LaurafromCT: finally off SSRIs but it's challenging

[Colonial]

"...I still don't know why I started feeling so bad mid-January.  I did start feeling better after I stopped the Trileptal so maybe I was taking too much of it...."

 

EXACTLY, I thought You had said you were WORSE AFTER You went on the Trileptal,

I read the thread that your symptoms were a reaction TO being on it.

Your signature:

 

 2019 - November  Start Trileptal 37 mg.  Start seeing improvement in mobility, pain decrease

2019 - December - feeling about 50% better.  Still experiencing w/d symptoms and/or side effects. Waking at 5 am each morning feeling shivery, nausea. Legs feel like they are plugged in to a socket.  Zaps, aches, tingles, stinging.  Still can't walk or drive.  Ears ringing, brain tingling, brain full of bees.

2020 - mid-January - setback, withdrawal/side effects getting worse.  Discontinue Trileptal. 

 

I thought You discontinued the Trileptal because, like you say, everything you take eventually makes you WORSE...

I Thought that, YOU THOUGHT symptoms were getting worse, were a Trileptal reaction.

 

But it's so hard to figure, because like with the Prozac and everything else, they all seem to give you adverse reaction.

I don't know what to make of it...

[Altostrata]

8 hours ago, LaurafromCT said:

 

Good catch.  I was on 37 mg Trileptal not .37 my apologies

 

Definitely not pregnant LOL.  I just call it "morning sickness" because I wake up every morning feeling all kinds of sick.  It's like nausea but more intense, just an overall bad feeling, jumpy, shaky, ill, heart racing, can't lie down, etc.  I am not sure what else to call it.

 

Nausea literally means throwing up, as does morning sickness. Feeling shaky is different. Were you nauseous or did you feel shaky or jumpy?

 

I like the colorful way you express yourself, but for the sake of clarity, please describe your symptoms in more conventional ways. If your legs are tingly or you have electrical sensations, please use those types of terms instead of "itchy." "Itchy" means that sensation you have on the surface of your skin and may indicate an allergy.

 

Are your legs tingly or itchy? Do they hurt? If they hurt, do they hurt at random times or at certain times of day?

 

If you're doing a lot of sitting, that could be a reason your legs hurt. Do as much gentle stretching as you can; massage your own legs. Improve the circulation.

 

Do you have electrical feelings in your brain when you wake up? Is it like a buzzing? Bees?

 

Do you get brain zaps after ingesting caffeine? If so, you will need to gradually cut eliminate caffeine, I'm sorry to say. It may be causing some of your symptoms.

 

Be sure to indicate your caffeine intake in your daily notes.

 

8 hours ago, LaurafromCT said:

 

Oops I took 20 mg for 3 days.  Went down to 10 mg yesterday, will see how it goes.  How would you proceed today?  Stay at 10 mg?

 

My thinking on the SSRI is that since I took SSRIs for over 20 years (Lexapro for 15 of those years) and I took imipramine (tricyclic) for only one year, that it was the SSRIs that molded my brain over 20+ years.  Therefore that's why the imipramine reinstatement is not working and why I am thinking that bridging to an SSRI would help me get better.  Please let me know what you think about this theory.

 

I will answer your other questions when I can, thank you.

 

Please keep on taking 10mg -- but 10mg of what? Tripletal?

 

I see your Trileptal dosage has been inconsistent and you're taking it at different times each day. Please pick one dosage and take it at the same time each day. We had discussed a LOW dosage so as not to trigger the adverse effects you've felt before.

 

How do you feel before and after taking Trileptal? Please be sure to put this in your notes.

 

You're also taking an occasional dose of Klonopin, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Please don't take it at all if you can help it. Klonopin can cause problems.

It appears you may have developed withdrawal syndrome in 2017. This is from your signature:

Quote

 

1991 -> 2001 various SSRIs for depression (10 years)   

2001 -> 2017 celexa, lexapro for depression plus Abilify (6 years)

2017 - celexa causes increasing flu-like symptoms (body aches, fatigue, malaise, syncope)

2017 - bad Dr switches me to Pristiq, Luvox, Zoloft.  They all cause flu-like symptoms eventually.  Switch to desipramine (tricyclic)

2018 - switch to imipramine 75mg which eventually causes worsening flu-like symptoms. taper off Abilify

2018 - November - feel like I am really developing serotonin toxicity.  Decide I have to get off everything ASAP.  taper off imipramine, going from 75 mg to 2.5 mg over 2  months

2019 - Jan - bridge to Prozac. taper from 10 mg to 1 mg over 3 months.  Last dose end of March (alternating days)

 

 

In 2017, how did you end up on Celexa? Did you bounce between Celexa and Lexapro? What happened to Abilify? When did you go off that?

 

How did you feel when you were taking Prozac?

 

[manymoretodays]

How are you doing LaurafromCT?  You've gone awfully quiet.  I hope you are doing okay.  And would love to see an update.

[SolarPlexus]

On 3/4/2020 at 1:44 AM, LaurafromCT said:

Hi Alto,

 

Please see below.

 

Laura, what does "brain glittery" mean?  - Like all of the molecules in my brain are tingly and sparkly.  It's like my brain is fizzy, like I ate Pop Rocks (do you remember those?).  It's usually accompanied by difficulty focusing, like ADD, which ranges from mild to horrible.  Sometimes it feels like one extended slow motion brain zap.  But it's all day long this tingly feeling which gets better and worse throughout the day.

 

Why do you think the imipramine is making your brain ring?  I just feel like I have had this brain ringing since I reinstated.  It seems to be getting worse but not sure.  I do remember that when I was taking imipramine at a therapeutic dose, I complained of tinnitus to my Pdoc at the time.  I do know that if i increase the dose even slightly, I feel like my brain is in a vise (one day I wrote that my brain felt like an Instant Pot).

 

How often do you have the leg itching in the afternoon? When did that start?  It's not a skin itching but like a buzzy, deep muscle itching.  I am not sure when it started.  Maybe in the past month or so?  Actually I just looked at my notes and I have had intermittent itchy aching all along.  I think it might be made worse by melatonin or benadryl but I am not 100% sure.

 

Are the sensations in your legs like electrical current or are they muscle spasms or cramps?  Electrical current.  It's not spasms.  I do have benign fasciculations in my legs/feet which are

 non-painful twitches and they sometimes go all the way down to the sole of my foot.  The pain sometimes feels like a cramp, esp in my sciatic/glutes.  But more often it's a feeling like my leg(s) are literally plugged into a low voltage electrical socket.  The pain and discomfort reminds me of times I've accidentally buzzed my fingers and gotten electrocuted while plugging something in.

 

How did you take Trileptal? Which of your doctors prescribed it?  I had 150 mg tablets and I quartered them and then weighed them on a gram scale and shaved off bits to make sure they were consistent.  My psychiatrist prescribed it.  He said it would be like putting fire retardant on a fire.  I definitely noticed that if I increased the Trileptal dose a tiny bit, it made my "morning sickness" worse.

 

How long have you been taking Klonopin every day? I see you take it at various times and dosages. What effect does it have on you?  Before WD, I used to take it PRN to sleep, but since going through WD last fall I was really trying to avoid it.  I looked back at my notes and it looks like I started taking again it when I started feeling really crappy at the end of January.  It makes me sleepy and knocks me out.  If I have really bad morning sickness at 3am it helps me get back to sleep for a few hours.  Or if I'm in a lot of pain at night feeling wired, it helps me fall asleep.

 

What is your sleep pattern?  I was always a good sleeper (before this whole mess).  Lately I fall asleep Ok but sometimes need to take something.  I try to go to bed at 10:30 or 11 and I sleep well, until I wake up at 2 or 3 or 4 or 5.  I was having a great stretch back in December when I was sleeping all the way until 6am.  It seems lately I feel sleepy in the afternoon, but if I lie down in the afternoon for a nap, I pass out and can barely rouse myself up at all.

 

Thank you so much.  

Hello @LaurafromCT I was looking up the word "fizzy" to see if anyone else gets that sensation in their head. Exactly like the Pop rocks. Then I saw your post. Did you ever find out what that symptom is called? Is this what is known as brain zaps or is it something else? I've had it for quite some time now this fizzy sensation and it gets aggravated when I look at a screen. If you have gained more insight on this I'd be grateful for info. Thank you!! 

[LaurafromCT]

On 3/16/2020 at 9:09 PM, manymoretodays said:

How are you doing LaurafromCT?  You've gone awfully quiet.  I hope you are doing okay.  And would love to see an update.

 

Thanks for checking in.  I actually feel a lot better.  I started seeing improvement once I went back on the Trileptal and got the dose right.  I reinstated it at about 20 mg but then figured out that I needed to be on much less and reduced it over a week to about 8 mg and then finally 6 mg.  That seemed to do the trick and over the course of about 3-4 weeks I started feeling better and better.  I still have leg cramps and my brain still feels a bit glittery and I still have ringing in the ears but I feel so much better than I did, thank God.  I have reduced the micro-dose of imipramine very slowly as well and am now down to 0.030 mg of imipramine and 5.5 mg of Trileptal.  My plan is to slowly taper off both of them now that I have stabilized.  It's amazing how much better I feel after 4 weeks on a good dose.

[LaurafromCT]

On 4/8/2020 at 5:43 AM, SolarPlexus said:

Hello @LaurafromCT I was looking up the word "fizzy" to see if anyone else gets that sensation in their head. Exactly like the Pop rocks. Then I saw your post. Did you ever find out what that symptom is called? Is this what is known as brain zaps or is it something else? I've had it for quite some time now this fizzy sensation and it gets aggravated when I look at a screen. If you have gained more insight on this I'd be grateful for info. Thank you!! 

 

Hi Solar,  I am not sure what the fizzy sensation is.  I feel like throughout this whole thing the electrical signals in my body have been messed up.  I have even noticed a change in how my body feels after eating or drinking electrolytes (e.g. salt) which seem to affect the electrical conductivity of brain and nerve signals.  So all I can venture is that it's some kind of overstimulated brain impulses.  For me I suspect it was/is a side effect of the medication I am taking and not a withdrawal symptom.  I am not sure though.  Best of luck to you.

[SolarPlexus]

On 4/20/2020 at 8:04 PM, LaurafromCT said:

 

Hi Solar,  I am not sure what the fizzy sensation is.  I feel like throughout this whole thing the electrical signals in my body have been messed up.  I have even noticed a change in how my body feels after eating or drinking electrolytes (e.g. salt) which seem to affect the electrical conductivity of brain and nerve signals.  So all I can venture is that it's some kind of overstimulated brain impulses.  For me I suspect it was/is a side effect of the medication I am taking and not a withdrawal symptom.  I am not sure though.  Best of luck to you.

Hello @LaurafromCT Thank you so much for your reply. It seems it's both then - a side effect as well as a withdrawal symptom. I only got it after I stopped the SSRI I was taking (Cipralex). I didn't have it while on the medication. I hope it goes away soon. It's been persistent for quite some time and gets aggravated by screens (phones/laptops/TVs). It's all been a rollercoaster due to these meds. Here's to hoping we are all free of all symptoms soon. Wishing you all the best. Take care of yourself and thanks again for your feedback. 

[manymoretodays]

On 4/20/2020 at 12:01 PM, LaurafromCT said:

Thanks for checking in.  I actually feel a lot better.  I started seeing improvement once I went back on the Trileptal and got the dose right.  I reinstated it at about 20 mg but then figured out that I needed to be on much less and reduced it over a week to about 8 mg and then finally 6 mg.  That seemed to do the trick and over the course of about 3-4 weeks I started feeling better and better.  I still have leg cramps and my brain still feels a bit glittery and I still have ringing in the ears but I feel so much better than I did, thank God.  I have reduced the micro-dose of imipramine very slowly as well and am now down to 0.030 mg of imipramine and 5.5 mg of Trileptal.  My plan is to slowly taper off both of them now that I have stabilized.  It's amazing how much better I feel after 4 weeks on a good dose.

 

Oh my gosh, that's great....that you are doing much better overall!

I think if I were you, I might just stay put a bit longer, with the Trileptal, before further tapering. 

 

Are you sleeping okay?

[Colonial]

6 minutes ago, manymoretodays said:

My plan is to slowly taper off both of them now that I have stabilized.  It's amazing how much better I feel after 4 weeks on a good dose.

 

I'm so happy to hear such good news on Your account.😍

I also hope You will consider a few more months at least to settle.