Pregnantandpanicking: adverse reaction to restarting duloxetine - anxiety, insomnia and anhedonia

November 16, 2018

Back in 2012 I had an episode of major depression after a relationship break up. I was commended on duloxetine (Cymbalta) and quetiapine (Seroquel) for a couple of weeks to get sleep and appetite back. It all worked well and I had 5 very stable happy years on duloxetine 90mg.

However as I have endometriosis we were due to undergo IVF to try to conceive so I very gradually weaned off duloxetine - got some brain zaps and other unpleasant symptoms but they only lasted a few days after each dose drop and i managed to get completely off.

After a month or so I started to feel some depression symptoms returning (mostly lack of enthusiasm and tiredness) so in April 2018 just before IVF i went back on duloxetine but it was a COMPLETE DISASTER. Within days I was a quivering wreck, unable to sleep at all, extremely anxious (was never really anxious before), no appetite.

After 10 days GP changed me onto mirtazapine (Remeron) which initially helped with sleep but then the anxiety and insomnia gradually. IVF proceeded and was successful so I am now pregnant and ~~did~~ due in March 2019 but mental health remains terrible ~~Liz~~

Transferred to care of psychiatrist and got put on quetiapine(Seroquel) too which unlike before was not successful in making me sleepy.

Changed to sertraline - made me worse so stopped after 11 days - was hospitalised due to suicidal ideation.

Quetiapine (Seroquel) pushed up higher and now at 500mg a day.

Also give Ativan and Ambien but now tolerant and still can’t sleep.

Started on Amitriptyline but anxiety did not improve so weaned off after 10 weeks.

Still taking quetiapine, lorazepam (Ativan) and zolpidem (Ambien).

Still nowhere near back to normal - anxious all the time and get a couple of hours of sleep max a night and wake with heart racing and feeling panicked. Terrified all these meds have not helped but I won’t be able to get off them desperate to try and get myself better before my baby is due but don’t know how :(?

Edited November 17, 2018 by ChessieCat
spacing

November 17, 2018

Hi, Pregnantandpanicking.

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants.

I'm sorry you're having to deal with these drugs while pregnant. We can give you some general information and taper advice, but please work closely with your doctor.

22 hours ago, Pregnantandpanicking said:

However as I have endometriosis we were due to undergo IVF to try to conceive so I very gradually weaned off duloxetine - got some brain zaps and other unpleasant symptoms but they only lasted a few days after each dose drop and i managed to get completely off.

After a month or so I started to feel some depression symptoms returning (mostly lack of enthusiasm and tiredness) so in April 2018 just before IVF i went back on duloxetine but it was a COMPLETE DISASTER. Within days I was a quivering wreck, unable to sleep at all, extremely anxious (was never really anxious before), no appetite.

It sounds like you had "delayed withdrawal" from the duloxetine. Psychiatric drugs can cause people to go into withdrawal a month, two months, or even 4 or months after coming off the drug.

And then the nervous system is left so destabilized, when you reinstate the drug, your nervous system hyper-reacts. I think that's what happened. This is why SA recommends a reinstatement of a very small dose to prevent this over-reaction of the nervous system. Unfortunately, most doctors don't understand psychiatric drug withdrawal and conflate adverse drug reaction with a mental illness, either the one diagnosed previously or a new one.

Please add a signature. Include drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements in the last 12-24 months. Also include supplements. This will help us give you the most accurate advice we can.

Any drugs and supplements 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.
This is a direct link to your signature: Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

Over the coming days, please list a daily drug and symptoms journal using this format:

Drug and Symptoms Journal Format

Please list all drugs (prescription and over the counter) and supplements, as well as the number of hours your sleeping each night.

This is your thread to use to document your taper, as well as to ask plenty of questions. As you post your daily drug and symptoms journal, we will be able to give you more advice and information.

November 17, 2018

Welcome, Pregnant.

Very sorry to hear you're in this situation. When was the last time you changed the dosage of any of your drugs, and what was the dosage before and after?

November 17, 2018

Hi Altostrata, thanks for responding. It’s been quite a rollercoaster medication wise as psychiatrist have treated me as a relapse of depression and I’ve only recently worked out it was an adverse effect of reinstating duloxetine for withdrawals at too high a dose

After being on duloxetine 90mg for 6 years from August 2017 - Jan 2018 i tapered down to 0. No meds until April when I felt mild depressive symptoms then mistakenly resumed 60mg of duloxetine for 10 days. Sent me into a crazy spiral of insomnia and anxiety so GP changed me to mirtazapine 15mg. Got progressively worse and psychiatry switched to sertraline in July (as safer in pregnancy) and started cranking up quetiapine. Sertraline made anxiety go through the roof and suicidal ideation start so I stopped after 11 days. They then tried Amitriptyline which after 10 weeks wasn’t helping and I tapered off over 4 weeks. Meanwhile quetiapine has been pushed up and have been on 500mg a day for about 4 weeks now. I have also been on 10mg zolpidem and 2mg lorazepam/day for about 8 weeks each and they are losing effect. I think I ideally need to be off all psychotropic drugs but don’t know where

To start. I had quetiapine back in 2012 and it was very sedating for me then but now is not helping with sleep or anxiety despite the massive dose! Any suggestions much appreciated.

November 17, 2018

5 minutes ago, Pregnantandpanicking said:

Meanwhile quetiapine has been pushed up and have been on 500mg a day for about 4 weeks now. I have also been on 10mg zolpidem and 2mg lorazepam/day for about 8 weeks each and they are losing effect.

What was your dosage of quetiapine prior to the increase to 500mg? Have you been on 500mg for more than a month?

What we've seen is that going on and off psychiatric drugs makes the nervous system hypersensitive to drugs and sometimes supplements and even foods.

You are taking too much of all your drugs, and your nervous system is fighting against that, producing paradoxical reactions. The drugs might be interacting in a bad way as well. Please put ALL your drugs in the Drug Interactions Checker https://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.php
and copy and paste the results or a link to them in this topic.

What is your current drug schedule? What are your symptoms before and after each dose? Please keep daily notes on paper about your symptoms, when you take your drugs or supplements (if any), and their dosages. Include your sleep pattern. Use a simple list format with time of day on the left and notation (symptom, drug and dosage) on the right.

November 17, 2018

This is an 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

November 17, 2018

Thanks for the additional information, pregnantandpanicing.

This is from your signature: Psych have me on quetiapine 500mg lorazepam 2mg/day and zolpidem 10mg/day but still no sleep, bad anxiety

Please add the dates and dose you started for these your drugs in your signature. This will let Alto and the moderators know at a glance what date you started on each.

November 17, 2018

Yesterday/today’s schedule

8pm took 1mg lorazepam

8.30pm made chicken fajitas

9pm - 11pm trier to try to settle and watch tv with husband but got tearful at any triggers (like memories of holidays we’d been on when I was “normal”)

11pm Took 400mg quetiapine, 10mg zolpidem and tried to go to bed

1am still not asleep so got up and ate cereal

2am got over to sleep for a couple of hours

4am woke in panic needed to wake up husband

7am woke with anxiety took 100mg quetiapine, 1 mg lorazepam, pregnancare multivaitamin and magnesium supplement

7 - 11am - tried to doze and stay in bed but too anxious kept tossing and turning

11am got up felt very tearful and couldn’t stop crying

12noon - walked dog albeit in pyjamas with a coat thrown over

1-4pm trawling Internet forums to try to find some sort of way forward

4pm - cleaned out pet rabbits and did some laundry

5pm - phoned friend but too upset to talk

6pm - kept crying and and regretting the situation I am in, took 1mg lorazepam to try to calm me down 8pm - walked to shop to get over food and cooked dinner

9pm - tried to watch X factor ok tv but felt anxious distracted

due to take 400mg quetiapine and 10mg zolpidem before bed

November 17, 2018

Thanks. Is this your usual drug schedule? How long have you been on this schedule?

Prior to taking 500mg quetiapine per day, what was your dosage? Can you recall the date you increased to 500mg? Perhaps on a pharmacy receipt?

Please put ALL your drugs in the Drug Interactions Checker https://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.php
and copy and paste the results or a link to them in this topic.

November 17, 2018

Quetiapine 400mg at night and 100mg in morning from 31st October 2018

Prior to this 350mg at night and 100mg in morning from 24th October 2018

Prior to this 300mg at night and 100mg in morning from September (can’t remember date)

200mg at night and 100mg in morning from 27th July 2018.

For 5 days before that 25mg in morning and 50mg at night.

Hope that helps.

November 17, 2018

Interaction checker suggests the combination should make me

drowsy but it doesn’t

Interactions between your drugs

Moderate

Using LORazepam together with zolpidemmay increase side effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and difficulty concentrating. Some people, especially the elderly, may also experience impairment in thinking, judgment, and motor coordination. You should avoid or limit the use of alcohol while being treated with these medications. Also avoid activities requiring mental alertness such as driving or operating hazardous machinery until you know how the medications affect you. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. It is important to tell your doctor about all other medications you use, including vitamins and herbs. Do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor.

Switch to professional interaction data

Moderate

Before using LORazepam, tell your doctor if you also use QUEtiapine. This combination may cause excessive sedation, confusion, dizziness, or lack of coordination. If you take both medications together, tell your doctor if you have any of these symptoms. You may need a dose adjustment if you take both medications. It is important to tell your doctor about all other medications you use, including vitamins and herbs. Do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor.

Switch to professional interaction data

Moderate

Using zolpidem together with QUEtiapinemay increase side effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and difficulty concentrating. Some people, especially the elderly, may also experience impairment in thinking, judgment, and motor coordination. You should avoid or limit the use of alcohol while being treated with these medications. Also avoid activities requiring mental alertness such as driving or operating hazardous machinery until you know how the medications affect you. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. It is important to tell your doctor about all other medications you use, including vitamins and herbs. Do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor.

Switch to professional interaction data

No other interactions were found between your selected drugs.
Note: this does not necessarily mean no interactions exist. Always consult with your doctor or pharmacist.

Other drug and disease interactions

quetiapine interacts with more than 600 other drugs and more than 20 diseases.
lorazepam interacts with more than 300 other drugs and more than 10 diseases.
zolpidem interacts with more than 300 other drugs and 8 diseases.

Drug and food interactions

Moderate

Alcohol can increase the nervous system side effects of LORazepam such as dizziness, drowsiness, and difficulty concentrating. Some people may also experience impairment in thinking and judgment. You should avoid or limit the use of alcohol while being treated with LORazepam. Do not use more than the recommended dose of LORazepam, and avoid activities requiring mental alertness such as driving or operating hazardous machinery until you know how the medication affects you. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions or concerns.

November 17, 2018

9 minutes ago, Pregnantandpanicking said:

Quetiapine 400mg at night and 100mg in morning from 31st October 2018

Prior to this 350mg at night and 100mg in morning from 24th October 2018

Prior to this 300mg at night and 100mg in morning from September (can’t remember date)

200mg at night and 100mg in morning from 27th July 2018.

For 5 days before that 25mg in morning and 50mg at night.

Hope that helps.

Also should add they made me try Amitriptyline for 10 weeks from first week of August. By 22nd October anxiety was clearly worsening and I decreased the dose from 125mg first week, 75mg second week, 50mg third week and 25mg 4th week (last dose Tuesday 13th November)

November 17, 2018

lso should add they made me try Amitriptyline for 10 weeks from first week of August. By 22nd October anxiety was clearly worsening and I decreased the dose from 125mg first week, 75mg second week, 50mg third week and 25mg 4th week (last dose Tuesday 13th November) so think I may be suffering some withdrawal from that still! So many changes

November 17, 2018

4 minutes ago, Pregnantandpanicking said:

Interaction checker suggests the combination should make me

drowsy but it doesn’t

Yes, that's because all the drugs do the same thing -- press your nervous system down, and your nervous system doesn't like that. You're taking too much of everything and getting a paradoxical reaction -- paradoxical because it's opposite of what you'd expect.

We need to reduce all your drugs.

7 minutes ago, Pregnantandpanicking said:

Quetiapine 400mg at night and 100mg in morning from 31st October 2018

Prior to this 350mg at night and 100mg in morning from 24th October 2018

Prior to this 300mg at night and 100mg in morning from September (can’t remember date)

200mg at night and 100mg in morning from 27th July 2018.

For 5 days before that 25mg in morning and 50mg at night.

Hope that helps.

Okay, right off, you can go back to 350mg quetiapine at night and 100mg in morning. Of all your drugs, quetiapine is the highest risk to your general health.

Please let us know how you're doing by posting your daily notes.

We're going to reduce a little faster than we would otherwise, to relieve your drug burden as your pregnancy advances.

November 17, 2018

Thank you SO much alto strata you’ve shown more competence and compassion that any psychiatrist I have come across thanks for caring and giving me some

hope.

November 18, 2018

Just an update today - woke up a lot during last night but was able to stay in bed a little longer in the morning. Felt fairly anxious all day but managed to make myself cook dinner for two friends successfully. Will keep updating.

November 18, 2018

Please let us know how you're doing with the quetiapine reduction. I hope your sleep is improving.

November 19, 2018

Unfortunately sleep wasn’t great last night - took 350mg quetiapine and 10mg zolpidem (along with magnesium supplement) at about 11.30pm then went to bed around midnight but then woke at 2am feeling very alert. Managed to get over to sleep after a few hours of tossing and turning and had a dream which hopefully means I got some REM sleep. Then woke at 8am. I am guessing sleep may be a bit variable while i adjust to new dose of quetiapine? Still really keen to get off it - don’t feel like myself on it and it doesn’t seem to be working for me.

November 19, 2018

41 minutes ago, Pregnantandpanicking said:

Still really keen to get off it - don’t feel like myself on it and it doesn’t seem to be working for me.

Please don't change anything without getting suggestions from the mods here. Alto and Shep are very knowledgeable and are trying to get your drug load reduced without going too quickly and causing issues.

November 19, 2018

Thanks Chessie cat - the drop of quetiapine to 350mg was what Alto advised so going to stick with it for now and won’t change anything else.

November 19, 2018

Please give this change at least 4 days to shake out, and post your daily notes every day in a simple list format with time of day on the left and notation (symptom, drug and dosage) on the right.

November 19, 2018

Sunday 18th nov 11.30pm - took 350mg quetiapine and 10mg zolpidem and magnesium supplement

00.00 midnight - in bed and tried to sleep

02.30 woke up feeling very alert, tossed and turned and got back over approx 4am

07.30am woke up and took 100mg quetiapine, 1mg lorazepam along with a bowl of muesli and went back to bed to try to lie in

10.30am awake and anxious so decide to get up and got dressed

11am took dog for short walk

12.30 friend visited briefly, felt anxious

1.00pm took 1mg lorazepam to try to be relaxed for facial later

2.00pm went for lunch with husband (also off work at the moment) able to managed to eat a tuna toasted sandwich

3.00pm went for facial to try to relax but felt anxious and didn’t really enjoy it

4.00pm went for long walk in park with dog and husband, anxiety settled a bit

5.00pm home watching tv and checking social media/emails etc

will update rest of evejing once it has happened and stick with 350mg quetiapine again tonight

thanks again for your support

November 19, 2018

Just to clarify why I made my comment. When we are feeling so bad we can panic and make rash decisions. I have seen members on this site panic and either stop their drug/s completely, added something into the mix, increase their dose by too much.

As hard as it can be, it is important to try and stay as calm as possible and be patient.

We strongly encourage members to use non drug coping techniques to get through the difficult periods:

Audio: First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)

Non-drug techniques to cope

Sleep problems - that awful withdrawal insomnia

Acceptance

Claire Weekes' Method of Recovering

Audio: How to Recover from Anxiety - Dr Claire Weekes

Anxiety Stuff - all kinds of stuff about anxiety attacks and things that help ...

On 4/28/2017 at 4:03 AM, brassmonkey said:

AAF: Acknowledge, Accept, Float. It's what you have to do when nothing else works, and can be a very powerful tool in coping with anxiety. The neuroemotional anxiety many of us feel during WD is directly caused by the drugs and their chemical reactions in the brain. Making it so there is nothing we can do about them. They won't respond to other drugs, relaxation techniques and the like. They do, however, react very well to being ignored. That's the concept behind AAF. Acknowledge, get to know the feeling involved, explore them. Accept, These feelings are a part of you and they aren't going anywhere fast. Float, let the feeling float off as you get on with your life as best as you can. It's a well documented fact that the more you feed in to anxiety the worse it gets. What starts as generalized neuroemotinal anxiety can be easily blown into a full fledged panic attack just by thinking about it.

I often liken it to an unwanted house guest. At first you talk to them, have conversations, communicate with them. After a while you figure out that they aren't leaving and there is nothing you can do to get rid of them. So you go on about your day, working around them until they get bored and leave.

It can take some practice, but AAF really does work. I hope you give it a try.

November 19, 2018

Chessie cat thank you SO much for these links - they are unbelievably relatable and exactly what I needed to hear now. Massively struggling with acceptance - I break down and cry when I see photos from last year when I was well before this all started and enjoyed vacations and Christmas etc. The acceptance link meant a lot to me. Thank you so much for your support.

November 19, 2018

You are very welcome. I'm really pleased that they might provide some help for you.

Yes, it can be hard to accept. But it is what it is and we cannot change what has happened in the past, we can only do our best with the situation we are now in.

November 20, 2018

On 11/18/2018 at 11:27 PM, Shep said:

Please let us know how you're doing with the quetiapine reduction. I hope your sleep is improving.

Monday 19th November - Tuesday 20th November

7pm - minced beef pie for dinnee

8pm - 9pm - 1.5 mile walk with dog

10pm - watched episode of drama “the first”

11pm - took 350mg quetiapine, 10mg zolpidem and magnesium supplements

12pm - settled down to sleep

2am - woke up, tried to get back over to sleep

4am - woke up, tried to get back over to sleep

6am - woke up, got back over to sleep til 8am - took 100mg quetiapine and 1mg lorazepam

9am - phoned psychiatry team to check time of appointment

9.30 -10.30am - back to bed to doze before going to appointment

11am - appointment with psychiatrist, supportive of attempt to reduce quetiapine

1.30pm - tried to have a nap but too anxious

3pm - went out for late lunch and walk with husband

5pm - grocery shopping

6-7pm - made dinner for parents

6pm - took 0.5mg lorazepam

8pm - very upset and tearful thinking of how life used to be compared to now

9pm - walk with dog

10pm - watched tv

10.30pm - 350mg quetiapine, 10mg zolpidem and magnesium and iron supplements

11pm - went to bed

November 21, 2018

Please be consistent with the lorazepam. Did you only take 1.5 mg instead of 2 mg lorazepam yesterday?

Let's work on getting the quetiapine reduced before reducing any of the other drugs.

November 21, 2018

Yes Shep - well spotted. My psychiatrist told me to try to not use my full allocation of lorazepam (prescribed up to 2mg daily as needed) but as I’ve been taking the 2mg daily for at least a few weeks I think perhaps the ship has already sailed on trying to avoid dependency.

November 22, 2018

Tuesday 20th November - Wednesday 21st November

Tuesday night slept 12-4 then difficulty getting back over until around 7ish

Took morning meds 9am (seroquel 100mg and lorazepam 1mg along with pregnancy multivitamin)

Lay in bed until 11am

11am got up an showered

12 noon short walk

1pm went up to coast with husband

2pm lunch in cafe on coast

2.30pm upset and tearful, heart racing very fast

3pm walk on beach

5pm called friend

6.30pm dinner with husbands parents

8pm called friend

9pm watched tv at husbands parents

11.15 took 1mg lorazepam, 350mg quetiapine, sleeping tablet (zopiclone 7.5mg instead of zolpidem as had run out of zolpidem but will get tomorrow) and magnesium

Unable to sleep until 5am

Slept until 8am and had morning meds ( seroquel 100mg and 1mg lorazepam with pregnancy multivitamin). Also took Yakult probiotic drinks.

Lay in bed til 10.

Midwife visit at 11noon

November 23, 2018

Medication regime has remained unchanged although I have started taking a probiotic drink daily. I also had an Epsom salt bath before bed last night and tried to reduce screen time, reading a book instead of watching tv or playing on my phone. I managed to sleep a little bit longer - got over around midnight and don’t remember looking at the clock until near 6. Mood still very low today though. Worried about whether I’ll ever recover from the damage done by the duloxetine reinstatement 😞

November 23, 2018

Hi pregnant and panicking,

When are you gonna have a baby? Congratulations!

I'm sorry You Are Going To All of this. Your pregnancy should also bring you some kind of special feeling and not this panick and anxiety.

I cannot advise you on your meds but....my wife is 17 weeks pregnant and she is taking sertraline. She was advised to continue until the baby is a few months old and then taper very slowly.

We're you told to taper before getting pregnant?

Pregnancy of course causes a lot of hormonal changes that are a challenge on their own. Combined with changing meds this is very unpredictable for your symptoms and feeling. You are scared now that these symptoms will never fade.

You have made quite some changes the last time and that is likely to cause changing symptoms all the time.

I've been altering my citalopram dose quite a bit and that caused me a lot of trouble. Anxiety, suicidal thoughts, panick attack and thinking I was going to die. Pure evil feelings. These will pass and they are not what YOU are. It is just your brain trying to stabilize and that can get very nasty sometimes.

I've had times in my life that were so evil that I wanted to jump in front of a train. But hey, I married, have a 7y old boy,y own house. Things will change for you. It is a matter of time. It is tough but you will get through.

Distraction is key here. Believe me, your thoughts can make you feel so bad. I'm dealing with this myself and it is hard but doable. Distraction is essential. Do you have a job? Any activity you really enjoy?

Try to do these things and not spend so much time on thinking about how bad you feel and panicking about the times that are coming.

I wish you all the best and if you have a question for my pregnant wife just let me know. Medical advice is not our specialty but maybe you have some other things you want to discuss.

Cheers

Jozeff

November 28, 2018

On 11/23/2018 at 7:33 AM, Pregnantandpanicking said:

Medication regime has remained unchanged although I have started taking a probiotic drink daily. I also had an Epsom salt bath before bed last night and tried to reduce screen time, reading a book instead of watching tv or playing on my phone. I managed to sleep a little bit longer - got over around midnight and don’t remember looking at the clock until near 6. Mood still very low today though. Worried about whether I’ll ever recover from the damage done by the duloxetine reinstatement 😞

Well, this is progress. Keep on working on improving your sleep. It's a day-by-day project.

November 29, 2018

Thanks Altostrata. Do you think the quetiapine is making my sleep worse? When I had it back in 2012 it really helped me sleep - knocked me out for hours - but since my hyper sensitive reaction to duloxetine it does nothing as far as I can see.

November 29, 2018

On 11/23/2018 at 4:26 PM, jozeff said:

Hi pregnant and panicking,

When are you gonna have a baby? Congratulations!

I'm sorry You Are Going To All of this. Your pregnancy should also bring you some kind of special feeling and not this panick and anxiety.

I cannot advise you on your meds but....my wife is 17 weeks pregnant and she is taking sertraline. She was advised to continue until the baby is a few months old and then taper very slowly.

We're you told to taper before getting pregnant?

Pregnancy of course causes a lot of hormonal changes that are a challenge on their own. Combined with changing meds this is very unpredictable for your symptoms and feeling. You are scared now that these symptoms will never fade.

You have made quite some changes the last time and that is likely to cause changing symptoms all the time.

I've been altering my citalopram dose quite a bit and that caused me a lot of trouble. Anxiety, suicidal thoughts, panick attack and thinking I was going to die. Pure evil feelings. These will pass and they are not what YOU are. It is just your brain trying to stabilize and that can get very nasty sometimes.

I've had times in my life that were so evil that I wanted to jump in front of a train. But hey, I married, have a 7y old boy,y own house. Things will change for you. It is a matter of time. It is tough but you will get through.

Distraction is key here. Believe me, your thoughts can make you feel so bad. I'm dealing with this myself and it is hard but doable. Distraction is essential. Do you have a job? Any activity you really enjoy?

Try to do these things and not spend so much time on thinking about how bad you feel and panicking about the times that are coming.

I wish you all the best and if you have a question for my pregnant wife just let me know. Medical advice is not our specialty but maybe you have some other things you want to discuss.

Cheers

Jozeff

Thanks so much for the message and encouragement Jozeff. I tapered off duloxetine on the advice of my GP and it actually went okay but the problems started when I panicked and went back on them at too high a dose (my original dose) and it really messed up my nervous system. Now any antidepressant seems to over stimulate me and make me anxious. I wish I’d just stayed on duloxetine to be honest and not tapered off - I had good stability on them but was advised they are not great in pregnancy although ironically I’m now on more as a result of trying to come off them . I actually work as a doctor and because my sleep has been poor I’m not safe to work. Yesterday I phoned up some charity shops to see if any of them needed volunteers so I am hoping that might help me. Unfortunately I am not enjoying the things I usually do like reading or watching tv series. I am just praying that I start to feel better soon. I desperately miss restful sleep and naps! Thanks again for your message.

December 20, 2018

Hi pregnant!

How are you doing?

I hope you're coping well!

When will you be having your baby? Boy or girl?

I hope you are doing very well and can look forward to having a little miracle in your family. I know the first months aren't easy, they really aren't. But when I hug my 7 y old boy I know it's all worth it!

How are your meds doing?

Cheers and hope to hear from you!

Jozeff

August 5, 2019

Topic title: Trying to come off olanzapine

Basically I had a severe kindling reaction to restarting cymbalta. I am now on Nardil 60mg, pregabalin 200mg am 225mg pm, olanzapine 5mg, melatonin 6mg and Ativan 0.5mg and zolpidem 10mg. I got better in April and almost felt back to normal but now my mood and sleep have deteriorated again before I changed any of these meds. I sleep for about 4-5 hours. I have put on 20kg on olanzapine and want to come off. I have been on 15mg since Feb 2019 (switched from quetiapine since July 2018). I am now down to 5mg (for 2 weeks) and plan to go down to 2.5mg on 14th August, then to 1.25mg then to 0.625 then stop. I am terrified I will not sleep without this drug as I no longer feel sleepy naturally.

Edited August 5, 2019 by ChessieCat
added topic title

Pregnantandpanicking: adverse reaction to restarting duloxetine - anxiety, insomnia and anhedonia

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