Furlow: joint instability and paresthesia

[Furlow]

Hello: I was on Zoloft (50-75mg) for 3 months 19 days. While on I ended up with euphoria, my wrist along with my low back loosened up (instability). I chalk this up to exercising while my body was having a bad reaction to the sertraline. This led to extreme back pain. There have been times where I thought I may have been hit with a bit of serotonin syndrome. Psychiatrist seemed to think so. My whole torso locked up. Anxiety over the situation led them to increase my dose to from 50-75mg. 4-6 weeks in the paresthesia hit (burning) throughout my body. I subsequently quit cold turkey. It has been 19 months now of protracted withdrawal. I have been through the wringer when it comes to general and naturopathic doctors, treatments, topical hormones, b12 shots, and supplements. All of which exacerbated the withdrawal. I recently felt that I was having a bit of a breakthrough with my naturopath. He prescribed suma root and ginseng. This was to help with my adrenals and get my testosterone up. Also, I have been seeing a prolotherapist to address the instability in my wrist/low back/hips. He keeps pushing the testosterone thingy, because it’s needed when it comes to rebuilding ligaments. Well…has anyone else recovered from joint instability/cracking/popping/ligament pain/weakness? Also, the paresthesia has ramped back up due to the suma root (adrenal support). It initially helped but then made me worse. One more thing…I’ve had some pretty in-depth tests which have confirmed a b12 deficiency. I’m in the 267 range. I have been fearful to touch the stuff again. Any advice or encouraging replies are welcome. 

 

PS: I do feel like the anxiety and depression from the WD has been getting more under control.

 

I've had two MRI's and two x-rays (low back/pelvis) and everything looked fine. 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2020 by ChessieCat
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[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, Furlow.  That's great that the WD anxiety and depression are getting better.  That's a very encouraging sign of healing from protracted withdrawal.

 

Regarding the B12, some members in withdrawal have reported being hypersensitive to B vitamins, including B12.  

Hypersensitive to B vitamin or B vitamin complex? - Symptoms ...

Here's a link to give you some other members' experiences and opinion on testosterone.  Some mention withdrawal and the need to taper it if you start. Personally, I would be wary of it.  For more links, Google SurvivingAntidepressants.org testosterone

Testosterone - Symptoms and self-care - Surviving ...

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members (like yourself)  report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.

 

This is your Introduction topic, where you can ask questions and connect with other members.  We're glad you found your way here.

 

[Furlow]

Thank you for the detailed reply, Gridley! I will take your advice. I’ve been so confused regarding the b12. I’ve often wandered, is my parathesia from anemia or is it leftover SSRI WD? Every time I take the supplement/shot it initially makes me fell better, then quickly worse. The confusion for me lies in the amount of reviews where people have stated that when you’re anemic, you often get worse then better when taking b12. 

[Gridley]

2 minutes ago, Furlow said:

Every time I take the supplement/shot it initially makes me fell better, then quickly worse

If it happens every time you take it, it seems to me that you're having a negative reaction to it.  

 

5 minutes ago, Furlow said:

from anemia or is it leftover SSRI WD

 

I'm sorry, there's no way for me to know.

[Furlow]

Yes, that makes sense to me too. Thank you again for taking the time to respond.

[ChessieCat]

5 hours ago, Furlow said:

Thank you for the detailed reply, Gridley! I will take your advice. I’ve been so confused regarding the b12. I’ve often wandered, is my parathesia from anemia or is it leftover SSRI WD? Every time I take the supplement/shot it initially makes me fell better, then quickly worse. The confusion for me lies in the amount of reviews where people have stated that when you’re anemic, you often get worse then better when taking b12. 

 

Have you tried taking a very tiny dose of sublingual activated Activated Methyl B12?  It contains Mecobalamin, an active form of vitamin B12 found in the human body, which means it is directly available to be used as a coenzyme for numerous metabolic reactions in the body.

 

With antidepressants, adverse reaction is generally dose related and members who experience withdrawal symptoms from going off too quickly may be able to tolerate a very tiny dose which does not cause the adverse reaction but might help with the withdrawal symptoms.  It may be the same with B12.  A tiny amount every day may help.

[Furlow]

Thank you for the advice, ChessieCat! I will give that a try!