Mikeyc: Introduction

[Mikeyc]

Hi,

 

I have been going througha  really tough time the past little while and am hoping to find some people who can relate.

 

I went to see my family Dr. around 8 weeks ago because my life had gotten very stressful and I was having some uncomfortable physical symptoms (itchy skin, tingling hands, rining in ears chest pain etc.) I have always been on the anxious/woryer side of things and have always noted that it got worse when I am stressed (work, life, etc) and generally got better when the stress lessened.

 

A number of factors over the past year compounded together made my anxiety worse than it ever was before and I felt I was having a hard time coping. Some of the stresses were difficult to remove (work, worries about family members etc) so I decided to go and seek help from my family Dr. who diagnosed me as having generalized anxiety disorder and recommended that I try Zoloft.

 

I was on Zoloft was Zoloft for approximately 6-7 weeks and was tapered on to the medication at 25mg/week (started at 25mg) to a maximum of 100mg/day.

 

Almost immediately I started to feel "unwell". It's difficult to describe but something just didn't feel right inside my head. My feeling of anxiety got much worse and were consistent (where they were only sporadic before starting the drug. My brain felt "foggy", I had a hard time concentrating and I developed a headache "pressure on both sides of my head" that was almost consistent throughout the day. Most days I felt tired and needed to rest in the afternoon but when I closed my eyes to try to have a nap I would wake up within. 15mins with a sense of panic. I also experienced worse insomnia (that was one of the reasons I had gone to the Dr. in the first place)

 

I returned to my Dr. and asked to be taken off of Zoloft and he sad that these were normal side effects which should stop at  around week 4 of taking the drug. He pointed out that it would be shame to stop taking the Zoloft before seeing the positive effects and so he prescribed me .5mg of Clonazepam (taken twice daily) to help with the side effects and to help me sleep. I have a history of drug addiction and alcoholism (sober now for 11 years)  and was was afraid of taking the Clonazepam, so i decided to only take .5mg in the evening to help with the insomnia I was experiencing.

 

The Clonazepam helped me sleep better but the combination of the drugs left me feeling groggy the next day. Overall my sense of anxiety got worse than before I initially asked for help so I returned to my Dr and asked to be tapered off the Meds. He agreed that what I was experiencing was not the "normal"/desired effects of the drug and told me to begin tapering off.

 

Per the Dr's instructions I tapered off of the Zoloft by 25mg every 5 days and stopped taking both the Zoloft and Clonazepam (no tapering of Clonazepam) 5 days ago and have felt terrible since then.

 

Below are the symptoms  I have had since then:

 

-My head started to hurt immediately

- I have been  unable to fall asleep and have experienced the worst insomnia I have ever had.  I feel as if I am in between sleep and awake for most of the night.

- During the day I am dizzy and have a headache.

-If I turn my head I feel as if I am going to fall over/dizzy

-Almost constant headache/pressure on my temples

-I have tinnitus in my ears and my left ear feels fully plugged.

-I have an electric feeling that radiates from my head (worse when I turn my head or stand up) which I have read online is called a "brain zap".

-When I stand up too suddenly I feel like I'm going to pass out

-I am feeling (slightly) paranoid and on the verge of crying (sporadically) throughout the day (particularly when trying to explain to people how I feel)

-I feel generally unwell and anxious when I have to go out in public

 

I went back to my Dr. yesterday and he said that he thinks I'm experiencing withdrawal from the Zoloft and that it is normal. He also said that I am not experiencing any withdrawal from the Clonazepam because it was such a low dose for such a short time. He prescribed me Torazadone to help me sleep, which I took last night in a desperate attempt to get some rest and feel "normal" again but I am now very afraid of becoming dependent on that and then needing to go through all this withdrawal again...I'm wondering if I should just "tough it out" and not take anything but the lack of sleep make me feel almost like I'm losing my mind.

 

Part of me feels as if I haven't been taking these drugs long enough to feel this bad and that maybe I am losing my mind or that I should just "suck it up", but the truth is I feel truly awful and am pretty damn scared at the moment. I have come off of street drugs in the past, and do not remember feeling this bad, but maybe that is just because so much time has passed since then. I am hoping I can look back and laugh at tis experience one day.

 

My wife/family are being as supportive as they can but it's hard to verbalize what I am feeling so I came here hoping to gain some support/advice from people who can empathize.

 

I apologize in advance for to those who just had to read through my whole novel..lol

 

 

[manymoretodays]

Hi MikeyC and welcome aboard,

I think you will find many people that you can relate to here.  As well as empathy for your current situation.  This is your main introduction/journal page now and you have introduced yourself to the community.  Please ask questions specific to your situation here.

 

If you could create a signature for us, that would be great.

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature.

this is the portion that you can see below other members posts, unless viewing from a phone device.  Do your best to get the dates of all medications used for the last 2 years in there.  Start dates and end dates.   If you can, summarize your tapering technique as well there.  I think you might mean Trazadone.....when you refer to Torazadone?  Just follow the instructions in that link.  Thank you.

 

Here at Surviving Antidepressants, it is recommended that a person taper by no more than 10% of their current dose with at least a four week hold in-between decreases.  The 10% taper recommendation is a harm reduction approach to going off psychiatric drugs.

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Brain Remodelling

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Dr.Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made.  The CNS likes stability. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur. And sleep is really important during withdrawal.  It sounds like insomnia is one of the symptoms that you may be presently experiencing.

 

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.   We've got a lot of information around here.

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

It's best to just try one or the other first and start low.  Oftentimes we are sensitized to many things in W/D.

 

All for now.  Again, welcome.

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

mmt

 

[Mikeyc]

Hi manymoretodays

 

 Thank-you for your reply and for all of the information provided.

 

I have fill in my signature line as requested and will look more closely at the information/links you provided tomorrow.

 

It is very hard to verbalize the way my brain has been feeling for the past while and knowing that there are people out there who can empathize and offer support means a lot.

 

Thanks again!

 

Mike

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Mikeyc.

 

Thanks for that exceptionally clear signature.

 

On 10/23/2018 at 12:03 PM, Mikeyc said:

Per the Dr's instructions I tapered off of the Zoloft by 25mg every 5 days and stopped taking both the Zoloft and Clonazepam (no tapering of Clonazepam) 5 days ago and have felt terrible since then.

 

You had a bad reaction to 100mg Zoloft and now you have classic withdrawal syndrome.

 

It looks like you were taking 0.5 clonazepam nightly from September 4 -- September 20. After you stopped clonazepam September 20, did your symptom pattern change?

 

Then you re-started clonazepam September 29 -- October 18?

 

You basically cold-turkeyed off 25mg sertraline and 0.5mg clonazepam October 18.

 

If I were you, I would immediately reinstate 5mg sertraline, at the same time each day. This topic explains how to take a small amount using a liquid Tips for tapering off Zoloft (sertraline)

 

If this helps, you might not have to reinstate clonazepam, you may have escaped dependency on it.

 

I would not take any more advice about psychiatric drugs from that doctor.

 

Please let us know how you're doing.

[Mikeyc]

HI Altostrata,

 

Thanks for your help.

 

I realized after receiving your reply that I forgot to include 50mg/day of Trazodone in the medications that I have been taking, I have since updated my signature.

 

I was started in the Trazodone on October 22nd, 4 days after I completely stopped Zoloft and Clonazepam. I went to my Dr. after I had horrible insomnia, which on top of the withdrawal symptoms made feel like I was coming apart at the seams so the Dr prescribed 50mg of Trazodone for sleep. I have been sleeping better since then but wake up feeling pretty groggy (and need to have a couple of cups of coffee to get myself to a point where I can work). Does this change you previous advice about re-instating the Sertraline? Should I stop the Trazodone?

 

To answer you question re: Clonazepam, I didn't notice much change in the symptoms that I experienced when I took the break from Sept 20-29th. I stopped taking it because it was making me feel very groggy in the morning but also because I was terrified of the addictive qualities of the drug. I ended up going back on it because I had insomnia when taking the Sertraline on its own. and the Dr. recommended I take it for sleep.

 

 I am still experiencing the same withdrawal symptoms I mentioned previously. They feel as if they are getting better one day and then seem to be worse again the next (not in a consistent pattern). I think that the worst of the symptoms is that when I move my eyes (or my head) from side to side I get this terrible electric feeling in my head and my brain seems to "Vibrate". I have also been feeling forgetful, struggling to find the correct words at times when speaking along with feeling a bit unbalanced when at times when I'm walking. 

 

The strange part is that at the same time I have been experiencing some very intense feelings of well being and have much more energy than I can remember having for a long time. I have been feeling more compassionate, thinking about having a second child (something I have been reluctant to do previously because I felt tired all the time) and more sentimental. I want to help other people, listen to upbeat music, and do nice things for my family. My brain feels as if it is firing on all cylinders and I have been taking care of many things (business and personal) that I have been procrastinating on and I feel like I have an excess of energy.  It feels crazy to write this , but in some ways it feel like to "good feeling" that I got when I first tried cocaine.

 

All of these good feelings have been intertwined with the terrible withdrawal symptoms and have been very confusing since they are the very feelings I hoped to feel from the medications in the first place.

 

I'm wondering if the Trazodone is actually doing what the Sertraline was supposed to do....or if my mind is just elated to not be on the SSRI's anymore and is going back to normal or if I am manic because of the withdrawal (which I have read as a symptom).

 

As a side note and I don't know if it is relevent, but when I was younger and taking street drugs (especially hallucinogens) I always had a much more severe reaction to them than most people I knew. I would often completely lose touch with reality, go into a very dark place and have terrible paranoia and what I can only describe/delusions. Even smoking marijuana would sometimes make me hallucinate and get really messed up.  In recovery I have realized that I am sensitive to many  over the counter drugs that that most people are not.

 

Thanks in advance for any insight/advice you can provide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Altostrata]

53 minutes ago, Mikeyc said:

I am still experiencing the same withdrawal symptoms I mentioned previously. They feel as if they are getting better one day and then seem to be worse again the next (not in a consistent pattern). I think that the worst of the symptoms is that when I move my eyes (or my head) from side to side I get this terrible electric feeling in my head and my brain seems to "Vibrate". I have also been feeling forgetful, struggling to find the correct words at times when speaking along with feeling a bit unbalanced when at times when I'm walking. 

 

Those are classic withdrawal symptoms. The electric feeling is a variation of "brain zaps."

 

Overall, you have withdrawal syndrome from going off sertraline and possibly clonazepam too fast.

 

Many people do better with fish oil and magnesium supplements, see http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/36-king-of-supplements-omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil/
http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/15483-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

 

A lot of people find them helpful; fish oil is good for the zaps. Try a little bit of one at a time to see how it affects you.

 

If it's tolerable, you might want want to try fish oil, magnesium, and trazodone for sleep, and see if the symptoms gradually go away. If you find they're getting worse over the next 2 weeks, you may wish to consider reinstatement of sertraline as mentioned above.

 

It sounds like 50mg trazodone is a little too high for you. You may wish to try 3/4 of a tablet instead.

 

Please let us know how you're doing.

 

[Mikeyc]

Hi again,

 

Thanks again for all of the info.

 

I started taking Omega 3 supplements on Saturday per your suggestion and have been taking Magnesium supplements since I started with the Trazosdone (which was suggested by a friend who is a naturopathic Dr.)

 

For the past couple of days (yesterday and today) I feel as if some of my symptoms have been improving. I still feel pretty wired during the day and am a bit scattered/ having a hard time focusing on one thought at a time but the brain zaps and dizyness seem to be a bot better. I still have a pluged feeling/ringing in my ears but it is bot quite as bothersome.  I have not yet tried reducing the Trazodone (because I am pretty anxious/afraid of not sleeping again) but I will do so tonight and see how it goes.

 

On that note, should I be afraid of reducing the Trazadone without tapering? Is it known to cause withdrawal symptoms? 

 

I am on a waiting list to get an appointment at the Centre for Addiction and mental health and am hoping to tallk to someone re: getting some therapy to help with the symptoms that sent me to the Dr. in the first place.

 

I am hopeful that someone who specializes in mental (psychiatrist/therapist) may be able to provide better advise than my family Dr. (who I will NOT see for brain medications anymore) but after this experience I am afraid that I will be put on more drugs that do not help/only make me feel worse.

 

Although I am certain that there are people who genuinely need medication to help their mental health, having read many of the stories on this website/elsewhere and after my own experience,  at the moment I am inclined to try anything I can to avoid taking a bunch of medications.

[Altostrata]

I would not expect too much in the way of information about tapering and withdrawal from he Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. You might give them this new paper