mama76: Looking for advice and encouragement for withdrawal symptoms

[mama76]

hello. like many here i have been on some sort of anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication for the better part of my life. i started taking anti-depressants in my late teens after the sudden death of my mother and grandmother. i’ve probably been on 6-8 different medications over the last 20+ years albeit not consistently. 

 

in 2010 or so i was diagnosed as bipolar and put on 40mg prozac and 200mg lamictal. in 2017 i decided i wanted to stop taking these medications and at that time i was taking 20mg prozac and 100mg lamictal. in december 2017 i tapered off of both of these medications with my doctor’s approval. that’s right, only one month for both medications. 

 

the withdrawal symptoms began sneaking up on me a few weeks into january 2018- a little anger here, some sudden crying spells there... in february things got much worse. i began having tinnitus and some dizzy spells. panic attacks almost daily, often more than once a day, trouble falling asleep and staying asleep almost every night, lots of crying, a good bit of anger and a wee touch of feeling hopeless and doomed for life. 

 

i’ve seen my regular dr. three times in the last month or so and one ENT doctor. both advised going back on some sort of SSRI. i explained to my dr. in my most recent visit that, after doing a fair amount of research, i felt my symptoms were a result of me discontinuing the prozac and lamictal (and so suddenly). it was his opinion that withdrawal symptoms from those drugs only last a matter of days and therefore couldn’t be the source of my current woes. he wrote me a prescription for lunesta and lorazepam (which i have taken sparingly for sleep) and also one for buspar (haven’t filled that one). 

 

needless to say i’m lost. i have two young children that are my love and life so giving up is not an option but neither is going back on the prozac, lamictal or any antidepressants for that matter. 

 

i should add that i am exercising regularly-almost daily and i eat a WFPB diet so at least i have those two things going for me. emotionally, though, i’m exhausted and i don’t know what to do. yes, i know i tapered WAY too quickly but i can’t change that now. any advice is appreciated. thank you.  

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by ChessieCat
added spacing

[Gridley]

Hello, mama76, and welcome to SA. I am sorry you are going through this.  Unfortunately doctors, including psychiatrists, know little, if anything, about tapering and withdrawal.  There is little question in my mind that your symptoms are withdrawal symptoms caused by a too-fast taper of Prozac and Lamictal.  

 

To help you understand what you are experiencing, here is some information on withdrawal:

What is withdrawal syndrome.

Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

 

Please be careful with the Lorazepam.  If you start taking it regularly, you can become dependent within as little as two weeks.  It happened to me.  Please also be wary of the Lunesta and the Buspar, both of which will need to be tapered slowly if you start taking them regularly.  

 

To give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication 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. 
• Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

It is understandable that you want to be drug-free as soon as possible.  I do want to present an option should the withdrawal become too difficult to bear.   At this time, reinstatement of a very small dose of the original drug is the only known way to help alleviate withdrawal syndrome.  The only other alternative is to try and wait out the symptoms and manage as best you can until your central nervous system returns to homeostasis.  Unfortunately no one can give you an exact timeline as to when you will start feeling better and while some do recover relatively easily, for others it can longer.  

  

As one of our moderators, apace, wrote, "over time the brain will return to homeostasis and healing will occur.  How long that will take  and what that means when taking a healing brain along with the passage of time and mixing it all up is anyone's guess.  The success stories, while they did take more time (in most cases) than any of us would like, seem to indicate that there is substantial healing and a lot of people come out "on the other side" feeling better about life and themselves than they did either before or during the use of the drugs."  

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Please research all supplements first and only add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.

 

Many members have found the techniques in the following two links helpful in coping with withdrawal.  

The Dr. Claire Weekes Method of Recovering from a Sensitized Nervous System

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms.

 

Regarding exercise, some members find strenuous workouts helpful, while others find them too stimulating and do better with walks in nature.

 

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.  I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but I am glad that you found us.

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by ChessieCat
removed white space

[Altostrata]

Welcome, mama76.

 

A very tiny amount of lamotrigine might help. See One theory of antidepressant withdrawal syndrome

 

Lamictal (lamotrigine) to calm post-discontinuation withdrawal symptoms

 

You'd stabilize for some months, giving your nervous system a little support, then taper off by tiny amounts later.