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Hi all, and thank you for this site. After multiple attempts to taper over the last 5/6 years, some medically supervised, some not, I came off citalopram 10mg at the end of June this year with the intention of pushing through withdrawal come what may. I had been on 20mg until earlier this year and decreased straight to 10mg which I’d been on for about three months. Needless to say now I am now not having fun at all and am considering reinstating. My intention was to replace the SSRI with 5htp which I’ve been taking for a week at 50mg then 100mg. I still have some citalopram tablets left (I’ve asked my husband to hide them) so am wondering if I should crush them and weigh them or just go straight to the liquid version and do it that way. I have a history of depression and anxiety, but at the moment am in a mental state I do not recognise, it’s utterly bleak and strange, like everything around me looks the same but I am a stranger to myself and my surroundings. I’m not sure I can do this long term. I’m not suicidal but have had fleeting very dark thoughts. Thank you in advance for any advice/thoughts. X

Hello Everyone, I was prescribed Trazodone 50mgs in March of 2020 for acute insomnia (i only took 12.5mg to 25mg in the evening before bed because I am a lightweight). I used it for a year because it seemed to work perfectly with my atomoxetine (for ADHD) which I have taken at night for more than 10years. The only odd thing was that it caused a slight bit of brain fog. Suddenly in June of 2021 it stopped working and I started waking after only 3hrs of sleep. I did try increasing the dose but it didn't work. I also starting taking my atomoxetine in the AM to see if that would help. The doctor prescribed me Hydroxyzine and while that worked to get me knocked out it has a really long half life and too many side effects and next day drowsiness. But it seemed to help me wean off of the Trazodone within a few weeks. I was fine off the Trazodone until about 6 weeks after I stopped taking it. The insomnia came back with a vengeance along with obsessive thoughts before bed. Through reddit and this site I discovered Magnesium. I take 200mg of Nature Made Magnesium glycinate taken 1 to 2 hrs before bed and for the past month it has helped me sleep 7-8hrs and I can fall back to sleep if I wake during the night. The sleep is not very deep but I was able to function. The problem is that the benefit of Magnesium Glycinate is starting to fade a bit. I still have nights where I wake after only 2 hrs of sleep and have to take a Trazodone. Unfortunately it doesnt help me get sleep when I wake during the night. It only helps me if I havent fallen asleep yet. The next night after I have taken Trazodone I can usually sleep. I can sometimes go 2 weeks without needing Trazodone. It's a vicious cycle. And to add to it, my atomoxetine which I used to take in the evening to help me sleep, now keeps me awake. I suspect it's because it acts on my NMDA receptor site. Magnesium also acts on that receptor and can cause an excitatory effect or calming effect depending on other variables. My thought is that the supplement and ADHD meds are interacting. Plus taking Trazodone for a year may have changed my brain chemistry. So my question is - Has anyone else had a similar issue? Any advice? I was thinking of re-instating Trazodone and trying to taper. AND maybe experimenting with different combinations of magnesium supplementation to help me sleep. I am desperate for a solution and completely at a loss. I have never had chronic insomnia before. I have only ever had acute bouts. So grateful for this site. Hope you all are well! Not sure how to add my details in signature but here they are 3/27/2020 started on 12.5-25mg of Trazodone for acute insomnia trouble falling asleep 6/4/2021 sudden onset insomnia (waking to early) 6/28/2021 tapered completely off Trazodone (doctor said it's fine to do that) July to Sept - took Trazodone PRN 9/25/2021 another bout of insomnia (trouble falling asleep or waking too early) 9/25/2021 started taking Magnesium glycinate 200mg 1-2 hrs before bed Oct- Nov- Magnesium working well 11/12/2021 - experimented a few nights taking atomoxetine in evening, magnesium closer to bedtime failed 11/19/2021 - 2 hrs of sleep on Magnesium Glyc - took 25mg of Trazodone PRN in middle of night, didnt work

Hi everyone. I am amazed and thankful for everyone's stories and hard work. Feel free to skip the too long backstory and scroll down to my questions and concerns. After decades of depression and much anxiety / panic attacks, and years of therapy, I decided to see what psychiatry could do for me. After a few tests, my psychiatrist diagnosed me with long term major depression and we decided to start Buproprion. I immediately felt motivated and more interested in life (but this faded over time). Over the next three years, I tried various brain drugs. Nothing really helped with the depression (although my psychiatrist believes it did). In 2021 June we decided to look more into ADHD, with comorbid depression. I am 65 years old and never formally diagnosed with ADHD in the past, but it is pretty obvious in me and the psychiatrist did diagnose it. She started me on Dexmethylphenidate ER 10mg / day. The lights went on immediately. I had energy, interest, I felt better than I had for a very long time. Based on this, we decided to taper the Trintellix. The psychiatrist instructed me to start by cutting from 10mg to 5mg / day beginning 2021 July 15. I began to have very strong anxiety and other symptoms. I didn't know what was happening to me; I thought it was situational. I did not connect it to possible WD symptoms. At our next appointment on 2021 August 19, I was instructed to reduce to 5mg on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (I assume long half-life influenced this). Anxiety and other symptoms continued and got worse, and I began to suspect it might be WD. At the next psychiatrist appointment on 2021.09.30 I complained about the anxiety. I was told to keep on 5mg M/W/F and increase Buspirone to 30mg / day. My other WD symptoms continued, but anxiety improved somewhat. At the psychiatrist appointment on 2021.10.28 I was told to continue taper, reducing to 5mg on Monday and Friday for two weeks, then stop, and keep Buspirone the same. My symptoms increased and new ones appeared. I won't list them all, but they include many many PVCs, increased heart rate, hot flashes / chills, loss of exercise tolerance, fatigue, muscle pain, inner trembling, anxiety, brain fog, tinnitus, increased sadness, etc. etc. I wondered whether this might be related to flu vaccine and my first Shingrix vaccine, both on 12 October (and Covid booster on 5 November). Then I though I might be returning to hypothyroidism (incident in 2014). Yet I wasn't losing weight like last time. I started researching and found this wonderful website. I began to realize that all these symptoms could be related to withdrawing from Trintellix. I had thought "not me, I never had problems withdrawing from other brain drugs," but the other withdrawals had overlapped with me taking other brain drugs, so any WD effect was likely blunted. As of today, 2021 December 11, I continue to have symptoms. My windows / waves are day to day. For example, one day I wake up with PVCs happening every other heartbeat, the next day I have very few. Or I will feel dizzy and lightheaded, and the next day steady. I am in no way feeling like myself. Questions / concerns: Of course I came to this website too late, and I see that my taper was much too fast. I can handle my current symptoms and I can be patient with them for some time. Yet I see the problems others have reported here, and I wonder whether I should restart a low dose (maybe 2.5mg / day) and then taper properly. I also fear feeling better soon, then crashing in six months or later. My instincts (likely self-pride) say to just ride it out, but I don't want to make a huge mistake that I will regret later. I would be grateful for any thoughts, and thanks again for a wonderful resource for those of us who ate the antidepressant candy. Thank you!

I have been advised to sign up on Surviving Antidepressant by a lady who runs an Effexor Facebook group. I was on the Anti-Depressant Venlafaxine XR for 13 years up until January 2020 and apart from a couple of short-term dosage increases over that period, I was mainly on 75mg once a day. The Psychiatrist took me off of Venlafaxine over a 4-week period by reducing to 37.5mg and then coming off completely. I have no idea whether I have withdrawal syndrome or not, or if it is just me depression and low mood come back. Also, I do not know if I have caused myself permanent or irreversible damage. What I do know is that I have never really felt right since and feel like to soul and emotion has been sucked out of me if that makes sense. Also, I have just found out about something called PSSD which I also wonder if I have as I have no Libido. I don’t know where to start with this or where to go and who to see as I have had a horrendous 38 months under the UK NHS mental health services who won’t say I was taken off too quickly or if this has caused me problems. So any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I hope I'm using this correctly. I have been on Paxil for about 10 years. Had trouble getting off it. My psychiatrist said to try Prozac. Switched and was on Prozac for about 8 months. Tapered to 10mg for a month after being on 20mg and quit. Had brain zaps but nothing else. Everything was okay until a month after. I suddenly had insomnia. Couldn't sleep and trazadone only helped 1-2 hours. Didn't talk to my psychiatrist but just went back on Prozac 10mg. Met with him two days later. But this time taking it caused a lot of anxiety issues. He said it will take weeks to work again so I hung in there. After two weeks, I couldn't take it anymore. The anxiety was unbearable. Decided to switch to Paxil again as it was more fast acting. It didn't help any. After a week of Paxil I quit it. Decided to try supplements as my doctor said it didn't have side effects. Took Sam-e with all kinds of vitamins the next week. That didn't help either. After a week of Sam-e and vitamins I quit it all. Stopped cold turkey on Sam-e and vitamins. Still dealing with the same anxiety, akathisia, some insomnia. My doctor and psychiatrist don't really know what to do with me. They just want me to put me on some other medications. What to do?

Hi. I've been struggling with paxil withdrawal for 7 months and I'm in need of some serious advice. I have been on paxil since March 2015 and I worked my way up to 40 mg. I was not on any other medication except paxil. In January 2019, I started my journey to taper off of it. This is what my taper looks like: January 31, 2019 - Decreased from 40 mg to 30 mg June 6, 2019 - Decreased from 30 mg to 20 mg September 6, 2019 - Decreased from 20 mg to 10 mg November 12, 2019 - Cold turkeyed 10 mg My psychiatrist was telling me to taper at 10 mg at a time which I now know is way too steep of a drop. I didn't know at the time because, surprisingly, I did not experience any withdrawals jumping from 40 to 30, 30 to 20, or 20 to 10. I might have experienced some very slight changes when I dropped from 20 to 10 but they were so subtle that I didn't attribute it to the drop in my dosage at the time. The cold turkey off of 10 mg was when everything fell apart. It was a gradual worsening of symptoms. At 3 weeks off was when I noticed that the withdrawal has become severe. I did not reinstate because I thought it would go away and I did not know another way to get off of it until I found this website and the 10% taper in February 2020. After 3 months off paxil, I felt like I couldn't hold on any longer. On February 12, 2020, I saw a psychiatrist and reinstated back to 10 mg paxil. I was on it for 17 days and I saw no improvement with my withdrawal symptoms. I read so much online about how reinstatement this far out might not work. I panicked and made the decision to stop reinstatement on February 29, 2020. In hindsight, I probably should have stuck with it because I might have been better by now. Now it's June 15, 2020 and I'm really struggling to hold on. In summary, my taper journey was 3 months off from cold turkey of 10 mg paxil, 2.5 weeks reinstatement of 10 mg paxil before quitting again, and now I'm 3.5 months off paxil after quitting reinstatement. I know this withdrawal might potentially last a very long time and reinstating again has recently crossed my mind because I've been going psychotic for many days. I know if I reinstate, it would be a big commitment. One, it might not work but I'd still have to commit to being on it since I can worsen my withdrawal by jumping off of it again. Two, I'd have to hold for 6 months to a year and then do a slow taper that may last 2 years or more. There are just times when it's so tough, it feels like I can't handle it anymore, and I'm desperate for relief that I don't know if I should hang on or try reinstatement again. I just need to be able to function normally and right now I'm not even close to being that way. Both times when starting paxil, I didn't get any real adverse startup effects. I got the yawning all of the time but other than that, it seemed fine. From these two past experiences, if I start it again, I don't really think I'd get an adverse reaction to it. The only problem is the idea of it not alleviating the withdrawal. If there is anyone who can give me advice on what I should do, it would be much appreciated because I can't even decide myself.

I am new to this site and so thankful to have found it. I was put on Celexa at age 43 for my extreme anxiety. I never had any major depressive episodes. In the past four years I began practicing meditation and yoga, am in great physical shape, eat a healthy diet, and exercise regularly. I thought with these new coping skills and sustained physical health, I could go off the Celexa which I felt was beginning to dull me. Not to mention my life changed considerably. My regimen was as follows: Celexa 40 mg for 15 years (2000-2015) Tapered to 20 mg for 3+ years (2014-2018) no side effects Tapered from 20 to 10 mg from June 2018-December 2018: some mood changes but nothing too significant. Tapered from 10mg to 5 mg from January 1, 2019 to March 31, 2019. Experienced increased dizziness, headaches, anxiety, tinnitus. Stopped taking completely on April 1, 2019. 6 weeks later, to the day, had major panic attack, major anxiety, and depression. I am now 79 days Celexa free and I am feeling hopeless and extremely blue at times. Educating myself after the fact is disheartening. I know I did a too-fast taper and am contemplating on going back on a small dosage to stop this bleakness. I never had depression or felt this bleak before Celexa and I am angry and frustrated at myself, my doctor and the system. I’m doing all the right things: yoga, exercise, mindfulness, meditation, eating right, taking all the recommended vitamins, and have a good support system. However, I’m almost 63 and can’t wait or bear the thought of feeling this way for the next two or more years. One of the biggest frustrations is not having a health care provider who knows anything about withdrawal. This uncertainty of how long and how bad is doing me in. From what I am reading, I am wondering if going back on a small dose and then tapering the CORRECT way would be best for me. I’m a teacher and am off until September; I will retire after that school year. Don’t want to blow my pension. I am so thankful I have found this website! It is the only real help out there and no one is trying to sell me anything. Alberona Celexa 40 mg for 15 years (2000-2015)Tapered to 20 mg for 3+ years (2014-2018) no side effectsTapered from 20 to 10 mg from June 2018-December 2018: some mood changes but nothing too significant.Tapered from 10mg to 5 mg from January 1, 2019 to March 31, 2019. Experienced increased dizziness, headaches, anxiety, tinnitus.Stopped taking completely on April 1, 2019. 6 weeks later, to the day, had major panic attack, major anxiety, and depression.

So I was on 30 mg of Paxil for the last year and 20 the year before. I was having too many side effects (weight gain and memory loss were the big ones) so I asked the doctor to change my meds. She had me drop down to 20 mgs of Paxil then switch directly to 25 mgs of Zoloft. With the Zoloft I had severe vertigo. So I found myself weaning off of it. I know I weaned too quickly but I could not function at all yet I didn't want to go back on Paxil. So I just weaned off of it in 2 weeks time. Now it has been 5 weeks since I have had Paxil or Zoloft but I still have a bad headache most of the time that does not respond to anything over the counter. I still have diarrhea off and on. And I am still dizzy and just don't feel good the majority of the time. Should I go back on Paxil and taper slowly? How do I do that? Start at 10 mg?