quickquestion: Should I reinstate paxil?

[brassmonkey]

I am thinking that the trigger is stress related than diet, but the massive change in diet could be adding to the stress. Once you get things settled on the stress/diet front then it is just a matter of time for things to calm down. How long is anyone's guess, but probably in the range of a month or so.

[quickquestion]

@brassmonkey thanks for the quick reply and your reassurance. It is MUCH appreciated. 

 

I am confused though - what type of stress are you referring to? Other than the change in diet, and taking the vitamin d and advil, there have been no abnormal stressors. The stress I was referring to was the change in diet. Also, I am not having windows. I will have times when I don't feel as awful, but nothing close to my baseline prior to this. 

 

Does this make any difference? Thanks again.

 

 

[brassmonkey]

Sorry, I was getting the idea from the subtext of your posts that there was more going on than just the diet change. I'll have to reread some posts and see if anything else suggests itself.

[quickquestion]

@brassmonkey Great, thank you. Please let me know if anything comes to mind!

[quickquestion]

@Shep I was hoping that you may have some insight here. I have seen many of your posts relating to setbacks, and was wondering if you think my current, unusually bad wave could have been caused by what my doctor called a “starvation” diet?

 

thank you 

[quickquestion]

@Shep I am still not noticing any improvements and have been in this constant state of symptoms, mainly body anxiety and depression, for almost a month now. The issue with my colon is still not resolved, although I am eating more and have put on weight again. It has been a week and a half since I started getting sufficient calories, but still cannot take fish oil like I was before. Do you think my system just needs more time to settle?
 

I am still somewhat concerned this was caused by the aspartame in the child’s Advil I took, even though it was about 1/20th of the amount in a diet soda. 
 

Any insight would be much appreciated.

[Shep]

On 2/17/2021 at 2:57 PM, quickquestion said:

My shift in diet was immense, going from a fully balanced diet with 3500 calories a day and lots of healthy fats, to 1200-1500 calories a day of BRAT diet.

 

On 2/19/2021 at 6:16 PM, quickquestion said:

@Shep I was hoping that you may have some insight here. I have seen many of your posts relating to setbacks, and was wondering if you think my current, unusually bad wave could have been caused by what my doctor called a “starvation” diet?

 

thank you 

 

The gut is the second brain, Quickquestion, so it very well could be diet related.

 

I looked up the BRAT diet and it's Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast. If done for enough time, you could be suffering from malnutrition. 

 

Now that you're eating better, hopefully your symptoms will resolve in time. 

 

Please note we cannot help with medical conditions not related to withdrawal, so please seek medical care for colitis if you feel this is unrelated to normal withdrawal symptoms. 

 

Let us know how you're doing over the coming days. 

 

[quickquestion]

@Shep

@brassmonkey

 

Checking in again. It's been 6 weeks since this setback began and almost 4 weeks since I started eating a normal amount of calories again. I really haven't noticed any improvement whatsoever, with the main issue being crushing, awful depression and hopelessness. While I have had some of these symptoms during withdrawal, many are new. More importantly, I have never had constant symptoms like this - I am having no windows. For the first 5 months off of Paxil, I would have symptoms that would come for a few days and then be replaced, but all manageable. 

 

I am really at a loss and don't know what's going on. Can setbacks (that aren't caused by kindling or strong drugs such as antibiotics) cause symptoms that you've never had before? I still think this was either set off by 1) diet, 2) advil/aspartame, or 3) the resulting panic attack. I was doing okay before and now am on the verge of taking time off of school. I can't really find any analogous stories on SA that resemble what's going on with me.

 

Any guidance or reassurance would be much appreciated. Thank you so much.

[Shep]

15 hours ago, quickquestion said:

For the first 5 months off of Paxil, I would have symptoms that would come for a few days and then be replaced, but all manageable. 

 

I am really at a loss and don't know what's going on.

 

It's possible you're now in delayed withdrawal. SSRIs are notorious for causing a delayed withdrawal that doesn't hit for several months after coming off. Just knowing this may help. There's nothing unusual about this at all. Just part of the withdrawal process, which also means it's part of the healing process. It just takes time. 

 

This also may help, from the thread One Theory of Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome

 

On 5/24/2011 at 10:59 PM, Altostrata said:

My guess is: The first phase of withdrawal, the acute phase, is the initial shock of withdrawal, with the most defined symptoms, such as brain zaps and nausea and possibly waves of unusually intense "depression" and "anxiety" -- actually, emotions generated by the neurological upset. Later, glutamatergic hyper-reactivity and autonomic instability take over. Often the autonomic instability causes wide hypersensitivity to drugs, supplements, and even foods.

 

[quickquestion]

@Shep

thank you for your response. 
 

In these cases of delayed withdrawal, is it common to not have any windows? The depression I am experiencing is constant, maybe fading marginally at night. 

[Shep]

Some people don't have windows and experience withdrawal as a very long process of feeling pretty bad. That doesn't mean you won't heal. We just experience withdrawal differently.  The fact that you're feeling a bit better at night is a good sign. It's likely the reduction of cortisol. Please see:

 

Early-morning waking - managing the morning cortisol spike

 

If you feel much worse very early in the morning and those symptoms ease up in the evening, it's likely cortisol at play. 

[quickquestion]

@Shep

 

thank you. 
 

I have one more question if you don’t mind. I have been through several posts but there is one thing I am unsure of is a rumor or not. Does the fact that I am still taking seroquel to sleep impact my Paxil withdrawal at all? Do people tapering from multiple drugs fully heal from the withdrawal of one while still on another?

 

I don’t plan on tapering seroquel now as I am clearly destabilized, but am curious as I can’t find an answer to this. Thanks again.

[Shep]

11 hours ago, quickquestion said:

Does the fact that I am still taking seroquel to sleep impact my Paxil withdrawal at all? Do people tapering from multiple drugs fully heal from the withdrawal of one while still on another?

 

Withdrawal involves nervous system dysregulation, which can come from dependency on either or both drugs. As you lower your overall drug burden, you may feel better if you're having side effects from either or both drugs. Some people feel better while others continue to struggle until they're off all drugs and have given their nervous systems time to recover. 

 

If the Seroquel is helping you sleep, than that will make you feel better overall and more able to handle the daytime withdrawal symptoms.