Cressida: hello

[Cressida]

Hi. Am another refugee from Paxil Progress.

Was on Paxil 10mg for about 21/2 years. Tapered over 2 months to June 2012. Had a windows and waves pattern. Currently in a bad wave with anxiety, palpitations and burning skin mainly at night, a horrible pulsing sensation/noise in my head and other parts of my body, bit agitated today. Had been taking propanolol 10 mg intermittently to dampen the adrenalin and wondering if getting some kind of rebound effect so stopping those . Quite despairing this has gone on so long. Tight scalp and other muscles. Not getting a lot of sleep

[Songbird]

Hi Cressida, good to see you over here too!  It sure makes it easier that most people are using their same user names.

[bubble]

Hi Cressida and welcome to SA,

 

I'm sorry you are not feeling well at the moment. We see many people getting adverse reactions not only from drugs but also from supplemments and even food which is otherwise beneficial. It is possible that propranolol might have such an adverse effect on you. I remember our member WinningThrough was using it for a while but in the end found it it was causing problems. You might want to check her thread.

 

Are you taking any magnesium? It helps with anxiety.  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1300-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

 

We all here have  a short summary of our drug histories in our signature which appears every time we post so when you have the energy it would be nice to add yours: 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

I hope you start feeling better soon.

 

Bubble

[mustangwoman]

Hi Cressida!  So glad to see you here!

[Babs]

Hi Cressida!

 

I agree with Bubble, the propanolol might be complicating things in the long run.  My belief is that the brain heals best when you don't add other drugs to the mix.  I tried everything under the sun when I was in withdrawal but ended up just taking fish oil and magnesium.

[Cressida]

Thanks guys.So glad I haven't lost you !

Was only taking 10mg propanolol intermittently but more so in this wave. Think super sensitive paxil brain rebounding and have had a difficult couple of days ( and nights) . Stopped it. Will just have to tough it out. Feel am overdue a break !

[ladybug]

So you have been in withdrawal from the Paxil for as long as you were on it? Wow, I did not know that. Somehow it doesn't surprise me, this Paxil is one nasty drug. You are overdue a break! I agree with Babs that the brain heals best when other things aren't complicating the situation. I can't even tolerate magnesium or fish oil, it's ridiculous. However, those two supplements are frequently recommended there so I'm sure some members have had success with them. Like with any supplements, your mileage may vary. Thinking of you and very glad you found your way here!

[Junior]

Hi Cressida.  Just wanted to say that your thread should not have resulted in PP closing. Honestly, nothing really happened.  I hope you are reassured that what you are / were going through is /was a wave.  Sometimes validation IS what we need, above all else.

[Ever]

Yo Cressida! 

[Petunia]

Hi Cressida, welcome.

 

I'm another one who got rebound effects from trying to use propranolol to manage symptoms.  For me, real recovery began when I stopped trying to use drugs to fix symptoms.  I've been in protracted withdrawal from Lexapro for over 4 years, but stopped all drugs completely about 19 months ago, after finding this site.  Now I take nothing stronger than the occasional aspirin, but recently I took more aspirin than usual for some jaw pain and that put me into a wave of increased symptoms that lasted about 2 weeks.  I was scared I had gone back to the beginning and would have to go through it all over again, but the wave passed.

 

We have a great windows and waves topic here:

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Recovery

 

I hope you start to feel better again soon.

 

Petu.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Cressida.

 

Are you taking fish oil and magnesium? Many people do better with them, see
http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/36-king-of-supplements-omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil/
http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1300-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

 

Try just a little bit of one at a time.
 

[Cressida]

I am taking fish oil. Have for a long time preceding drugs. Mag in my multi vitamin and mineral tablet . Thanks.

Improved after stopping beta blocker . Took a few days.

Ate quite a lot of my home made puddings over two days. Not high sugar puddings like meringue. Bread and butter pudding and jam sponge the kids favourites. Two nights now am back to "cortisol mornings" pattern. Waking at 3am anxious few palps, and again in the morning anxious burning legs. The fruit smoothies kicked off an awful two month wave when I took the beta blockers and it got worse. Few days respite then this. What an idiot am I. Should have been NO indulgence over Christmas.

[aberdeen]

Sorry you feel crap again Cressida. Hang on, it will pass...promise.

[LexAnger]

Hi Cressida , just say hi so we are connected on your thread as well.

[clearday]

Cressida posted 25 September 2015 - 08:13 AM on wilderness92's thread:

I have lots of head noise. The one I hate the most is hearing my heartbeat continuously in my head. 19 months continuously and counting. Last night in bed I had loud hissing. At the moment I have a high pitched whine .....all on top of the whooshing.
I wouldn't let it drive me back on drugs there's no guarantee it would help. I haven't had investigations lots of other people have this and it started with WD unlikely to be a coincidence. A lot of it is caused by tension in the muscles of your head and wearing a mouthguard at night might be helpful. The buzzing and whining I don't let bother me. The whooshing can be very scary at times. Like all the other horrors you have to sit it out. You really do have to be brave to get through withdrawal. Mine has improved over time. Think basically in left side of my head rather than whole head now. I try not to focus on it when possible. On aeroplanes I drown it out with headphones because it gets so loud its really scary. But I m still here so far, I guess

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Hi Cressida,

 

I too am a refugee from PP. I hope you don't mind me bumping your thread up here from it's quiet resting place since January. 

 

​I benefited from your comments on wilderness92's thread. I have the head noises for ten months now, which began ten months after my last dose of Lexapro.

 

You mentioned that a lot of the noise is due to tension in muscles in the head. I had been thinking it was due to all sorts of brain damage, but if it is due to muscle tension, that is a better way to think about it, rather than thinking the brain is all damaged. And the muscle tension is due to Lexapro withdrawal. I developed two facial tics from Lexapro, so muscle tension is a great route to explore these symptoms and possible relief from them. I have control over the tics, so they are not so bad. I have had scalp numbness and scalp tension, so this all fits.

 

I think you are correct in this. I recently noticed that I have some tension pain in the muscles at the base of my rear skull, and I just gave those muscles a deep massage, and some of the head noise went away temporarily (now, if only I could get to all those little muscles in and around the ear canals). Also, I noticed that when I smoke cigars, the noise disappeared for the duration of the cigar. Nicotine is a muscle relaxant.  I have quit cigars because I don't want to get mouth cancer.

 

I had been thinking recently that this noise could be due to inflammation of muscles at the base of my rear skull, due to Lexapro damage, and was thinking of trying an ice pack on it to see if noise was reduced. So reading your post today continued me on that path of investigation, but tried the massage instead. If it is tension rather than inflammation, then a cold pack might make it worse. 

 

I am sure that all this noise etc. is due to Lexapro withdrawal, of that there is no doubt - my brain was nice and quiet for 50 years until I stopped Lexapro. And of course, so many others stopping Lexapro/other SSRI and getting this head noise.

 

The whooshing and waviness in the brain is scary. I wonder how that fits in with muscle tension. Or something different. Perhaps it is due to withdrawal effects on the inner ear, which controls orientation/balance/dizziness.

 

I too have had "bruit"  - hearing the pulsing of my heartbeat in my ears. That was short lived and is gone for months now. Lately I have noticed the feeling of my heartbeat inside my head, that is new for me, and so far not bad at all. My symptoms morph from wave to wave, I sure hope this is due to healing and recovery, it suppose it has to be.

 

Thank you again for posting. Keep healing -

[wilderness92]

Thanks Dear ClearDay, you are very comforting my brother.

[Cressida]

Cressida posted 25 September 2015 - 08:13 AM on wilderness92's thread:

I have lots of head noise. The one I hate the most is hearing my heartbeat continuously in my head. 19 months continuously and counting. Last night in bed I had loud hissing. At the moment I have a high pitched whine .....all on top of the whooshing.

I wouldn't let it drive me back on drugs there's no guarantee it would help. I haven't had investigations lots of other people have this and it started with WD unlikely to be a coincidence. A lot of it is caused by tension in the muscles of your head and wearing a mouthguard at night might be helpful. The buzzing and whining I don't let bother me. The whooshing can be very scary at times. Like all the other horrors you have to sit it out. You really do have to be brave to get through withdrawal. Mine has improved over time. Think basically in left side of my head rather than whole head now. I try not to focus on it when possible. On aeroplanes I drown it out with headphones because it gets so loud its really scary. But I m still here so far, I guess

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Cressida,

I too am a refugee from PP. I hope you don't mind me bumping your thread up here from it's quiet resting place since January.

 

​I benefited from your comments on wilderness92's thread. I have the head noises for ten months now, which began ten months after my last dose of Lexapro.

 

You mentioned that a lot of the noise is due to tension in muscles in the head. I had been thinking it was due to all sorts of brain damage, but if it is due to muscle tension, that is a better way to think about it, rather than thinking the brain is all damaged. And the muscle tension is due to Lexapro withdrawal. I developed two facial tics from Lexapro, so muscle tension is a great route to explore these symptoms and possible relief from them. I have control over the tics, so they are not so bad. I have had scalp numbness and scalp tension, so this all fits.

 

I think you are correct in this. I recently noticed that I have some tension pain in the muscles at the base of my rear skull, and I just gave those muscles a deep massage, and some of the head noise went away temporarily (now, if only I could get to all those little muscles in and around the ear canals). Also, I noticed that when I smoke cigars, the noise disappeared for the duration of the cigar. Nicotine is a muscle relaxant. I have quit cigars because I don't want to get mouth cancer.

 

I had been thinking recently that this noise could be due to inflammation of muscles at the base of my rear skull, due to Lexapro damage, and was thinking of trying an ice pack on it to see if noise was reduced. So reading your post today continued me on that path of investigation, but tried the massage instead. If it is tension rather than inflammation, then a cold pack might make it worse.

 

I am sure that all this noise etc. is due to Lexapro withdrawal, of that there is no doubt - my brain was nice and quiet for 50 years until I stopped Lexapro. And of course, so many others stopping Lexapro/other SSRI and getting this head noise.

 

The whooshing and waviness in the brain is scary. I wonder how that fits in with muscle tension. Or something different. Perhaps it is due to withdrawal effects on the inner ear, which controls orientation/balance/dizziness.

 

I too have had "bruit" - hearing the pulsing of my heartbeat in my ears. That was short lived and is gone for months now. Lately I have noticed the feeling of my heartbeat inside my head, that is new for me, and so far not bad at all. My symptoms morph from wave to wave, I sure hope this is due to healing and recovery, it suppose it has to be.

 

Thank you again for posting. Keep healing -

Hi Clearday its very nice to " meet " someone else with the pulsing head noise problem. It can be very scary.

Its not just the tension in the head neck and ear that affect mine but build up from the shoulders and back. Think am so used to a high level of tension I regard it as normal for me.

Try a few little experiments. Push your lower jaw out gently and in my case the noise gets high pitched and louder. Gently move your head to look up at 11 o clock and 1o clock and gently push your lower jaw forward again and hopefully again the noise will alter which points to muscle tension being the culprit. Mine gets louder when am stressed/tense and when I get those nasty cortisol pounding wake ups.

Johnny off paxil from pp was kind enough to email me and told me his pulsing/whooshing eventually disappeared with the rest of his symptoms. I can't recommend strongly enough that you get your dentist to fit you with a mouthguard to wear at night because that is the thing that has made the most difference to the head tension. If you think what happens when you compress a blood vessel for example with a tourniquet you feel a pulsing. I think our own muscles are compressing blood vessels in our head and so we feel whooshing as the vessels press against the tight muscles.

Please keep in touch and let me know any thoughts/finds you have. Get well

[clearday]

Hi Cressida,

 

You inspire me to keep in the game, if you have made it for so long, then it is humanly possible. But perhaps you have done something superhuman!

 

I guess we do this one day at a time. Often during withdrawal, one day makes a huge difference.

 

I did the lower jaw experiment, and just as you said, my ears rang loudly with high pitch.

 

I have had my ears ring due to moving my head around in different ways my whole life.

 

But whenever I laid down, or read a book, or was still, I never had any ear ringing. 

 

This Lexapro WD tinnitus is different. It changes tones, locations, and intensity. It comes and goes on its own, according to the whims of WD.

 

I do agree that the tinnitus induced by moving my head and jaw is almost indistinguishable from my predominant Lexapro WD tinnitus, enough to make me agree that it is due to muscle tension.

 

I was reading about origins of tinnitus, and there are a few different causes, I'm sure you've read over that stuff too:

 

If Lexapro was "ototoxic", it would be toxic to the nerves of the ear, and generate tinnitus from there. They say no. But what "they say" isn't reliable, as we all know.

 

If the tinnitus was due to Lexapro damaging the nerves in the auditory cortex of the brain, that could generate phantom sounds, which is what tinnitus is anyway.

 

But if this Lexapro tinnitus is due to muscle tension in the tissues in and around the ear, the head, the neck, etc - then that is something different than the first two possible sources of tinnitus. I had mentioned that nicotine truly made my tinnitus disappear for the duration of the cigar. I had thought it was due to the fact that nicotine is a GABA agent, and GABA actors such as Lamictal (lamotrigine) have been used at very small doses to help treat symptoms of SSRI WD.

 

But if muscle tension is the proximate cause of our tinnitus (SSRI withdrawal being the distal, or ultimate cause), then efforts to achieve muscle relaxation may help, as you say. And now I see that GABA actors ARE muscle relaxants. So it is the GABA that is involved, and it is the muscle relaxing action of the GABA agent (nicotine, lamotrigine) that reduces the symptom. Well alrighty then! 

 

Do I dare try tiny doses (< 5mg) of lamictal to see if it reduces tinnitus? Will it be just another drug that confuses the situation? I want to do this drug-free, but what is the dividing line between supplements and drugs? Sometimes I want to go back to drinking alcohol, it is a muscle relaxant; but that scares the hell out of me. I can imagine how bad a hangover would be while having my brain with this head noise. One night of relief could turn into the next day of true horror. 

 

This Lexapro WD is truly a very strange thing. During a wave, my tinnitus often rages stridently for days and nights, a couple of weeks on end, with some relief during the day due to distraction or just by the brain having shoved the tinnitus onto a back shelf. You can find it, you just have to look for it.

 

Lately, toward the end of the wave, the tinnitus will dissolve into a dull fuzz, and dissipate throughout the brain, and settle into a slight overall head pressure. At that point it is not bothersome, and it is a period of overall relief. I may then have a day or two of relative silence. Then, from a far distance, I will hear a ringing or buzzing approaching. It will increase in volume, and the process happens over. Back in hell for awhile. Perhaps associated with the symptom of the week, such as chest tightness, or brain fog, 

 

I have noticed the tinnitus component has increased in pitch (higher) and less like the deep roaring of crickets that it was like in the early months.

 

I have had disturbing auditory hallucinations in bed at night, usually briefly - of knocking, bumping, bubbling; some other sounds very clear I can't even describe, but truly bizarre. The whooshing and waviness is sometimes associated with slight nausea, possibly due to inner ear (semicircular canals) irritation.

 

Lately these waves are making me tired, something that has not happened for most of my 20 months of WD thus far.

 

Is the pulsing in your head, feel like it's inside your head, or more like inside your ears? 

[Cressida]

Hi Cressida,

 

You inspire me to keep in the game, if you have made it for so long, then it is humanly possible. But perhaps you have done something superhuman!

 

I guess we do this one day at a time. Often during withdrawal, one day makes a huge difference.

 

I did the lower jaw experiment, and just as you said, my ears rang loudly with high pitch.

 

I have had my ears ring due to moving my head around in different ways my whole life.

 

But whenever I laid down, or read a book, or was still, I never had any ear ringing.

 

This Lexapro WD tinnitus is different. It changes tones, locations, and intensity. It comes and goes on its own, according to the whims of WD.

 

I do agree that the tinnitus induced by moving my head and jaw is almost indistinguishable from my predominant Lexapro WD tinnitus, enough to make me agree that it is due to muscle tension.

 

I was reading about origins of tinnitus, and there are a few different causes, I'm sure you've read over that stuff too:

 

If Lexapro was "ototoxic", it would be toxic to the nerves of the ear, and generate tinnitus from there. They say no. But what "they say" isn't reliable, as we all know.

 

If the tinnitus was due to Lexapro damaging the nerves in the auditory cortex of the brain, that could generate phantom sounds, which is what tinnitus is anyway.

 

But if this Lexapro tinnitus is due to muscle tension in the tissues in and around the ear, the head, the neck, etc - then that is something different than the first two possible sources of tinnitus. I had mentioned that nicotine truly made my tinnitus disappear for the duration of the cigar. I had thought it was due to the fact that nicotine is a GABA agent, and GABA actors such as Lamictal (lamotrigine) have been used at very small doses to help treat symptoms of SSRI WD.

 

But if muscle tension is the proximate cause of our tinnitus (SSRI withdrawal being the distal, or ultimate cause), then efforts to achieve muscle relaxation may help, as you say. And now I see that GABA actors ARE muscle relaxants. So it is the GABA that is involved, and it is the muscle relaxing action of the GABA agent (nicotine, lamotrigine) that reduces the symptom. Well alrighty then!

 

Do I dare try tiny doses (< 5mg) of lamictal to see if it reduces tinnitus? Will it be just another drug that confuses the situation? I want to do this drug-free, but what is the dividing line between supplements and drugs? Sometimes I want to go back to drinking alcohol, it is a muscle relaxant; but that scares the hell out of me. I can imagine how bad a hangover would be while having my brain with this head noise. One night of relief could turn into the next day of true horror.

 

This Lexapro WD is truly a very strange thing. During a wave, my tinnitus often rages stridently for days and nights, a couple of weeks on end, with some relief during the day due to distraction or just by the brain having shoved the tinnitus onto a back shelf. You can find it, you just have to look for it.

 

Lately, toward the end of the wave, the tinnitus will dissolve into a dull fuzz, and dissipate throughout the brain, and settle into a slight overall head pressure. At that point it is not bothersome, and it is a period of overall relief. I may then have a day or two of relative silence. Then, from a far distance, I will hear a ringing or buzzing approaching. It will increase in volume, and the process happens over. Back in hell for awhile. Perhaps associated with the symptom of the week, such as chest tightness, or brain fog,

 

I have noticed the tinnitus component has increased in pitch (higher) and less like the deep roaring of crickets that it was like in the early months.

 

I have had disturbing auditory hallucinations in bed at night, usually briefly - of knocking, bumping, bubbling; some other sounds very clear I can't even describe, but truly bizarre. The whooshing and waviness is sometimes associated with slight nausea, possibly due to inner ear (semicircular canals) irritation.

 

Lately these waves are making me tired, something that has not happened for most of my 20 months of WD thus far.

 

Is the pulsing in your head, feel like it's inside your head, or more like inside your ears?

Nothing superhuman just hanging on by my fingernails because there's no alternative.

The actual tinnitus sounds similar to yours it comes and goes sounds and intensity varies but it doesn't bother me because I find the pulsing and whooshing more frightening by far.

I think mine started at the beginning of march 2014 and at that time I would have said I could hear my pulse In both ears. It was very loud and I could only sleep with headphones on to try and drown the noise. I used to play Claire Weekes cd s because I was very frightened. Over time I would say it has changed. Although I can still hear it I experience it as happening in my head rather than my ear, in fact it seems to have stopped on the right side of my head and now I would say is in the left side and back. Its a constant whooshing it never stops it gets louder or quieter and as you say I don't notice it sometimes in a busy and noisy environment.

I get head pressure, sometimes a feeling like my ear drums are inflated. If I raise my eyebrows, I can feel a tight rigidity through my scalp

[clearday]

Interesting, I have had basically the same exact symptoms as you have from this Lexapro WD. Just not as long.

 

When the ringing first started, ten months ago, it was worse in my right ear, lots of pressure and noise there. Also at night, the bruit (hearing heartbeat) in that ear, but only for a short time before falling asleep. The bruit was never a real problem, I was concerned that it would get worse, but it never did; it only lasted a couple months in that ear. The tinnitus and pressure was bad in that right ear for four months.

 

Then one day, the right ear settled down. The tinnitus increased in the left ear, and was bad there for five months. The bruit appeared in that left ear for only a couple nights during that time, and it just went away. Then recently, occasional feeling of the pulse higher up in the head. But that went away mostly, at least for now.

 

Recently the tinnitus goes back and forth from right to left ear, hour by hour it can go back and forth from ear to ear. In general, the tinnitus has withdrawn from the ears and is now feeling more inward. 

 

I just wonder how much of these symptoms are inflammation vs. tension. I always assumed it was inflammation, and the swelling causes the feeling of head pressure and compresses the blood vessels resulting in our noticing it as bruit or head pulsing.  I suppose anything that could reduce blood pressure may help reduce the sensation of pulsing. I have used ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory, but that has never reduced ringing. I run three miles a couple times per week. The ringing usually lessens during and after the run. Overall, the running has helped me during withdrawal. 

 

Since all these symptoms are morphing for us, and moving around the head, I hope this means the body is dealing with the damage piecemeal. Whatever is going on is certainly a dynamic process, rather than stagnant and stuck in one mode. The morphing is consistent with waves and windows and eventual healing.

 

Knowing that someone else has broadly the same symptoms as I do provides comfort that I am not alone in this. I hope your symptoms continue to morph and eventually subside and finally go away, We have real reason to hope that will happen, quite a few people have taken an unusually long time to heal, but like you, they hung on and healed. Keep in touch! Thanks for all your great input. 

[Cressida]

A friend of mine in WD has had several blood tests that show high score for Coeliac but bowel biopsy negative. Does anyone know if this is frequent thing? WD seems to mimic lots of illnesses . He s not sure whether to believe he has it or not . Thanks

[Petunia]

Hi Cressida,

I saw the above post in the symptoms section without a response, so moved it here to your own thread. Coeliac disease, is also spelled celiac disease.

 

See: Gluten Sensitivity Vs. Celiac Disease Vs. Gluten Intolerance ...

[JanCarol]

Hey Cressida, how are you travelling?

 

Is your sympathetic nervous system settling down?  

 

How have things changed for you?  

 

I hope you see the sun today.

[Cressida]

Hi Jancarol. Nope .Wrong country for sunshine , torrential rain for days !

Am a million times better than this time last year but am not out of the woods. It's like, I still have the same symptoms but the volume has been turned down, my mind is calmer. So still have the pulsing and other noise in head, tension in head and "concrete" behind forehead, milder palps most mornings when I wake up but am now sleeping right through the night. I no longer dodge/dread social events, may have some anticipatory apprehension sometimes but generally enjoy the occasion.

Mild or no anxiety in the morning, this time last year was horrific. Still reduced tolerance to stress but improved, some stressful illnesses going on around me and a close friend will die very soon. Legs achey, atrophied, don't feel strong, but putting that down to the sedentary lifestyle imposed by WD as arms not affected in same way. Put improvement down to absolutely strict adherence to low histamine and sugar diet. No alcohol or caffeine. If I ate the wrong things I am quite sure the whole thing would come roaring back up, keeping things steady is a better environment for healing to take place.

Am in a no mans land. Not acute so don't really belong in world of WD, not really well either. Stuck between the two but it's progress.

Have to believe that I will heal completely it's just a matter of time. How are you doing ?

[kara100]

Hi Cressida, how are you these days? Are you 100 percent recovered or not yet? Please write about your recovery to give hundreds of thousands people a hope who are suffering from these poisons? Thank you.

[powerback]

Hi Cressida,I was just reading that you mentioned blueberries and wine sent you back into withdrawal ,how can you know it was the wine and not blueberries and vise versa ,I ask because I can never tell which foods trigger me and I eat blueberries by the shovel .i gave up drink so no worries there for me .

Thanks very much for  in advance for any reply .

[Cressida]

16 hours ago, powerback said:

Hi Cressida,I was just reading that you mentioned blueberries and wine sent you back into withdrawal ,how can you know it was the wine and not blueberries and vise versa ,I ask because I can never tell which foods trigger me and I eat blueberries by the shovel .i gave up drink so no worries there for me .

Thanks very much for  in advance for any reply .

Because the wine and blueberry smoothies incidents were 6 months apart . I stopped all alcohol when I realised it was a problem. 6 months later when feeling quite a lot better someone had bought me a nutribullet I made smoothies with high berry content and after 3 days of those was transported back to hell so was a very clear association . What the red wine and berries had in common was histamine which was what I was/am sensitive to . It may not affect you everyone is different 

[powerback]

7 hours ago, Cressida said:

Because the wine and blueberry smoothies incidents were 6 months apart . I stopped all alcohol when I realised it was a problem. 6 months later when feeling quite a lot better someone had bought me a nutribullet I made smoothies with high berry content and after 3 days of those was transported back to hell so was a very clear association . What the red wine and berries had in common was histamine which was what I was/am sensitive to . It may not affect you everyone is different 

Very interesting thanks Cressida for your reply .

[Altostrata]

Hello, Cressida. How are you doing now?

[Cressida]

Amazingly well compared to when I was at my worst thank you . Some sx are still there. The pulsatile tinnitus in my left ear has quietened to a gentle hiss most of the time . Am still sensitive to histamine but much less so . Can get away with most things as a one of . Even an occasional glass of champagne and by occasional I mean maybe one glass a month . Exercise tolerance much better. Anxiety/stress tolerance not back to normal but very much improved . When I do something that’s too much, eg drove for 5 hours on horrendously busy motorways I will get a cortisol wake up for a few days, pounding heart not too strong for less than a minute and burning legs. If I eat the wrong food I will wake between 2-4am and be unable to get back to sleep. The severity of the sx is less and the threshold for provoking them higher . 

I try to live a sensible life to maximise the healing opportunity 

[Cressida]

Hi. I continue to improve . Residual small stubborn problems  linger . Still amazed I got through this and genuinely lucky to survive some of it 

[historygal]

On 1/7/2019 at 7:02 AM, Cressida said:

Hi. I continue to improve . Residual small stubborn problems  linger . Still amazed I got through this and genuinely lucky to survive some of it 

@Cressida how many years have you been in WD? And do you feel diet has helped improve things

[Cressida]

I think a total of 7 years. But I had a severe set back at 3 years and another 6 months later .  Diet was key in causing the setbacks and keeping to a low histamine, no sugar no caffeine no alcohol was key to getting better . I can eat pretty much anything now but anything very high histamine will cause a reaction but only for a day or two so to some extent is in my hands and the symptoms are much milder versions . If I d known about diet I am sure I would have recovered much more quickly . My advice would be avoid the above plus supplements, additives, artificial sweeteners in fizzy drinks etc until your recovery is well underway 

[Cressida]

I am sometimes my own worst enemy. Been doing very well, went on holiday and had one glass of Prosecco each night for five days. That was the beginning of July 2019. Had been tolerating an occasional glass when I went out for dinner for some time. Habitually leads to trouble brain obviously sucks it up. Since then I have been in a wave. Not a screaming back to square one wave but feeling unwell and lacking energy, tight band around forehead and scalp, the pulsing in my ear never went away, and increased anxiety and even panic attacks in " provocative" situations, like waiting at traffic lights, queuing for anything, going to places like for example I have a mammogram coming up. Not at home and at least I am sleeping well. I had started to take feeling well for granted.

Had a couple of friends round last night. One mentioned she had stopped her AD ( Citalopram ) after 18 months. Did the 6 week taper recommended by her doctor. Had felt a bit of flu symptoms but that had passed and she felt fine. She looked fine.  Am only human this morning I feel depressed ! I ve had a decade of my life ruined by these drugs I feel defective, inadequate and ashamed, almost makes me doubt myself.   It certainly makes me feel bitter.

[ChessieCat]

Other members have experienced and increase in their withdrawal symptoms after consuming alcohol:  alcohol-and-beer

 

You might also find some helpful information in this topic written by BrassMonkey who was also a member of PaxilProgress.

 

are-we-there-yet-how-long-is-withdrawal-going-to-take

 

[Cressida]

On 8/18/2019 at 9:33 AM, Cressida said:

 It certainly makes me feel bitter

When I was withdrawing from Seroxat and during the protracted withdrawal process I experienced amongst other things severe burning sensations in my lower legs at night. I still get this, not every night and increasingly it hangs around into the day. Having done research SSRIs can cause peripheral sensory neuropathy and that is undoubtedly what I have . I am not diabetic there isn;t another explanation and the fact it was triggered by the withdrawal process and is still there 8 years later makes me think mine is not reversible. I record this because increasing alarm bells are being sounded about SSRIs in the British Parliament and beyond and I hope one day I will be able to sue the manufacturers.