ChloPenIredale: seizures

[ChloPenIredale]

Hey guys I’m trying to determine whether my symptoms are related to withdrawal or not. 

 

I was 10 years on 10mg citalopram. Came off slowly (by mainstream standards) starting October 2017. Alternating 10mg/7.5mg first month, 7.5mg second month,  alternating 7.5mg/5mg third month, 5mg fourth month and then came straight off (not intended but was a lot else going on). I was off entirely by March 2018 and starting getting focal impaired awareness seizures in April. As an aside I also

came off the contraceptive pill in February which may have compounded things, and also may have been a cause of the seizures, occurring at the same time each month.  I had 2 trips to A&E later followed by suicidal depression (never before experienced) and an inability to talk or really engage with the world around. Some of the symptoms were immediately eleviated when reinstating the SSRI (4mg) in August but I’ve continued to get symptoms to a greater or lesser extent since then. These include: confusion, disorientation, dissociation, and an excessive need for rest - up to 20hrs a day in bed. 

 

So my main question is: 

 

Even though I have reinstated could the SSRI withdrawal really have caused the seizures and these ongoing symptoms? It’s hard to disentangle from coming off the Pill, and we have epilepsy in the family so I am a bit unsure. 

 

 

[ChessieCat]

Hi ChloPenIredale and welcome to SA,

 

A well known withdrawal symptom is brain zaps which might be what you have experienced.  I've experienced them myself when I missed doses of Pristiq.  Even lying down with my eyes closed, if I moved my eyes they would happen.  Once the dose of Pristiq kicked in they would go.

 

SA recommends tapering by no more than 10% of the current dose followed by a hold of about 4 weeks to allow the brain to adapt to not getting as much of the drug.  Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

When the drug is removed too quickly we can experience withdrawal symptoms.  Dr Joseph Glenmullen's Withdrawal Symptoms

 

The only known way to reduce withdrawal symptoms is to reinstate the drug which you had been taking.  About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

Tips for tapering off Celexa (citalopram)

 

 

Please create your drug signature using the following format.   Keep it simple.  NO diagnoses or symptoms please - thank you.

• details for last 2 years - dates, ALL drugs, doses
• summary for older than 2 years - just years and drug/s

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

 

I will provide more information in the following posts.  This is your own Introduction topic where you can ask questions about your own situation and journal your progress.

 

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by ChessieCat
signature information

[ChessieCat]

Here's some additional information which might help you to understand what is happening:

 

Recovery isn't linear it happens in a Windows and Waves Pattern

 

Withdrawal Normal Description

 

When we take a psychiatric drug, we are adding chemical/s to the brain.  The brain then has to change to adapt to getting the chemical/s.  It might have to change something to do with A and then once that change has been made it affects B so another change has to be made and so on down the line.  It is a chain reaction, a domino effect.  That's why it's possible to experience such a vast array of withdrawal symptoms, and they can change, and be of different intensity.

 

The same thing happens when we take the drug away.  These explain it really well:

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

are-we-there-yet-how-long-is-withdrawal-going-to-take

 

On 8/31/2011 at 5:28 AM, Rhiannon said:

When we stop taking the drug, we have a brain that has designed itself so that it works in the presence of the drug; now it can't work properly without the drug because it's designed itself so that the drug is part of its chemistry and structure. It's like a plant that has grown on a trellis; you can't just yank out the trellis and expect the plant to be okay. When the drug is removed, the remodeling process has to take place in reverse. SO--it's not a matter of just getting the drug out of your system and moving on. If it were that simple, none of us would be here. It's a matter of, as I describe it, having to grow a new brain. I believe this growing-a-new-brain happens throughout the taper process if the taper is slow enough. (If it's too fast, then there's not a lot of time for actually rebalancing things, and basically the brain is just pedaling fast trying to keep us alive.) It also continues to happen, probably for longer than the symptoms actually last, throughout the time of recovery after we are completely off the drug, which is why recovery takes so long.

 

AND

 

On 12/4/2015 at 2:41 AM, apace41 said:

Basically- you have a building where the MAJOR steel structures are trying to be rebuilt at different times - ALL while people are coming and going in the building and attempting to work.

It would be like if the World Trade Center Towers hadn't completely fallen - but had crumbled inside in different places.. Imagine if you were trying to rebuild the tower - WHILE people were coming and going and trying to work in the building!  You'd have to set up a temporary elevator - but when you needed to fix part of that area, you'd have to tear down that elevator and set up a temporary elevator somewhere else. And so on. You'd have to build, work around, then tear down, then build again, then work around, then build... ALL while people are coming and going, ALL while the furniture is being replaced, ALL while the walls are getting repainted... ALL while life is going on INSIDE the building. No doubt it would be chaotic. That is EXACTLY what is happening with windows and waves.  The windows are where the body has "got it right" for a day or so - but then the building shifts and the brain works on something else - and it's chaos again while another temporary pathway is set up to reroute function until repairs are made.  

 

[ChessieCat]

During any taper, there will be times of discomfort.  We strongly encourage members to learn and use non drug coping techniques to help get through tough times.

 

Understanding what is happening helps us to not get caught up with the second fear, or fear of the fear.  This happens when we experience sensations in our body and because we don't understand them we are scared of them and then start to panic.

 

This document has a diagram of the body explaining what happens in the body when we become anxious:

 

https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/docs/AnxietySelfHelp.pdf

 

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

 

Audio FEMALE VOICE:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)

 

Audio MALE VOICE:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)

 

Non-drug techniques to cope

 

dealing-with-emotional-spirals

 

Dr Claire Weekes suffered from anxiety and learned and taught ways of coping.  There are videos available on YouTube.

 

Claire Weekes' Method of Recovering from a Sensitized Nervous System

 

Audio:  How to Recover from Anxiety - Dr Claire Weekes

 

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

 

Resources:  Centre for Clinical Interventions (PDF modules that you can work through, eg:  Depression, Distress Intolerance, Health Anxiety, Low Self-Esteem, Panic Attacks, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Social Anxiety, Worrying)

 

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.

 

 

[ChloPenIredale]

Hi ChessieCat, thanks for this info - I would still like to find out specifically whether people had seizures when coming off an antidepressant. Where can I find out about this? No, they’re not brain zaps. 

[ChessieCat]

I will ask the other mods.

[ChessieCat]

23 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Please create your drug signature using the following format.   Keep it simple.  NO diagnoses or symptoms please - thank you.

• details for last 2 years - dates, ALL drugs, doses
• summary for older than 2 years - just years and drug/s

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

[ChloPenIredale]

Thank you 🙂 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Chlo.

 

It's possible that coming off citalopram too fast triggered those seizures.

 

Since you reinstated 4mg last August, have you had any of those seizures?

 

Have you seen any other changes in your symptoms?

 

A lot of people find fish oil and magnesium supplements helpful, 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/

 

Try a little bit of one at a time to see how it affects you.

 

[Vonnegutjunky]

Hi Chlo, I have a history of seizures, I have always gotten simple partial seizures, I am now getting them again as withdrawals are hitting me, but they Are different. They are more sensory now than before. 

 

I dont know if the wd made them worse, they just made them different, and I have never had brain zaps during wd, which is a common symptom. 

[puthappinessfirst]

Hi Chlo. We have very similar stories. I came off my birth control a few months before coming off Celexa. I was good for several months before I crashed with heavy depression that took me out of work for a couple weeks. I never had experienced depression before, I went on Celexa for panic attacks. 

 

For me, the combination of coming off bc and ssris compounded into something nasty because my severe crash happened a day or two of my period. Ive never had seizures, but knowing what i know now about WD, it seems anything goes.