estonets: problem with SSRIs and OCD

[estonets]

Hello

 

Until 2021 spring cymbalta hold my ocd under control. Then it pooped out and i CT'd it. Had mania for a month or two. And ocd slowly came back. I still did kundalini yoga for it which in the past helped me very much. I wanted to reinstate but all the time i felt that it doesn't feel right with side effects so i upped and downed small dosage all the time. Like a month or a few. Then i started cipralex at the start of year 2022 and also same upped and downed dosage ect. Took it for about end of summer with no help for my ocd. Now i take brintellix/trintellix, but no help for my ocd on 40mg dose. Each ssri same reaction in 2022 when i up my dosage for more i feel good for a week or so then bad again(like hypomania as a side effect) up dosage and again same thing but ocd worse after. I consider starting anafranil for my ocd. How i can make my nervous system calm again? I lived maybe about one year without ssris but didn't feel good. Seven years of cymbalta has done that i think. I don't think i can live without ssris because my ocd is very strong. Kundalin yoga helped my ocd very much. I quit smoking and had life before cymbalta pooped. My questions is:

 

Why i benefit from ssris for some time like week or so after upping my dosage and it doesn't last?

Have taken trintellix/brintellix 2 months: no help luke before with other ssris.

 

Thank you for your help.

 

 

 

 

[Onmyway]

Dear @estonets, 

we are a site for coming off of antidepressants, we don't give advice on what is the best medicine or cocktail - in fact, we believe the evidence that says that SSRIs act as placebos and are not better than them in clinical trials. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4172306/

 

What seems to have happened in your case is that your nervous system has become sensitized because you have been on and off of drugs over the years and have likely quit them suddenly without proper tapering. What is likely to happen when you add more drugs is that things will get worse - the addition of new psychoactive substances will cause adverse effects due to the sensitization. We see it often here.

 

You can recover from your current state of withdrawal and sensitization (you can have withdrawal from pervious drugs even if you are still taking psychiatric drugs) with time. You can come off of your current drug slowly - 10% of previous dose every 4 weeks but you will likely be suffering during that time.

 

Withdrawal from SSRIs makes OCD worse and SSRIs are known to activate people which is then confused with having bipolar disorder. There is a very good book on it - The Emperor's New Drugs 

 

For the OCD you can use therapy - I find internal family systems therapy helpful personally but CBT can also be useful. Other kinds may work as well. These symptoms are there for a reason and a good therapist can help you untangle the thread and heal. 

 

Please do let us know if you want help coming off of your drug with minimal withdrawal symptoms. If not, you are welcome to hang out here but we will not be able to advise you. Other forums may be more helpful. 

OMW

[Giovanni]

What are you obsessive and compulsive about?  Have you tried exposure therapy?
 

Quote

 

Although OCD was once thought to be untreatable, the last few decades have seen great success in reducing symptoms with exposure and response prevention (ERP), which is now considered to be the first-line psychotherapy for the disorder

 

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6343408/

 

There are multi-day retreats where a psychotherapist  guides you through it:

 

https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/the-bergen-4-day-ocd-treatment/

 

[estonets]

Since I can't post this in other place in this site, then I post my question here since here are people who have much knowledge about tappering, ssris, mental health and nervous system.

 

I tappered two years ago from cymbalta(120mg) pretty quickly because I felt my ocd came back bit by bit and I felt more side effects than before(tappered month or so from max dosage).

 

I also completed 90days kundalini yoga left nostril breathing that can eliminate all OCD symptoms.

 

Felt that medication didn't help anymore like it had helped before about 7 years. I felt mania or very good energy about two months after quitting cymbalta.

 

Then i felt that my ocd slowly came back.

 

Reinstated to cymbalta and it had some help for me right away. Like i felt some effect right away.

 

Since then i came off from cymbalta slowly and started cipralex which in same way worked right away and with every dosage upping i felt it's help till I was on max dosage and it didn't do anything anymore.

 

Then I started brintellix which acted same way.

 

Also I have had same effects with zinc, inositol and few other supplements too. Seems like anything that stimulates my nervous system will have some good effect for some time.

 

Before that when cymbalta lost its effectiveness I had very good response from all ssris that I had tried (zoloft, paroxetine, prozac, anafranil, if used second time they didn't help).

 

First ssri helped me after 3 or 4 days of usage when I was 15 years old. So I ask why ssris don't work anymore like they used to work? Is the problem about tappering to fast from cymbalta? Why ssris and supplements have good effect for my mental healt for some period of time? 

Edited March 5, 2023 by manymoretodays
spacing for readability

[manymoretodays]

Welcome back estonets,  this is your topic in case you had gotten lost and you can indeed post right here.  @estonets

 

You have in narrative form now much of what we need to see to assist and support.  That needs to go into a signature, boom, and here's how to do one:

How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

what we like to see in a signature, how to organize it, and the the link that will take you to the spot to create one are all in the link/or underlined passage below.  They are easier to do from a PC, but can be done from a smart phone with patience, and preparing before you type.

Just the drugs go there, approximate years, months, dates then drug tried by name and if recalled dose.

 

We've got all you wrote in narrative on symptoms and successes, and continuing using drugs off and on and new ones versus old ones and Kundalini and supplements used since you started drugs too now above.  So that doesn't have to go in the signature.

 

A couple links that might help you understand why a drug no longer helps you, and why you can't just use them like aspirin intermittently.  I hope they'll help anyway.  Here you go.  Oh, scroll up and click on the arrow in the post about hypersensitivity and kindling......that was one I thought of.

 

How psychiatric drugs remodel your brain

 

I think:  Tolerance or "poop-out might answer some of your questions/concerns too?

 

As a whole, we don't really believe these psychiatric drugs to be more helpful than harmful in the long run either.  Most of them are not easy to get off of when they no longer help, or with long term use can cause harm.

 

And again, we are a site for tapering, not for investigating new drug trials for anyone, or continuing drug trials.  We're not like instagram, twitter, or FB either for that matter, so please be patient while awaiting input and answers to your questions.

 

Sounds like you might have the  Waves and Windows pattern of stabilization now too, where you are recovering possibly from multiple drug trials over and over again.

 

Hope this helps.  Let us know where you are at now with drugs by way of doing your signature.  And if you'd like to be drug free, we likely can help too.

 

Okay.  Here you are.  At your topic now.  @estonets  You can post in a reply right here when ready or if wanting help understanding further tapering or WD and support.

 

Welcome back,

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

manymoretodays(mmt)

 

 

[estonets]

Since I couldn't but this to another forum I write it here. I've been on medications for ocd and depression about 15 years and all have been max dosages.

I have been on all ssris and also anafranil.

After quitting cymbalta 3 years ago cold turkey I have been on rollercoaster ride.

I reinstated to cymbalta after one month and it helped my mental health problems right away. It worked right away. Then I changed it to cipralex since I didn't felt much help from cymbalta. Same story there. In the beginning it right away helped my mental help problems and upping a dosage had same effects. Also same story have been when I have come down from max dosage. I feel great or normal when upping dosage and lowering dosage. I feel great when I add something new to the cocktail. N-acetyl cysteine feeling normal week after starting it, then not normal again. Upping dosage again normal for about a week after. Taking zinc (same story) feeling normal for a while after starting it. Xanax same story. Ssris same story when upping dosage and same story when coming down in dosage. Could somebody explain me this and maybe there is a way I could feel normal all the time. Thank you for your advice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Altostrata]

Hello, @estonets. I moved your recent post here, as it's particular to your situation.

 

We offer peer support for tapering and withdrawal from psychiatric drugs. As @Onmyway and @manymoretodays explained, some part of your long-term "psychiatric" problems may be withdrawal syndrome, which can last for many months even though you're taking another drug, or drug adverse effects.

 

However, if you believe your benefit from psychiatric drugs and want to continue to try one drug after another, you're in the wrong community. You might want to join patientslikeme.com or depressionforums.org, or any of the many Facebook groups devoted to chatting about the ups and downs of drug treatment for mental illness.

[Onmyway]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:09 AM, estonets said:

Since I couldn't but this to another forum I write it here. I've been on medications for ocd and depression about 15 years and all have been max dosages.

I have been on all ssris and also anafranil.

After quitting cymbalta 3 years ago cold turkey I have been on rollercoaster ride.

I reinstated to cymbalta after one month and it helped my mental health problems right away. It worked right away. Then I changed it to cipralex since I didn't felt much help from cymbalta. Same story there. In the beginning it right away helped my mental help problems and upping a dosage had same effects. Also same story have been when I have come down from max dosage. I feel great or normal when upping dosage and lowering dosage. I feel great when I add something new to the cocktail. N-acetyl cysteine feeling normal week after starting it, then not normal again. Upping dosage again normal for about a week after. Taking zinc (same story) feeling normal for a while after starting it. Xanax same story. Ssris same story when upping dosage and same story when coming down in dosage. Could somebody explain me this and maybe there is a way I could feel normal all the time. Thank you for your advice.

Dear estonetd, if everything works for you then it must be that you are just very prone to respond to things with placebo  effects.  

 

Pls complete your signature if you'd like to participate on the forums.