Immediate adverse reactions to an antidepressant or within a few doses? How long for recovery?

[PortugueseSea]

3 hours ago, Chompoo said:

I compared my recovery with those who cold turkeyed or did a fast taper. My timeline seems to match theirs. Those who did long tapers recover in 3 months or less. Adverse reactions seem to be brain injuries that can take a long time to heal.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the case for me. I have listened to a Dr. Shipko interview where he compared some of these instances with neurological damage caused by solvents, he mentions that the timeline to healing can be up to 7 years.

1 year and 3 months off the causative med and 2 months off all psych meds it is still early days for me and waves can be barbaric. I am trying to eat clean and fully remove alcohol from my life as I suffer enough as it is. 

On average, I am better every month and that is saying a lot. My gut tells me though that I am in this for the long haul. I will thus bear my cross.

[Chompoo]

@PortugueseSea it's shocking how much long-term damage pyschotrophic drugs can cause us. I'm more than 4 months off and still suffering a fair bit. At the slow rate of recovery I'm having, I doubt I will be well at the 6 month mark. I just hope my recovery doesn't stretch on for years. Praying for better days for the both of us 🙏

[PortugueseSea]

To be honest, If I was fully recovered at 4 years, I'd sign off on it. I have a wonderful life. Just need my brain to rebalance to enjoy it. 

That is the fact.

[PortugueseSea]

On 5/16/2023 at 12:41 AM, Scrountz said:

The fact that people can experience similar symptoms from taking the medication as they can from discontinuing it shows that "withdrawal" is probably not withdrawal in the classical sense, but rather a syndrome of dysautonomia brought about by the stress of a too abrupt change in medication, or by the stress of a too potent dose of medication.

@Scrountz, I have read the explanation why PAWS can take so long to heal, the need to reverse long lasting changes in the brain.

Is there an equivalent theory for ADR? Given that exposure is often brief, the same explanation would not work, right?

Thanks!

[peaceandlove]

I’m 18 months adverse reaction & still not recovered 😔 some physical symptoms left but what bothers me most is the weird, ocd, intrusive mental symptoms. My brain & thoughts were not like this before at all 

[SouthernMan]

@peaceandloveIm in the same boat. 13 months off 4 pills, then reinstating 8 pills when i thought i was going crazy(now I know it was just withdraw). SLOWLY getting better. 

 

What are your physical and mental symptoms now? Still sleep issues? 

[peaceandlove]

12 minutes ago, SouthernMan said:

@peaceandloveIm in the same boat. 13 months off 4 pills, then reinstating 8 pills when i thought i was going crazy(now I know it was just withdraw). SLOWLY getting better. 

 

What are your physical and mental symptoms now? Still sleep issues? 

I’m sorry you’re going through this. It sucks so much. I have never reinstated but unfortunately I have had to take antibiotics which I wonder if that set me back. @SouthernMan I wish I had a Time Machine I would’ve never took this

 

My physical symptoms (come & go)

bladder pain (feels like a uti sometimes)

headache

Sensitive to stimulation (lights, crowds, noise, smells)

heart paps

random aches & pains, muscle tension 

fatigue 

can’t exercise (I walked 30min 3 days in a row last week which is a mile a day. I won’t be doing that again it ramped up my symptoms)
Insomnia 

Vivid dreams nightmares

sensitive nerves 

Paresthesia

mental symptoms

Feels like I have anxiety 24/7 

fear

depression

low mood

OCD, crazy intrusive thoughts that aren’t mine

no motivation

feel slow in the head 

 

Mind you I had none of this before. Of course I had anxiety & panic attacks & some of the physical symptoms. But I was still able to work & live life. I never had the crazy intrusive thoughts etc

 

Are you resting your nervous system or do you have to work? Etc 

 

 

[SouthernMan]

@peaceandlove Right there with you. No, i have worked the whole time, no choice. Im the only income in the house, is what it is. Same boat with it coming and going. Feeling like I've started to turn a little corner around 12/13 months. 

 

For me now, and it comes and goes. For instance, yesterday felt great. Today not so much. I know thats healing though and it will get better. I do still work out, just not as instance, and i take a day off in between. 

 

I still have:

 

Crap sleep. I will get 1-3 decent nights a week where i only wake up once and get 7 hours or so. But, other than that, its broken, wake up hour after going to sleep and just toss and torn. Wild dreams still. Last night, just didn't feel tired, but laid there for hour or two and finally fell asleep, woke up twice and got 6 hours. Wild dreams. 

Frequent urination at night

Agitation like crazy, but gotten MUCH better

Squeezing on top of my head

Paresthesia in one spot on my back

muscle twitches all over that come and go

headaches, but have gotten better

Naseau/motion sick feeling 

My legs will get tired easy. Do you get this? 

Eyes get heavy, but not sleepy tired. 

Off balance here and there

Libido issues, but getting better

Brain Fog

Adhendonia-getting better

No motivation here and there

Flu like symptoms when tossing and turning and when waking up. Do you get these? Body just feels off/achey/etc.

 

All of these ARE slowly getting better and less and less. Its just SLOW

 

Mentally:

Its gotten alot better. But when i took these/reinstated, I have the worst intrusive thoughts and homicidal thoughts, etc. I HAVE NEVER HAD THIS, EVER PRIOR TO THIS. They are getting better though. I had like scared to be home alone with my kids for some reason, gotten better. Scared of knifes. just the wildest **** anyone could ever think of. 

I sitll get the hopeless here and there, but not as bad. 

I get the "whats the point" thoughts here and there if that makes sense. 

I know none of these are my thoughts. Doesn't help how traumatic it is, but i have never had these, ever until this.

Low mood

inability to really feel emotion. But ill get little spurts here and there and they are becoming more frequent. 

 

Hang in there, everyone heals. Just takes time. 

 

[peaceandlove]

@SouthernMan 

Wow I don’t know you but to work while doing this is very hard and I’m proud of you! I don’t work anymore since this has happened but I am in college online… it’s a struggle but I get it done. I think working can be a good thing because it serves as a distraction. I know when I sit around not doing anything the anxiety/intrusive thoughts can get worse. 

 

Yes, around 12 months is when I felt a relief too. I’m glad you’re improving. However I got into a stressful breakup & also went on vacation out of country which I’m sure caused a setback as well. (Idk if your dating or not but I’d advise not to start dating anyone during this lol) 

 

I have pretty much all those physical & mental symptoms you stated. My legs will only get tired if I do a lot of walking, yes. “Flu like symptoms when tossing and turning and when waking up. Do you get these? Body just feels off/achey/etc.” yes I have that too. The emotion thing too. 

 

I relate to those crazy thoughts. I had to sleep with my mom the first week it happened I was so scared. I thought I was going crazy. I still get those thoughts sometimes very intense sometimes not as much. I have no idea if it’s the ocd that keeps repeating them or what. I get obsessive thoughts about anything sometimes. Being busy sometimes helps soften them but sometimes it doesn’t. 

 

I’m so glad you found me. Adverse reaction people need more encouragement & people to talk to on here  

[SouthernMan]

Married with two kids here. So all of this is not ideal, but is what it is. Stay busy, eat properly, get sunlight, try to move, put your bare feet on the earth, etc. we will heal. Just going to take sometime. 

[Scrountz]

22 hours ago, PortugueseSea said:

@Scrountz, I have read the explanation why PAWS can take so long to heal, the need to reverse long lasting changes in the brain.

Is there an equivalent theory for ADR? Given that exposure is often brief, the same explanation would not work, right?

Thanks!

 

Hey PortugueseSea

 

I think in the case of ADR, it's that the medication itself exerts a too potent effect on the autonomic nervous system, which can produce symptoms similar to withdrawal. I think in both cases it's the autonomic nervous system being knocked out of its rythyms and patterns, and it can take quite a while to re-pattern itself.

[Fairsome]

Some people are extremely sensitive to any serotonergics (like SSRIs) which means what the drug is a poison to their system - the body doesn't agree with the drug being put in its system. This is why it happens.

[peaceandlove]

6 hours ago, Fairsome said:

Some people are extremely sensitive to any serotonergics (like SSRIs) which means what the drug is a poison to their system - the body doesn't agree with the drug being put in its system. This is why it happens.

do you know people that have complete healed from this? @Fairsome

[KenA]

On 11/21/2023 at 12:29 PM, peaceandlove said:

I’m 18 months adverse reaction & still not recovered 😔 some physical symptoms left but what bothers me most is the weird, ocd, intrusive mental symptoms. My brain & thoughts were not like this before at all 

Hang in there @peaceandlove. I've spoken with quite a few members that had an ADR off of just a couple of pills and they have gone on to have a complete recovery and are back to living their lives again. Healing truly does happen for all of us. Just takes time. Just keep taking it one day at a time until you cross the finish line!! You've got this!

[Fairsome]

27 minutes ago, peaceandlove said:

do you know people that have complete healed from this? @Fairsome

Yes I remember one story from this website, but it took the woman 4 years if I am correct. There are probably other people here but I haven't looked at. If your symptoms are primarily mental right now, my opinion is that you will recover 100%. Have you visited a therapist or tried something like hypnosis or meditation for the intrusive thoughts?

[peaceandlove]

3 hours ago, Fairsome said:

Yes I remember one story from this website, but it took the woman 4 years if I am correct. There are probably other people here but I haven't looked at. If your symptoms are primarily mental right now, my opinion is that you will recover 100%. Have you visited a therapist or tried something like hypnosis or meditation for the intrusive thoughts?

idk I don’t think hypnosis is a good idea for someone with a disregulated nervous system lol.  But thank you so much for the reply & the suggestions!  Yes I try my best with meditation & mainly restorative yoga to help with the thoughts @Fairsome walking worked very well but sent me into a wave so I guess I can’t do that until I get stronger

[peaceandlove]

4 hours ago, KenA said:

Hang in there @peaceandlove. I've spoken with quite a few members that had an ADR off of just a couple of pills and they have gone on to have a complete recovery and are back to living their lives again. Healing truly does happen for all of us. Just takes time. Just keep taking it one day at a time until you cross the finish line!! You've got this!

Thank you! What did you do for the intrusive thoughts? Did you have to actively push them away or did they just slowly melt away as your nervous system became back regular?

 

I walked 3 days in a row which really helped with the mental thoughts. But the walking then ramped up my symptoms unfortunately by day 3 unfortunately & caused extreme fatigue @KenA

[peaceandlove]

Below I listed the usernames that have stories of successful adverse reaction recoveries you guys can read when you’re feeling down 

 

@Maybe @Farout @Lzieb @Lindsay625 @HopefulDawn @Johawaii

 

However, unfortunately none of them get on here anymore (I don’t blame them) so you can’t reach out to them. 

[KenA]

14 minutes ago, peaceandlove said:

Thank you! What did you do for the intrusive thoughts? Did you have to actively push them away or did they just slowly melt away as your nervous system became back regular?

 

I walked 3 days in a row which really helped with the mental thoughts. But the walking then ramped up my symptoms unfortunately by day 3 unfortunately & caused extreme fatigue @KenA

Honesty, I just learned how to accept them, stopped fighting them, and letting them have negative control over me. I learned that no matter what thoughts I had, I did not have to act on them and I took back my power over them. They did slowly go away as I healed and got better. Fighting against them is only going to cause you grief and they are going to happen anyway. So, why not just accept them, acknowledge them as a symptom of healing, and then move on. You can do it! Practice anything long enough and it will become a habit

[KenA]

18 minutes ago, peaceandlove said:

Thank you! What did you do for the intrusive thoughts? Did you have to actively push them away or did they just slowly melt away as your nervous system became back regular?

 

I walked 3 days in a row which really helped with the mental thoughts. But the walking then ramped up my symptoms unfortunately by day 3 unfortunately & caused extreme fatigue @KenA

Also, the other thing I learned that worked for me was distraction. I found different crafts I could work on that would keep my mind occupied so it wouldn't wander

[peaceandlove]

19 hours ago, KenA said:

Honesty, I just learned how to accept them, stopped fighting them, and letting them have negative control over me. I learned that no matter what thoughts I had, I did not have to act on them and I took back my power over them. They did slowly go away as I healed and got better. Fighting against them is only going to cause you grief and they are going to happen anyway. So, why not just accept them, acknowledge them as a symptom of healing, and then move on. You can do it! Practice anything long enough and it will become a habit

Thank you for all the advice 🙏🏼💕 it means so much @KenA

[Viinncceennt]

Dear all, I'm looking for experiences similar as mine, which differ mostly from what I can read here.

 

Immediate adverse reactions to few doses and withdrawal symptoms are experienced and described here as being kinda similar : mainly instability from a shaken nervous system, hypersensitivity (to other drugs, supplements, food) and the pattern of windows and waves.

 

I had an adverse reaction to a quick and, in a way, huge change in my medication overnight (cf. signature). I went back on my previous cocktail a couple of days later.

 

Since then, I'm experiencing a lot of symptoms (dysautonomia among others) but no instability, no hypersensitivity, windows/waves... Note that I know how instability shows as I've experienced withdrawal before and I totaly get the description provided above and throughout this thread.

 

It has been persistent for 2 months now and the symptoms are steady, neither lowering or intensifying. I've been feeling the same each and evert day. It's like my nervous system got permanently damaged and there can't be any instability or waves/windows because there is nothing it can get back too.

 

I hope what I said is sensible and others will be able to share similar stories.

 

Viinncceennt 

 

 

[marieautismmom]

thank you to the moderator who directed me to this.  I'm the mom of an autistic 23 years old who was on Lexapro for only 10 days, felt nothing, so went off it (as his doc told him to). Then became homicidal, suicidal, self injurious, also vomiting, OCD aggravation, brain zaps etc--

 

and this caught my eye

 

"Serotonin toxicity is probably the closest medical description. Recovery from these iatrogenic conditions is simply not studied. 

 

Because sometimes even just a little 5 htp (serotonin preecursor) in his digestive project would help him one day and then the next we'd have to pull it because it seemed like it was making him psychotic. Like  SAM-e helped in the acute phase but then it was just making things worse. It was hard to see what was doing what but in a totally unrelated book (it was about the gut biome) the researcher said people with autism have MORE serotonin in their guts that neurotypicals. He didn't attach a meaning to it, just as a fact. I found this site actually because his doc said he COULDN'T be having withdrawal after such a short time and none of his symptoms made sense. But when he started vomiting--that's when the light went off about his serotonin/gut thing. 

 

We found giving him GABA bound with niacin would help a lot but then the next day he'd have a crazy rebound effect (super bad OCD). His behaviors are much worse than they were before the 10 day Lexapro course and he's super depressed about it -- but I like to think he's slowly and erratically getting better but we want to help him get  better as fast as he can.  

[PortugueseSea]

On 11/22/2023 at 3:42 PM, Scrountz said:

I think in the case of ADR, it's that the medication itself exerts a too potent effect on the autonomic nervous system, which can produce symptoms similar to withdrawal. I think in both cases it's the autonomic nervous system being knocked out of its rythyms and patterns, and it can take quite a while to re-pattern itself.

Makes a lot of sense! Thanks! I have to make peace with this...

[PortugueseSea]

On 11/22/2023 at 6:56 AM, SouthernMan said:

Agitation like crazy, but gotten MUCH better

Agitation is the worst thing in the world for me, the other symptoms do not even compare, you guys have a laundry list. I used to too, it got better but these really bad ones, urgh, they are sticky and with ADR we have little control!

Let us keep walking guys!

[Catzbestfriend]

I am 6 months and 2 weeks off a bad reaction to Escitalopram - I was only on it for 10 weeks (rapidly tapering off from week 3 due to the reactions). I am definitely getting better, but my remaining symptom that is plaguing me daily in the window/wave routine is what I can only describe as brain zaps (not electrical in nature) more like a split second of my 'brain skipping a beat' or shivering, like when a video is buffering. It feels like a mini seizure or a skip-restart-blink experience, almost like a wave passes through my brain and occasionally accompanied by other sensations. I'll get these several times a day in a wave, especially worse at night. Has anyone else had this experience with their adverse reactions? I admit my symptoms seem to be unique. I have had most of the other reactions that I read from others on here as well of course, but they seem to be subsiding now at the 6 month mark, this one is being stubborn. Would love to hear if anyone else has experienced this?

[Farm24]

On 10/25/2016 at 4:02 PM, fuerza said:

This thread is the scariest thing I've read on this whole site. I had an adverse reaction to Escitalopram (extreme insomnia, panic attacks, blurry vision, akathisia, extreme anxiety). The doctor added Valdoxan and Oxazepam and a month later I was switched to Effexor which I stayed on for 9 months. Effexor caused derealisation and hypomania.

 

The thought that the recovery might take 20 years takes away the last glimmer of hope I had.

Agreed. I had a severe adverse reaction. And took it for several more months. Seeing people take a year to heal from this, and only taking one dose scares me. My symptoms are purely physical.

[PortugueseSea]

On 2/28/2024 at 4:32 AM, Farm24 said:

Agreed. I had a severe adverse reaction. And took it for several more months. Seeing people take a year to heal from this, and only taking one dose scares me. My symptoms are purely physical.

I was exposed to the causative agent for some months, I think I would be healed by now if it was not for the prescription cascade. I think many cases of Immediate Adverse Reactions last longer than a year only because people go running to the doctor for relief and then get a bunch of extra meds.

I did the same, I have only been off all meds for a year. My life has only become bearable 6 months off all meds or so.

It was absolutely unbearable for 18 months, this, for me, was definitely the result of experimentation by the incredibly ignorant psychiatrists and GPs I interacted with.

[Vasherr]

There is a huge problem in the whole medical world with rare cases, doctors tend to think that if for example something has an occurence rate of 3% then it surely can't be the case. The statistical reality is very different, taking into account how many patients they treat through their careers it is almost certain that they will encounter multiple rare cases with occurence rate that I used. Even with lower like 0,1% it is still almost certain due to the volume of patients.

 

In the case of psychotropics I think that most of them don't know how many people drop out due to "side effects" which is a really tame way of portraying the problem, to drop out of the study You really have to feel very bad on the drug and the language used in the study rarely reflects that.

 

I hope that in 20 years psychotropics will be treated like lobotomy in the medical world, I don't know how psychiatry can have multiple decades of harmful treatments on its account and still be treated as a valid branch of medicine.

[ArthurDaly]

 

I reinstated just over 2 months ago at 1mg of Fluoxetine.  I increased too quickly to 4mg within 3 weeks, and had a severe adverse reaction - full blown akathisia, which I got rid of by going back down to 1mg. I had a couple of short windows. I tried going up again to 2mg after 3 more weeks but again an adverse reaction, though not quite as severe.

 

Now, however, back down at 1mg, I think I am just getting a constant adverse reaction every day I dose at 1mg, resulting in a constant wave and no windows. Would it make sense to just stop the reinstatement after what is now 2.5 months? My thinking is that at least then I would go back to the windows and waves, rather than constant suffering through an adverse reaction. Obviously I am worried about another withdrawal, but it would only be from 1mg this time rather than 10mg.

[ThatOneGirlStitch]

In my experience that worked poorly for me even though I was on different medication. I dropped from what was considered to be a low dose medically speaking. I wish I would have put up with effects and tapered, as I did go into another worse withdrawal. We are all different and I can only lend my experience here and not my advice. 

[ArthurDaly]

2 hours ago, ThatOneGirlStitch said:

In my experience that worked poorly for me even though I was on different medication. I dropped from what was considered to be a low dose medically speaking. I wish I would have put up with effects and tapered, as I did go into another worse withdrawal. We are all different and I can only lend my experience here and not my advice. 

Thank you. So you came off after reinstating because of the adverse reaction? How long had you been back on the med? And which med was it?

[ThatOneGirlStitch]

Mirtazapine for two weeks about, I started getting adverse reactions after every dose. So I stopped. And it all went to hell for me. I would like to say I was suffering from the adverse reaction but it was not a reinstatement, but a replacement drug in my case. 

I have found from other people it was best to taper a drug even after reinstatement. There are always exceptions. But that seems to be the general consensus on BenzoBuddies.   

I am only one experience.

[Belajazi]

6 hours ago, ThatOneGirlStitch said:

Mirtazapine for two weeks about, I started getting adverse reactions after every dose. So I stopped. And it all went to hell for me. I would like to say I was suffering from the adverse reaction but it was not a reinstatement, but a replacement drug in my case. 

I have found from other people it was best to taper a drug even after reinstatement. There are always exceptions. But that seems to be the general consensus on BenzoBuddies.   

I am only one experience.

@ThatOneGirlStitch i was continously taking paxil with akathisia (adverse reaction) for  four months, because at that time i am unaware of akathisia,now i am tapering paxil slowly slowly. Which may be take whole year to complete. My body completely rejected paxil, but i have no option, if i quit ct, then bad withdrawals start. 😥

[Belajazi]

6 hours ago, ThatOneGirlStitch said:

Mirtazapine for two weeks about, I started getting adverse reactions after every dose. So I stopped. And it all went to hell for me. I would like to say I was suffering from the adverse reaction but it was not a reinstatement, but a replacement drug in my case. 

I have found from other people it was best to taper a drug even after reinstatement. There are always exceptions. But that seems to be the general consensus on BenzoBuddies.   

I am only one experience.

@ThatOneGirlStitch symptoms of adverse reaction??? 

[ThatOneGirlStitch]

@Belajazi I was suffering from symptoms of an adverse reaction so that is why I ct. But it was not from reinstatement. 
I am sorry you are tapering while having an adverse reaction. I understand none of this is easy.