KarenD: cold turkey

[KarenD]

Moved from Are We There Yet? How Long is Withdrawal Going to Take?

 

HI, Brass Monkey! Oh, how I wish I had found SA 8 months ago!! You are most def a Godsent!! I am 65 years old and CT'd eight months ago after 31 years  on psych meds of all kinds, and three different antidepressants at one time before just stopping the thirty-six pills a day that various doctors had me taking. I've spent countless hours and days since I stopped everything CT, but it was worth it, because I stumbled upon SA and you! I've just finished reading all of your words of wisdom and I have cried with sadness of how long I am going to suffer through this ungodly WD, but also have tears of joy to finally find someone who knows and understands the h*'ll I'm going through. and for the first time the truth about what I'm to expect. One neurologist told me that ALL my symptoms were in my imagination, prescribed Gabapentin, which just made matters worse, told me the side effects from that were my imagination also.

 

A new neurologist has me now on Lyrica and just had to increase the dosage, slowly, because it had  stopped helping. I would like to know your opinion on Lyrica for WD. Also she is referring me to a bunch of other specialists, allergy doctors, more psychiatrists (none of whom I trust now), ENT doctors for the severe tinnitus I now have, Neuromuscular Neurologist, and even tried to sign me up for thirty-one injections in my scalp every six months for migraine headaches! Whew! I told her that I am trying to stop taking drugs! 

 

I was misdiagnosed thirty-one years ago. After stopping all those horrible drugs, I have no symptoms of the multiple diagnoses that the psychiatrist had declared that I was, but now greatly suffering the ADWD!! However, now that I know where to look - SA, for the real help I need, I'm now hopeful!! No one told me anything about tapering off. But, I feel after eight months of CT, it's too late to turn back now. I'll just keep on keeping on, with SA. Thank you and God bless you for the work and sharing that you're doing to help so very many, including me!!

 

Peace,

 

Karen D.

 

Edited February 20, 2019 by ChessieCat
Added topic title to post before splitting, lower case some words, added spacing

[ChessieCat]

Hi Karen and welcome to SA,

 

I can understand the relief you feel after finding SA and realising that you aren't imagining things.  My topic title says it all:  so I'm not the only one.

 

We ask all members to create a drug signature, which shows the drug history of the member and will appear below each post you make.  I realise that with such a poly drugged history over a long period of time it might be difficult so I'll explain what we really need.

 

Firstly, no diagnoses or symptoms.  Keep it nice and simple.  We only need drug, date/s and dose/s

 

There is a limit to the number of lines you can use so if you have difficulties getting it to fit, just put the last 2 years in the signature and post the other information here in your introduction topic as a separate post (ie no other information, as it will be an addendum to your drug signature) and I will explain how to add a link to your signature so we will have easy access to it if needed.

 

For the last 2 years we need details.  So any drug that you were taking in the last 2 years we need to know the start date, and the dose and the date and dose if increased or decreased or stopped.  You only need to use the year for the first mention of it in a drug line.  If you don't know the date, please use early, mid, late, month name).

 

Example:

Drug name:  date 2014, dose; date, dose, date 2016, dose; date 2018, 0mg

Drug name:  date 2015, dose; date, dose, date, dose; date 2018, 0mg 

 

For any drug taken and stopped over 2 years ago all we need is a summary, so the drug and the year/s.  If only for a few months put the time in brackets, eg 2005 drug name (2 months), or 2003-2004 drug name.

 

For anything that you remember only the name just add those in a list at the bottom.  Like so:

 

xxxxx, yyyyy, zzzzz

 

Please also list at the bottom any (non psychiatric) drugs, OTC, supplements etc that you are currently taking.

 

Current other:  aaaa, bbbb, cccc

 

I hope that explanation helps to make it easier for you.

 

There are lots of topics on this site.  I like to use google and add survivingantidepressants.org to my search term.

 

We encourage members to visit other members threads and support each other.  Please remember that their topic is mainly about them and is a record of their recovery so please keep information about your own situation to a minimum.  If they want to find our more about you, they can visit your topic and ask questions here.

 

I will provide some additional information in the next 2 posts.  This is your own introduction topic where you can ask questions and journal your progress.

 

On 5/15/2011 at 5:22 AM, Altostrata said:

MISSION OF SURVIVINGANTIDEPRESSANTS.ORG

 

Surviving Antidepressants is a site for peer support, documentation, and education of withdrawal symptoms and withdrawal syndrome caused by psychiatric drugs, specifically antidepressants.

The participants on this site have all experienced or are experiencing difficulty in withdrawal from psychiatric medications. We offer peer support to those who are similarly suffering, drawing from our personal experiences.

(No posting on this site should be construed as medical advice. For medical advice, consult a trusted medical caregiver.)

The personal stories on this site are documentation of an iatrogenic condition -- suffering caused by medical treatment -- that is almost always ignored, misdiagnosed, or denied by the medical establishment. Given the widespread prescription of antidepressants to tens of millions of people worldwide, withdrawal syndrome probably affects hundreds of thousands if not millions -- including newborns and children.

Antidepressant withdrawal syndrome can last weeks, months, or years. It can be distressing, debilitating, or even disabling. It may be adding to an increase in what is termed disabling mental illness.

With our documentation of antidepressant withdrawal syndrome, we hope to educate the medical establishment about this problem. Case studies are essential; they are evidence understood by doctors, the psychiatric industry, and government regulatory agencies.

Our hope is, eventually, antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs will be prescribed rarely, and only in cases of extremely severe mental illness after less invasive treatments have been tried.

Please join Surviving Antidepressants in its mission to support, document, and educate about psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome.

 

[ChessieCat]

Here's some additional information which might help you to understand what is happening:

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen's Withdrawal Symptoms

 

Recovery isn't linear it happens in a Windows and Waves Pattern

 

Withdrawal Normal Description

When we take a psychiatric drug, we are adding chemical/s to the brain.  The brain then has to change to adapt to getting the chemical/s.  It might have to change something to do with A and then once that change has been made it affects B so another change has to be made and so on down the line.  It is a chain reaction, a domino effect.

 

The same thing happens when we take the drug away.  That's why it's possible to experience such a vast array of withdrawal symptoms, and they can change, and be of different intensity.

 

You've already found this topic but here's a link if you want to refer back to it:

 

are-we-there-yet-how-long-is-withdrawal-going-to-take

 

These explain it really well:

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

On 8/31/2011 at 5:28 AM, Rhiannon said:

When we stop taking the drug, we have a brain that has designed itself so that it works in the presence of the drug; now it can't work properly without the drug because it's designed itself so that the drug is part of its chemistry and structure. It's like a plant that has grown on a trellis; you can't just yank out the trellis and expect the plant to be okay. When the drug is removed, the remodeling process has to take place in reverse. SO--it's not a matter of just getting the drug out of your system and moving on. If it were that simple, none of us would be here. It's a matter of, as I describe it, having to grow a new brain. I believe this growing-a-new-brain happens throughout the taper process if the taper is slow enough. (If it's too fast, then there's not a lot of time for actually rebalancing things, and basically the brain is just pedaling fast trying to keep us alive.) It also continues to happen, probably for longer than the symptoms actually last, throughout the time of recovery after we are completely off the drug, which is why recovery takes so long.

 

AND

 

On 12/4/2015 at 2:41 AM, apace41 said:

Basically- you have a building where the MAJOR steel structures are trying to be rebuilt at different times - ALL while people are coming and going in the building and attempting to work.

It would be like if the World Trade Center Towers hadn't completely fallen - but had crumbled inside in different places.. Imagine if you were trying to rebuild the tower - WHILE people were coming and going and trying to work in the building!  You'd have to set up a temporary elevator - but when you needed to fix part of that area, you'd have to tear down that elevator and set up a temporary elevator somewhere else. And so on. You'd have to build, work around, then tear down, then build again, then work around, then build... ALL while people are coming and going, ALL while the furniture is being replaced, ALL while the walls are getting repainted... ALL while life is going on INSIDE the building. No doubt it would be chaotic. That is EXACTLY what is happening with windows and waves.  The windows are where the body has "got it right" for a day or so - but then the building shifts and the brain works on something else - and it's chaos again while another temporary pathway is set up to reroute function until repairs are made.  

 

[ChessieCat]

We strongly encourage members to learn and use non drug coping techniques to help get through discomfort and tough times.

 

Understanding what is happening helps us to not get caught up with the second fear, or fear of the fear.  This happens when we experience sensations in our body and because we don't understand them we are scared of them and then start to panic.

 

This document has a diagram of the body explaining what happens in the body when we become anxious:

 

https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/AnxietySelfHelp.pdf

 

Anxiety Stuff - all kinds of stuff about anxiety attacks and things that help ...

 

Audio FEMALE VOICE:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)

 

Audio MALE VOICE:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)

 

Non-drug techniques to cope

 

dealing-with-emotional-spirals

 

Dr Claire Weekes suffered from anxiety and learned and taught ways of coping.  There are videos available on YouTube.

 

Claire Weekes' Method of Recovering from a Sensitized Nervous System

 

Audio:  How to Recover from Anxiety - Dr Claire Weekes

 

CBT Course:  An Introductory Self-Help Course in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

 

Resources:  Centre for Clinical Interventions (PDF modules that you can work through, eg:  Depression, Distress Intolerance, Health Anxiety, Low Self-Esteem, Panic Attacks, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Social Anxiety, Worrying)

 

On 4/28/2017 at 4:03 AM, brassmonkey said:

 

AAF: Acknowledge, Accept, Float.  It's what you have to do when nothing else works, and can be a very powerful tool in coping with anxiety.  The neuroemotional anxiety many of us feel during WD is directly caused by the drugs and their chemical reactions in the brain.  Making it so there is nothing we can do about them.  They won't respond to other drugs, relaxation techniques and the like.  They do, however, react very well to being ignored.  That's the concept behind AAF.  Acknowledge, get to know the feeling involved, explore them.  Accept, These feelings are a part of you and they aren't going anywhere fast. Float, let the feeling float off as you get on with your life as best as you can.  It's a well documented fact that the more you feed in to anxiety the worse it gets.  What starts as generalized neuroemotinal anxiety can be easily blown into a full fledged panic attack just by thinking about it.

 

I often liken it to an unwanted house guest.  At first you talk to them, have conversations, communicate with them.  After a while you figure out that they aren't leaving and there is nothing you can do to get rid of them.  So you go on about your day, working around them until they get bored and leave.

 

It can take some practice, but AAF really does work.  I hope you give it a try.

 

 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, KarenD.

 

12 hours ago, KarenD said:

A new neurologist has me now on Lyrica and just had to increase the dosage, slowly, because it had  stopped helping. I would like to know your opinion on Lyrica for WD. Also she is referring me to a bunch of other specialists, allergy doctors, more psychiatrists (none of whom I trust now), ENT doctors for the severe tinnitus I now have, Neuromuscular Neurologist, and even tried to sign me up for thirty-one injections in my scalp every six months for migraine headaches! Whew! I told her that I am trying to stop taking drugs! 

 

How much Lyrica are you taking, at what times of day? How has it helped?

 

What are your worst symptoms? Do they occur at any particular time of day? How is your sleep?