Deise: Fluvoxamine caused my depression? Fear I can't recover

[Deise]

20 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

When do you plan to do your next taper?   Or what have you decided as far as that goes?  I did see a lot of information for you above in your journal to help guide you.  Are you going to try to do a 10 percent reduction of each dose now(instead of the original dose you once were on).

 

Thanks for your reply! I think I'll only taper again when I feel completely stable, which I am still not. I will try either 10% of current dose or the brassmonkey slide, not sure which one is the best. If I can't handle them I'll try a micro taper of maybe 5% as KarenB suggested in January!

 

Yes I have read most of the links provided and I'll indeed have to do a liquid to be able to reduce such small doses. I'm just afraid I won't do it right.

 

As far as my medication, I'm not on it 16 years straight. I was ok ADs from 9 to 12 and then from 22 until now. So there were 10 years meds free in between 

[Deise]

I forgot to mention, my psychology and psychiatry sessions at the public mental hospital are supposed to be every week and they are completely free of charge. I think that took some weight off my shoulders because (1) my parents can't pay 100€ a week without great effort; (2) although they probably don't understand WD at least I'll have some psychological support to get me through it, from people that won't be telling me "just go back to the drugs"

 

mmt, you mentioned it is rare in the US for a psychiatrist to say that. I live in Portugal and it's the same here. We are, if not the most, one of the top 5 countries in Europe that psychiatrists and GPs prescribe more psych meds to patients. It's a very real concern in Portugal. They are starting to talk about prohibiting GPs or any other doctor except for psychiatrist to prescribe psych meds. But I don't think it will help much because psychiatrists here like ADs and benzos a lot. But it is a start!!

[manymoretodays]

17 hours ago, Deise said:

As far as my medication, I'm not on it 16 years straight. I was ok ADs from 9 to 12 and then from 22 until now. So there were 10 years meds free in between

 

17 hours ago, Deise said:

They are starting to talk about prohibiting GPs or any other doctor except for psychiatrist to prescribe psych meds. But I don't think it will help much because psychiatrists here like ADs and benzos a lot. But it is a start!!

 

 

Awesome.  Great.  It IS a start.  And I think you will really like your therapy as you are open and willing.  You really have made some great progress already.  I can tell just by your writing. 

 

And yes.......those 10 med free years are certainly in your favor as far as healing goes, as is your youth.  Not that I am much older. 

 

Best Deise and Love and Peace and all that,

 

mmt

 

[Deise]

Hello everyone!

 

Just thought I would give an update. I think I have been feeling a little better for the past couple of days. I am still spending the majority of my days at home and I really need to start making myself get out of the house, but I still can't find it in me. But I think I will, eventually!

 

Still feel a little down but at least the very extreme anxiety and fear of dying and diseases has decreased considerably. I think the dp/dr is better also

 

My worst symptoms at the moment are feeling spaced out, lightheaded, intrusive thoughts, general feeling of being unwell, weakness, detachment, and feeling all these symptoms worse after I eat (I have reduced carbs a little already).

 

I have two new symptoms that started 3 days ago:

- very very small hives all over my face, but mostly around eyes (including palpebrae), nose and chin. They are not pimples and I have never had any skin problem whatsoever. They rarely itch, but are sensitive;

- I started feeling a little bump in my throat, near the middle (but closer to the bottom of the neck). I can't feel it from the outside. It's like I have something stuck in my throat constantly, but I can eat, drink and breathe fine, and it doesn't hurt. It's just mildly annoying because I feel it all the time!

 

If anyone has had similar symptoms or heard of it and think that may also be WD related let me know

 

Thank you all for your support, it really means a lot to me.

 

[BAT]

Deise, hello.  

 

I was wondering if you ever did more then one session of hypnotherapy?

[Deise]

3 minutes ago, BAT said:

Deise, hello.  

 

I was wondering if you ever did more then one session of hypnotherapy?

Hi BAT.

 

No, I only did one session. I was too scared of something going wrong because these meds made me wary of everything and everyone and so I decided to postpone it for when I'm feeling better. But I can tell you that my first session was fine and relaxing even, nothing bad happened.

 

I will be starting psychotherapy/psychoanalysis soon. CBT is great but didn't work for me.

Maybe I'll give hypnotherapy another try in the future. What I was having was Eriksonian hypnotherapy btw, if you're interested. It's a milder form with no deep transe.

[BAT]

What did she/he do? Did you go into a light transe? Did they count backwards? Curious?

Thank you for any information..

[Deise]

He didn't count backwards. I don't know if I was in what is considered a light transe, because the hypnotist told me light transe is what you get when for instance you are reading a book and stop listening to surrounding noises. So it's basically a state of heightened awareness to something specific.

 

He asked me to close my eyes and then did two or three exercises. The first one was telling me some words (like Sun, rock, fear, love, etc.) and asking me if i liked of disliked them and where in my body would I associate them with.

The second one was an analogy. He told me to visualise I was entering a control room of my brain and asking my brain to turn off the switch or buttons that were causing me anxiety.

The final one was he telling a story about happiness, of finding hope and meaning even when everything around you seems dark.

 

It's a very very light form of hypnotherapy in my understanding. I was completely aware of everything that was going on and could leave anytime I wanted. I don't know if other kinds of hypnotherapy would be the same, or if even this one would change in further appointments, but that was my experience

[Deise]

27 minutes ago, BAT said:

What did she/he do? Did you go into a light transe? Did they count backwards? Curious?

Thank you for any information..

Also, I read your introduction. You were through a rough time recently.

Are you feeling better now?

[BAT]

Unfortunately, I'm not.  Thoughts of going back on medicine keep running through my head.  I don't know what to do.

 

What are you currently on?

[Deise]

Sad to hear that. Hope you get better soon and that if you decide to go back that they may give you some relief.

 

Currently I am only taking Luvox, around 19mg (I need to start liquid urgently to get the doses right every time). Also not great at this moment so I have been holding for the past 3 or so months.

[BAT]

What symptoms do you have?

[Deise]

Some time ago I wrote everything I felt, if you wanna go back and check, it was a long list.

 

At the moment symptoms seem to come and go, and they vary sometimes.

 

What I am currently feeling and what's bothering me the most is constantly fast heartbeat and palpitations (will be doing a 24h heart monitor thing next week, just to be sure it's nothing serious), tightness in chest and sometimes chest pain, shortness of breath, visual disturbances (this is actually one of the most annoying, I can see ok but my eyes feel weird, sometimes things seem a little out of focus during some seconds, or just off in general. Don't know if I make sense but it's the best I can explain) and sudden dizziness several times during the day (also very annoying and scary, but I still have my balance).

 

I am actually better regarding anxiety and depression and all the intrusive thoughts associated with it. Now it's more physical.

 

What about you?

[MiguelFreeman]

18 minutes ago, Deise said:

Some time ago I wrote everything I felt, if you wanna go back and check, it was a long list.

 

At the moment symptoms seem to come and go, and they vary sometimes.

 

What I am currently feeling and what's bothering me the most is constantly fast heartbeat and palpitations (will be doing a 24h heart monitor thing next week, just to be sure it's nothing serious), tightness in chest and sometimes chest pain, shortness of breath, visual disturbances (this is actually one of the most annoying, I can see ok but my eyes feel weird, sometimes things seem a little out of focus during some seconds, or just off in general. Don't know if I make sense but it's the best I can explain) and sudden dizziness several times during the day (also very annoying and scary, but I still have my balance).

 

I am actually better regarding anxiety and depression and all the intrusive thoughts associated with it. Now it's more physical.

 

What about you?

Good Thing you are recovering i stabilize but then have weird flashbacks of me killing my shelf but makes no sense because i don't feel suicidal  it didn't happen for a long time but it happen today when i was shopping for a bread knife and i just had that random flashback 

[BAT]

I have a lot of symptoms..

Agoraphobia 

People can't come over

Vision issues

Breathing issues 

Chest tightness

Body muscle stiffness

Anxiety 

Bad Panic

Head tightness, pressure, headache, tingling, burning, pain

Clogged ears 

Clenching teeth

Jaw tension

Racing heart

Inner vibration 

Numbers, tingling, burning

Cold feet and hands

Sleep issues

Vivid dreams

Swallowing issues when panicking

Depression, crying spells

No energy or Motivation

Hopelessness

Dizzy

Muscle jumping, twitching 

Weight and muscle 

Stomach issues

[Deise]

24 minutes ago, MiguelFreeman said:

Good Thing you are recovering i stabilize but then have weird flashbacks of me killing my shelf but makes no sense because i don't feel suicidal  it didn't happen for a long time but it happen today when i was shopping for a bread knife and i just had that random flashback 

I rarely think of it too, some weird intrusive thought of bad things that can happen. But it's nothing serious I believe, you'll be fine!

[Deise]

5 minutes ago, BAT said:

I have a lot of symptoms..

 

Agoraphobia 

People can't come over

Vision issues

Breathing issues 

Chest tightness

Body muscle stiffness

Anxiety 

Bad Panic

Head tightness, pressure, headache, tingling, burning, pain

Clogged ears 

Clenching teeth

Jaw tension

Racing heart

Inner vibration 

Numbers, tingling, burning

Cold feet and hands

Sleep issues

Vivid dreams

Swallowing issues when panicking

Depression, crying spells

No energy or Motivation

Hopelessness

Dizzy

Muscle jumping, twitching 

Weight and muscle 

Stomach issues

 

Oh, I have the clogged ears also. So annoying. Fresh like I'm constantly on a plane taking off, with that weird crackle besides the clogged thing.

 

If it makes you feel any better, I spent the past 3 months with extreme anxiety, depression, hopelessness and all that stuff but they seem to be getting better lately! Maybe they will improve soon for you too!!

[BAT]

You started getting these symptoms while you were on medicine? Or did you go off and reinstate?

[Deise]

3 minutes ago, BAT said:

You started getting these symptoms while you were on medicine? Or did you go off and reinstate?

While on medication. I never went off them. Last year o started weaning off them as told by my former psychiatrist (taking everyone day at 25mg) but I got panic and dp/dr so I reinstated right away. Since January I have been tapering but a little too fast so I guess I am feeling the consequences of it now.

[BAT]

That's what so scary. Taking this medicines are supposed to help but then cause issues when being on them not just going off.

[Deise]

2 hours ago, BAT said:

That's what so scary. Taking this medicines are supposed to help but then cause issues when being on them not just going off.

I know :/

 

I actually never had issues on them except for weight gain and lack of libido. But since the first time I started reducing I've had them.

 

I don't know if that can happen and if anyone here knows if once you start having problems in them, you'll always have? 

[manymoretodays]

On 12/14/2017 at 5:21 PM, Deise said:

I don't know if that can happen and if anyone here knows if once you start having problems in them, you'll always have? 

 

I don't believe that everyone who has problems on the medication(s), or while coming off of them, will always have them(the problems). 

 

I think it can be variable.  Some do have continued problems of varying kinds.  That they never had before taking some of the medication.  Others do not.  It's not real clearly defined as yet.  Who will have continued problems and who won't.  That's kind of an unanswerable question Deise........... but a good one that I think we all often ask ourselves.

 

So.......hopefully too, we can mitigate some of the harm caused by medication, by careful and cautious withdrawal.  I think that's part of what we try to do here at this site.   And then you will find stories here as well, of some of the members who have wound up with continued problems from their medication usage.  It's awful sometimes.   And often the producers of the medication or the people who prescribe them don't take responsibility.

[BAT]

3 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

I don't believe that everyone who has problems on the medication(s), or while coming off of them, will always have them(the problems). 

 

I think it can be variable.  Some do have continued problems of varying kinds.  That they never had before taking some of the medication.  Others do not.  It's not real clearly defined as yet.  Who will have continued problems and who won't.  That's kind of an unanswerable question Deise........... but a good one that I think we all often ask ourselves.

 

So.......hopefully too, we can mitigate some of the harm caused by medication, by careful and cautious withdrawal.  I think that's part of what we try to do here at this site.   And then you will find stories here as well, of some of the members who have wound up with continued problems from their medication usage.  It's awful sometimes.   And often the producers of the medication or the people who prescribe them don't take responsibility.

 

Manymoretodays 

Hello.  I read your post and was wondering are you saying that not everyone heals from this??

[MiguelFreeman]

9 minutes ago, BAT said:

 

Manymoretodays 

Hello.  I read your post and was wondering are you saying that not everyone heals from this??

 

 

98 % recovers the people that don't recover  , they get alot better but. Not fully healed but normally peapol that post that they have not fully healed eventually will make improvements and don't forget that there might be some hormone imbalance or thyroid problems on those peapol that have those problems

[Deise]

3 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

 

I don't believe that everyone who has problems on the medication(s), or while coming off of them, will always have them(the problems). 

 

I think it can be variable.  Some do have continued problems of varying kinds.  That they never had before taking some of the medication.  Others do not.  It's not real clearly defined as yet.  Who will have continued problems and who won't.  That's kind of an unanswerable question Deise........... but a good one that I think we all often ask ourselves.

 

So.......hopefully too, we can mitigate some of the harm caused by medication, by careful and cautious withdrawal.  I think that's part of what we try to do here at this site.   And then you will find stories here as well, of some of the members who have wound up with continued problems from their medication usage.  It's awful sometimes.   And often the producers of the medication or the people who prescribe them don't take responsibility.

Yes I understand that. What I was ask g was that if once you have problems on the meds, if everytime you go on this kind of meds again, you'll have the same problems.

 

Also I don't know if the fact that I am having some trouble now while tapering will mean I'll have grater tendency for having more problems once I fully stop them. I assume we can't know that either?

[manymoretodays]

I don't have any statistics or numbers unfortunately. 

 

BAT,

 

I think it depends on your definition of healing.  Miguel has some good points in his post.  Not everyone returns to their baseline "normal" whatever that might be.

 

Deise,

 

as far as your concern, it's possible that you might have "kindling" and react differently to the same medication(s) if you go off/and/or taper down to a lower dose......... and then restart again the same medication at "recommended" doses.  Or you might experience the same side effects.  I agree........I don't think we can fully know for sure, for any of us.

 

I hope that clarifies a bit.

 

Love, peace, healing/in recovery, and growth,

 

mmt

[Deise]

3 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

I don't have any statistics or numbers unfortunately. 

 

BAT,

 

I think it depends on your definition of healing.  Miguel has some good points in his post.  Not everyone returns to their baseline "normal" whatever that might be.

 

Deise,

 

as far as your concern, it's possible that you might have "kindling" and react differently to the same medication(s) if you go off/and/or taper down to a lower dose......... and then restart again the same medication at "recommended" doses.  Or you might experience the same side effects.  I agree........I don't think we can fully know for sure, for any of us.

 

I hope that clarifies a bit.

 

Love, peace, healing/in recovery, and growth,

 

mmt

Thank you mmt

 

I hope we all heal fully, and BAT, I wouldn't worry with being back to before the meds, since that before was what put us on this meds to begin with. I think that we will all heal with time and hopefully come to a state that will allow us to live our lives the best we can and feeling healthy and fine, even if different from before!

 

I want to thank everyone here, specially the moderators such as mmt, chessiecat and many many others here. I don't think I thank you enough, but I truly appreciate your time and effort in helping everyone here that is suffering so much. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart

[BAT]

7 minutes ago, Deise said:

I hope we all heal fully, and BAT, I wouldn't worry with being back to before the meds, since that before was what put us on this meds to begin with. I think that we will all heal with time and hopefully come to a state that will allow us to live our lives the best we can and feeling healthy and fine, even if different from before!

 

It's just so hard because when I went on these meds I was feeling a LITTLE sad because of what happened in my life at the time. Really I mean a little, I was feeling sad like an hour before going to the Dr. The appt was for something else. Why did I say something. Now I have so many things wrong, symptoms, depression, panic, anxiety, agoraphobia. It's awful!! 

[Deise]

I understand BAT. I also am a lot worse than I was before taking these meds. I always suffered with anxiety and panic attack, since I was a child. But when I went on this meds 4 years ago, although I did have panic attacks and anxiety, I was not depressed whatsoever. I was not having all these weird physical symptoms and sadness. 

 

But what's done is done. And it is not your fault, or mine, or anyone here. We all believed our doctors and that these meds were safe. We weren't informed. I have been very angry about this. I still am a little. But I figure it doesn't make it right. It only makes me frustrated. That is my experience at least.

 

But we will heal. So many people here have already healed. There are so many great recovery stories to read here! Some took more time than others, but they heal. You will heal too

[Deise]

Hi everyone.

 

So, I have a problem. I need to have an endoscopy and the sedation is with propofol.

What do I do? Is it safe?

 

I'm so afraid of interactions

[AliG]

Hi Deise.

You may want to read this topic ~ It's as close as I could get to answering your question ~ do you need to have an endoscopy? Why? I would question that more than the actual sedation involved. Please do your homework, so as to go into this, as informed as you can possibly be. I'm sorry, but I question everything medically related, now ~ is it necessary and what are the associated risks? Have you been informed? Probably not ~ so please do some research of your own first. If, after that you are happy ~ then by all means, go ahead.

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/3441-surgery-and-anesthesia/

 

Ali

[Deise]

3 minutes ago, AliG said:

Hi Deise.

You may want to read this topic ~ It's as close as I could get to answering your question ~ do you need to have an endoscopy? Why? I would question that more than the actual sedation involved. Please do your homework, so as to go into this, as informed as you can possibly be. I'm sorry, but I question everything medically related, now ~ is it necessary and what are the associated risks? Have you been informed? Probably not ~ so please do some research of your own first. If, after that you are happy ~ then by all means, go ahead.

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/3441-surgery-and-anesthesia/

 

Ali

They suspect I may have acid reflux because of chest/back pains and feeling weird after eating. I also experience heartburn. 

That is the reason they want to do the endoscopy.

 

From what I've read, the procedure itself is not dangerous but I can't be sure anymore. I'm just concerned about the propofol and fluvoxamine interaction, and that it may make WD worse :/

 

But do you think the endoscopy in itself is dangerous?

[AliG]

Deise, I haven't researched this in particular ~ but I will now. I'm just finding that most medical tests are intrusive and unnecessary, in my mind at least. Most seem to cause so much more harm, than they are worth. So what if you have acid reflux? ~ it's probably a W/D symptom ~ and what are they going to do anyway , if they DO decide it is reflux? Give you a pill ? 

Edited December 17, 2017 by AliG

[Deise]

Yes, thats true  

I am very wary of medication now, if I have a headache I just wait for it to pass so I won't take more pills.

 

I will try to research also, but if you find something relevant can you please let me know? If it doesn't bother you of course!

 

Thank you very much!

[BAT]

Deise

 

Hello.

 

I had an endoscopy done back in June 2015 because they were checking if I had celiac. One of the blood test came back a little high. I'm not sure what they used for sedation but at the time I was on paxil and Ambien but I didn't take the Ambien the night before.  Also, they said that I couldn't take any of the medication after midnight. I was drowsy that all day and didn't the ant medication that day and ended up stopping the Ambien then and paxil a few days later.  One of the many stoppage. My throat was sore for a while after.  I don't remember exactly how long, maybe a week or two..

[Deise]

On 17/12/2017 at 4:56 PM, BAT said:

Deise

 

Hello.

 

I had an endoscopy done back in June 2015 because they were checking if I had celiac. One of the blood test came back a little high. I'm not sure what they used for sedation but at the time I was on paxil and Ambien but I didn't take the Ambien the night before.  Also, they said that I couldn't take any of the medication after midnight. I was drowsy that all day and didn't the ant medication that day and ended up stopping the Ambien then and paxil a few days later.  One of the many stoppage. My throat was sore for a while after.  I don't remember exactly how long, maybe a week or two..

Thanks for letting me know your experience BAT! Did you do the endoscopy with anesthesia/sedation? If I make it it will be with propofol.

 

How have you been feeling lately BAT? Any improvements? Let me know!