Ricky961

[Ricky961]

Hello guys,
I was being depressed for about 6,5 months before starting taking any medication.
So I started taking antidepressants for my depression and some minor anxiety.
I started from 2,5 mg escitalopram and after two weeks increased to 5 mg which started to feel me more anxious.
Again after two more weeks I increased my dosage to 7,5mg.
While i was on 7,5mg escitalopram it did lift my mood and my depression diminished completely but i was increasingly nervous all
the time.
My doctor said that the medication I am taking is not working properly and that the significant rise in my nervousness could
trigger another depressive episode.
So after taking escitalopram for 2 months,I reduced my dosage to 5 mg for 10 days and started having some minor withdrawal symptoms.

Then i took 2,5mg for two days and then switched to Zoloft.
I started taking Zoloft at 25mg a day for a week and it gave me unbearable nervousness and insomnia,so my doctor told my to stop taking it.
I decreased my dosage to 14,5mg for two days but i still could not sleep at all so i stopped my therapy completely.My doctor told me to try it
out without medication.
After stopping taking any antidepressants my state first improved for a couple of days but then it started to go down 
and I was feeling worse and worse every day.The worst days where about two weeks after stopping taking any antidepressants.
I was having waves of anxiety,depression,dizziness,electrical sensation in my brain( which i never had before in my life), terrible insomnia and some other symptoms.
I thought it will pass and after 4 week of stopping therapy my symptoms started to improve,and i thought in a few weeks i will be all right.
But now it is been two months after stopping therapy and although many of my symptoms diminished completely and i feel 50% better, I still have
waves of anxiety and depression,brain zaps and brain fog and I am hardly functioning at all.I did not think i would suffer so much.
So I am thinking going back on a really low dosage of escilatoprame (less than 1mg) because i could not bear Zoloft at all.
What is your advice?
Thank you. 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Ricky.

 

On 9/23/2019 at 1:52 PM, Ricky961 said:

....
So after taking escitalopram for 2 months,I reduced my dosage to 5 mg for 10 days and started having some minor withdrawal symptoms.

Then i took 2,5mg for two days and then switched to Zoloft.
I started taking Zoloft at 25mg a day for a week and it gave me unbearable nervousness and insomnia,so my doctor told my to stop taking it.
I decreased my dosage to 14,5mg for two days but i still could not sleep at all so i stopped my therapy completely.My doctor told me to try it
out without medication.
After stopping taking any antidepressants my state first improved for a couple of days but then it started to go down 
and I was feeling worse and worse every day.The worst days where about two weeks after stopping taking any antidepressants.
I was having waves of anxiety,depression,dizziness,electrical sensation in my brain( which i never had before in my life), terrible insomnia and some other symptoms.
I thought it will pass and after 4 week of stopping therapy my symptoms started to improve,and i thought in a few weeks i will be all right.
But now it is been two months after stopping therapy and although many of my symptoms diminished completely and i feel 50% better, I still have
waves of anxiety and depression,brain zaps and brain fog and I am hardly functioning at all.I did not think i would suffer so much.
So I am thinking going back on a really low dosage of escilatoprame (less than 1mg) because i could not bear Zoloft at all.
What is your advice?
Thank you. 

 

You stopped all antidepressants 2 months ago? 

 

When you decreased escilatopram, you got withdrawal symptoms. This means your nervous system was destabilized. The additional Zoloft upset it more. Your nervous system is now sensitized to all psychiatric drugs, you will need to be careful about trying anything. The continuation of brain zaps is a concern.

 

You might want to try these supplements, a little bit of one at a time to see how they affect you:

King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker

 

Many people find fish oil help relieve the brain zaps, and magnesium can reduce anxiety.

 

Escilatopram comes in a liquid form. If you want to try reinstatement, I would not take any more than 0.5mg escilatopram. Since escilatopram is several times stronger than other SSRIs such as Zoloft or Prozac,  0.5mg is roughly equivalent to 1mg -- 1.5mg. If you want to try something milder, escilatopram's sibling citalopram also comes in liquid form. you might try 0.5mg of that, or liquid Prozac.

 

Please let us know how you're doing.

[Ricky961]

Thank you for your response.

Yes I stopped taking AD completely two months ago.
Although, I still have some electrical sensation in my brain they are much milder than before.So they are not a big concern for me.
Waves of depression and anxiety and overall emotional imbalance were much bigger.
I already use these supplements.

 

In the recent few days I started taking Probiotic pills for my occasional nausea and they made my whole digestive system work again

and as a result my nervousness and waves of depression really improved.I still can't believe that my guts have such a huge impact om my mood.

I guess stopping AD I was taking did not just affected my nerves but my body as a whole.

So i feel significantly better in the last few days and I decided NOT to take any AD even at a low dosage.
I will just continue with the supplements and modest physical activity.

I would suggest anyone to try out Probiotics who have nausea or digestive problems after stopping AD.
While i can't guarantee that they would be such a help for everyone I think it's maybe wort trying out.