Daisies24: Prozac - advice?

[Tattyapple]

What dose of amil did you take? I actually find amil very weak at a low dose of 10mg, the drug I found the worse was mirtazapine even at 2mg I would be awake all night and severely depressed the next day. The tricyclics are supposed to have a weaker action than the ssris which are very very over powered. 

are you sleeping ? My sleep has never improved in 40 months I'm as hyperalert as when I came off, it's torture 

 

[Daisies24]

All I took was 2.5 mg but it affected me very, very severely. I felt my brain go numb, my heart never stops racing, my legs feel like jelly, my chest hurts, I feel pins and needles and I cannot sleep with all of the physical symptoms. The worst is the anxiety, I have severe, debilitating anxiety and depression now. I never had any of this to this degree before those 4 doses of amitriptyline. Before that, I was sleeping a total of maybe 5 or 6 hours of very broken sleep (waking at least every hour, if not every half hour). I thought I had bad anxiety before, but it was absolutely nothing compared to this. My original anxiety from Prozac left around the 8th month or so.

 

I am sorry that your sleep has not improved. I have read on other sites that some people do have the sleeping problems for years, but that eventually it usually improves, even if it takes longer than you would have hoped.

[Tattyapple]

That's a very low dose of amil, my aunt had depression years ago and was on 250mg! 

It is true that we do become very sensitive in withdrawal though.

i know what withdrawal anxiety is like and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, it is pure hell.

Let me know if you want to see the stuff that Healy sent me, I have tried clonidine and found it very helpful but I had to come off it because of low blood pressure and my gp won't prescribe gabapentin anyway. It's restricted In the uk.

 

 

 

[Daisies24]

Yes I would love to see the stuff Dr. Healy sent you; thank you so much!

[Tattyapple]

I will dig it out and pm you in the next few days

[Daisies24]

Thanks. Did you have a racing heart at any point and did the clonidine slow it down? Also, was it difficult to taper off of?

[Tattyapple]

My heart didn't race but it did skip beats and thud a lot in my chest. 

I took it for 3 months then tapered off. I didn't have any real problems coming off but I was very depressed as all my original symptoms came back.

i felt a lot calmer and slept a bit better on it 

 

[bubble]

1 hour ago, Tattyapple said:

I will dig it out and pm you in the next few days

 

you can share it with everyone here. More people know more.

 

The problem with tis type of advice as it was already pointed out is that this was made for you in your particular situation, with your particular drug history and that it might be very risky to apply the same thing on someone else.

 

We appreciate that you are trying to help Daisies but we have to warn her of the risks. 

 

Also when you say this: 

I took it for 3 months then tapered off. I didn't have any real problems coming off but I was very depressed as all my original symptoms came back.

 

This is what usually happens when people stop taking drugs: they don't say they suffered from withdrawal but that their original symptoms got back. There is a thread on how to make a difference between the so called relapse and withdrawal. 

 

[bubble]

Taking other drugs might be particularly risky for somebody like Daisies with a record of adverse reactions even to supplements. 

[Daisies24]

Thank you for the responses.

 

I am grateful for the reminder that I tend to have adverse reactions to drugs.

 

If I were struggling too badly to carry on at this point, though, and this is what happened with amitriptyline: I took 2.5 mg on July 5th, 8th,  14th, and 15th; each time I felt panic and anxiety while at the same time, paradoxically, a sense of calm. The drug has a very long half life so it was in my system for much longer than the 10 days; probably close to 21 days. I do know panic and anxiety can be a start-up side effect from the drug. My question is, was this likely an adverse drug reaction, or could it have been start-up side effects? I've been completely off the drug for 8 weeks, and my panic and anxiety are worse than ever; I mean 24/7 and I get stronger symptoms each day/week. I don't know if I should reinstate a tiny amount of the drug, or if it was an adverse reaction from the beginning and there's nothing I can do at this point. I have heard of people getting progressively worse after quitting this drug, as I have, rather than better. 

[DMV64]

I am sorry you are going through this. I just wanted to reach out and offer support and an ear. I am new here and learned a lot reading this thread!

[Daisies24]

Thanks DMV. I am suffering very badly, it is very frightening. So I appreciate your kindness. I hope you are doing well.

[DMV64]

 I am struggling too. I have windows feeling OK. And I hang onto those moments. It is good to know I am not alone, it actually really means a lot to me because I feel like people don't understand. The nights seem to be better than the mornings that's for sure. Is that the same for you?

[Tattyapple]

Hi bubble.

im not encouraging anyone to take a drug I told daisy that she is sensitive and that I would not recommend she takes any drug unless she is suicidal but like everyone else on this site I'm not a medical professional by any means. I'm simply sharing what dr Healy told me. 

Also Iv been in this withdrawal fight for almost 4 years I know the difference between withdrawal and my original symptoms and I did not get a withdrawal apart from a few heart flutters from clonidine. I absolutely hate psych drugs but I won't demonise something that brought a little relief for me personally. I do 100% agree though that everyone is different and if I was daisy I would be very cautious with any drug and only try something if she exhausted every other option. 

 

[Daisies24]

I am sorry you are suffering. Please hold on to the good moments! I will be honest. Up until my trial with amitriptyline, I was struggling in ways and limited, but still functional. At this point my panic is lasting all day long and all night. It just doesn't stop.

[DMV64]

Thank you. The panic is the worst. Just awful. I am taking great comfort in the fact that I am not alone. I also just bought blackout curtains. I read they can help with morning anxiety. 

[bubble]

Daises, I suggest you read through your theead here and learn from your experience.

 

You have a history of panicing, trying a supplement, a drug, a device - it always made you feel worse and pushed you away from recovery. Your history is full of adverse reactions.

 

If we don't learn from our histories we will just have to repeat our mistakes until we learn.

[bubble]

On ‎16‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 9:13 PM, Daisies24 said:

 

Here is my history with meds: I am a 29 year old female (well, 30 this month). At age 20, in college, I took 5 mg of Lexapro for a year (prescribed 10 mg, but I am very sensitive to meds, so I broke it in half). I weaned off of it very slowly. I took 2.5 mg for several weeks when weaning off, then half of that for a couple weeks, until I was done. Withdrawal for me was miserable, but thankfully the worst of it only lasted for maybe a week or so (it basically made me psychotically enraged at everyone until I was totally off of it). Once I was off of it, I lost weight quickly, I was sleeping better at night, and my only remaining symptom that lasted about 2 years was just this random facial twitching.

 

Then around age 26, I started experiencing horrible panic attacks several nights a week that left me paralyzed in fear and unable to sleep. The panic was situational—I was faced with making some major life decisions, and I felt really stuck, and very alone and depressed and scared of making the wrong decision. I finally decided to try an AD again to see if it would help me to get over my panic attacks, sleep, and move forward. I tried a low dose of Lexapro again; for a few weeks, it worked well and I slept well, then all of a sudden I began having an adverse reaction—the most horrible anxiety and insomnia you could imagine. It was a living hell. I got off of it quickly and switched to brand-name Prozac 10mg. It worked great! I was sleeping well at night, my panic attacks completely stopped, and I took some huge steps forward. I took it for maybe 9 months or so and weaned off of it very easily.

 

A couple years later, after some stressful life events, I felt I should go back on the Prozac for a period of time since it had helped calm me so much in the past, enough to make some changes and move forward. I felt it was harmless since I had no problems on it before and it was very easy to get off of. This was at the end of May of last year (May 2016).

 

Since I have been so sensitive to meds in the past and could do well on a low dose, I started by breaking the Prozac capsule in half and dissolving it in juice and drinking half for 5mg (I used to do this the first time I took it when I felt I didn’t always quite need the full 10 mg, and it worked very well). Part of me was concerned that I may have an adverse reaction (I can’t remember why I was afraid of this, since I had done well on it before) so I thought it was good to begin with 5 mg for a few days/weeks and see how I did.

 

I began experiencing terrible, terrible anxiety in my stomach, as if my stomach was constantly doing somersaults that never stopped. It was also the beginning of horrible, horrible, nightly insomnia. I figured this was just a normal start-up effect, and that it would soon stop once the Prozac built up enough in my system.

 

8 weeks later, the anxiety and insomnia were as horrible as ever, so I quit the med. I was literally on it for no longer than about 8 weeks. So I was done with it by the end of July of last year. I have been off of it for about 6 or 7 months now, but the anxiety and insomnia are still as horrible as ever. They never resolved, and I don’t understand why. They did not begin until I began the medicine. It is like my body has been tricked into thinking it is still on the Prozac. I also wonder if those symptoms would have gone away had I built up to a high enough dose of the Prozac (I know 20 mg is the lowest therapeutic dose, and I was only taking 5mg). Do you think my anxiety and insomnia will ever be resolved without meds? Could going back on Prozac, only a higher dose, help me? Why would I have done so well on Prozac years ago, only to do horribly on it this time? And . . . why would I still be having symptoms after being off of it for 7 months, especially when I was only on 5mg for 8 weeks? I am really not sure what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

 

Thanks for any input. I am really at a loss.

 

Everything is there in your first post here. But since then you went on experimenting and each time got the same result: worsening of symptoms.

 

Even if we get off our drugs but don't learn how to cope with our symptoms without them we haven't done much. Withdrawal is an ideal time to learn just that and acquire some habits and practices out of sheer necessity which will aid us the whole life. 

 

There are so many resources and ideas here:

 

But if you are still looking for drugs to fix you, you will have to look for advice elsewhere because we are not the site for drug shopping.

 

You may want to check this:

 

Especially this section:

 

Drug shopping or recommending drugs
This is a site for going off drugs. It is not a site for finding out what drug to take next, comparing drug cocktails, or recommending what drug to add. This could be dangerous. People could be hurt by your advice.
 
(We do not know of any drugs or drug combination that will fix withdrawal syndrome. Reinstatement of the original drug, often at a low dose, sometimes helps and sometimes does not.)
 
If you want to discuss your diagnoses and talk about adding to your drug cocktail, there are other support sites for this, such as http://DepressionForums.org or http://PatientsLikeMe.com.
 

[Daisies24]

Understood; I so wish I never messed with amitriptyline or the Ces device or anything else. Thank you to everyone who has reached out and tried to help me.

[bubble]

We all take our time to learn. We all make mistakes.

 

But luckily it's never too late to set on the right path.

 

Thanks to neuroplasticity our brains have an incredible ability to fix themselves, heal and recover.

 

And there are so many things we can do to facilitate this process and become a stronger person as a result.

 

You can do it.

[DMV64]

Today I am reading a bit more from Kabat-Zinn on Mindfulness. And watching the waves and trying not to react. I have decided to do less today and to let that be ok.

[bubble]

That's the way to go! Maybe all those symptoms are there to teach you just that...

 

We all lack self-compassion so much, honouring our inner resources - especially if we are more sensitive than the majority in this cruel world. So stepping out, slowing down, tuning in without ourselves and goung at our own pace (despite the pressure to run with the herd) is so very important for us.

[Tattyapple]

Hi daisy 

Iv sent you the info dr Healy gave me. I hope it helps and hope you are well