Jodie: mom is off Sinequan / doxepin and still on oxazepam

[Jodie]

Mom is off Sinequan / doxepin and still on oxazepam. She has lots of questionsHello everybody,

 

I am Jodie, 36 years old and I am from the Netherlands. I am on this forum for my mom. I will try to keep her story so short as possible.

 

My mom, now 61, was put on Sinequan and a bcomplex in the early 90's. I can't remember differently than that my mom was struggling with her physical health.

 

Fast forward to 2013: we found out that she had b12deficiency. ( because I had it too). She was put on b12injections and a double dose of bcomplex. My mom got completely bedridden in 2014.

 

Fast forward to 2020: we found out that my mom got b6 toxicity, which targets the nerves. So she had to stop the bcomplex and had to detox from the vitamin b6-poisining, which was a complete hell.

 

January 2022: her health got better and she could sit up more, walk a little bit more in the house etc.

 

15 april 2022: she had to stop with her antidepressants, they said they didn't make Sinequan anymore. So she was at 10 mg at 14 april  ( she had already tapered a lot herself in an incorrect way because we had no knowledge about it)and dropped to 0mg at 15 april.

Hell began 6 weeks after 0mg with al kind of symptoms again.

 

27 august 2022: a positive covid test for mom and me. Mom got really sick and she already had really intense muscle spasmes since withdrawal but they became so much worse because of covid. And all the other symptoms too. She had to take oxazepam 4 x10 mg to calm the panick because of it. And unfortunately is still on it.

 

She has a lot of questions about her symptoms which I will write below:

 

1. Is it normal that when she improves for a while, for example in month 6 after stopping AD, then month 7 suddenly gets worse? She worries about that.

 

2.Has anyone taken doxepin and detoxed from that?

3. How much water to drink? More than normal because of the detox or not?

4. Is it normal to have an enormous need for Oxygen? There has to be wind in the house through an open window or she must have a fan on.

5. The severe muscle spasmes, does anyone recognize them? Her whole body is shaking, arms and legs get thrown around etc. 

6. Getting suddenly really depressed thoughts out of nowhere, is that withdrawal?

7. All these other symptoms could they be withdrawal; feel worse when weather is hot, internal vibrating, symptoms mainly on the left side of the body, glowing cheek, spastic eye, stiff neck, wet towel feeling on legs and feet, pressure in jaw, tooth, dry skin-mouth-nose-ears, need for potassium and magnesium, heaviness in head.

 

Thank you for reading and your answers in advance.

 

Kind regards

Jodie

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by ChessieCat
added topic title before shortening

[Altostrata]

Welcome, @Jodie

 

Some of your mother's symptoms may be from long covid. That may be the reason she got worse in the 7th month. Taking antibiotics or other drugs (or drinking alcohol) can also set back recovery from antidepressant withdrawal syndrome.

 

I am sorry, we cannot help with that, or the aftereffects of B6 toxicity. Symptoms arising from long covid or B6 toxicity might be severe muscle spasms, trouble breathing, or any of these symptoms:

 

On 10/31/2022 at 3:34 PM, Jodie said:

feel worse when weather is hot, internal vibrating, symptoms mainly on the left side of the body, glowing cheek, spastic eye, stiff neck, wet towel feeling on legs and feet, pressure in jaw, tooth, dry skin-mouth-nose-ears, need for potassium and magnesium, heaviness in head.

 

and

On 10/31/2022 at 3:34 PM, Jodie said:

Getting suddenly really depressed thoughts out of nowhere, is that withdrawal?

 

 

If I were your mother, I'd drink a good amount of water.

 

We have many people here going off doxepin and recovering from going off.

 

It is not clear what drugs your mother is taking now. Please follow these instructions Please summarize your mother's drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[Jodie]

Thank you @Altostrata!

 

My mother is drinking a lot of water indeed. She eats very healthy and does not drink alcohol/cafeïne.

 

As soon as my friend has looked at the laptop I will make the signature!

 

Thank you for this wunderfull site. It is so nice to read the stories and successes of others!

 

[Jodie]

Hello again,

 

I have a question again.

 

My mother is 10 months out on Sinequan. She is still bedridden because of all the symptoms, but we have faith that it will get better.

 

She is still on 4 x 10mg Oxazepam and my question is: when should she start beginning to taper this? Should we wait untill she starts feeling better from withdrawal from Sinequan, or should we start to taper sooner than that?

 

Any advice is so much appreciated!

 

And also; I think you are all so brave to go trough this! I wish everybody so much health!

[Altostrata]

1 hour ago, Jodie said:

She is still bedridden because of all the symptoms, but we have faith that it will get better.

 

What are those symptoms? Which are due to covid?

[Jodie]

Hi @Altostrata,

 

The symptoms started being so severe after CT from the sinequan and are severe muscle weakness, convulsions, almost like epileptic seizures but she is awake and can talk, diarrhia, eye-problems, and other very strange neurological symtomps, like she says sometimes it feels like if sometimes something is shooting her left eye out, like a slingshot. Maybe sort of brainzapps in her eye I thought?

She also has issues with temperature and food intolerance.

 

Covid made all the symptoms worse in august, but Covid is not the cause of these symptoms.

 

I have to say again, my mother was struggling for many many years before this year because of wat we thought was a b12deficiency and a b6 toxicity but now I know thanks to this wunderfull site that she was also suffering a long time from withdrawal from AD all those years.

 

She did not have any guidance so she tapered like this: Day 1: 50 mg Sinequan, Day 2: 25 mg Sinequan Day 3: 50 mg and so on. I think her brain and body suffered a lot because of that and we just didn't know that the pills and the way of tapering were the problem.

 

I am sorry if my story is chaotic but there was so much going on the past years that I can write a book about it ( and with me many others on this site I think).

 

Have a nice day!

 

Kind regards 

Jodie

[Altostrata]

What is your mother's current daily drug schedule, with dosages? Does she feel better at any times of day?

[Jodie]

@Altostratamy mothers daily drug schedule is:

 

11 am: 10 mg oxazepam 

5 pm: 10 mg oxazepam 

11 pm: 10 mg oxazepam 

5 am:10 mg oxazepam 

 

Sometimes she feels better for a couple of hours, but there is no structure in that. She is then still bedridden because of the muscleweakness, but she feels more comfortable, more relaxed and she can focus better with her eyes so she can do her crochet and actually enjoy it.  Thats the most frustrating thing to her , just when she thinks; it looks like it is getting a bit better, and then a few hours or sometimes half hours later.. the dissapointment comes.

[Altostrata]

She may be recovering from covid, or muscle weakness may be related to benzodiazepine use.

 

Oxazepam's half-life is 6-25 hours, peak plasma ~3 hours. It could be that 10mg oxazepam 4 times a day is too strong for her, and she feels better when it wears off, but then she takes another dose and it's too strong for her again.

 

I am reluctant to look more closely at her psychiatric drug use because her symptoms may be from covid instead.

[Jodie]

@Altostrata first: all the best wishes for 2023!

 

It could indeed be that we underestimate the impact from covid and that she is still recovering from it.

 

I will keep that in mind regarding the oxazepam.

 

I think my main worry is if can she recover from the withdrawal from the doxepin whil she is on oxazepam. But I also know that she can not stop that at the moment and when she does, she has to go really really slow.

 

A positive note:  today was the first time, in a long time, that my mothers muscle didn't shake/ convulse for many hours! So I hope that that is a good sign! 

 

[Altostrata]

Yes, she may be slowly recovering from going off doxepin or having had covid, or both.

[Jodie]

Hi @Altostrata

 

I have a question. Yesterday I heard there is a chance that my mother can not get her normal brand of oxazepam anymore.

 

If she gets another brand, is het oke to switch at once, or should she like switch first 1 tablet to the another brand if she has the chance? Are there any things to look out for switching brands?

[Altostrata]

If she doesn't have a choice, she will have to switch brands. The best way to do it is to take part of the daily dose in the old brand and part in the new brand for a while. There probably won't be any problems.

[Jodie]

@Altostrata thank you!