md234: new to this site, in desperate need of help

[md234]

Hi. Nice to meet you all. Let me give you a little background. Back when I was 15 I went on three meds (antidepressant, klonopin, and I think an antipsychotic) for depression, anxiety, and OCD. About two years down the road I quit taking klonopin cold turkey because I couldn't think at all on it and I eventually switched out the antipsychotic for a mood stabilizer (not near my papers so can't say which one right now). Anyway, a couple more years go by and I begin to have really bad nervous breakdowns (felt like my brain was on fire) and one night it just felt like bombs were going off in my head and prior to this time I was constantly wired, could never relax, always grinding my teeth. So at this point my brain is ****, I start thinking it's the meds so I stop them all cold turkey, nervous breakdown stop, have weird feeling in my nerves and other parts of my body but seem to be doing ok and I kind of expected this. So these problems come on off and on until they get worse and I start to have painful feelings in heart, nerves, wake up in the middle of night and nerves hurt like hell, sleep for the most part has been **** ever since the nervous breakdowns started. And all of this really sucks because my family and doctor think I'm making these symptoms up and that it's just my anxiety. Please direct me to any people's experiences I can show them so that they believe me (I'll be looking in the meantime too). Thank you all so much and I'm glad I have found people who can relate

[LexAnger]

Welcome md234,

 

Sound terrible why you were put through!

Can you add your med history including doses, start and stop dates, in your signature?

 

Lex

[scallywag]

md234 -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)
 
You unfortunately got caught in the psychiatric pharmaceutical trap. I'm sorry to read that you've suffered as much as you have.

A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016.
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses.
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature
• If you are using a phone or mobile device, you need to switch to the "full" or desktop version of the site. Instructions are in Post 9 and Post 10

Having the medications and dates -- as best as you can remember -- below every post will allow us to help you faster.

You say you will be looking around on your own. Here are a few links to topics or site forums that may be helpful:
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

Joseph Glenmullen is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Board certified in Psychiatry. The checklist posted here (with permission) is from The Anti-Depressant Solution, his book about tapering off medications. That book may be useful in your discussions with medical advisors and with family.

 

Dr. Peter Breggin's 10% taper method

Peter Breggin is Board certified in psychiatry. This topic provides links to a PDF version of his book, Your Drug May be your Problem.

 

Our forum: From Journals and Scientific Sources.

You may find it worthwhile to browse the Journals forum. There are many peer-reviewed papers about withdrawal or discontinuation symptoms summarized and linked.

 

This is YOUR introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community.

 

Please let us know how you are doing and how we can assist.