BackyardPerfume: Misguided Effexor Taper Followed by Polydrugging—Help Please

[BackyardPerfume]

Hi! I’m here hoping for support and guidance as I navigate all of the symptoms from essentially a CT off Effexor (per my doctor’s plan.) 

 

I was on 20 mg Lexapro from 2015-2023 but felt I was gaining weight and not feeling benefits anymore so asked my doctor about coming off, and was instead prompted to do a direct switch to 37.5 mg Effexor. After almost a year, I felt I was more depressed and gaining even more weight, so I asked to go off. I was given a prescription for 20 mg of Prozac, and told to stop my Effexor on a Monday, and start the Prozac the following day, then to take it for five days straight, then every other day for ten days (so 5 more pills) then off. 

I followed the plan, and despite some GI issues and dizziness, after 6 weeks I thought I was doing really well. Week seven came and the floor fell out. I felt like my body was in fight/flight constantly upon waking one morning, and it stayed. I would be woken up with cortisol or adrenaline dumps if I could sleep, and I could not eat. I had air hunger. Terror. Doom. 

My husband wound up taking me to the ER because we thought maybe I was dehydrated or just hadn’t had enough calories for a week. Was put into med psych for 5 days, where they put me on 50mg trazodone, 12.5 mg Zoloft (then up to 50 mg), and hydroxyzine as needed. See, they were treating my anxiety, the symptom for which I  was on meds to begin with, right? No! This was not anything I had ever experienced before, but I didn’t know any better. Then the akathisia started. Pacing or bouncing my legs. All. The. Time. Panic attacks. Terror. Doom. Insomnia. 

Since I’ve since learned that this is from my method of discontinuing an AD, I’m trying to take a path to get healthy, because it’s been almost 3 months since this started, and I can’t do it much longer. 
Since I was only on the Zoloft for 4 weeks, and at 50 mg for only one week, I did a fast taper off in 3.5 weeks. I still at that time had no idea about 10% method. I’ve been off for 3 weeks today, and I’m terrified this is going to come back and bite me. 

I’ve also gotten down to 6.25 mgs of trazodone and have been there for 7 days. Originally I was going to jump after two weeks, but now I’m not sure that’s the best idea, although I was only on it at full dose for 5 weeks. I see now a slow taper is best, but does that apply when you’ve only been on trazodone 5 weeks? I’ve been tapering for 5 weeks. 

Also, the hydroxyzine. I average 4x per week, 50 mg. Is this hindering my healing? I imagine I’ll have to taper it as well. And round it out with 40 mg propranolol.

Help. Please. I’m a mom of four, and a K-8 art teacher. I haven’t worked since February. I’m scared and tired and my legs hurt from moving them. Any suggestions or support is welcome. 

Edited April 29 by Carmie
Added spaces in between paragraphs

[Carmie]

Welcome @BackyardPerfume, 

 

Your username made me think you might have roses or fragrant flowers in your backyard🌸🌹😁. I’m sorry to hear that you were asked to make so many quick changes, that can certainly destabilise your brain. Taking the meds every other day is not a good idea, as you go into withdrawal every second day. Changing meds and doses all the time also affects our brains, as well as going cold turkey. I was polydrugged too and put on and off all sorts of things, it all started because I had chronic pain. A lot of people on this site have been in the same boat. 
 

The terror and doom are very common withdrawal symptoms, especially if you end up with Akathisia. It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced too, so I really feel for you. 
 

Sometimes if we’ve been on meds for a shorter period of time we might be able to go a bit quicker, but our brains adjust to these meds so quickly so it’s not always a good idea. 

It probably wasn’t a good idea to cold turkey the Zoloft either and then a few weeks later taper the Trazodone, and make such a big drop. All this could hit you later, as there were too many big changes. It might be best to not taper the Trazodone anymore for now, just hold until you stabilise. Then later on you can taper by 10% of the last dose every month or so. It might take quite a while to stabilise. We should only ever taper one medication at a time. 
 

If withdrawals get really bad from cold turkeying the Zoloft, you could always reinstate a really small amount, like 1mg or so. There are no guarantees that it will help, though I’ve seen it help a lot of people on here. There is a chance of it making things worse too, so you’re the only one who can make the decision. If you do decide to do that, the sooner the better. The longer you leave it the less likely chance of it working. 
 

As regards your antihistamine just Google survivingantidepressants and antihistamines, and you’ll find some information there. It’s in the Symptoms and Selfcare section. 
 

Also, please don’t drink any alcohol and cut down on caffeine and sugar. You might like to try some magnesium and fish oil too, it’s benefited a few people. It’s best to start on a small dose of one of them and up it, after which you can add the other and do the same. We become really hyperactive to lots of things, so we have to go slowly to see if we can tolerate certain things. 
 

Wishing you all the best with your healing💛

[BackyardPerfume]

Hi Carmie!

Thank you for your reply. I didn’t quite CT the Zoloft, but I did do fast taper. Knowing what I know now, I’m terrified it will come back to haunt me in another month or so. 
I have not dropped the trazodone again from 6.25mg.

When people suggest ‘stabilizing’ what does that mean? Like, heal all the way symptom free before tapering? Or something less than that? 
Thank you for reading. 

[Carmie]

You’re welcome @BackyardPerfume, 

 

Oh, yes, I see. You tapered the Zoloft too quickly, you didn’t cold turkey. I always have severe brain fog from CFS, and I find it hard to focus a lot of the time. Tapering from 50mg of the Zoloft to zero in three and a half weeks is really quick too though. As mentioned above, you are still in a window to try a reinstatement if you choose to do so. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid no one can say if your withdrawals will hit you hard in a month or more. Everyone is different. Some people found that withdrawals hit them many months after coming off a medication. Some people were okay. 
 

While coming off these meds, we will always have some amount of withdrawal. Our brains are continually trying to stabilise. Even after coming off these meds we can still go through withdrawals for quite some time. Stabilising just means the symptoms have dampened down a bit. When this happens, give it time though before you taper again. 
 

If you go to the Home page you’ll find that a lot of your questions are answered there. There’s a thread on the windows and waves patterns in withdrawals. Waves are when our symptoms exacerbate and windows are when they calm down a bit. This will happen all throughout the time your brain is trying to heal. 
 

Sending hugs🤗

[BackyardPerfume]

Thank you! 

I realize now that my Zoloft taper was too fast, but at this point my withdrawal symptoms have not increased, so I am hoping to avoid reinstatement. I was only on the Zoloft for 1 month (and not at 50 except 10 days) so at the time I thought a faster taper would be better. I was under the assumption that healing couldn’t happen until I was off all meds, so I was trying to get there, I guess. It’s so unfortunate that until one finds this group, there is no help for navigating this. I was doing all of this with my doctors input! 
As for the trazodone, I’m going to crush and weigh powder to do reductions now. I’ll convert the 50 mg of drug to weight, then take in weight the equivalent of my dose. Can I just put it in some applesauce and eat it? 
I guess I’m still confused about stable—I’m not healed, but do feel like I could do another reduction. Is that what stable means? 
thank you again! 

[Carmie]

Hi @BackyardPerfume, 

 

I’m glad to hear that your withdrawal symptoms aren’t too bad at the moment. It’s great not having Akathisia, once you’ve experienced it. All the best with tapering once you decide to do so. I guess you could put it in applesauce, as long as you make sure you get the right dose. 
 

Being stable is different for everyone as we all get such different symptoms. It’s just a dampening down of the symptoms we have, a kind of baseline. Have a pleasant day💛

[BackyardPerfume]

@Carmiehi!

 

So I think I want to try tapering the trazodone. Is it still recommended to taper 10% every month even if you have only been on it a very short time? 

[Carmie]

Hi @BackyardPerfume, 

 

Sorry I haven’t popped around sooner, I’ve been really sick. 

 

Did you end up doing a drop? Seeing you’ve had akathisia in the past and you’ve made a made a number of changes since 2023, I personally would taper by no more than 10% of the last dose every month. Let us know how you go💛