Nonotagain: Here we go again

[Nonotagain]

Hello,

 

my history is long and complicated. In 2012 my doc put me on Xanax for sleep. That quickly stopped working so they added lunesta to the mix and that really helped. In 2018 I started having very strange symptoms where I became bedridden and couldn’t even talk to people or leave my home, except for doctors visits. In the meantime, my doc added topamax for “migraines”, Wellbutrin for additional anxiety, gabapentin for pain and seroquel because I wasn’t sleeping at all anymore and I was still taking the Xanax and lunesta.  After a lot of research I realized I was in tolerance withdrawal. I was able to get my doc to switch me to valium and stopped all the other meds. I tapered for 3 years and was able to get stable within about 6 months to the point I was living life again! I was finally done tapering November 2021. For the past 2 years, even while tapering, I have been fine and living life to the fullest except for being unable to sleep without the help of a TON of herbs. About 4 months ago I started taking Seriphos as I thought maybe my adrenals could be contributing to some of my insomnia. I read that you shouldn’t take it any longer than 3 months but couldn’t find any reason for that. I stopped taking it after a month and a half and 3 days after stopping I was in acute withdrawal again with the same symptoms as before. It’s been 2 months now and I’m still suffering! So that’s my story. I NEVER thought I would ever have to go through this again!!!

[Shep]

Hi, @Nonotagain

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants.

 

Yes, it's easy to get messed up again with a lot of supplements and herbal remedies. But in time, it will get better. 

 

You may want to reinstate Seriphos, since that was the last supplement which you state was helpful. You mention not wanting to be on it long term, but with a reinstatement after 2 months, the dose you would take would be very, very tiny. Please see the first post in this thread. It's about reinstating a drug, but the same concepts apply to a supplement - your system has already started to adjust to not having the supplement and taking too much may cause your nervous system to hyper react.

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

Please set up a signature. Here is how: 

 

How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

In your signature, please note not only your psychiatric drug history, but also your supplement and herbal remedies history. That timeline will be very helpful in helping sort this out. 

 

Also let us know how you tapered off Seriphos and the last dose you were taking. That will help guide you in picking a reinstatement dose, if you decide reinstating is the right plan. 

[Nonotagain]

Thanks so much for replying. Sorry I am trying to figure out how to navigate this forum with the intense brain fog that I have ugh. My brain literate will not function. I feel like I have dementia right now. Anyway, I decided not to reinstate Seriphos and to try tapering all the other supplements slowly as I don’t want to cause any more damage. Any advice on tapering Tryptophan 1500mg? I have started very slowly but am having horrible symptoms already. Also I think I was able to type out my signature but it said no more than 12 lines so I cannot fit all my herbs/aminos within those 23 lines. 

[Shep]

@NonotagainFrom what you've written, you may want to stop making changes for awhile. If you're getting more symptoms from a small reduction off Tryptophan, that's a sign your nervous system isn't ready for any more changes. You may want to go into a very long hold. 

 

Here is more information on tryptophan: 

 

5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) and l-tryptophan

 

Once your nervous system is more stable, you could test the waters with a 3 - 5% reduction to see how you do, increasing that rate if you're able to tolerate it. Some people are able to taper supplements faster than psychiatric drugs; however, it's best to let your symptoms guide you. You may want to stay at the same 10% rate we recommend for tapering drugs. 

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Or you may even want to micro-taper:

 

Micro-taper instead of 10% or 5% decreases
 

 

The Brassmonkey Slide Method of Micro-tapering

 

 

[Nonotagain]

Shep,

 

Thanks so much for your reply. I have no clue how to properly taper this Tryptophan since it’s in a capsule and I read that the powder doesn’t mix well. I weighed some of the capsules and they don’t even all weigh the same. I was going to open the capsule and dump out some of the powder but that doesn’t seem like a good idea as I can’t control the dosing that way. Any advice? I have looked through the files on here but couldn’t find anything specific to that. 
 

thanks so much for all your help!

[Shep]

 

20 hours ago, Nonotagain said:

I weighed some of the capsules and they don’t even all weigh the same.

 

That's because of the filler. The active ingredient is the same, but there may be differing amounts of filler. 

 

Here is a video on tapering capsules that may be helpful:

 

Tapering/Capsules/Micro tapering video (7 minutes)

 

More information can be found here:

 

Using a scale to weigh and measure doses

 

[Nonotagain]

Hi Shep,

 

You suggested maybe going back on the Seriphos and tapering slowly. I’m seriously considering this as it’s been 4 months and I just continue to feel worse. I really thought I would have started adjusting by now. Do you think it’s too late to reinstate it? I was on the lowest dose of 100 mg once a day at night. 

[Nonotagain]

Also,

 

I went back up on the full dose of Tryptophan (1500 mg) for the past few days and today I’m feeling so much worse. Brain zaps, horrible depression, brain won’t function, can’t sit still. Ugh I don’t know what to do. 

[Shep]

17 hours ago, Nonotagain said:

Hi Shep,

 

You suggested maybe going back on the Seriphos and tapering slowly. I’m seriously considering this as it’s been 4 months and I just continue to feel worse. I really thought I would have started adjusting by now. Do you think it’s too late to reinstate it? I was on the lowest dose of 100 mg once a day at night. 

 

If you do add it back in, you may want to try a tiny amount, maybe 5 mg to see how you do. 

 

But since you just made changes with the Tryptophan, you may want to simply hold everything steady for awhile. Remember a main rule during withdrawal - one change at a time.

 

The rule of 3KIS: Keep it simple. Keep it slow. Keep it stable.

[Nonotagain]

Hi Shep,

 

I want to start tapering the Tryptophan 1500mg. I have searched everywhere on here to find a good tapering plan but haven't found anything. Can you suggest where I can find info about this? Or tell me what a good tapering plan would be for this please? I am not sure how to make a general post about this or if I am even able to do that.

 

Thank you very much.

[Shep]

Please see the thread we have on Tryptophan we have here:

 

5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) and l-tryptophan

 

In the first post, it states, "If you have been taking any of these related supplements daily, to go off, you may need to taper them by a quarter of your daily dose per week."

 

If you're still having a lot of symptoms, you may want to start off much slower, perhaps 10% or less. And then if you're tolerating that reduction, you could speed it up a bit.