JulianaMoon

[JulianaMoon]

Hi!

 

I've been diagnosed with major depression recurrant, PTSD, severe anxiety, bi polar, borderline personality syndrome and agorophobia over the 24 years I have been seeing psychiatrists and therapists after a 2nd violent sexual assualt. I still have no idea what my proper diagnosis should be, but I think major depression, PTSD, and severe anxiety would be my personal diagnosis. 

 

I was doing great on Paxil 30 mg and Ativan 2mg for many years. Than we relocated to a different state. I was put on Effexor XR 300 mg in addition to the others. I seemed to get better and was just cruising along. We moved to TN and I was doing OK. Somehow I ended up on 150 mg of Effexor. I don't remember if the Dr dropped the dosage or I did. When I was diagnosed with hyperhomocysteinemia in 2011 after a lifetime of being tired all the time, I was told to take B12, b6 and folic acid. Nothing changed. My psychiatrist put me on Nuvigil 150 mg, than 250 mg and what a difference. I remodeled my whole house myself with YouTube as my teacher.

 

When I turned 50, everything changed and I started gaining weight and started getting very tired again. I had not changed a thing. I weaned off Paxil. No difference. Than I got high blood pressure and was put on Lisinopril 40 mg 2x a day. And Atorvastatin. Than I found out I had GERD and Barretts Esophagus and was put on Prilosec 40 mg. Than the pounds really started packing on. The more weight I gained, the worse my depression and fatigue got. Now, I am 100 pounds overweight, and never leave the house. I decided to get off of Effexor because I felt it wasn't helping, but actually making me worse. My Dr increased my dosage from 150 mg of Effexor XR to 225 mg Effexor. I got worse. So, I decided it is time to wean myself off of the Effexor and than try and get off the Prilosec. Work on my weight and try to be free of blood pressure meds. I am high stroke risk, and I think the Prilosec is adding weight to me. Anyways. I have already gone from 225 mg of Effexor to 100mg over the course of 2-3 months. The 1st 50 mg drop was bc my Dr kept forgetting to prescribe it, and the nurse insisted I was never on that dose. My pharmacist proved them wrong, but they still quit prescribing it. I felt better after 2 months, so I have actually been weaning myself off 175 mg for 2-3 months. The first drop was 17.5 mg for 5 weeks. Than 17.5 again for 4 weeks. I added 5 mg of Paxil to help with withdrawals when I dropped the 1st 17.5 mg. So I was on 137.5 mg and than I dropped another 17.5 mg for 3 weeks. Than I increased my dosage on Paxil to 10 mg and dropped the last 17.5 mg thru one week. When I dropped doses, I did every other day for a week, every 2 days for a week, than the drop to the new dose for 2-3 weeks. That last drop was 17.5 mg every other day, than the new dose, while I went up to 10 mg Paxil. It has been awful. I take 100 mg of Effexor at 10 am and 10 mg of Paxil at 6 pm. Around 9-10 pm I started crying, getting angry, crying and feeling so much despair about the death of my mother in Nov.I start making plans to auction the house off and move home. I obsess over finding a home in MI. I feel trapped in TN. I am literally having a major panic attack. It goes from mild to extreme over the course of 4-5 days. So once a week I add a 17.5 mg of Effexor, than I'm OK. 

 

So I am wondering if these are withdrawal symptoms from Effexor? Or is it because I increased the Paxil to 10 mg? Is it because the last drop was too quick? And I'm not sure what to do. I was thinking of cutting back to 5 mg of Paxil over a few weeks bc I flip out a few hours after taking it. But maybe I should increase the Effexor 17.5 mg to 2 times a week at night, than start weaning down from that. So that is why I am here. To finish the detox with others, and find out what helps during the bad withrawal days.

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by ChessieCat
added space

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, JuliannaMoon. I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time.

 

We need some clarification please on your dosages..  

1. Are you taking 100mg of Effexor at 10am every day and 10mg of Paxil every evening?  Or are you skipping some days?  

2. Are you taking an additional 17.5mg Effexor once a week?  

3. Is the Effexor extended release or regular release?

4. Why did you add in Paxil? 

 

In order for us to help you, we need to know what your daily symptom pattern is now.  Please keep daily notes on paper about your symptoms, when you take your drugs, and their dosages. Use a simple list format with time of day on the left and notation (symptom, drug and dosage) on the right.  Then post these every day for three days here in your Introduction topic.  Make no changes in dosages during that time.   

 

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

 

Also, please include:

• any supplements you are taking
• when you are eating
• the number of hours you are sleeping each night

After you've done this, we can better understand what's causing what and give you advice on what to do next.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Gridley

[JulianaMoon]

Hi Gridley,

I am taking regular Effexor at 10:00 am and 10 mg of Paxil at 6:00 pm. Once a week I take 17.5 mg of Effexor. I do not skip days. 

I added in Paxil bc I had no issue detoxing from it after 20 years, and I previously had a bad experience detoxing from Effexor when my Dr told me to go cold turkey. 

I just started taking Centrum Silver for women. B Complex with extra C. Also B6, and B1. I read B6, B1, and Magnesium help with DTs. I don't take the Magnesium but do take the others bc I have hyperhomocysteinemia. Not enough O2 in my blood=not enough RBCells being made. 

I eat at 7:00 p.m. Go to bed 1:30 am. Sleep good. Wake up 10:00 am. Take 100 mg Effexor, 2 mg Ativan, 40 mg Lisinopril. Go back to sleep. Wake up 11:00 a.m, usually with a bad headache on right side of head. Take either Excedrin Migraine or 2 Ibuprofin. Have my 1st Diet Mountain Dew. 

 

P.S. I ran out of time to put my weaning history down, plus I have to look at a calendar. I'm not sure when I started though. I also did not put my name in the subject line. 

 

NP on the daily list. Do I have to post that? 

Thanks!!

[Gridley]

1 hour ago, JulianaMoon said:

Do I have to post that? 

 

Thanks for answering my questions; that is very helpful.

 

Yes, please post your daily symptom pattern here on this thread for the next three days.  It's especially important that you post when you take your drugs and the reactions in the next 2-3 hours afterwards.  That will be of immense help to us.  Just write it down throughout the day on paper and post in once a day.  Please use the format I gave you.  It's much easier for us to read than a regular narrative.

 

Please include each Mountain Dew beverage and when you drink it.  When we are in WD we become very susceptible to otherwise innocuous drinks and foods.  Mountain Dew contains caffeine.

[ChessieCat]

Please also include when you take your supplements too.

[Dejavu]

Hello and welcome from me, too JMoon. I just wanted to mention that I'm fairly certain Excedrin Migraine also contains caffeine. Also, many members, including myself, have found B vitamins to be activating while in withdrawal. You may become temporarily sensitive to certain foods, supplements and drinks while you're in the thick of withdrawal. This is why, like Chessie said above, it is so very important to add all these supplements to your daily notes. 

 

Once again, welcome to the forum! You're in very capable hands with Gridley!

[JulianaMoon]

Thankyou so very much. I have started my list and will post it when I lay down for the night. Thankyou for the welcome. 🙂

[JulianaMoon]

Ooops...question. How do I post my med WD introduction so that it appears when I comment? Thankyou!

[Gridley]

7 minutes ago, JulianaMoon said:

Ooops...question. How do I post my med WD introduction so that it appears when I comment? Thankyou!

 

The link is below.

 

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.

[Altostrata]

Hello, Juliana.

 

19 hours ago, JulianaMoon said:

I am taking regular Effexor at 10:00 am and 10 mg of Paxil at 6:00 pm. Once a week I take 17.5 mg of Effexor. I do not skip days. 

 

Why do you add a little Effexor in?

 

You've been taking Paxil since May, correct? Are you taking any other drugs, for blood pressure, etc.?

 

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.

[JulianaMoon]

I'm sorry I haven't been on in 2 days. Tuesday night I flipped out. Crying, wanting to escape, couldn't think. I didn't take B vitamins yesterday and was fine last night. But exhausted. Give me a day or two to get my head back together. No more B vitamins. I am real shaky and its hard to text. Thanks.