Search the Community

Hello everyone, I want to share my story and what is going on as for now, 1 month after going off duloxetine. Looking forward to any advice or warm words from you 🙏🏻 This post will be long but I hope any of you will be kind to read it. (pls note that english is not my first language and I am sorry for any mistakes). So, my history with ads as I tried to remember it is in my signature. I started at 20 yr old as I was then diagnosed with depression and anxiety and had major panic attacks. I must say that starting paroxetine at that time was life-saving for me. I stayed on it for a couple of years as I was battling depression, searching for therapies and anything that will help. For many years I took paroxetine and then venlaflaxine, was in different therapies, learned self care, found a supporting group of friends and changed my approach to life. I became very self-aware, gained a great knowledge of antidepressants, mental illnesses etc. I self-diagnosed with CPTSD and read a bunch of books which helped me more than anything before in my life. Fast forward to 2022, still on antidepressants (finally it was duloxetine 60mg for about 6 months), I ended 4 years long therapy, I started feeling really good (with only exception constant fatigue and some mild pain here and there). I decided to go off duloxetine as I felt 1. I no longer need it 2. It is actually making me worse with side effects. Of course my psychiatrists only idea was to get me off 60mg duloxetine to 30mg in a WEEK and from 30mg to 0 in a second week.. Which as you imagine ended up with me feeling like I was literally d*ing. So after 4 days of agony I came back to 30 mg and with the help of this forum ( consulted with my a doctor again) I started tapering by cutting the pill to smaller and smaller pieces, which took almost 3 months altogether. I was determined. I was feeling okay. I was so so hopeful and full of positive imaginations of living my best life after going off the meds. In the last stage I went off about 2mg to 0 in 2 weeks. The smaller the dosage was, the better I felt, and finally couple of days with ZERO duloxetine I was even happy and full of energy. And then all hell broke loose. Around 2-3rd of July 22 I was woken up at night with terrible leg pain. That pain was horrific and nothing I ever felt in my life, crying, screaming on the floor. My legs hurt from hips to ankles. After 3 days of it I drove to the hospital and got injection which helped for about 12 hours. Also it turned out at the same time my rectum prolapsed (rectal prolapse) which scared me as f*k.. It has been more than a month now and countless visits to the doctors (GP, gynie, orthopedist, neurologist, rheumatologist, gastrologist etc). I did so many blood tests and many kind of tests I don’t even remember the names of it all. I lost all my money on it. Nothing came out, nothing indicates any sickness and the doctors are hopeless. For today, I still await many more visits but already some of the doctors suggested seeing psychiatrist and taking antidepressants. Could it be the withdrawal? It is my biggest fear. I cannot imagine going back to antidepressants especially that mentally I am feeling too good for that. I am hanging in here But with every day living with this pain I am starting to loose hope and will. I have trouble with walking and climbing stairs. I cannot work and function. My legs, hips and pelvis hurt so much, some pain going now to the lower back too. I became very sensitive to sound and light and at least a couple of times a day my body kind of shakes for a minutes. If it sounds familiar to you, please contact me. Also, if you have fibromyalgia please let me know, it will be helpfull as it is one of my guesses for this situation. Thank you

Hi all ! I am transferring from the surviving Lyrica group so still finding my way around on this site. I started taking pregablin on a low dose of 50mg daily then upped to 100mg to manage fibro pain for 2 months December 2020 -February 2021 before I realised that my body could not tolerate the drug… and began to taper off .. but I needed help and could not manage the pain so stuck at 50mg and slowly began a low taper after finding the support group on FB. I should have been off of this drug ages ago but was struggling with managing the fibro and IBS as well as a bereavement and stressed at work. I took time off and focussed on my health and well being. I restarted my taper and am on 30.6 mg daily. Hoping to get off of this drug this year as I take a small amount of cocodamol and vape CBD oil which helps but can only decrease by 0.2 mg every week/ fortnight as can’t stand the pain/ withdrawals. I would love to hear from you guys for your experiences and helpful advice. thanking you all in advance Fiona

Hello, I was diagnosed with fibro in 1994. I was just diagnosed by a rheumatologist with CSS - central sensitivity syndrome. A central nervous system disease/disorder that makes people hypersensitive to almost everything. Here are two studies that might be of interest: Fibromyalgia and Overlapping Disorders: The Unifying Concept of Central Sensitivity Syndromes by Muhammad B Yunus, MD -also: clinical review and education- JAMA April 16, 2014 volume 311, number 15 - Fibromyalgia A Clinical Review by Daniel J Clauw, MD. These articles show how the central nervous system plays a huge role in why so many of us have fibromyalgia CFS/ME, MCS-Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, etc. This explains why I've had so much trouble with antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and withdrawals, along with so many other physical and emotional symptoms

I was on Prozac and amitryptyline for 25 years the last three of those Xanax was apart for Fibromyalgia. A year and a half ago I was in such bad shape , thought I was dying. Mainly from Xanax interdose withdrawals. I started taper of Xanax but I checked myself into a rehab drug detox center as my doctor at the time wanted to add more drugs etc. the center stopped Xanax and Prozac cold turkey . They put me in neurontin to prevent seizure. Needless to say I was in worse shape. Horrific withdrawals. And sensory overload . A few months later I stopped amitryptyline. But couldn't cope. So I was put in lexapro. I was on that the whole time through withdrawals, paws, discontinuation syndrome. Due to side effects if lexapro I tapered off lexapro last February . Which was another horrific withdrawal. It's been 5 months now without any drug and I'm a mess. My brain is toast. I can't even type correctly half the time . I feel so physically sick, depressed, anxious etc. I can't do anything , can't read a book, which I always did, I am physically wasted. Can't do much of anything. I've lost friends , family, my life! I am a shell of who I used to be. Each day I wake up in panic, can't breath etc. will I ever get better, will I ever be normal or sane again, drs say I have to go back on the drugs. I fight it every day. But I'm so alone and afraid . The damage these drugs have done to me is horrific and no one, I mean no one helps me or understands. I feel crazy. I am so afraid of the future and just how much damage has been done to my brain and body physically and emotionally. I am 64. I'm not young any more. Will this horrific nightmare end?

Hello, I found this site while checking reviews about supplements sold by another site. Thank the Universe I was compelled to do so, saved myself a lot of $$. Read around a bit and knew that I had come home. In 1992 I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and part of that was insomnia. I was started on 25mg of Amitriptyline and am still on that same dose today. However, life happened and the pain and everything made me depressed. Over the years I went from one anti depressant to another, and the Wellbutrin was the last. I stopped taking it cold turkey, never thought twice about it and had no side effects (that I recognized!) I am not sure how it is I was so oblivious, as I am usually a very inquisitive person and am constantly researching and reading about anything. ​Maybe a light bulb went on because of what's been happening slowly over the past 6 months. All changes from one to the next went OK, stopped and started one after another. Until I was only on the Amitriptyline again. Then I had sleep issues again, and a doctor suggested Klonopin. He did not think I should have Xanax. In fact, he dropped it and I did go through a few weeks of tense emotions. The Klonopin was offered long after. This doctor allowed me to be on Hydrocodone, 2 ea of 10/325. Then my insurance changed and the next doctor fussed a bit, then OK'd it, but after a year she dropped me, because she thought I was doctor shopping. (I had a root canal and an extraction, each cost me many $$, and certainly not worth getting 16 5/325 Vicodin for) I had to look for another doctor, and this one refused to give me the pain medication. What she did is had me withdraw unsupervised and way too fast. This all gives me great hope that I will make it through my current journey. My wings have been clipped, and I am not liking this at all. This last doctor who took my pain meds away wanted to start me on Lyrica, I refused, knowing is causes weight gain, a fact that is actually well known. Unfortunately I allowed her to talk me into taking Cymbalta, which can also cause weight gain, especially once partnered with the Amitriptyline and Klonopin. Wings were growing back, but the added weight in the past 6 months has made it almost impossible to move, let alone fly.... Around Christmas I had Pneumonia, but it would not go away, so I asked for a chest x-ray, on the 1 year anniversary of quitting smoking. Findings were an enlarged heart and a partially collapsed lung. And the letter read that we'd discuss in 3 months at the next appointment........ Long story short, I called to talk to her, to learn she was gone for a month. I was so angry - so I asked to see a different doctor, one I had seen before, and he has great bedside manners! Ultrasound revealed heart is OK, not sure about the lungs, but the coughing and wheezing is pretty much gone now. I quit seeing that woman and switched - and on my 1st official appointment, I took my meds with with me and one by one I asked questions, and he told me the truth, and we made a plan. maybe his plan is possible, we shall see. Based on past experience, I apparently can handle withdrawals. But I do not want to travel this journey alone, so I am glad I found all of you. We also agreed on dropping the Amitriptyline and he told me about Klonopin causing Dementia and Alzheimer's, and he encouraged me to let that go, too. I told him that I was no longer taking Buspar, it was not working, I kept forgetting to take it (for anxiety) and it did nothing for/to me. I only took it for a week or so) I started tapering on Monday 21st of March. The night from the 24th to the 25th I had a bad dream, woke up with heart palpitations, checked it and was at 135 heart rate. oops. very odd feelings. I recalled reading about settling these effect by taking a Benzo - so I did. It helped. I have re-set my game plan to get off Cymbalta and Amitriptyline first. The Klonopin next. For sleep I was given Trazadone. But I am looking for natural ways to get me sleepy and sleeping again. Now, all my reading the past few days has shown that many experience a great range of symptoms, either while still on the drugs or as they are withdrawing. I felt it might be safe to stick with folks who understand and I can learn so much from you. My goal is to bring the Phoenix back to life - to find that part that I lost again, all the while losing a few pounds - especially what I gained the past 6 months, rendering me useless (in my opinion) and I will not live like this any longer. It's dangerous too, as I fall and have hurt myself, not good. I am committed to success using as many natural tools as I can. Am on supplements now and notice how much better I feel already. Thanks for reading this. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/11690-ingridphoenix-i-want-to-fly-again/

Ok so I am making another attempt to introduce myself here. I have been trying, but whenever I start to write about my story I end up getting confused and angry, and I also have difficulty concentrating well enough to write coherently. To sum it up, it has been 16 years since I was first put on an SSRI when I was 19. Soon after I developed a host a strange and severe physical symptoms, along with deteriorating mental health. So, over the last 16 years,physically, I ended up with a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, lhermittes sign, "idiopathic" narcolepsy, central sleep apnea, Prolactinemia and other disorders, all of them of an unknown cause. Mentally (after an initial diagnosis of depression) I have experienced just about every illness under the sun: mania, extremely disordered thinking, PTSD, odd changes in behavior and personality, depersonalization, severe anxiety with unwanted thoughts and urges, SEVERE self-injury, repeated bouts of suicidality, self-destructive behavior, inability to connect to others, eating disorders, OCD, hallucinations, amnesia,nervous ticks, split personality...it goes on. In summary, over the course of the last decade and a half I have increasing felt like I am dying physically, and going crazy mentally. I was a bright and engaged student, writer, singer, runner, sister, daughter, and lover of life who was able to do almost anything she put her mind to and was full of hope for the future, and full of love for the people around her. I am now disabled, withdrawn into the black hole of my mind and have lost everyone and everything...down to losing the very inner core of myself. There is a part of me that remembers what I was like and can look at what and am now and see the complete and utter devastation of a soul. I spend my days like an old woman: completely alone, afraid to go to sleep at night and afraid to wake up in the morning, paralyzed during the day either too sick physically to do more than lay on the couch or too frantic mentally to do more than distract myself with TV. I am trapped inside of a body that is riddled with scars, losing it's hair and aging way too rapidly, I look out from eyes that don't work well any more, try to hear over the loud ringing in my ears and the constant chatter in my mind: I look in the mirror and I do not recognize myself anymore. For years I believed that I was just unlucky enough to have contracted a bunch of strange medical problems with no known cause. Now I am faced with the realization that I was actually a guinea pig. That each time I popped another pill that I had been told would cure my illnesses, I was actually causing them. I feel that I could not have caused more damage if I had been doing hard street drugs for the past 16 years. So I am angry. I AM ANGRY. And I am constantly frustrated and hopeless. There is no justice, no hope for a better day. Only the knowledge that I have been robbed of something very precious. The chance to have a life. I am stuck here. I am Iatrogenic Illness at it's worst. And I digress. I apologize for any unnecessary ranting or divulging of overly personal emotions. I have no one to talk to about this. I know that the name of this forum is Surviving Antidepressants and the point of the introduction is to talk about my the drugs I have taken and my withdrawing. Besides the first med I was given up until the last few years, I generally do not remember the dates at which I started/stopped medications or the dosages, so I will just list what I do remember to the best of my ability. First it was Zoloft in 1998, then 4 or five other SSRIs on and off until 2007. In 2007 I finally got health care and received the many diagnoses I mentioned above (Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are the main ones). Then the prescriptions came so fast and steady, doctors trying one after another on me. This is what I remember: Neurontin, Lyrica, Amytriptaline, Cymbalta, Lorazepam, Diazepam, Cyclobenzaprine, Skelaxin, Tramadol, Adderal, Ritalin, Hydrocodone, Buspar, Doxepin, Lamotragine, Lunesta, Ambien, Rozerem, Trazodone, Lexapro, and Klonopin. I'm sure there are others I am not recalling right now. I have had so many adverse reactions to these drugs and combinations...but I was led to believe that it was all Fibromyalgia and CFS (as pretty much any weird physical or mental reaction you may have can be attributed to these conditions) By 2013, I was taking Lamotragine (off-label for anxiety and PTSD), Lexapro (off label for "nervous system disregulation and abnormal pain signal processing"), Hydrocodone, Adderall, Klonopin and Trazodone (for insomnia). In the previous year (since I had been started on Doxepin and Lamotragine) I had experience extreme cognitive decline, personality changes, inability to experience emotions and several bouts of amnesia along with long periods of being bed-bound. While I did find plenty of information that said all of these things could be attributed to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I also ran across information that stated these symptoms as side effects of anti-seizure medications. So in march of 2013 I began withdrawing from the Lamotragine and was off by May, and experienced a big improvement in my energy levels and ability to do things. This sparked an idea that the other medications may have been causing some of my symptoms. I started withdrawing from the Lexapro and was off by October, the worst of the withdrawal being brain zaps in the A.M. About that time I read an expose article online by a psychiatrist who had taken SSRIs and experienced disease caused by them. He mentioned the book Anatomy of An Epidemic by Robert Whitaker. I got the book from the library and read it. I read a few blogs of people's experiences of disease caused by psychogenic drugs. It all clicked for me. Wisdom comes suddenly. The "autonomic disregulation" and "nervous system hypersensitivity" that my doctors had been telling me were causing my illnesses were real...and it was no mystery as to the source...these problems had been caused by drugs whose known effect is to disrupt neuron signaling in the brain. I began withdrawing from the adderall and came off of that in about a month (I was only taking 2.5 mgs for fatigue in the A.M.). I am currently also withdrawing from the Klonopin, down to .75 mgs from 2 mgs. The Trazodone will be last, I take it and my Klonopin every night with the full knowledge that I am taking something that will cause me to feel horrible the next day, something that has ruined my life...poison. My experience withdrawing from these drugs has been different from what I have read so far here. I am going through most of the common horrors of it and a host of my own personal ones. But, I actually do not feel any worse than I have already at many, many times during the last decade. I attribute this to having been taken off many medications cold turkey and not realizing the impact of this and the effects of daily withdrawals as blood levels of these drugs drop when you are taking them regularly. I also think that for me, the effects of withdrawal have not been worse than the actual effects of just taking the drugs regularly. It all looks the same to me... taking the drugs, not taking the drugs: the damage has already been done. The only thing that makes this worse is the knowledge that I did this to myself, with the help of the medical system, and it's all going to be a footnote in the pages of medical history some day. Like lobotomy and a whole host of quack medical treatments that have been perpetrated on human guinea pigs over the centuries. I wish I had a time machine. I saw a good joke in one of the threads here: "What do you call 1000 big pharma execs at the bottom of the Ocean? A good start."

Hi. I have fibromyalgia. Was on celexa for 10+ years dosage 20-30mg. My major FM symptoms are pain, unrefreshed sleep/chronic fatigue, anxiety. Celexa worked ok for years then pooped out. 6 months ago started Cymbalta. 20mg up to 60mg. Hated it, too many side effects. Decided I wanted off AD's. I'm at the point where I don't know what are symptoms of my illness and what are side effects. I wanted a clear base line of what I'm treating. With Dr approval she weaned me off from 60mg titrating down over about 5 weeks. Within days I had horrible withdrawal. Dr put me on 10mg prozac daily for 2 weeks, then 10 mg every other day. I'm due to stop prozac next week. Although the extreme physical side effects stopped almost immediately following taking prozac, I still feel pretty bad emotionally. I'm exhausted, restless, anxious, super irritable, and at moments depressed. I want to eat sugar by the pound???? is this relapse or withdrawal? I still hv prozac in my system so I'm confused. Maybe even side effects from prozac?? Idk! 43 yr fe, 10mg prozac 3x wk, 30mg adderall xr, .25mg klonopin