Coronavirus, covid-19, covid-19 vaccine, & psychiatric drug tapering & withdrawal

[ChessieCat]

Very interesting info from Shep.

 

With what "we" know about taking/getting off some drugs it definitely cannot be assumed that the post-covid issues are caused by covid.

[pureshark]

Thankfully I had just come to the end of my Cymbalta taper when I got COVID in April... Any change in symptoms I have now is strictly medication related! I can only speak for myself. :-)

[Onmyway]

A new study has tested fluvoxamine to show it prevents severe disease. Apparently many SSRIs can do that. So maybe that is why we don't get that sick when on SSRIs. Not sure if withdrawal would be a problem. I want to say that for a few days it might be OK but then there are cases of people who had such extreme reactions that I worry about the immediate nightmare that

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/apl-jrf111220.php

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2773108

 

[Colonial]

Wow...It's not just the "few days" (16-21), look at the dose.

 

Quote

 

Participants received a dose of 50 mg of fluvoxamine (or matching placebo) in the evening immediately after the baseline assessment and confirmation of eligibility, then for 2 days at a dose of 100 mg twice daily as tolerated, and then increasing to a dose of 100 mg 3 times daily as tolerated through day 15 then stopped (additional details appear in Supplement 1). This dose range was determined based on the binding affinity of fluvoxamine for the S1R.17 After the completion of 15 days of fluvoxamine or placebo, participants were given the option to receive a 6-day open-label course of fluvoxamine.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by ChessieCat
put quoted text into quote box and bolded doses

[NoMoreLexapro]

Have read all the posts in this thread and am still curious if ADWD makes us higher-risk for covid infection and severe illness from it.  So much of the time I feel my immune system is compromised...many of my WD sxs feel like cold/flu symptoms.  The thought of covid on top of WD is terrifying to consider.  For those of you who have had covid in WD:  did you feel the impact of covid was markedly worse because you were in WD?

 

Cases here in the western US are through the roof and there are no signs of it plateauing or diminishing any time soon.

[ChessieCat]

I think like anything it is can affect different people (in general) in different ways.  It's stressful continually worrying about "what ifs".  And the "what ifs" might never happen.

[Shep]

This is a Mad in America Zoom discussion from May 2020, but I just came across it and noticed the interesting conversation on psych drugs being used during the COVID pandemic. I'm linking to minute 36 in this video where one of the speakers, a clinical psychologist, mentions being in two groups for people going through long-term COVID recovery and the psychiatric drugs they've been prescribed:

 

Fear and Grief Are Not Mental Illness...(and Never Were)

 

Lots of Seroquel being prescribed, along with SSRIs and benzos. So how much of the long-term COVID symptoms are COVID and how much are the results of treatment, including adverse drug interactions that we see regularly here on this forum? 

[ChessieCat]

 

7 hours ago, Shep said:

Lots of Seroquel being prescribed, along with SSRIs and benzos. So how much of the long-term COVID symptoms are COVID and how much are the results of treatment, including adverse drug interactions that we see regularly here on this forum? 

 

Exactly my thoughts:

 

On 10/24/2020 at 8:13 AM, ChessieCat said:

Very interesting info from Shep.

 

With what "we" know about taking/getting off some drugs it definitely cannot be assumed that the post-covid issues are caused by covid.

[ChessieCat]

So we can expect an influx of new members in the near future as they decide to stop their drug/s?

[SolarPlexus]

On 3/30/2020 at 1:03 AM, AlaskanGlacier said:

For those worried about possible ways to help kill any infection, virus that they do get, I've had amazing success with raw garlic in keeping me alive during my tapering. I was thrown on Hydrocortisone (a corticosteroid known for lowering the immune system) while in Xanax c/t wd and was on it for about 3-4 years. During the time on, I had a number of infections thanks to the lowered immunity that caused severe cellulitis in my face/ear. I mean swollen to look like I had some kind of disease. Horribly sick feeling. When one of those would start and ramp up, I took 6-8 and upwards of 12 raw garlic cloves a day spread thru the day until the infection was gone. The garlic killed the cellulitis/blood infection in less than 3 days and I was back to normal in about a week. Saved my life a few times and now that I'm off the steroid, I haven't and don't get them anymore. Raw garlic has also helped kill flus/colds in a very short day or two. The stuff has been a lifesaver for me.

 

Thought I'd share.

Thank you @AlaskanGlacier for this tip. I've been hit with UTIs and Candida thanks to withdrawal. Didn't have them before. Reluctant to take antibiotics and anti-fungal medications and have been consuming one clove of garlic (split into two) on an empty stomach daily. I will try and up the dose as a way of avoiding medicines. I have not reacted well to a single medication I've been given while in WD. Hopefully garlic will be gentler on me. Super helpful tip. Thanks so much!

[Shep]

On 11/22/2020 at 6:22 PM, ChessieCat said:

So we can expect an influx of new members in the near future as they decide to stop their drug/s?

 

I think there may be at some point.  But there's something called a "symptom pool," which includes the narrative of the chemical imbalance and faulty brains as the reasons for our distress. Psychiatry has been messaging this for decades and encouraging people to self-identity with labels that keep people drugged. So have other "psy" professions. Even in the face of what should be seen as common sense - it's NORMAL to feel distressed during a pandemic, especially in countries such as the US where there's no social contract and no universal healthcare. Tens of millions of people face evictions and estimates as high as 40% of the country is already food-insecure. 

 

So it really depends on the desperation that leads people to readily accept a disability check which can come with these drugs. 

 

I'm currently reading Crazy Like Us, which goes into the damage this "symptom pool" can cause globally. And it's currently all over the major newspapers how widespread "mental illness" is during the pandemic and how millions of people aren't getting "treated." It's really surreal and frightening to watch this play out, especially knowing what we know here on SA and on other forums and Facebook groups. 

 

I do hope people get informed, but I'm not sure it will happen. The social contract must be fixed first here in the US and in other parts of the world so people aren't reliant on so-called "mental illness" disability as a way of surviving in this world. 

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Shep
added information

[Superwoman]

Has anyone taken a COVID 19 vaccine yet?  If so how did it go?  I   am concerned about the vaccine? Is it safe?  Will us hypersensitive people in antidepressant WD be able to tolerate it?  On the other hand I am very concerned about catching Corona.  Corona can cause neurological problems.  I would definitely not want that on top of the neurological problems I already have from WD.  My neighbor and a family member died of it.  How do you weigh the risks versus benefits? 

[NoMoreLexapro]

I'm very interested to hear about this as well.  I'm concerned about how the vaccine might interact w/WD but my dad almost died of covid in March  and want to take it if at all possible.

[Superwoman]

On 12/29/2020 at 10:58 PM, NoMoreLexapro said:

I'm very interested to hear about this as well.  I'm concerned about how the vaccine might interact w/WD but my dad almost died of covid in March  and want to take it if at all possible.

I think I will most likely take it too.  I am just nervous about it.  I don’t much trust the pharmaceutical companies.  I am relieved that the vaccine does not contain mercury, formaldehyde or any preservatives.  I was expecting hundreds of ingredients, but there are only a dozen at most.  I figure, the less ingredients the less there is for us to react to.  

[JackieDecides]

I just took the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week and eager to get the second shot in a few weeks. the only side affect I had was slight soreness in my arm.

I work in healthcare and am so grateful to have the vaccine available so soon.

 

[JackieDecides]

On 11/25/2020 at 5:25 AM, Shep said:

it's NORMAL to feel distressed during a pandemic, especially in countries such as the US where there's no social contract and no universal healthcare.

amen!  good post, Shep

[Shep]

2 hours ago, JackieDecides said:

I just took the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine this week and eager to get the second shot in a few weeks. the only side affect I had was slight soreness in my arm.

I work in healthcare and am so grateful to have the vaccine available so soon.

 

 

Thanks for posting your experience with the vaccine, Jackie. Very glad to read you only had the slight soreness side effect. 

[NoMoreLexapro]

Really appreciate hearing the news about the covid vaccine, Jackie!

[Santino]

Antidepressant Drugs suggested for COVID 19

 

Dear Friends

Please check the below link. They are trying to push Antiderpressants for the treatment of Covid 19. I can not believe such level of deceivement...!!!! 

https://theconversation.com/why-an-antidepressant-could-be-used-to-treat-covid-19-150295#:~:text=Among these patients%2C the study,saw their condition get worse.

Do you have any opinion on the issue? Lets discuss.

Santino

Edited January 13, 2021 by Shep
added title from moved thread

[Shep]

@SantinoI moved your post into this ongoing discussion of psychiatric drugs and COVID. I posted about another article about using fluvoxamine for withdrawal here in this post. And Onmyway posted here in this post, citing some journal studies about fluvoxamine, the drug listed in "The Conversation" article you linked to. 

 

There a number of posts in this thread that connect some of the symptoms of COVID with withdrawal symptoms (Farmgirlworks posted about there here), not to mention the fact that many of these drugs actually compromise COVID infection and some people are being taken off psychiatric drugs during COVID treatment. 

 

1 hour ago, Santino said:

Do you have any opinion on the issue? Lets discuss.

 

Definitely worth a discussion! 

[Santino]

1 hour ago, Shep said:

@SantinoI moved your post into this ongoing discussion of psychiatric drugs and COVID. I posted about another article about using fluvoxamine for withdrawal here in this post. And Onmyway posted here in this post, citing some journal studies about fluvoxamine, the drug listed in "The Conversation" article you linked to. 

 

There a number of posts in this thread that connect some of the symptoms of COVID with withdrawal symptoms (Farmgirlworks posted about there here), not to mention the fact that many of these drugs actually compromise COVID infection and some people are being taken off psychiatric drugs during COVID treatment. 

 

 

Definitely worth a discussion! 

Hi Shep

Actually i had Covid during the first two weeks of November but it was coupled with a very stressful period on my life. The first week was quite OK but for the second week i had a lot of problems which were accompanied with a high degree of sleeplessness. I had 3 nights of almost no sleep which drove me in a very bad position, after trying some benzos i decided to take a low dose of mirt just to stabilize the sleep. So i started with 5MG and quickly went down. I am currently at 1Mg only and will taper soon. As soon as my sleep stabilized so did my emotional situation. I normalized fairly quickly and now i am in a very normal state but going a bit fast on tapering. Anyway my sleeplessness was not only affected with covid but i believe more with my stressful problems i had so the usage of an AD to combat Covid seems really unreasonable for me. 

All the best

Santino
 

[Shep]

21 hours ago, Santino said:

Hi Shep

Actually i had Covid during the first two weeks of November but it was coupled with a very stressful period on my life. The first week was quite OK but for the second week i had a lot of problems which were accompanied with a high degree of sleeplessness. I had 3 nights of almost no sleep which drove me in a very bad position, after trying some benzos i decided to take a low dose of mirt just to stabilize the sleep. So i started with 5MG and quickly went down. I am currently at 1Mg only and will taper soon. As soon as my sleep stabilized so did my emotional situation. I normalized fairly quickly and now i am in a very normal state but going a bit fast on tapering. Anyway my sleeplessness was not only affected with covid but i believe more with my stressful problems i had so the usage of an AD to combat Covid seems really unreasonable for me. 

All the best

Santino
 

 

You're an example of someone who is informed using a psych drug during an illness to stop a potentially dangerous level of acute insomnia. Tragically, I think a lot of people placed on ADs to combat COVID will be duped into being life-long consumers, as they won't know about proper tapering or that you can become dependent in just a month. 

 

That actually is happening to people being given AD's during cancer treatment - High Rate of Antidepressant Use After Cancer.

 

Nearly 1 in 5 survivors taking medication for depression or anxiety years later

 

That statistic likely has more to do with dependency than anything else. We'll probably see this with COVID. 

[Neon]

About the post-Covid-syndrome I have to add that I know several people who have had Covid (all age-ranges) and developed post-covid-syndrome and none of them has been treated with any psychpharmacological drugs. A few of them had gotten Melatonin for sleeping difficulties, that is it. 

 

Maybe it is different in the US, but in Europe they only give drugs when it is really severe and as far as I know very rarely they give psych drugs (I work in the medical field but of course I only know about the country I live in).

So that is some good news 🙂

[savinggrace]

Hello,

 

I had my first dose of the Moderna vaccine 4 days ago and have felt like I am in withdrawal ever since. I had minimal side effects (sore arm, mild headache, nausea) but I am waking every hour at night with shocks and nightmares and general muscle rigidity. Has anyone noticed this?  Research on this is minimal and generally unrecognized. It is recommended to “talk to your physician” which is a joke to me. I wonder if this will settle down as the vaccine takes hold. I am just worried it will de-rail me for a long time. I really want to follow through with both injections but it is going to be extremely difficult to get the second one if these symptoms haven’t abated. Anyone else had this difficulty?  I have w/d symptoms to EVERYTHING I try that is new to me. I cannot tolerate baby doses of supplements I need. I appreciate any input. Thank you. 
 

Grace

[savinggrace]

I am surprised there has not been a response to this post.  Surely I am not the only one experiencing this...unless many of our members are not eligible for vaccines yet, which seems unlikely.  I am by no means advocating for, or against, vaccines.  Just wondering if anyone else had what feels like a withdrawal reaction.

[mickde1]

I been wondering for a while now what the effects may or may not be  with the introduction of a covid vaccine to body does it effect WD symptoms ? what i've read about these vaccines, new RNA are very new and in a way unknown clinical  testing stages are  incomplete and more importantly i haven't read of any cases of WD suffers experience with the covid vaccine  if there's someone out there that has had the vacc's shot that would like to share their experience i muchly appreciate it 

 

looking up and forward 

[manymoretodays]

Thank you savinggrace, @savinggracefor sharing your experience.

And @mickde1

merged recent vaccine posts to covid19 topic.

[NoMoreLexapro]

Got my first Moderna shot 7 days ago.  A little pain at injection site for 2-3 days but other than that, no effect on me whatsoever.   However, I got the pneumonia 23 shot in early Jan and that was much worse...

[mickde1]

I retract post already posted 

[Superwoman]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:51 PM, savinggrace said:

I am surprised there has not been a response to this post.  Surely I am not the only one experiencing this...unless many of our members are not eligible for vaccines yet, which seems unlikely.  I am by no means advocating for, or against, vaccines.  Just wondering if anyone else had what feels like a withdrawal reaction.

I wonder if people are posting about the vaccine in other places on here, like their introduction thread?   I have only heard from 2 people on here who have gotten the vaccine.  Both had only a sore arm.  I am not eligible yet.   My parents, grandma and sister got the vaccine and they had mild typical vaccine effects such as sore arm, aches, fatigue.  It was either the Moderna or Pfizer.   None of them are in AD withdrawal.   I notice that the farther down I reduce the AD the less I react to things.   Anyone else notice this?   I think the antidepressant is causing me to react to stuff.  

[Snowyowl16]

I have had both doses of the Moderna vaccine. Only a sore arm initially but on day 10 had what they are calling a delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction in the vaccinated arm. After that I had extreme anxiety for almost 2 weeks. Constant anxiety waves day and night. Of course it may have been in my head. 12 hours after dose 2 I had chills and intense headache with dizziness and nausea if I stood up. It gradually lessened and was gone within 36 hours. Not sure if withdrawal played a part but I have not had such a prololonged period of anxiety since I reinstated at a dose too high early on.

[Snowyowl16]

Superwoman..I have also noticed as my dose is reduced I react less to things. It used to be I couldn't stand strong smells (haven't worn perfume in years), bright light, touch etc. It was as if my whole body was electrified. It is better now except for the waves.

[ChessieCat]

5 hours ago, Superwoman said:

I wonder if people are posting about the vaccine in other places on here, like their introduction thread?

 

The mods are merging all covid topics into the original one.

 

Yes, some members have mentioned in their Intro topic that they have had the vaccine.

 

I've created a topic in the Introduction forum requesting members to post their experience here.

 

 

[ChessieCat]

Found this so posting here:

 

On 1/13/2021 at 11:46 PM, Fightinghard said:

 

Quick update from the Covid shot. 

 

...

 

  In terms of the shot, my arm is sore but nothing else.  I think it did very little to my WD symptoms if anything.  We’ll see how today goes.

 

 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by ChessieCat

[Venkat]

I had my 1st shot of covid vaccine (COVAXIN) 7 days ago. 

Did not have any problems with it .

[SelmaLady]

I had my first Moderna shot a little over three weeks ago.  I first experienced a sore arm and on the third day post injection, I woke up at 3am with some pretty intense akathisia.  That lasted for a few hours, then subsided to a low "buzz" for another day or so.  I have a history of horrific full blown akathisia and I'm super sensitive to so many things that I'm probably not going to get the second injection especially since Snowy Owl had the experience if intense prolonged anxiety.