stevew31: Histamine Gone Haywire - Seroquel Withdrawal

[stevew31]

Hello to all. I stumbled across this site a few times during my tapering process and have gotten to the end of getting off of all of my meds which I started taking about 2007. The cocktail started with Effexor and I ended up being on four different meds (Effexor,Seroquel,Lamotragine,Abilify). What started off as anxiety and depression eventually ended up being a bi-poloar II diagnosis after a few years as a psychiatric outpatient. Of course my doctor eventually retired and I was basically left holding the bag.

 

In 2018 I made my first attempt to start getting off of my meds. I didn't go so well because of the low dose of Effexor, a 37.5MG capsule, I wasn't able to taper it down. The emotional withdrawal was difficult so I went back on it. I stopped taking my Abilify after I lost my insurance plan in 2020. I couldn't afford it at $400 CDN for thirty pills. It never had much of a noticeable effect on my symptoms. Fast forward to November 2022 and I tried to get off of Effexor again. Same emotional results but I stuck with it, tapering off slowly over a five month period. Taking one capsule every second day, then every third, every forth etc. over a period of 24 weeks. Took a month off and then started tapering off of Lamotragine, same process, June to December 2023. Last was Seroquel, which I started in January 2024, and was able to drop 50 MG right away and then tapered down the other 50MG tablet. I had to split the XR tablet to 25MG as the last dose and tapered off over a period of eight weeks.

 

I tried a quicker taper of Seroquel before the Lamotragine and experienced horrible withdrawal symptoms. Heavy sneezing and a constant runny nose. I have always had mild allergies but never like this. I went back on my full dose and decided to taper the Lamotragine down then went back to a slow taper off of Seroquel.  After my last 25MG dose on June 30th of this year, I immediately started taking an extra strength antihistamine. This has worked wonders but I now have to get off of the antihistamine. This is where I am stuck in a rut.

 

I have discovered that I could have developed histamine intolerance. So Seroquel has now delivered a second medical condition. The first was my diabetes II diagnosis in 2014 and now this!

 

So I am stuck trying to figure out what is going on? Is it a food intolerance, or a high build up of histamine in my brain after being on this med for nearly 17 years? Seroquel has been acting as an antihistamine which I learned after a lot of research. So my thinking is that maybe I need to taper the antihistamine now and avoid foods high in histamine, even though I already follow a low carb diet for my diabetes. I'm at a point where I no longer know what to do and don't know how long this could go on for. It sounds like it's not very common because I can't find many people who have experienced this withdrawal symptom and how they handled it and more importantly, how long it went on for.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

[stevew31]

I think I did the taper wrong.

 

I'll try reinstating the Seroquel where I ended off at 25MG. Problem is it's an XR tablet and they are not supposed to be split. I was taking two 50MG tablets at bedtime.

 

 

[FireflyFyte]

Hello stevew31,

 

Welcome to SA. Thank you for summarizing your drug history in your signature.

 

1 hour ago, stevew31 said:

I'll try reinstating the Seroquel where I ended off at 25MG.

 

We have information regarding reinstatement at Reinstatement: About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms. We generally advise reinstating a small amount of the medication in an attempt to avoid kindling so if your last dose of Seroquel was 25mg, would try a reinstatement of 1.25mg and see if that provides relief. 

 

We have a thread dedicated to tapering Seroquel at Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine). 

 

Is it possible to get a prescription for the IR version of Seroquel? It would make the tapering process simpler.

 

Thanks,

 

Firefly

[stevew31]

Hi FireflyFyte,

 

Thanks for all of the info. I will go through everything you recommended.

 

I took 25MG last night and flu like symptoms went away but all of the side effects returned with it. Dry mouth, ears ringing, sinuses feel like they have dried up.

 

Have you heard of anyone here with the flu like symptoms as a problem with withdrawal?

[stevew31]

I found FeralCatMan's thread on getting off of Seroquel. What a treasure of information.

 

He also has a link to a document he wrote Quitting Seroquel – A Vacation in Hell. Highly worth reading if you are trying to get off of Seroquel.

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=2417&key=205b04b98644dc4adcc6debc895ec616

 

 

[stevew31]

I am sharing this information for anyone who is having a similar problem with their histamine (flu like symptoms) being out of control when tapering off of Seroquel. I am not a scientist by any stretch of the imagination but this seems to be the best way to go for me at this point in time. I made the mistake of jumping off at 25mg of Seroquel because I didn't know any better. I do not suggest you do this and follow the treatment recommended on this site and do a slow taper.

 

I have spent the day doing more research and have come to the conclusion that my Seroquel withdrawal symptoms are all due to the low dose I was taking, 100mg before tapering, and the drug was really only acting as a histamine receptor blocker (H1 receptor) or in simpler terms, acting as an antihistamine. I was taking it for sleep, so in essence it was being used a sedative. I highly recommend you read FeralCatMan's document I linked above for a good breakdown of what he went through to get off of this horrible drug.

 

I think going back on a small dose of Seroquel and doing a slower taper, will just be acting like tapering from an antihistamine. Because of the low dose of Seroquel I was on, it was never being used as an anti-psychotic and I was never quite sure why I was being put on an anti-psychotic in the first place. I was never psychotic.

 

My plan now is to continue to use Cetirizine and then taper off of it using the method recommended by the team here. This in addition to following a low histamine diet.

 

As far as Cetirizine, it does have it's drawbacks and I know I will have to deal with a withdrawal from that as well. But I think it will be easier to taper it down based on the many formulas it is available in, both pill and liquid form. I will at least try this route and see where I get.

 

I have no idea at this point how long it will take my body to undo the damage Seoquel caused to my histamine sensitivity but for now I'll give myself a break and maybe start tapering in the new year.

 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

 

Some of my research:

 

Quetiapine (specifically read the Pharmacology section)

 

Histamine H1 receptor

 

Cetirizine

 

What is histamine?

 

Histamine and Psychiatric Disorders

 

What Is Histamine Intolerance?

 

The Histaminergic System in Neuropsychiatric Disorders

 

ANTIHISTAMINE WITHDRAWAL: DEPENDENCE, WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS, MANAGEMENT AND MORE

 

Histamine diet:

 

https://www.mastzellaktivierung.info/downloads/foodlist/21_FoodList_EN_alphabetic_withCateg.pdf

 

Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI)

 

 

 

 

 

[Mittenraised]

Hi @stevew31, I have been tapering seroquel for some time now. Started at 300mg, Did a fast taper and ended up in the hospital. 

 

You have found the best resource for recovery right here. I see you found Feralcatman's thread already. I have followed his advice, slow is fast. Take your time, it's not a race. I have felt trapped at times and wanted to speed up the process but it just doesn't work without injury and discomfort. Your in the right place, welcome!

[stevew31]

Hi @Mittenraised Thanks so much for the welcome and for sharing your story.

 

I should have started here first before I started tapering. But I'm off of everything now, one at a time. I started in November 2022 using the typical method which is not recommended here. I agree that I am going to slow this down now and let my body start catching up and healing.

[ang123]

Thank you for sharing this information 

[StDymphna]

Hey I'm with you. I have also been struggling finding to find enough people on here that are dealing with histamine issues in withdrawal. About 3 months after my Lexapro CT histamine intolerance suddenly began, to the point where I get hives and other allergy like issues daily. I have been eating the same few foods for months because other things I try give me reactions

[stevew31]

7 hours ago, ang123 said:

Thank you for sharing this information 

 

@ang123 Hope some of the links help. If you haven't already, maybe read FeralCatMan's document I linked above for a good breakdown of what he went through to get off of this horrible drug. It seems that above 200mg of Seroquel, it also acts on the other the receptors (dopamine, serotonin) whereas below 100mg, it only acts on the histamine receptor. Based on how you have been tapering, I think maybe 100mg drops are too much. You might have to go slower and follow the 10% rule they recommend here. I was never on more than 100mg so I have no idea what coming off of a higher dose is like but I imagine it would have a significant impact on emotions. Just coming off of 37.5mg of Effexor had an huge effect on my emotions. I'm a person who doesn't normally cry and I broke down a few times. Please free to continue to reach out if you need help.

 

6 hours ago, StDymphna said:

I have also been struggling finding to find enough people on here that are dealing with histamine issues in withdrawal.

 

@StDymphna Ya, I had a hard time too. I stumbled across a forum (not this one) a while back and managed to see posts of people who had the histamine problem coming off of Seroquel. Some had severe itching, running nose, sneezing fits. I took a quick look at the drugs you are on, Lexapro and Zoloft, and it looks like they also bind to the H1 receptor (histamine). Of the two, it looks Zoloft has less of an impact on the H1 receptor. This is from wikipedia:

 

Sertraline is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). By binding to the serotonin transporter (SERT) it inhibits neuronal reuptake of serotonin and potentiates serotonergic activity in the central nervous system.^[21] Over time, this leads to a downregulation of pre-synaptic 5-HT_1A receptors, which is associated with an improvement in passive stress tolerance, and delayed downstream increase in expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which may contribute to a reduction in negative affective biases.^[131][132] It does not significantly affect histamine, acetylcholine, GABA or benzodiazepine receptors.^[21]

 

Again, I'm not an expert in any of this but I'm wondering if you need to stick to one of the anti-depressants and use a slow taper to come off it while staying on the anti-histamine. Sounds like Zoloft might be easier but I'm not a doctor. Then taper off of the anti-histamine. Also, I'm not sure why you would be taking two anti-depressant's at the same time? Is this your doctor's recommendation? It should be one or the other I think since they are both antidepressants.

 

Here's a good link to look up drug interactions. Please free to continue to reach out if you need help.

 

https://www.drugs.com/interaction/list/

 

[ang123]

@stevew31 Thank you for your reply 

I have printed out and combed through Feralcat man's holiday in hell information and it is a grand blessing for anyone who is tapering Seroquel. I have been searching for histamine diet information and general information about histamine and how it affects your body. I was managing psoriasis long before I went on to psychiatric medicine and was able to control it with diet and supplements, I am looking forward to getting to 200.

 

I was instructed by psychiatric doctor to drop 100's and I am going to go much slower. My first drop at 10% will be 25 smallest pill is 25 so its great.Im trying to figure out the practical steps to go ahead with a water taper to try drops of 5% because dropping around this dose can cause psychosis and I don't have the strength for that!!!

Have you completed your effexor taper?

 

I stumbled across information about a supplement called Quercetin it resolves histamine overload very well it also behaves as an MAO inhibitor affecting both dopamine and serotonin levels and I have been on the higher dose so I have developed some super sensitivity and don't think that more dopamine and serotonin will help me. I suspect that since you are on the smaller dose perhaps you would like to look into this supplement? I am not any kind of authority but it could be a helpful starting point to gather information?

 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23009399/

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7227109/

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6273625/

[ang123]

@StDymphna

I think its possible that alot of withdrawal affects histamine and I am grateful for the information that you have shared.

[stevew31]

2 hours ago, ang123 said:

Have you completed your effexor taper?

 

@ang123 I'm off of everything now. I found this web site once before but didn't take the time to fully understand how to do the 10% taper and since Effexor was a capsule, I honestly didn't know how to go off of it other than skipping doses every other day. It took me six months to get off of 37.5mg. I used the same method for Lamotrigine and Seroquel but they were a little easier because they were tablets. I think now my body has a lot of healing to do now, so I am in no rush to taper off of the antihistamine. I'm also supplementing with vitamins (C, Fish Oils and a multivitamin for the B6, B12, Magnesium and copper). All of this I read about. Also working on the low diet.

 

Sounds like you're going about the Seroquel taper the right way. I guess there is a point where the dopamine and seratonin gets balanced out again in the system once you dip below 200. Then it will be a histamine issue after that. I'm nowhere near out of the woods yet so any advice I have is based on how I'm feeling as I go along. Of the three, Seroquel has been the worst withdrawal by far. I will be living with these symptoms, even with the antihistamine for a while I think.

 

Thanks for the links, I will look into that. Stay in touch.

[stevew31]

4 hours ago, ang123 said:

I stumbled across information about a supplement called Quercetin

 

@ang123 Wow, this looks promising. Thanks for sharing.

[LostInCanada]

@stevew31quercetin has alot of benefits. My hubby used it for allergies and the moderator Go2zero uses it as well. It also boosts immunity.

 

Btw, welcome to SA. Looks like you are fitting in nicely and taking the initiative to get involved and do research. Well done. 

 

This site is definitely a treasure. 

 I was raised in Southern Ontario. Hope you are enjoying fall. Nothing beats sugar maples in colour. 😊

 

[stevew31]

9 hours ago, LostInCanada said:

Hope you are enjoying fall. Nothing beats sugar maples in colour.

 

@LostInCanada Thanks for the welcome. I am living in South East Asia right now. Fall is my favorite season and I really miss the leaves and visiting the sugar camps. Such a gorgeous time of year.

 

I'll have to see where I can source the quercetin. It's a little tricky over here. Have to do my due diligence before buying anything.

[LostInCanada]

8 minutes ago, stevew31 said:

living in South East Asia

Have you been trying to stick to a low histamine diet? I find the food that are histamine liberators even more problematic. Your body will eventually work it out but it sure isn’t fun.

 

10 minutes ago, stevew31 said:

Fall is my favorite season and I really miss the leaves and visiting the sugar camps.

Mine too. Victoria and Vancouver Island can’t hold a candle to it. 

[stevew31]

3 hours ago, LostInCanada said:

Have you been trying to stick to a low histamine diet? I find the food that are histamine liberators even more problematic. Your body will eventually work it out but it sure isn’t fun.

 

@LostInCanada When I first really discovered what exactly was going on, I thought I could get away with just avoiding high histamine foods and go off of the antihistamine. As I discovered last week, this is not the case. Even with fasting, I have the histamine problem. I think this will be along journey.

 

What I did read was that H1 receptors seem to affect the brains neurotransmitters and H2 receptors affect the gut. Source below is here:

 

Quote

H1 receptors

You have H1 receptors throughout your body, including in neurons (brain cells), smooth muscle cells of your airways and blood vessels. Activation of the H1 receptors causes the well-known allergy and anaphylaxis symptoms.

H2 receptors

You have H2 receptors mainly in the cells in your stomach that release acid, smooth muscle cells and heart cells.

 

So I'm trying to figure out if this is a histamine problem due to food only or a combo with the brain cells? You are what you eat, so I suspect food has a lot to do with it but the 17 years on Seroquel didn't help the brain cells either. So I'll try to stick to the diet. I'm paying for eating ice cream yesterday. I'm a suck for punishment I guess.

[LostInCanada]

11 hours ago, stevew31 said:

thought I could get away with just avoiding high histamine foods and go off of the antihistamine. As I discovered last week, this is not the case.

Every little bit helps but yes it is a long journey.

Are these the only withdrawal symptoms you are experiencing? 

Have you reinstated Seroquel? If so please update your signature with the date. If you haven't reinstated yet, you can get away with less than 25 mg probably. Check with a moderator to find the appropriate dose.

So glad you found @FeralCatmanHe has been able to reverse the drug induced diabetes.

What these drugs do to us are unbelievable. Unfortunately none of us were allowed to truly give informed consent.

 

[stevew31]

12 hours ago, LostInCanada said:

Are these the only withdrawal symptoms you are experiencing? 

 

@LostInCanada Yes so far just the flu like symptoms along with some irritability. I guess to be expected. Insomnia (but has gotten better), weird dreams. I think now that I have been off for three months, maybe I'm getting PAWS. All of this terminology is new to me.

 

12 hours ago, LostInCanada said:

Have you reinstated Seroquel?

 

I think I'm going to ride this out for a while on the antihistamine and diet. I know my window for reinstating is starting to close but I want see where this goes. I'm retired, so I don't have a job to go to everyday which helps and is the only reason I attempted this. I'm just going to rest and work on getting better. I know I'm nowhere near out of the woods.

 

Thanks so much for your encouraging words, I can't tell you how much it helps.

[LostInCanada]

26 minutes ago, stevew31 said:

flu like symptoms along with some irritability. I guess to be expected. Insomnia (but has gotten better), weird dreams.

That is actually good and especially that you have seen improvement.

Hopefully nothing will get worse.

28 minutes ago, stevew31 said:

I'm going to ride this out for a while

If you can do it, that is great. Being off is my dream. 💯

Just concentrate on healing and doing everything you can to be gentle on your cns. ❤️🙏

[stevew31]

Here's an update from my recklessness of eating ice cream last Saturday.

 

I had horrible histamine issues on Sunday as noted above.

 

Slept most of the day yesterday (Monday). Had no coffee but developed a slight headache. Histamine symptoms starting to resolve, about half as bad. Did not eat any foods high in histamine. Wrestled with negative thoughts for about 1/2 hour at bedtime and then overcame them with deep breathing, praying and chasing the thoughts out.

 

Have been experimenting with various supplements (C, Multi-Vitamin, D, Omega 3 Fish Oil). I took the multi-vitamin and the C (1000mg) on Sunday, did not relieve the histamine much. Monday took multi-vitamin and Omega 3 fish oil. Similar results. No worse, no better.

 

Today, late afternoon. A little better histamine wise. Mostly stuffed up. No runny nose. Had one coffee and headache gone. Thinking I shouldn't do anything too drastic by eliminating another stimulant (coffee) too soon. Causes another withdrawal.

 

It has taken me three days to recover from the histamine attack from the weekend. I can only attribute it to what I ate at this point.

 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

[LostInCanada]

7 hours ago, stevew31 said:

Had one coffee and headache gone. Thinking I shouldn't do anything too drastic by eliminating another stimulant (coffee)

This is very true if your body is dependent. If you can limit it or slowly reduce, that would be more effective.

7 hours ago, stevew31 said:

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Good to hear that you can see it.

7 hours ago, stevew31 said:

overcame them with deep breathing, praying and chasing the thoughts out.

I find these very things majorly effective. My faith is definitely stabilizing.❤️🙏

[Evelyne]

Hey @stevew31! How's it going with your histamine issues?

 

I'm very much on that same boat right now. I'm dipping into low histamine diet and I think I might have botched my histamine limitations yesterday and today has been quite awful with every single thing I eat. I don't know how much Duloxetine has histamine effects, but it for sure has been doing something with me regarding to that. I've never been this sensitive to everything I eat. I don't dare to test out Quercetin, but I've been taking two antihistamines per day (desloratadine) and a small-ish amount of Pycnogenol every day. I wonder if I should take Pepcid back even if that has it's downsides as well. 

[Vancouver1986]

On 10/9/2024 at 10:10 PM, stevew31 said:

found FeralCatMan's thread on getting off of Seroquel. What a treasure of information.

 

He also has a link to a document he wrote Quitting Seroquel – A Vacation in Hell. Highly worth reading if you are trying to get off of Seroquel.

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=2417&key=205b04b98644dc4adcc6debc895ec616

I found his document late last year, I believe. Truly shocking. None of us gave Informed Consent to any of these Psychotropic Pharmaceuticals.

On 10/10/2024 at 11:24 PM, ang123 said:

stumbled across information about a supplement called Quercetin it resolves histamine overload very well it also behaves as an MAO inhibitor affecting both dopamine and serotonin levels and I have been on the higher dose so I have developed some super sensitivity and don't think that more dopamine and serotonin will help me. I suspect that since you are on the smaller dose perhaps you would like to look into this supplement? I am not any kind of authority but it could be a helpful starting point to gather information?

This website and other social medias caution against using supplements. I'm not interested in taking any more pills every day, either. I just googled Quercetin foods. I often have cravings for apples and sometimes a pear, and I can't eat an orange or blueberries or pear, for example. My body is always talking to me about what it wants/will be able to handle, and yours is probably as well.

On 10/12/2024 at 5:50 PM, LostInCanada said:

Mine too. Victoria and Vancouver Island can’t hold a candle to it. 

 

On 10/12/2024 at 9:16 PM, stevew31 said:

What I did read was that H1 receptors seem to affect the brains neurotransmitters and H2 receptors affect the gut. Source below is here:

“Reducing the Brain, Ignoring the Soul” Dr Grace E. Jackson (December 5, 2002) talks about this type of thing, too. I've read about the histamine receptors on another resource late last year, I believe. These drugs are so incredibly dangerous. I remember finally checking Seroquel I.R. on go.drugbank.com after many many many attempts at reducing 1/4 of one of the two 25mg pills in order to get my freedom of movement, body-autonomy, quality of life, and health back. I checked that website before my first in-patient stay within 6 months because of these Pharamceuticals or the acute withdrawal from them.

 

Quote

We have FOURTEEN different serotonin receptors in the body, which regulate different body systems & body functions together with other transmitters and hormones in the body, such as menstrual cycle hormonal fluctuations, which are affected through changes of serotonin levels in the central nervous system.

 

I found the above sentence somewhere recently, too. I didn't know that until fairly recently. ie: no informed consent back in 2012 or ever along the way. Can we please prevent this dangerous stuff from happening to Gen Alpha and younger? Please?

 

Quote

5HT2A: anxiety, insomnia, overstimulation, emotional numbness, emotional numbness also due to downregulation of dopamine levels (Seroquel) when serotonin levels are too high

5HT1A: autonomic functions such as heartbeat, breathing, body temperature (hypothalamus), sweating, vegetative nervous system, etc.

5HT3: vomiting, intestine-dysfunction, diarrhea, constipation

5HT2C: sexual dysfunctions, Post-SSRI-Sexual-Dysfunction, appetite loss, loss of body feeling

I also found the above information somewhere recently, too. I didn't know that until fairly recently. ie: no informed consent back in 2012 or ever along the way. Can we please prevent this dangerous stuff from happening to Gen Alpha and younger? Please?

 

On 10/12/2024 at 9:16 PM, stevew31 said:

17 years on Seroquel didn't help the brain cells either. So I'll try to stick to the diet. I'm paying for eating ice cream yesterday. I'm a suck for punishment I guess.

 

On 10/13/2024 at 8:26 AM, LostInCanada said:

What these drugs do to us are unbelievable. Unfortunately none of us were allowed to truly give informed consent.

We can all agree with that.

On 10/15/2024 at 8:08 AM, LostInCanada said:

I find these very things majorly effective.

I've recently realized that I can 'breathe into my uterus' kind of practice. When I was younger, I read about shallow breathing in your chest vs. deeper breathing. But I find the 'breathe into your uterus' thing a more effective visual. I can tell where my uterus is, because I've had a Copper IUD twice. I just had the 2nd one out prematurely in July, because these Pharmaceuticals themselves and the acute withdrawal and protracted biological dysfunction are causing pelvic floor issues and vaginal dryness/stinging that is very uncomfortable (I haven't yet hit Perimenopause). I had to take myself to the local E.R. three times this past summer/fall because of this. One time, the Dr's felt my ovaries to make sure there were no polyps, and I've never felt that before. They're really low in the body.

[Vancouver1986]

On 10/10/2024 at 8:02 PM, stevew31 said:

Sertraline is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). By binding to the serotonin transporter (SERT) it inhibits neuronal reuptake of serotonin and potentiates serotonergic activity in the central nervous system.^[21] Over time, this leads to a downregulation of pre-synaptic 5-HT_1A receptors, which is associated with an improvement in passive stress tolerance, and delayed downstream increase in expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which may contribute to a reduction in negative affective biases.^[131][132] It does not significantly affect histamine, acetylcholine, GABA or benzodiazepine receptors.^[21]

 

This is exactly the type of thing I was referring to when I was younger and I didn't think "anti-depressants" felt right & "knew where to go" in the brain chemistry. We now know from this forum/YT/IG/etc that they're not "selective" at all. These receptors are all over the body and create complete destruction for all of us who are not okay with staying on them for life and not needing the dosage raised in order to maintain efficacy/preventing "relapse" and go hypo-manic in the process and be misDx'ed with BiPolar #1/#2/#3/rapid-cycling.

 

When I was younger, I thought: why are they prescription only if they actually work/effective at keeping "depression" (biological) at bay/remission? (My mom still doesn't understand supposed biological clinical depression/anxiety vs. situational depression/anxiety.) why is there not just 1 'anti-depressant'? why are there different brands? why are they advertised on t.v. like a consumer product? (I'm Canadian, but we get all of your t.v. channels, movies, magazines, etc), what's this about a 'chemical imbalance'? (that doesn't make any sense due to natural selection) why should I take a pharmaceutical like this if my brain is still developing? (I never tried Pristiq until I was age 25, & I was desperate, because I was never given a proper Trauma Counsellor. I just saw a few counsellors where I paid to vent & at the end of the appointment, self-propped myself to say what I was greatful for and left still anxious.)

 

Something seems off with these medicines.

 

I remember seeing the Zoloft commercial during a commercial break for the Simpsons some time in the late 90's and making fun of the ridiculousness?absurdity of it that I thought it was. I was just a kid, but I still had the ability to think critically. I also remember the parody on Mad TV: it was satirized as legal ecstacy. That's exactly what it seemed like to me: basically, legal party drugs (stimulant or sedative/tranquilizer).