lr7: 6 weeks and definately getting better!

[lr7]

Hi there fellow sufferers. I would like to offer some hope to you all....... I quit my lethal cocktail of drugs 6 weeks ago and yesterday for the first time I awoke feeling almost great! I have been on various antidepressants and tranquilizers for the last 12 years, I was a chronic alcoholic too, but thanks to the programme of AA I have been sober for almost 6 years now. My recent history is as follows....In March this year I was admitted to a private clinic after trying to taper off from Xanax and Paxtine with devastating anxiety attacks. Unfortunately I was then put on the following medications- 26mg Valdoxan, 1mg Lorazapan, 300mg Gabapentin all taken at night and 20mg Paxtine taken in the morning. Sure it did ease the extreme anxiety, but I was unable to drive a car, get to work, stay awake or function very well atall. The weight piled on even more and I felt totally zombified. After getting an extreme bout of the flu in the UK in July this year, a GP there put me on antibiotics and steroids which seemed to negate the effects of the other medications, so stupidly I decided that as they werent working I would just quit them all......cold turkey! Well......I cannot begin to describe the sheer hell I have been through... Stomach cramps, nausea, sweats, shakes, brain zaps, diarrhea, incontenance, terrible cataarh and coughing, nighmares, paranoia, extreme suicidal thoughts, crying, aggression, total lethargy and weakness, depression, loss of appetite, extreme sensitivity to smells, tastes....positive things too, such as strong sexual desires, feeling the breeze on my skin,return to a "normal appetite" instead of craving carbs and sweet foods,thereby losing weight, reduction of anxiety attacks.... which is so funny as that was the whole reason for taking all this rubbish in the first place. Only a week ago, I was so desperately depressed that I almost crawled back to the doctors to look for an alternative antidepressant, thank God I hung on. I now have HOPE, a great deal of it. While I was in the clinic, I did a 2 week Cognitive Behaviour Therapy course, it did help to clarify my thinking and now I feel that I can start to put it into practice and this is the way forward for me.....drug free at last. I would beg anyone though....please DONT go cold turkey! I am so frightened that I have done some long term damage by not tapering off the drugs gradually, but there is no way I am going back to restart this awful journey again. Just take your life a day at a time and no matter how hideously ill you are feeling remember "This too shall Pass" Very wise AA saying and good luck and love to you all.

[Roads]

I am glad you are getting better and I thank you for your message of hope Seems like you are getting back to life, and I wish you the best of a new life Enjoy! It is so good your suffering came to an end!

 

Reassure yourself, cold-turkeying, as bad as it is (you are so right, NEVER quit cold-turkey, I wish so much someone told me not to do so!), doesn't cause permanent damage. It is impossible. The body, when assisted by the will of healing, can overcome many atrocious things, as long as it may take. And withdrawal is no litteral damage (though the intake of the substance does damage), it is rather chaos in the brain chemistry; which necessarily comes back to normal. Your body and brain are admirably well-designed with an astonishing power of regenration. You will heal completely

 

The only thing you risk is that, maybe, your nervous system will rewire in a better and healthier way than before. Why not?

[lr7]

Haha I loved your idea that my brain may rewire in a better condition, wouldnt that be wonderful!

 

Thank you so much for your kind words of inspiration and reassurance, they mean a great deal to me.....truly.

 

I am so grateful that I found this wonderful forum which surely is an unbiased font of knowledge and support to so many vulnerable people. It is great to know that you are not alone/going completely insane etc, when you find out that others have and are suffering simply by trusting health professionals.

 

I do however have sympathy with many overworked Doctors who, when presented with a very distressed anxious/depressed patient who is looking for relief, perhaps subscribe these drugs with mixed feelings?

 

It would be wonderful if people were made more aware of the dangers attached to prescription drugs, therefore enabling them to make a more informed decision.

 

I have also been thinking that this "obesity epedemic" so discussed could be directly related to overuse of antidepressants? I dont know but I am sure there are some out there who would have an answer.

 

Thinking too much as usual haha.

[Claudius]

 

I do however have sympathy with many overworked Doctors who, when presented with a very distressed anxious/depressed patient who is looking for relief, perhaps subscribe these drugs with mixed feelings?

 

 

I try to forgive my former GP thinking of this. He was even reluctant in prescribing something but I asked him for Seroxat in particular because I had heared some positive stories about it.... that was back in 2002!

I have more probelms to firgive him that he did not follow me afterwards and always dismissed my very strange symptoms after an attempt to quit. But of course the real criminals are at GlaxoSmithKline who told it was not addictive and easy to discontinue. I spelled the leaflet until the last letter but could not come to another conclusion as my doctor because the leaflet stated clearly that withdrawal wasl mild and over within 3 weeks. This ruthless and shameless lie took so many lives and messed up even many more lives, including ours. They should pay for that, but will they ever brought to justice?

[lr7]

Yes you are sooo right, the real criminals in this are the pharmaceutical companies, who blatantly profiteer from selling poison!

 

This doesnt get the gp's off scott free though........they are after all in a trusted position and I guess the should make it their business to be as well informed as possible, easier said than done as you have pointed out correctly. Especially when the leaflets (if you are lucky enough to be given one nowadays) are at best vague and at worst totally misleading.

 

Why is all this suffering undercover?????? Why are all the current affair programmes filled with rubbish eg how to reduce your mobile phone/shopping/mortgage etc bills???

 

Are the drug companies so powerful that no one dare investigate them ????

 

Do we live in a democratic society?????

 

Why are we all scared to speak up?????

 

Cmon guys......there is enough power here to make a difference surely????

[Claudius]

Most of us are not scared to speak up The problem is that we hardly have a hammer to hit with... Many of us talked over and over to our GP or psychiatrist but when they keep denying and blame all our probelms to our original illness because the meds are safe and non addicting, what can we do?

I finally issued a formal complaint against the system, and gathered as many proof as I could. But most doctors, alyers and judges do not take anecdotical evidence seriously and the power of the industry is enourmous. I found a doctor who appeared on a TV broadcast about the issue, he confirmed the problems but was not available for second opinion... all of the, even the better ones, are afraid to burn their fingers on the issue and for their job.

I hope the truth weill come out once. But the knowledge is already there but no politician, political party seems to care much...

[Altostrata]

Welcome, lr!

 

There are many articles about the dangers of antidepressants, see our In the Media section.

 

But patients need to continue to speak up! There's always a tendency among doctors to dismiss the dangers as rare -- they're told so much (by pharma and by the medical establishment) about the safety of these drugs.

 

What kinds of symptoms did you have for the last 6 weeks?

 

Your drug cocktail of Valdoxan, Lorazapan, Gabapentin, plus 20mg Paxtine is very strange -- but representative of the foolish polypharmacy many of us have undergone.

[lr7]

Hi there,

 

I hate to say this but last night I had a return of some of the symptoms and a terrible night.......

 

Basically during the 6 weeks I suffered from- terrible stomach cramps, nausea, a continuous cough, flu like symptoms, hot flushes then shivers,incontinence, diarrhea, brain zaps, ear problems, extreme paranoia, nightmares, sleeplessness, desire to suicide, aggression, depression, total lethargy, loss of appetite, over sensitivity to smells and tastes, I couldnt bear to have the wood burner going or the fridge door open eg, felt everything I ate was mouldy or tainted in some way, etc etc......so many nasty feelings that I seriously wanted to end it all. I even felt that dead friends and relations were calling to me....it was totally insane and very scary.

 

When I was in the clinic, the Doctor saw me most evenings and kept changing my scripts, sometimes on a daily basis as he said it was necessary to get the correct combination to get the anxiety attacks under control. There were many patients in there who were taking up to 20 pills every evening, most of these poor souls were walking around in a zombie like state and many of them were hugely obese.

 

My 5 weeks in there cost my health insurer $25,000 including the 2 weeks CBT course....plus the meds cost to me.

 

I am back in my bed this morning......trying to stay positive, but it is very difficult. I know I should get up and exercise or do something but I feel wiped out. My right thumb is tingling and painful? Am I regressing again???

[Altostrata]

Well, on the theory that you might be suffering from Paxtine withdrawal, ups and downs are not unusual.

 

You did quit cold-turkey. This can be quite stressful for the nervous system.