Chefbaker Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Hello Friends, I'm new here and I feel like I'm in so deep that I don't know how I'm going to get out. In January 2022 I started taking 10 mg of lexapro for anxiety. I had an OK time with it but when we upped the dose to 20 mg I immediately started having some panic attacks and so I stopped cold turkey. Then in the following weeks I stopped sleeping, which I think was from the lexapro withdrawal. In April 2022 I was admitted to a psych ward after I didn't sleep for 6 days and had suicidal ideations. When I came out I was prescribed 30 mg of remeron. I started seeing a psychiatrist and he prescribed me effexer for anxiety and said to get off of the remeron (mertazipine). Well when I tried to get off of it in May 22 I had such intense anxiety, akathesia, etc that I reinstated at 15 mg. I am now down to 3.75 mg (which is a much faster taper than most would advise). I started on 37.5 mg of effexer and bumped it up to 75 mg at the end of may. I am now back to 37.5 mg and trying to get off of it. I am also taking 10 mg of ambien every night for sleep. The doctor also prescribed seroquel to use as a sleep aid in addition to the ambien. The doc prescribed klonopin which I use as needed when the anxiety gets too intense and also 20 mg propranalol which I can take "as needed". I'm currently only sleeping 4-5 hours a night with the meds and I have fairly intense daily anxiety, especially in my body. The feeling in my body causes anxious thoughts in my head. I went from being "normal" to spiraling out to having all these issues in just 5 months. I don't even know where to start. Should I try to reinstate on the lexapro because that's when I stopped sleeping. I went from taking no drugs to being on 7 drugs in 5 months. Please advise, and any info and support is appreciated! Link to comment
Moderator Onmyway Posted July 16, 2022 Moderator Share Posted July 16, 2022 Hi @Chefbaker welcome to SA. So sorry you have been suffering so badly. You will get through this but it will be a difficult and slow journey. For starters, can you pls list your drug history in your signature so we can refer to it quickly? Once you do that we can advise better what to do (or not do) with the medications as right now I am not sure I understand your history quite well. Pls include supplements as well. How to List Drug History in Signature - Introductions and updates - Surviving Antidepressants Your story seems to be that of an adverse drug reaction compounded by drug changes and withdrawal. The process of recovery is the same as withdrawal though we may need to be more careful about reinstatement. One thing that will help right now is to not worry about the situation you are in and especially about whether you will get out of this. You will. Yes, it is distressing but you WILL get through it. It will take a while (months/years) to get back to normal but you will get to a more functional level sooner than that. This secondary anxiety (anxiety about the anxiety) is making things harder. My biggest breakthrough was when I stopped worrying about my sleep and trying to fix it with all kinds of drugs- I was sleeping about 2-3 hrs a night for a few months. Once I realized I would be ok on that my sleep improved to 4-5 hrs a night and things got much better. This acceptance really shifted things. Remember little sleep is not going to go on forever and your body is resilient. New parents get by on little sleep for years. Here is a link to people who have been through withdrawal and come out the other side. Not everybody who recovers comes back to write a success story but you can see some amazing stories of recovery here: Success stories: Recovery from psychiatric drug withdrawal - Surviving Antidepressants One thing we find is that when people are in withdrawal their nervous system is destabilized and as such any introduction of new substances can make things worse. This includes alcohol, psychoactive substances like pot/street drugs, things like Sam-e and St John's Wort as well as supplements and vitamins (Bs and D can be activating). We recommend magnesium as people find it useful and calming and Omega-3 to aid recovery. But note that not everyone finds these calming and supportive so we recommend you start at a small dose and one at a time to see how it impacts you so you can stop if it is not helping or if it is hurting. https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/15483-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/ King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) - Symptoms and self-care - Surviving Antidepressants. These few threads should help you understand what is happening to you and what to expect in recovery. The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization - Symptoms and self-care - Surviving Antidepressants What is happening in your brain? - Symptoms and self-care - Surviving Antidepressants How psychiatric drugs remodel your brain - Symptoms and self-care - Surviving Antidepressants I find this thread contains a lot of the wisdom of SA combined including about insomnia. Specifically check out the cortisol mornings thread. I suspect your insomnia also involves waking up too early. Important topics about symptoms, including sleep problems - Symptoms and self-care - Surviving Antidepressants Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms - Symptoms and self-care - Surviving Antidepressants Use these techniques to help you get through the anxiety. One thing to remember that a lot of that anxiety you are feeling is 'chemical' and physical. When we think of anxiety we think of it as informing us of what is happening in the world and our body and mind gets to problem solving and fixing things. Well, withdrawal anxiety is not coming from your environment. Or if it relates to your environment it is exaggerating it immensely so it is not informative and as such it is safe to let go. It is caused by something the drugs did to you. We call these neuro-emotions. You need to accept and float through them. https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/face-accept-float-let-time-pass-claire-weekes-anxiety-cure-holds-true-decades-on-20190917-p52s2w.html All of the stuff I am saying is easier said than done and it will be very hard and at times none of the techniques will work but with practice some will and things will get better. Hope you start feeling better soon, OMW "Nothing so small as a moment is insurmountable, and moments are all that we have. You have survived every trial and tribulation that life has thrown at you up until this very instant. When future troubles come—and they will come—a version of you will be born into that moment that can conquer them, too." - Kevin Koenig I am not a doctor and this should not be considered medical advice. You can use the information and recommendations provided in whatever way you want and all decisions on your treatment are yours. In the next few weeks I do not have a lot of capacity to respond to questions. If you need a quick answer pls tag or ask other moderators who may want to be tagged. Aug 2000 - July 2003 (ct, 4-6 wk wd) , citalopram 20 mg, xanax prn, wellbutrin for a few months, trazodone prn Dec 2004 - July 2018 citalopram 20 mg, xanax prn (rarely used) Aug 2018 - citalopram 40 mg (self titrated up) September 2018 - January 2019 tapered citalopram - 40/30/20/10/5 no issues until a week after reaching 0 Feb 2019 0.25 xanax - 0.5/day (3 weeks) over to klonopin 0.25 once a day to manage severe wd March 6, reinstated citalopram 2.5 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 mg for sleep 2-3 times a week Apr 1st citalopram 2.0 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 once a week (off by 4/14/19- no tapering) citalopram (liquid) 4/14/19 -1.8 mg, 5/8/19 - 1.6 mg, 7/27/19 -1.5 mg, 8/15/19 - 1.35, 2/21/21 - 1.1 (smaller drops in between), 6/20/21 - 1.03 mg, 8/7/21- 1.025, 8/11/21 - 1.02, 8/15/21 - 1.015, 9/3/21 - 0.925 (fingers crossed!), 10/8/21 - 0.9, 10/18/21 - 0.875, 12/31/21 - 0.85, 1/7/22 - 0.825, 1/14/22 - 0.8, 1/22/22 - 0.785, 8/18/22 - 0.59, 12/15/2022 - 0.48, 2/15/22 - 0.43, 25/07/23 - 0.25 (mistake), 6/08/23 - 0.33mg Supplements: magnesium citrate and bi-glycinate Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now