Gurgle: 18 years of SSRIs - citalopram, sertraline withdrawal advice please

[ChessieCat]

21 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

Hi, Gurgle. What time of day do you take citalopram? How do you feel afterward?

 

Please keep daily notes on paper with times of day for when you take your drugs, their dosages, and your symptoms. You can post them in this topic with a simple list format with time of day on the left and notation (symptom, drug and dosage) on the right. Post your notes here in your Intro topic. 

 

Example:

 

6 a.m. Woke with anxiety
8 a.m. Took 2.5mg Lexapro
10 a.m. Stomach is upset
10:30 a.m. Ate breakfast
11:35 a.m. Got a headache, lasted one hour
12:35 p.m. Ate lunch
4 p.m. Feel a bit better
5 p.m. Took 2.5mg Lexapro
6 p.m. Ate dinner
9:20 p.m. Headache
10:00 p.m. Took 50mg Seroquel
10:20 p.m. Feeling dizzy
10:30 p.m. Fell asleep
2:30 a.m. Woke, took 3mg Ambien (NOT "took 1/2 tablet Ambien")
2:45 a.m. Fell asleep
4:30 a.m. Woke but got back to sleep

[Vonnegutjunky]

Gurgle, how are you doing? 

[Gurgle]

Crumbling

 

I had been on the mend slowly after 1 suicide attempt and one nearly suicide attempt 2 years ago. Not sure what has triggered this wave. I was semi functioning and enjoying life. 4 x promethazine daily had began to help stabilise me. Reduced to 3/4 of a promethazine along with the 1mg citalopram. Healthy eating. Did add in hydroxocobalamin, folinic acid, liposomal vit c. Have been so much better, walking, reading, seeing beauty laughing, pacing myself, meditating, sleeping well etc. 

 

Crumbled

 

Too much glutamate I think. Chemical sensitivity increased. Insomnia back. Racing thoughts/ocd. No. Epileptic seizures. IBS, cold hands and feet. Pain in heads d neck. Loss of appetite. 

 

Maybe a mixture of stress (my child has pandas/ we have been affected by lead/ lockdown etc) and too much histamine again (got cocky and was eating higher histamine foods). Also maybe an infection.

 

Been keeping 1mg and promethazine constant. 

 

Think I have pans/pandas. Not sure if this is a wave or pans pandas. 

 

[Shep]

@GurglePlease note I merged your last post in with your Intro topic. Please post questions about your taper here instead of starting a new intro thread. 

 

18 hours ago, Gurgle said:

Did add in hydroxocobalamin, folinic acid, liposomal vit c.

 

Did the wave happen soon after adding in these supplements or have you been on them for awhile? 

[Gurgle]

Hi Shep. Thank you for replying. No it didn't. I'm thinking it may be stress and histamine maybe. I think I am prone to bipolar type behaviour and hadn't been able to meditate as much as children are at home due to lockdown. I can't bring myself to even touch the 1 mg citalopram as I need to not change that as I must stay semi ok for my children.

[Gurgle]

Hi. I just thought I'd post an update. So I took a nose dive, as I said in my post before last. Then it started to occur to me that I had a mild sore throat and earache when this slump began and given what I know about pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with strep ( my son's diagnosis), I got a blood test for antidnase b and Asot ( strep antibodies) and while waiting for results, got penicillin through a private doc ( sent a pic if my to tonsils - these are always inflamed) and within 2 days of starting the antibiotics, my non epileptic seizures, insomnia and severe ocd/racing thoughts had gone!!!! Now I look back on my life and think I may be pandas / pans ( same thing triggered by other causes/ infections) as I developed ocd at 14 , alongside repeated tonsillitis. It reinforces to me there is , among genetic predisposition and potentially environmental impact ( toxins , infection), most likely a blood brain barrier issue.

 

The other thing is lots of pandas children react negatively to psychotropics and withdrawal in the same way we have and those with me/CFS ( I have ME) can be sensitive to meds etc.

 

Just putting this out there as it could be worth ruling out infection or anything that stimulates the immune system. The basal ganglia is impacted and can cause emotional liability, ocd, food refusal, rages, hyperactivity, tics, dilated pupils etc. 

 

Becky xx

[Daisygirlsk]

Did you ask for these specific blood tests? How accurate are they? I have had so many infections through my life and my main symptom now is looping ocd thoughts. I'm super curious about this now 

[Gurgle]

50 minutes ago, Daisygirlsk said:

Did you ask for these specific blood tests? How accurate are they? I have had so many infections through my life and my main symptom now is looping ocd thoughts. I'm super curious about this now 

@Daisygirlsk Yes. I asked for antidnase b and Asot. They were raised so treated this infection and like I say the symptoms stopped. I have gone back to getting lower level intermittent lopped thoughts (I in fact think I haven't fully kicked the strep so am investigating) but am sleeping ok and the seizures have still gone. I deal with the minor ocd thoughts with magnesium plus (mag plus b6) - obviously be careful with sups- . This supplement helps convert glutamate to gaba - I identified glutamate as a big issue for me due to various symptoms including eyes twitching to right, central sleep apnea, mania, visual snow and closed eye visuals etc. I find the magnesium plus very useful. 

 

I definitely recommend looking into it although some say they are sensitive bro antibiotics. 

 

Others I am thinking of asking for are anti nmdar, anti basal ganglia antibodies, and anti gad 65/67 antibiodies. 

 

If you would like more info on pans/pandas, even if you are not in the UK, you can take a look at the pans pandas UK website and Facebook group. 

[Gurgle]

Having been through Sertraline/ Citalopram withdrawal ( somehow didn't lose my life to that- it was a close call though) and still suffering the after effects of this ( still on 1mg citalopram and dare not move this until my children are older), I have seen a crossover of health issues in several conditions. 

 

Ehlers Danlos, me/CFS, long covid, montelukast side effects and withdrawal, pans pandas, mcas.

 

In fact I think that mcas may be a factor in all of these, on top of blood brain barrier permeability, perhaps intestinal permeability and cerebral spinal fluid barrier permeability. 

 

 

Whole genome sequencing in pans pandas patients has shown a significant percentage have genes that cause BBB and cerebral spinal fluid barrier permeability, thus allowing in further toxins, infections and antibodies.

 

Just putting my thoughts down in case anyone has noticed a crossover too. 

 

For looping obsessive thoughts, I have found seeking health's Mag plus to be of great benefit ( helps convert Glutamate to gaba). Glutamate excess has been a significant factor for me. 

[Frogie]

@Gurgle

 

I have merged your recent topic to your introduction page. We ask that each member only have one introduction page.

 

Thank you.