Shoenice: Medication CT's and changes. Advice needed.

[Shoenice]

Hey guys! 
 

After almost 5 months of feeling like this, I’m glad I found a community that explains what I’m going through. Everybody thought I was going crazy, including myself. 
 

Short story about myself: I was always anxious growing up. I had fears, OCD, attachment issues, but all With good reason. I was raised in a household that wasn’t the best. 
 

fast forward to me being 15 years old, I smoked weed and had a horrible panic attack which send me down the road of anxiety and agoraphobia. I was prescribed celexa 20mg and stayed on it for about 8-10 years (can’t remember exactly when I started it, I just turned 27). About halfway through I had sexual side effects and was given buspar 5 mg twice a day to help. 
 

Everything  was going pretty well, until recently. After my first Covid shot I woke up To a panic attack a few days later. I had panic attacks pretty much everyday (minor to medium) and thought I was done. Took the second shot, felt my throat kind of closing up and had pretty bad anxiety. 
 

ever since then my life has been hell. I went to the psychiatrist and he recommended I get off celexa and try fluvox. He doubled the buspar, and did a quick taper while giving me fluvox. It was hell and I eventually got off all medications. 
 

I have had what a lot of people describe here with mood swings, feeling detached (body and mind don’t  work well together?), breathing issues and throat pain, missing my old self and pretty depressed. 
 

I saw a psychiatrist who did an QEEG on me and recommended Valium every night. 
 

i really didn’t want to do it but I got desperate and have taken 1.25MG at night and it has seemed to help somewhat. 
 

anybody have had similar experiences? 
 

Looking for advice, hope, or really anything out there. 
 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by manymoretodays
name to title, title expanded, tags, removed Covid reaction from title

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, Shoenice.

 

To start:

 

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.  Please include the year and dose you were first prescribed Celexa and Buspar, the date the psychiatrist switched you from Celexa to Fluvoxamine, how fast you tapered off the Celexa while starting the Fluvoxamine, the date you stopped all medications and whether you stopped abruptly (cold turkey) or tapered, and the date you started the Valium along with the Valium dosage.  Once you've completed your drug signature, we'll be better able to make recommendations.

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

You are experiencing antidepressant withdrawal caused, very probably, by your switch from Celexa to Fluvoxamine and also by your stopping all medications.  Switching from one antidepressant drug another another antidepressant will mean going into withdrawal from the first drug.  The new drug may or may not mask the withdrawal from the previous drug.  The symptoms you describe--mood swings, feeling detached, breathing issues and depression--are typical antidepressant withdrawal symptoms.  

 

So that you have a better idea of what you're experiencing, here is some information on withdrawal and the healing process.

 

 

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms (PDF) 

 

When we take psychiatric medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur.  

 

These explain the healing process really well.

 

Brain Remodelling 

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

I would caution you to be very careful with the Valium, which I'm currently tapering.  You can become physiologically dependent on benzodiazepines like Valium within 2 to 4 weeks of regular use and also with intermittent use.  Once you are dependent, you will have to taper off the drug very slowly.  We can provide you further information on this if needed.

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems. Get supplements that are single ingredient (not mixed with other types of supplements).

 

If you feel you've had an adverse reaction to the Covid injections, you can make a report using the following link:

VAERS | Vaccine Safety | CDC

Rxisk.org is compiling a database of patient experiences here - Report Covid Vaccine Effects to RxISK

 

You can also post your experiences here on this site using this link:

Coronavirus / covid19, and psychiatric drug tapering ...

This is your Introduction topic, where you can complete your drug signature, ask questions and connect with other members.  We're glad you found your way here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Orbet]

I really need to know if covid vaccine is setting people off.  My current troubles began soon after getting my first shot.  I don’t guess it matters since there’s nothing I can do about it.  Of course, I can’t know for sure that the vaccine has anything to do with it other than the timing.  Has anybody else experienced bad mental effects after getting the shot?  

[Gridley]

14 hours ago, Orbet said:

I really need to know if covid vaccine is setting people off.

Take a look at the responses in the SurvivingAntidepressants.org link I gave you in my last post.  Here it is again:

Coronavirus / covid19, and psychiatric drug tapering ...

The link contains some members' posts about reactions to the virus.  That link would be the best place to post questions about other members' reactions to the vaccine.  If there's someone on that thread you want to tag to make sure they see your question, type @ then the person's name, then when a rectangle with the person's name in it appear, click enter and they'll be notified.

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Gridley

[Orbet]

Thank you, Gridley.

[Izabella]

I had a panic attack from weed about a year and a half ago and developed an acute stress response. Stuck in fight or flight mode for months. Over the past year I have been stable and doing well. Two weeks ago I got the covid vaccine and woke up at 3am with a full fledged panic attack. I feel like I’m back to square one. Not sure what to do at this point. 

[manymoretodays]

 

Hi Izabella, 

And love this response Gridley!  So I quoted it again for Izabella, in case they missed it.

 

On 6/27/2021 at 8:15 AM, Gridley said:

If you feel you've had an adverse reaction to the Covid injections, you can make a report using the following link:

VAERS | Vaccine Safety | CDC

Rxisk.org is compiling a database of patient experiences here - Report Covid Vaccine Effects to RxISK

 

You can also post your experiences here on this site using this link:

Coronavirus / covid19, and psychiatric drug tapering ...

 

Since Shoenice is also new, you might want to post on the topic that we have going now, the last link, in the quote above.  Just so we don't overwhelm Shoenices's topic.

 

Izabella,

 

If you are new to the site, go to the Introductions forum to start your first topic so the community can get to know you. You can add updates about your progress to your Intro topic; it will be a kind of journal or history of your case.

 

And then don't forget the below too:

 

In addition, Please put your withdrawal history in your signature to help the moderators.

 

Thank you and welcome.

mmt

 

[Surviving82]

18 hours ago, Orbet said:

I really need to know if covid vaccine is setting people off.  My current troubles began soon after getting my first shot.  I don’t guess it matters since there’s nothing I can do about it.  Of course, I can’t know for sure that the vaccine has anything to do with it other than the timing.  Has anybody else experienced bad mental effects after getting the shot?  

@Orbet, @Shoenice, hi friends! Please check out the @FarmMom thread, I think she said that her WD started with panic attacks following the COVID shot. I hope that you feel better soon!

[Surviving82]

@Shoenice, once you got off all psych meds, how do you feel? Better or worse, or the same?