was born still at 8 months preg. I felt pushed into it and trusted them..

 

10 years later, (no one ever mentioned stopping it) I casually tapered 40mg in a few weeks... I suffered only headaches and dizziness while tapering and didn’t know any better. Doctor said it was fine. I felt better than I had in a very long time. Fibromyalgia symptoms went away, sweats all stopped, teeth grinding stopped. I started to feel alive, creative, finally some emotions. As soon as I stopped completely, insomnia hits. I still don’t know any better and think it will pass because I feel good. After about 2 months of insomnia, I visit doctor in desperation again. Put on Trazodone 100 mg. and given 30 Ambien. I feel Trazodone burying my new feelings but ignore it as I need sleep.. 2 months later,  Trazodone doesn’t work for sleep anymore and I believe it may be causing a horrible restlessness in my whole body. Emotions are dead. No more Ambien, no more sleep. Deep waves, feelings of panic, dread.. no appetite, nausea, shaking arms.. can’t remember feeling good at all.

 

I started last night tapering Trazodone as I think it made things much worse. Psychopharmacologist says drop 50% for a week or two, then stop. I was told it’s not addictive and is safe, no side effects... so wrong. I will try to taper slowly. Can’t wait to be off it. Probably not a good idea to stop faster?  I wish I could have a good cry.. it’s not remotely possible. I feel incapacitated. Doctors and psychologist don’t believe celexa can cause this. Certainly, not Trazodone..

 

I dread bedtime.. I’m trying so hard to keep on top of this. I don’t want to upset my 3 kids who are still at home.. 

 

Someone please reach out to me. I feel very alone, although reading through your stories I know I’m not.. I hurt for all of you as much as I possibly can.

 

 40mg very fast taper off celexa last summer. Put on 100mg Trazodone 2 months ago and attempting to taper off.

Edited January 23, 2018 by Wildflower65
To add a word or phrase.

[Gridley]

Hello, Wildflower65 and welcome to SA.

  

I'm glad you wrote before you got far into your taper.  At Surviving Antidepressants, it is recommended that a person taper by no more than 10% of their current dose with at least a four week hold in-between decreases.  The 10% taper recommendation is a harm reduction approach to going off psychiatric drugs.  Some people may have to taper at a more conservative rate as they are sensitive to even the smallest drops.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage? 

 

To get you started, and familiarized with the protocols followed by SA, I am linking a few topics so that you have a better understanding of what is recommended here. 

 

Before you begin tapering what you need to know

What is Withdrawal Syndrome?

Brain Remodelling

Tips for tapering off trazodone (Desyrel)

 

To give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years. 
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago) 
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016. 
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses. 
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. 
• Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

For sleep, have you tried Melatonin?  Start with a low dose, like 1mg and see if it helps.  If not, you can slowly increase but not to much more.

Melatonin for sleep - Surviving Antidepressants

This is your introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community. I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but I am glad that you found us.