btdt Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/09/23/6-phases-of-antidepressant-treatment/ writer asks for replies to this question If you could go back in time, would you have still taken an antidepressant? WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz11 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 NO !! period. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 It is a question this person asks on his or her blog the responses are interesting... I think we have the same sort of thread here at SA.. I get how you can't emphasise that no enough.....I really get that. WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz11 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 What breaks my heart is i didnt even know i had been given an ad. What also breaks my heart is to recently discover i was taking a drug that was more potent mg for mg than prozac!! Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member cymbaltawithdrawal5600 Posted March 14, 2016 Member Share Posted March 14, 2016 The off label use of AD's for pain management should be a crime. But fat chance that will ever happen as I think the use in this manner is increasing. Your doctor should have been jailed for not making you fully aware of what was being done to you. They do so much want to help, don't they? Alleviate your suffering through any means at their disposal? I can not believe how much of my body I was not feeling anymore till the drugs got out of my system (and then some). Now? Everything hurts. I over used my body because I did not feel the pain. I am lucky I can still walk upright. I have a friend taking it (SNRI) for pain. Same friend has also used ketamine lollipops. WTH? She is on such high doses of narcotics now that she gets interdose wd. My life is a picnic compared to that. What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878 July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site. Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 What breaks my heart is i didnt even know i had been given an ad. What also breaks my heart is to recently discover i was taking a drug that was more potent mg for mg than prozac!! I started on prozac for pain too and exactly like you I did not know I was taking an antidepressant I was told it was a new type of anti inflammatory. I had stomach problem with the old type so this was suppose to lessen my tylenol #3 use. I had a sever adverse reaction hallucinations one that had me run screaming naked from the shower as I thought I had been stabbed... ending in an emergency room visit for suicidal thoughts.... there is much more but I can only visit the hell of those 2 wks on prozac is very tiny bites that was a nibble. I continued to take other drugs to keep this craziness at bay... as it was obvious to me and everyone else I had gone quite mad. They did not have to convince me my time in SAR convinced me the need for psych drugs after those experiences. When they asked me at emerg if I had taken any new drugs I said just an anti inflammatory... I was very uninformed. No google in those days. So what was your drug as you don't have a history I am curious... and how long were you on it. If I started to talk about all the things that break my heart I would never leave this page. Tonight on the news a picture of a young man who was killed by police while in a mental health crisis... was he having a SAR... his father held his picture crying... at the inquest into his death... I have plenty of heat issue of my own from a past lived drugged... then I have these other heart breaking moments. He sure looked like a nice kid. Normally I would have a wall up to such things as I can't handle it... very bad for me.... have spent a long time knowing I am not able to watch the news as I can't handle it...maybe it is time to stick my head back in the sand and stop watching the news. I will think on that a bit. peace all WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz11 Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 ive taken my history down temporarily until finality is reached on my last complaint. ive then exhausted all complaint avenues in this country. bar 1 and unfortunately doing a luke montague.is beyond me Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 luke montague.google.... im a chef and comedian with touretts what a combination. southport uk. I don't get it? Thinking of taking your story on the road in a comedy routine? what am I missing keep in my I am dull of mind comes and goes... hope this last avenue is an open road for your good luck Nz WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz11 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 http://cepuk.org/2016/03/07/cep-co-founder-luke-montagu-gives-talk-bma-meeting-prescribed-drug-dependence/ Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz11 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 The off label use of AD's for pain management should be a crime. But fat chance that will ever happen as I think the use in this manner is increasing. I have a friend taking it (SNRI) for pain. I was sitting near a person last week and i glanced down to see their medicine they had a packet of from memory 'trama' or something like that i think it was tramadol an snri. Its an absolute worldwide epidemic. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compsports Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 As one who is very reluctant to take any prescription med, much less psych meds, I wanted to caution people that there is another side to the issue of ADs being prescribed for pain. I know someone who is definitely sympathetic to our cause. But due to horrific pain from a car accident, this person was unable to sleep until taking a very low dose of Elavil and continues to do well on it. She took it with fully informed consent as an FYI. Without the med, she would have been in big trouble. I do agree thought that if an AD is prescribed for pain without fully informed consent, it is a crime. Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010 Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006 Finished taper on June 10, 2010 Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016 Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member cymbaltawithdrawal5600 Posted March 16, 2016 Member Share Posted March 16, 2016 No matter what is said on the topic, by anyone taking these drugs for good reason or ill, ADs are fast becoming (and APs too) a kitchen sink approach for when the usual suspects are ineffective. Elavil is not a sleep drug. Cymbalta is not a narcotic or opioid, both of which are effective pain relievers for SOME period of time. In nz11's case, effexor (or whatever his drug was) was ill suited for the task at hand because its use has left him profoundly 'messed up' over and above what a 'simple' narcotic dependency (and the recovery from that dependency) might have done. Sleep drugs become ineffective in a short time. So sure, let's try something else. Like a sledgehammer to get rid of those pesky termites in the attic. So what if you might bring the whole house down at least the termites will be gone and won't come back. Nope, sorry. Even in your friend's case CS, I don't think using a tricyclic (with its very real chance of profound and disabling side effects) is the answer. Man, I always think of WiggleIt and what happened to her. Low dose tricyclics my a$$. Not a problem unless it is and how do you tell ahead of time WHO it will be a problem for? Nope, sorry everyone. I cannot get onboard with drug use anymore. Don't trust the medicos and pharma not to flock me up bigtime with something 'new and improved' or something 'old and tired' dragged out of the closet in the hopes it might help. What was the rational for picking Elavil anyway? Why not anything else you can think of, equally a crapshoot? Let's say isoniazid, the one that started us all down this road to better health, mental and physical. (I think I have the right drug in mind. If not y'all can google the history of ADs. I think it's the one they used for curing TB.) Guess I am way too cranky this morning to be reading and commenting on threads, I better quit while I am ahead. I find current accepted drug prescribing rationalization laughable. Not laughing at you CS or your friend but there is no way you can adequately inform someone about the risks of AD use. But then again, I am getting 6 a night so I have no basis for understanding except those months I lived through where sleep was but a dim memory. You know what? I don't have an answer for any of this. But I would happily travel to that lady's house and sit with her at night, real face to face crap, maybe the presence of a real live human being attending to her needs (even from a damaged human such as I) would be enough to get her to a place where she might eventually be able to rest and recover. I think human contact (the warm and fuzzy kind or maybe ANY kind) is the best drug there is. I'd sit with anyone else here too. Have always freely given out my phone number to anyone who has asked. I don't have anything else to offer. What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878 July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site. Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 ive taken my history down temporarily until finality is reached on my last complaint. ive then exhausted all complaint avenues in this country. bar 1 and unfortunately doing a luke montague.is beyond me Do you mean suing or becoming co founder of an organization or both.... I guess he has some serious money behind him maybe that is what it takes to make a lawyer take you case... I can't imagine the magic key .... none on this continent will touch it.. I have given up hope on that too old and tired.. Is that link posted elsewhere on SA? I imagine it is and that I missed it.. WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz11 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 cw you write so well and are so knowledgable. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nz11 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 btdt i mean suing.Apparently though he got 1.3 million he spent 700,000 on lawyers fees. yes the original story is posted here not sure if his talk is. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compsports Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 No matter what is said on the topic, by anyone taking these drugs for good reason or ill, ADs are fast becoming (and APs too) a kitchen sink approach for when the usual suspects are ineffective. Elavil is not a sleep drug. Cymbalta is not a narcotic or opioid, both of which are effective pain relievers for SOME period of time. In nz11's case, effexor (or whatever his drug was) was ill suited for the task at hand because its use has left him profoundly 'messed up' over and above what a 'simple' narcotic dependency (and the recovery from that dependency) might have done. Sleep drugs become ineffective in a short time. So sure, let's try something else. Like a sledgehammer to get rid of those pesky termites in the attic. So what if you might bring the whole house down at least the termites will be gone and won't come back. Nope, sorry. Even in your friend's case CS, I don't think using a tricyclic (with its very real chance of profound and disabling side effects) is the answer. Man, I always think of WiggleIt and what happened to her. Low dose tricyclics my a$$. Not a problem unless it is and how do you tell ahead of time WHO it will be a problem for? Nope, sorry everyone. I cannot get onboard with drug use anymore. Don't trust the medicos and pharma not to flock me up bigtime with something 'new and improved' or something 'old and tired' dragged out of the closet in the hopes it might help. What was the rational for picking Elavil anyway? Why not anything else you can think of, equally a crapshoot? Let's say isoniazid, the one that started us all down this road to better health, mental and physical. (I think I have the right drug in mind. If not y'all can google the history of ADs. I think it's the one they used for curing TB.) Guess I am way too cranky this morning to be reading and commenting on threads, I better quit while I am ahead. I find current accepted drug prescribing rationalization laughable. Not laughing at you CS or your friend but there is no way you can adequately inform someone about the risks of AD use. But then again, I am getting 6 a night so I have no basis for understanding except those months I lived through where sleep was but a dim memory. You know what? I don't have an answer for any of this. But I would happily travel to that lady's house and sit with her at night, real face to face crap, maybe the presence of a real live human being attending to her needs (even from a damaged human such as I) would be enough to get her to a place where she might eventually be able to rest and recover. I think human contact (the warm and fuzzy kind or maybe ANY kind) is the best drug there is. I'd sit with anyone else here too. Have always freely given out my phone number to anyone who has asked. I don't have anything else to offer. CW, She is doing fine and was fully informed. I think she had tried many other meds and found the elavil was the best option for her. Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010 Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006 Finished taper on June 10, 2010 Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016 Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member cymbaltawithdrawal5600 Posted March 19, 2016 Member Share Posted March 19, 2016 Hope I can edit this, started it on tablet by mistake...... yep, got back in time! She is doing fine of course she is! and was fully informed. Of course she was! I picked out this site at random, amitriptylline has been around a long time so there are ooooodles of sites on it. Such a jack-of-all drugs, an off label usage list long as your arm one could start to wonder why everyone is not on it for any old reason at all. Pretty wonderful stuff but I kinda wonder about some of those sledgehammer side effects, especially the 'cardiotoxicity' one. For example. I had a friend a couple of years ago. Her breast cancer doc said her tumor markers were up and he suggested a newer treatment, not without risk: it could damage her heart. She accepted the risk and within a few short weeks she was dead. I visited her in the hospital and she told me the doc had informed her fully but neither of them had any idea her heart was going to weaken so quickly and irreversibly. Some things get etched in your memory. My dear sweet friend. Is it the first pill (or chemo bolus) that tips the scales or the 500th? Anyone able to recall from memory the quote at the bottom of Alto's sig? Ever think about it? That is, if your eyes don't gloss over it because you've seen it so many times before. Good luck to your friend. Like I said above, I am getting 6 so of course I have no basis for comparison, just those fading memories. The only 'drug' that passed my lips was some Lactium, more placebo than anything else when I could not fall asleep. Of course it did not help, nothing did till my NS calmed down. Man oh man people get so protective of their drugs and their belief in their doctor. We are so brainwashed to think that's the only thing that will work. I am so mad mad mad that this stuff happens, that's why I am still commenting on this. Sure, things are 'fine' now. I bet nz11 and Wig were 'fine' at one time too. And anyone else on this board that got off label help from their well meaning docs. But look what happened. Bah! on kitchen sink prescribing. What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878 July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site. Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traveller Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Here is my take on the phases of antidepressant treatment. 1. Start up effects. I now know that start-up anxiety is very common with SSRIs, which is why patients are often given a benzo to get them through the first couple of weeks. I wish I had been warned. My start-up anxiety was unlike anything I could ever imagined. I believe it is this start-up anxiety that accounts for so many suicides in early SSRI treatment. My primary care doc, who originally prescribed Lexapro, thought it had unmasked some undiagnosed bipolar disorder. After I hadn't slept for a week and lost 10 pounds, I was prescribed mirtazapine. 2. Relief. Eventually, the start-up anxiety subsides, You don't feel anxious, you don't feel sad. Yay! The antidepressant must be working. You think to yourself, "Why didn't I start taking these things sooner?" 3. Anhedonia. After a few weeks/months on the med, depending on your dose and brain chemistry, you feel something is off. You don't feel sad or angry, but you don't really feel happy either. You don't feel a connection with your spouse or children. You don't laugh at your favorite movie or sitcom. Music you used to love sounds like noise. The sense of satisfaction you used to feel when finishing a big task seems to be missing. You raise these points with your doctor, and he says, "That's just a symptom of your depression." At this point, you might be offered Abilify as an adjunct, another drug with wonderful side effects. 4. Realization. Not willing to accept this explanation, you go online and search for things like "SSRI apathy" or "SSRI loss of emotion". You get over 10,000 hits. There it is, in black and white (and sometimes color). Thousands of patients experiencing the same thing you are: complete emotional anesthesia. It is then you realize the whole purpose of these pills: to free you from the "burden" of emotion. Not to help you solve your problems, but to make you not care about them. This is the second biggest thing your doctor neglected to warn you about. You don't get to choose which emotions you keep and which ones you lose. You don't get to choose what you care about and what you don't. 5. Confrontation. Armed with this information, you confront your doctor. After I had been on Celexa for a few weeks, I told my psychiatrist that I had lost my emotions. He said, "that only happens with Paxil." I said no, it happens with all SSRIs. He said, "Well it's better than being sad all the time, isn't it?" I told him I didn't want to be numb, and that I was mature enough to solve my problems without drugs. He said, "I'll taper you off over a couple of weeks, but you won't feel good." He said I had an anxiety disorder and wanted to monitor me on the drugs for at least a year. My anxiety had been situational. It was the mirtazapine that made it a disorder. I did the research on receptor downregulation and tardive dysphoria and said no thanks. 6. Withdrawal. The literature says antidepressant withdrawal effects are mild and should only last a few weeks. Your doctor trumpets the same line. Anything beyond that is your underlying illness coming back, even if the symptoms are completely different. You used to be depressed, now you're anxious as hell. Your muscles ache. You're vision is blurry. Your stress tolerance is nill. You become an annoyance to your family. They urge you to go back on the drugs, if only to shut you up. This is the biggest thing your doctor neglected to warn you about. When you agree to take these drugs, you are effectively signing on for life. 3/9/15 - Mirtazapine to 30 mg. 3/16/15 - Reduced Mirtazapine to 15 mg. Four days later withdrawal symptoms began. 4/1/15 - Resumed Mirtazapine 30 mg. Insomnia and anxiety problems continued. Given Ambien and 0.5 mg Lorazepam to take as needed. 4/2/15 - Reduced Mirtazapine to 26.75 mg. Again, four days later withdrawal symptoms began. 4/7/15 - Resumed Mirtazapine 30 mg. Insomnia and anxiety problems continue to this day. 4/14/15 - New PDoc reduced Mirtazapine to 15 mg. Began 20mg Citalopram, Zolpidem 10 mg, and 2.0 mg Lorazepam daily. 4/16/15 - Increased Citalopram to 40 mg. Reduced Lorazepam to PRN. Switched to Zolpidem CR 12.5 mg. 5/11/15 - Reduced Citalopram to 20 mg. Was told to take Lorazepam 0.5 mg nightly along with Mirtazapine 15 mg and Zolpidem CR 12.5 mg. 5/19/15 - Reduced Citalopram to 10 mg. Still taking Lorazepam 0.5 mg, Mirtazapine 15 mg, and Zolpidem CR 12.5 mg. 8/17/15 - Lorazepam 0.5 mg & Zolpidem CR 12.5 mg for sleep. 8/27/15 - Lorazepam 0.375 mg & Zolpidem CR 12.5 mg. Supplementing with 5-HTP, taurine, theanine, deplin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Emeritus peggy Posted March 22, 2016 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted March 22, 2016 i find this a really hard question to answer - i have been on effexor for 16 years - i went on after a particularly hellish episode of depression where i found myself toying with the idea of jumping off a mountain or veering into the path of a truck..i was soooo against medication and suffered through 5 previous episodes without medication, but this time was the first where the suicide thoughts were so strong and the anxiety so constant. I initially had a lovely honeymoon phase - i experienced a lovely feeling of wellbeing that i haven't experienced off drugs - i do think i felt 'better than normal' - in fact people at my work said 'i want what you have' - however when i tried to get off, i would 'relapse' - my time to symptoms after coming off got shorter and shorter... first time 4 months, then 2 months, then 3 weeks, then 1 week... I feel OK on effexor, but i think it cuts the top and bottom off my feelings - i don't get excited about anything, but i also don't really get anxious about anything, i just feel the same every day. When i went on effexor i was really worried i would have to stay on forever - i think that is what drives me to get off - my side effects, apart from the emotional blunting are a few kilos that are difficult to budge (could be age) and low libido - but of course that could change as time goes on. I am determined to get off, this time I am down to about 20mg and taking it extra, extra slow... i have had so many failed attempts. Started in 2000 - On 150mg most of the time, (but up to 225mg at highest dose for 6 months in the beginning)Reduced off easily first time - but got depressed (not too much anxiety) 6 months laterBack on effexor for another 9 months.Reduced off again with no immediate w/d - suddenly got depressed and anxious ++ again 3 or 4 months later.Back on effexor - this time for 3 yearsReduced off over a month - 6 weeks later terrible anxiety - back on.Rinse and repeat 4 more times - each time the period before the anxiety comes back got shorter and shorterJan - July 2012 75mg down to 37.5mg;, 8/3/12 - 35mg. 8/25/12 - 32mg. 9/11- 28mg, 10/2 - 25mg, 10/29 - 22mg, 11/19 - 19.8mg; 12/11 - 17m,1/1- 15.5mg; 1/22 -14mg, 2/7 14.9mg, 2/18 - 17.8mg - crashed big time: back to 75mg where i sat for 2 years.... 4th March 2015 - 67.5mg; 31st March - 60mg; 24th April - 53mg; 13th May - 48mg; 26th May - 45mg; 9th June - 41mg; 1 July- 37.5mg; 20 July - 34mg; 11 August - 31mg; 1st Sept - 28mg; 1st Dec - 25.8mg; 28th Dec - 23.2mg; 23rd Jan-21.9mg; Feb 7th- 21mg; March 1st - 20.1mg, March 30th - 18mg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 I have had a different set of steps depending on the drug and my own state of being when the drug was added it has always been different... I have always felt the affects of all these types of drugs immediately. The effects have been way to varied to put them in one category example prozac... hallucinations panic suicide... effexor could not get back to myself strange thoughts about sex that seemed to be not my own ... intrusive thoughts... that is just two of the many drugs I have been on and only the start up effects... when they say the drug does not work for 8 wks it is code for by the time your on it 8 wks you will be too stupid to do anything about all the effects of the drug as you will be under the veil or in the case of prozac had I continued I am quite sure I would have been dead. Just my take on it.. way to varied way to complex but an interesting article to get a conversation started many believe these simple little stories of drug use like there is some common things everybody gets it is simply not true all the time...not true = lies. WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockingchaircat Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/09/23/6-phases-of-antidepressant-treatment/ writer asks for replies to this question If you could go back in time, would you have still taken an antidepressant? No. There isn't enough space on all the servers to illustrate the emphasis punctuation marks I'd include in that reply. But I cannot go back in time. I'd have to be there with the knowledge of the future. And I don't have that ability. All I have- is right now. And dealing with right now. 1)Zoloft- 6/99 to 8/04 2)Escitalopram- 8/04 to 8/10 3)Citalopram 8/10 to 4/14 (C/T), 4)Paxil a week or so, 5)Wellbutrin a week or so, 6)Reinstated Citalopram- 9/14 to 7/15 Before Taper- Celexa/20 mg....Taper Start- 04/21/15- 15mg....05/26/15- 10 mg...06/22/15- 5 mg...07/18/15- 0mg. http://tinyurl.com/qjfoqe9 Ativan/Lorazepam use/taper 10/14 to 2/15- http://tinyurl.com/ljebp84 Baclofen- Intermittent use of from 2008 till 2014. Some use of Promethazine. Some use of Zofran. Clobetasol Propionate- for Lichen Planus. Some Flexeril use. Ativan- GABA,A receptor Agonist., Baclofen- GABA,B receptor Agonist., Celexa/Lexapro- Serotonin 5-HT1A Receptor Agonist., Zofran- Serotonin 5-HT3 Receptor Agonist..Promethazine- Histamine H1-Receptor Antagonist. Flexeril- Serotonin 5HT2a Antagonist. My self imposed Amino Acid Therapy: Tyrosine 500mg 1xday, Theanine 200 mg 1xday, & Taurine 500 mg 2x day. (All neurotransitter pre-cursors)- seems to have helped me immensely. And of course- eating healthy, including Black Beans for the oligosaccharides for gut health. The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of trick learned while mastering the Art of Living. - Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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