FindRest: 30+ Years on ADs. Effexor to Pristiq. Now what?

[FindRest]

Yesterday and today, I awoke with some anxiety and chest tightness. Hope this isn’t an indicator that I updosed too much. Praying that these are “normal” symptoms after an updose. Had mild anxiety throughout much of the day yesterday. 
 

Yesterday, Day 17,  Feb 17, 2020:

• 8:30a.    Anxiety, chest and throat are tight, body feels shaky.
• 9:30a.    Synthroid 125mcg
• 10:30a.  Effexor XR (20 beads: 15L + 5M), anxiety
• 11:00a.  Right eye twitching, mild tinnitus, feel like need to rapidly hit fist into palm of opposite hand, anxiety.
• 11:45a.  Mid-back ache, mild tinnitus. Premarin .625mg, No Probiotic, D3 25mcg, fluticasone nasal spray.
• 1:30p.   twitching right eye, mild tinnitus 
• 2:00p.   Sad and afraid that this will never improve, left foot buzzing, right eye still twitching, tinnitus 
• 3:00p.   BP:124/77. HR:78
• 4:00p.   Tinnitus. Mild wave of anxiety with tight chest. No itching yet today!
• 4:30p.   Another wave of anxiety 5/10 with chest tightness. Low blood sugar, itchy eyes. Omeprazole 30mg.
• 6:00p.   Chills, mid-back ache.
• 6:30p.   Anxiety 3/10. 
• 7:00p.   Still no itching yet today! Anxiety 2/10, head bit wobbly, mid-back ache. 
• 7:30p.   Forehead and eyebrows itch a little, tinnitus, dry mouth, itchy eyes.
• 8:00p.   Left arm and shoulder ache so much better today! Eyebrows and scalp itch.
• 9:45p.   Mild itch on scalp. Heavy head/neck. Tinnitus. Cetirizine 10mg and 5 tsp. Miralax.
• 11:00p. Feel like I need to support head on neck with my hands. Left arm tremor on exertion and weak.
• 11:30p. Feels a bit hard to breath, like I need to breath deeper
• 1:00a.   Red/itchy sole of left foot, mild body tremors, mild Tinnitus.  Ambien 10mg, clonazepam .125mg. Bed.

[FindRest]

Yesterday was better than the day before. Kind of this low-level anxiety all day long. 
 

Yesterday, Day 18,  Feb 18, 2020:

• 9:15a.    Synthroid 125mcg.  Bit of anxiety and trembling, chest tightness.
• 10:30a.  Effexor XR (20 beads: 15L + 5M), mild tinnitus, right eye twitch, constipated.
• 11:45a.  Premarin .625mg, No Probiotic, D3 25mcg, fluticasone nasal spray.
• 2:00p.   Anxiety. Somehow, have to hide the anxiety as I sit in the orthodontist’s chair getting my braces OFF for the next 1.5 hours or so. Think I’m going to pass out. Breathe.
• 2:30p.   Chills, right eye twitching. Mild anxiety.
• 3:30p.   Braces are off!!
• 4:30p.   Right eye twitching. Mild anxiety. Omeprazole 20mg.
• 5:00p.   More low-level anxiety.
• 6:30p.   Right eye twitching, mid-back ache.  Today has been pretty good so far. Low-level anxiety continues.
• 9:00p.   Forehead and eye begin to itch (first time any itching today). Cetirizine 10mg and 5 tsp. Miralax.
• 11:30p. Tinnitus
• 12:00a. Mild burning/itching on feet and scalp. Tinnitus continues. Left arm/neck feel weak, tense, and tight.
• 1:15a.   Right toes continue to itch but red/burning gone. Mild Tinnitus.  Ambien 10mg, clonazepam .125mg. Bed.

 

[FindRest]

Yesterday and today, so far, have been very tolerable. I do have a low-level anxiety throughout much of the day that I wish would go away. Sometimes, I get worn out from feeling this way, but I can’t complain because things could be a lot worse. Just tired and stressed (not only wd but other life circumstances). I’ll get there. 

 

Yesterday, Day 19, Feb 19, 2020:

• 10:30a.  Effexor XR (20 beads: 15L + 5M), Synthroid 125mcg. 
• 11:45a.  Premarin .625mg, No Probiotic, D3 25mcg, fluticasone nasal spray. Right eye twitching. Low-level anxiety/fear of the future.
• 12:30p. BP:116/73 HR:88
• 2:00p.   Anxiety 1/10
• 4:00p.   Dry, itchy eyes. Head a bit heavy.
• 4:30p.   Anxiety 2/10. Omeprazole 20mg.
• 6:30p.   Toes/scalp starting to itch, mild tinnitus, anxiety 2/10. Epsom Salts foot bath.
• 7:00p.  Tinnitus increasing
• 8:30p.  Itching scalp/eyebrow. Left arm a bit weak and shaky. Anxiety 2/10. 
• 9:00p.   No itch. Mid-back/neck ache. Cetirizine 10mg and 5 tsp. Miralax.
• 1:00a.   No itch, no anxiety. Ambien 10mg, clonazepam .125mg. Bed.

[Snorky]

Hi F

 

We have so much in common. (Age, med history-Effexor etc)

 

I’m having massive probs following CT from amitriptyline five months ago. I noticed a ref to restlessness in your blog. For the last few weeks I’ve had this awful inner restlessness that kicks in when I wake. It then combines with a mental tension/anguish sensation and drives me bananas. No respite, relaxation or sleep. Getting up eases a bit, but always there in background. Prevents rest, relaxation, enjoyment, reading working, communicating etc.

 

Can you relate to this?

 

God bless.

[FindRest]

Hi, @Snorky. I can relate to part of what you are going through, but it sounds like maybe yours is a bit more intense. Some days, I wake up to anxiety and my body is trembling on the inside. I then start ruminating and am unable to fall back to sleep. I’ve found it gets much better if I just get up and do something. Fortunately, this doesn’t come back for most of the day. Recently, however, I’ve had mild episodes of this in the early evening. I hope it goes completely away very soon.

 

I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this. I hope you get relief soon.

 

FR

[Snorky]

11 minutes ago, FindRest said:

Hi, @Snorky. I can relate to part of what you are going through, but it sounds like maybe yours is a bit more intense. Some days, I wake up to anxiety and my body is trembling on the inside. I then start ruminating and am unable to fall back to sleep. I’ve found it gets much better if I just get up and do something. Fortunately, this doesn’t come back for most of the day. Recently, however, I’ve had mild episodes of this in the early evening. I hope it goes completely away very soon.

 

I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this. I hope you get relief soon.

 

FR

Thanks F

 

Also forgot to mention the horrible, palpable depressive feelings. Apart from that, I feel quite good during CT WD.

[FindRest]

Haven’t posted an update in several days. Had a death in the family. It was stressful getting through the funeral and everything, but made it. I kept having to remind myself that others couldn’t see the tremors in my head, neck, shoulders, and arms. It feels like my body is too weak to support them. 
 

I haven’t had itching for a few days now and have even begun to take my probiotic again. We’ll see if the itching starts back up. I think it was the updose I made a week ago that helped it, however. Wow, only a week ago! Time sure goes by slowly when you’re trying to stabilize! Still getting some morning anxiety and rumination. Also thinking more about the future and worrying that I may not be able to make it through this journey. Have to remind myself to live in the present. LIVE in the present. It’s hard.

[FindRest]

Bought a Gemini scale and decided to weigh my 20 beads (15 large + 5 medium). Previously, I had sorted my beads into 3 sizes (S,M,L). I was shocked when all but one of my bead-counted doses weighed exactly the same! I weighed them by putting the 10g weight in the pan before adding the beads to get the scale into its happy zone.

 

I began by weighing the beads of four separate 37.5 capsules. Average weight per capsule (without the capsule) was 124mgbw, which would be about .3024mg active ingredient per mgbw (37.5/124). 
 

I then created several of my doses using 15L beads + 5M beads. All but one dose weighed 25mgbw! I was expecting to see more of a difference in weights between them, but was thrilled of the outcome! I then added another bead to the one that weighed less to bring it up to 25mgbw. I hope this was a good decision. 
 

Using the scale’s measurements, this would mean I’m currently taking about 7.56mgai of Effexor XR (25 x .3024), which is more (and probably more accurate) than the estimated 5.638mgai I had calculated earlier via the bead-count method. 
 

If anyone sees a problem with my math, please let me know.

 

I will continue to both count beads and weigh each dose.

[FindRest]

Copy of old signature before changing it.

 

1988-1996  Various AD’s, all classifications.  

1996-2019  Effexor XR 37.5mg to 150mg. Jan 2017 onward, 37.5 mg.

2019  Apr 11: Latuda 20mg added to Effexor.  Apr 22: L to 40mg.  May 14: L to 20mg.  May 27: L to 10 mg for 3 days then ct (dr’s orders). Continue Effexor 37.5.  Jun 10: Rexulti .5 mg added. Incr to 1mg.  Jun 15: Rex to .5mg.  Jul 1-24: taper Rex to .25mg over couple of weeks then off.  Jul 24: CT Effexor (per dr’s orders)  Sep 9-19: Viibryd (low dose, not sure mg), CT (dr’s orders).  Sep 23-27: Trintellix (low dose). CT (dr’s orders).  Sep 28:  Prozac 10mg.  Oct 24:  Began rapid taper off Prozac (every other day for wk) began Pristiq 25mg for 10 days, then 50mg after that.  Dec 31-Jan 31, 2020:  Pristiq 25mg. 

2020  Feb 1: CT Pristiq due to serious side effects incl high BP w pre-existing heart condition.   Feb 1: Effexor XR (10 large beads from 37.5 capsule).  Feb 3: 14 L beads.  Feb 15: 14 L beads+2 med beads.  Feb 17: 15L + 5M beads (25mgbw or 7.56mgai).

Current: Mar 1, 2020: Effexor XR (15 large beads + 7 medium beads, 30mgbw or 9.072mgai)

 

Other current meds: Ambien 10mg nightly (2012), clonazepam .125mg nightly (May, 2019), omeprazole 20mg (alt w famotidine 20mg, since Oct 2019), Synthroid 125 mcg (1985), Premarin .625mg (2002), Miralax capful/day (2014), fluticasone nasal once/day (mid-2018), cetirizine 10mg nightly (late-2018) .  Supplements: D3 25mcg, probiotic

[Carmie]

How are you doing?  @FindRest💛