samanthaelizabeth: How do you manage to keep working while taper off

[samanthaelizabeth]

Why is the anxiety worse in the morning.  I'm so mad what these drugs have done to my life.  I messed everything up especially since the Wellbutrin-quitting all those jobs. So not like me!  I've have put a horrible burden on my husband.  How do I get past this so I can get my confidence back on resume looking for a job?

Quote

 

 

[nz11]

Waking with panic or anxiety -- managing cortisol spikes

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, samanthaelizabeth said:

How do I get past this

 

It's important to learn to accept so that you can move forward:  Acceptance and Acceptance and Mindfulness

[samanthaelizabeth]

Thank you ChessieCat.  I have an appointment next week for a therapist.  How do explain what these drugs have done to my life?  It seems like nobody gets it?  And they just will label as having something else.  For instance with the Wellbutrin thing I thought I just wasn't dealing well with moving here and was dagnosed with an Adjustment disorder??

[Gridley]

These links may help with your doctor:

 

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?
 
What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?
 

[ChessieCat]

17 minutes ago, samanthaelizabeth said:

It seems like nobody gets it?

 

That's why this site exists and is very busy.

 

18 minutes ago, samanthaelizabeth said:

How do explain what these drugs have done to my life?

 

It may be better not to discuss the drugs and what effect they are having.  If you mention anything about drugs and they don't get it, then their assessment of you will be "coloured" by your drug issues.  It might be better to explain that you would like to learn general non drug coping skills.

[ChessieCat]

Here are some links which you might find helpful:

 

dealing-with-emotional-spirals

 

Neuro Emotions

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

Claire Weekes' Method of Recovering from a Sensitized Nervous System

 

Audio:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)
 

CBT Course:  An Introductory Self-Help Course in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

 

Audio:  How to Recover from Anxiety - Dr Claire Weekes

 

Cognitive Behavior Therapy lessons

[samanthaelizabeth]

jumped off clonazepan last night-slept good!  My ears are still ringing though-maybe its from my MS??

[samanthaelizabeth]

Should I go back up to 200mg Zoloft? I don't think my dosing of 180mg is accurate and I just want to feel better. Still depressed can't really eat until nighttime after I take Remeron. Constant ringing in ears - maybe my MS-Anxious obsessing with this website, can't really shower brush my teeth or anything.

[samanthaelizabeth]

Feeling a little better took a shower as I was drenched in sweat! I feel kind of normal except the ringing in my ears and mad at my self from going off zoloft far to quickly...Just have to get my confidence back.

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, samanthaelizabeth said:

Should I go back up to 200mg Zoloft? I don't think my dosing of 180mg is accurate

 

At such a high dose of Zoloft I doubt that eyeballing your dose would cause too much of a problem.  However it is better to get your dose as accurate as possible.

 

Q:  What dose are the Zoloft tablets your are taking?

 

If you are taking a combination of tablets sizes you could take part in tablet and the rest as a DIY liquid.  Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline)

[samanthaelizabeth]

Aprrox 180mg.

[ChessieCat]

2 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Q:  What dose are the Zoloft tablets your are taking?

 

Are you using 2 x 100mg tablets and cutting one up to get the 80mg and then taking 1 whole 100mg tablet and your estimated 80mg? 

[samanthaelizabeth]

estimating I went back to 200 this morning mind racing. is this from the klonopin wd or going up to 200mg?

[pinkfairy]

Hi SE....just stopping by to say hello & welcome to SA...

 

Am so sorry for what your doctors done.

xxx

[samanthaelizabeth]

I don't know what to do.  I have to get my brain back to homeostasis.  I used to be a happy person, took 200mg this morning my mind started racing, heaving sweating.. It seemed like I was doing better on 180mg.

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, samanthaelizabeth said:

took 200mg this morning my mind started racing, heaving sweating.. It seemed like I was doing better on 180mg.

 

I suggest that you return to 180mg from your next dose.

 

Q:  Was the sweating less when you were taking 180mg?

 

Are you keeping daily notes on paper?  Keep Notes on Paper

[samanthaelizabeth]

Feeling a little bit better today.  Sleep is still not that good, appetite is not good.  Should I just go ahead and get on Lexapro like the doctor wanted or just stay on Zoloft and fake that i'm happy when I see PDoc?

[nz11]

“started tapering off Zoloft quickly to switch to Lexapro per doctors advice Went from 200 down to 50 then off for a day thought I was having Klonopin withdrawal.”

 

Just got up this morning to read this and I’m horrified.

please tell me you haven’t done this yet.....looks like you have.

why is your doc doing this. What did you tell him. 

it’s always wise to get a second opinion prior to action.

oh Se why didn’t you tell us about this.....

 

 

[nz11]

I don’t know what Timezone ‘somewhere’ is in but it’s wed where I am.

so it would appear on Monday you went from 200 Zoloft to 50

on tue you took nothing

now it’s wed....what have you taken?

yet this is inconsistent with your statements made on these days so I assume you haven’t done this yet?

if so if I were you I wouldn’t do it.

 

please confirm what you have or haven’t done ASAP if possible.

[Rosetta]

Hi Samantha,

 

My two cents is that switching AD meds is dangerous.  That was my experience.  I have no medical training, but my horrible experience and my tenuous grasp of how these drugs work and how the brain copes with the switch of drugs tells me that switching to Lexapro from Zoloft would be a mistake. I took Celexa for about 9 years and then switched to Zoloft without knowing that switch was dangerous.

 

Lexapro is the drug that replaced the revenue stream for the manufacturer (Forest Laboratories) when the patent for Celexa ran its course.  Forest changed the formulation just enough to "prove" that it was a new drug in order to get a patent.  A current patent means more money for the manufacturer. Their studies showed some difference between the effect of Celexa and the effect of Lexapro that the FDA deemed sufficient for a patent on Lexapro.  The two drugs were studied together -- some patients got Celexa and some got Lexapro.  I suspect the two drugs are quite similar.  If so, my experience that I will tell you about indicates that Lexapro may not be a good substitute for Zoloft, at least when it comes to my brain and my body.

 

I wasn't "normal" on Celexa, and I can see that now, but switching to Zoloft was catastrophic for me.  This tells me that the two drugs were not equivalent for me and that my brain did not accept Zoloft as a substitute.  Within a year I was having withdrawal symptoms.  However, they were milder than a cold turkey without a new drug being added because the dose of Zoloft "covered the WD symptoms up."  I suspect that I had less anxiety than I would have if I had stopped Celexa without adding Zoloft.  However, that does not mean I had no withdrawal symptoms.  I sufferred for 5 years with what I now know was withdrawal.  No matter how high the dose of Zoloft, my problems got worse not better.  I started at 10mg of Zoloft after my child was born.  By the time she was 4, I was a wreck.

 

My husband agrees with me that Celexa wasn't good for me, and that the switch to Zoloft caused a lot of serious problems -- problems I now know were WD symptoms.  I did not know that then.  The most horrifying symptoms, as if chemically induced anxiety isn't horrifying enough, were cognitive difficulties -- confusion, inability to make decisions, and inability to plan.  The doctor kept raising the dose to compensate.  Eventually, I could not keep house, do laundry, keep the kitchen, etc. because I was that severely effected in the executive function areas of my brain. This failure on my part, of course, increased my anxiety.  I began to think that I had brain damage or a brain tumor.  In my work, it took me a very long time to work out plans and do analysis that should have been easy.  I would catch mistakes I could not believe I could have made.  It took twice or three times the effort to produce documents than I should have.  I developed severe anxiety about making mistakes that I would not catch. Eventually I had to stop working -- this was before I tapered off Zoloft too fast.

 

While I was on Zoloft, by far the worst symptom was rampant anxiety including anticipatory anxiety.  Eventually, I could barely leave the house.  I had some physical symptoms such as changes in appetite and a craving for alcohol (to relieve anxiety). The most long lasting change was that I became a hoarder - I am not a hoarder now that I am off Zoloft, but I have been so ill from my rapid taper of Zoloft that I have not been able to correct the condition of my house one year later.  It's been almost 12 months since I quit Zoloft, Xanax and Trazadone.  It's been 6 1/2 years since my doctor switched my AD.  I never needed Xanax before that switch and I did not need sleeping pills either.  That med switch destroyed my career, changed my relationship with my husband and took from me over 2 years of being able to enjoy my daughter -- the years when she was 4, 5 and 6.  I cannot get those years back.  Recently, my daughter said, "I don't remember Mommy not being sick."

 

There are some places on this site that explain how the drugs remodel the brain and how WD causes symptoms.  I don't know how to link to them, but I strongly believe that switching drugs can cause the same effect as WD, and it may, in fact, cause even more serious problems or more severe decline in cognitive function than staying on the drug your body is "used to."  Knowing what I have been through, if I were you I would stay with Zoloft until you stabilize and very slowly taper it.  Every time I see a thread on this site by a person who switched drugs I see a train wreck, and I understand exactly why it happened because it happened to me that way, too.

 

Peace,

Rosettae

[samanthaelizabeth]

1 hour ago, nz11 said:

I don’t know what Timezone ‘somewhere’ is in but it’s wed where I am.

so it would appear on Monday you went from 200 Zoloft to 50

on tue you took nothing

now it’s wed....what have you taken?

yet this is inconsistent with your statements made on these days so I assume you haven’t done this yet?

if so if I were you I wouldn’t do it.

 

please confirm what you have or haven’t done ASAP if possible.

This was all done in December- Which I thought I was having Klonopin withdrawal..in hindsight it was the Zoloft!  I am back taking 200mg now but still don't feel totally normal.  My sleep is still not good appetite is horrible.. Trying to get a job and keep it!  I think I feel okay enough..I have an appt with PDoc in two weeks.  Should I just fake it so he doesn't try to put me on something else?

[Gridley]

Samanthaelizabeth,

Rosetta's post makes a lot of sense.  Another argument against switching drugs is you just went off Klonopin, and it's not good to have so many drug changes at the same time.  I would suggest you stick with the Zoloft.  

 

Here is the link to the brain remodeling post that Rosetta wrote about.

Brain Remodelling

 

 

Edited January 23, 2018 by Gridley

[samanthaelizabeth]

Yes I'm currently taking my 200mg of Zoloft.

[kangamangus]

Hey Samantha, been reading your story and it has some similarities to mine. I am also on Zoloft and Remeron. I read that you recently reinstated your zoloft and are hoping to stabilize. I wish you all the best with that, I know how painful it can be waiting to feel better. You also mentioned you have a pdoc appointment coming up, while I wouldn't suggest "faking it" I would definitely try to be firm in your stance not to have any drugs added. Remember its your body and your choice, but try not to become too emotional or you may end up in a situation where they try to force you to take something. I was in the hospital last year after trying to stabilize on my Zoloft, and while I didn't really "fake it" I did withhold some information that would have made my situation worse. I was also firm and level headed when I explained to my doctor what I wanted. While I did end up having Remeron added back to my regimen, it was my choice and I felt okay with it. It did end up helping me. Anyway I wish you the best of luck with this whole mess and with meeting with your doctor. Feel free to PM me or write in my thread if you need some support
'

[samanthaelizabeth]

What should I do?

[nz11]

1 hour ago, samanthaelizabeth said:

Yes I'm currently taking my 200mg of Zoloft

Phew! Well you had me worried for a minute there.

 

2 hours ago, samanthaelizabeth said:

.I have an appt with PDoc in two weeks.

You may not get anything useful out of this. These people don't acknowledge wdl symptoms. 

It is always a good idea to check in with sa to get a second opinion on what they advice. 

[Remeron88]

I've had this before.  I am on 200 mg zoloft and 22.5 mg remeron and my head feels numb all over, and really 'dry' and empty.  However I have been on an antipsychotic for a while so that could be why.

[Remeron88]

Try exercise, fish oil, magnesium.

[samanthaelizabeth]

I tapered of very very quickly and stopped totally for a day then back to 100mg and now up to 200mg.  My sleep is not great and my ear has been ringing for a week, no appetite ( until I take my Remeron) and not very happy.  I'm thinking of going on a low dose of Abilify for a short time just so I can stabilize and get back to work.

[samanthaelizabeth]

Please help-i'm shaking-  The last time I had normal sleep was @100mg of zoloft

[samanthaelizabeth]

Anyone?

 

[samanthaelizabeth]

Please.

[nz11]

Are you able to post in your intro thread?

 

[nz11]

Try not to panic SE.

You are going to be okay.

Are you able to put dates and recent changes in the drug sig.

If i were you i would resist the urge to add more drugs to 'take it away' .

It will take awhile to stabilize again after the recent changes.

You can get through this.

So you are saying you cant sleep. How much sleep are you getting?

 

Rather than start a new thread everywhere with wdl issues it may be more helpful to post queries in your intro thread.

[samanthaelizabeth]

Did I go back up to fast?   I'm back up to 200mg after super quick taper-My notes tell me that I was sleeping better at 150mg -but go back down again?  I'm still depressed, not sleeping well, not crying though.  I have to get back to work. My doc doesn't come back until Feb5. My hands are shaking, my left ear has been ringing for a month.