Elysium: waves starting with balloon sensation in head?

[Elysium]

I am only 3 months into the withdrawal process so I am learning a lot rather quickly. So far my first 2 waves have started with a sudden ballooning sensation in my head. The feeling is brief but after that my anxiety is heightened and balance is off. Weird head sensations continue for a few days and then my skin starts burning or tingles which starts the intense withdrawal. The first balloon sensation was triggered on the second lap of a mile run and the other most recent time was triggered by being on my phone for an extended period of time. 
 

I did some brief research and it seems like it could be some sort of nervous system head ache? My symptoms didn’t match up perfectly but it was all I could find. 
 

Can anyone relate? 

[ChessieCat]

  

Hi Elysium and welcome to SA,

 

It sounds like it is a withdrawal symptom.  Other members have experienced similar sensations.

 

Q:  What other symptoms are you experiencing?  You may be experiencing some symptoms which you haven't connected to withdrawal.  See the list in this link.

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen's Withdrawal Symptoms

 

Q:  Are you able to tolerate your current symptoms?

 

 

We need to know more about your drug history.  Please create your drug signature, include ALL drugs/supplements, current AND previous.  Please include the dates and doses for all changes so that we can see how you have tapered.

 

 

Instructions:  Withdrawal History Signature

 

 

Once we have more information we will be better able to assist you specific to your situation.

 

However, I will give you some general information.  SA recommends tapering by no more than 10% of the current dose followed by a hold of about 4 weeks to allow the brain to adapt to not getting as much of the drug.  When we taper too quickly we can experience withdrawal symptoms.

 

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

This topic continues links to specific drugs and tips for how to get the dose you need:

 

 

Important topics in the Tapering forum and FAQ

 

This is your own Introduction topic which is the best place to ask questions and journal your progress.

 

 

And here is a message from Altostrata, SA’s founder.  Recently she was interviewed.  It is well worth listening to because it explains how SA came about and where/how the knowledge/information which is on the site was attained.

 

 INTERVIEW with Altostrata, SA's founder    

  

On 11/7/2020 at 8:23 AM, Altostrata said:

 

One of the things that's very important to each person here is knowing that healing is possible. Please don't just go away when you feel better! "Pay it forward" by updating your Intro topic with your progress

 

 

[Elysium]

Hey Chessie I updated my signature! Before we get into my issues I just wanted to extend a thank you to everyone who makes this website possible. This is my first post but I have been reading the threads in times of need. You all are the most selfless people I’ve seen and I thank you so much for what you do. 
 

So for my symptoms; currently have mood swings, brain fog, some skin sensations. I’m not in a bad state at the moment but if it’s anything like my last wave (2 weeks ago) then the skin sensations will get worse over the next couple of days and there will be a week long recovery period. 
 

I can’t tolerate my symptoms, I won’t let them bring me down! 
 

I understand now that I did not taper correctly and it is a deep regret of mine. I’m confident that the 10% rule would have worked for me. I’m following the 10% rule from here on out. Since I have come so far I am opposed to updosing and starting over, that would feel like I’ve wasted the last few months. I am worried about having protracted symptoms similar to Alto and others. If I could get guidance on whether I should updose or not that would be good. 

I am learning that pushing myself too hard or even being on my phone for too long can trigger these waves. Just frustrating that I just got done with one 2 weeks ago. And I hate that I can’t exercise like I want. 

 

As a side note my supplements are zinc, D3, Vitamin C, Fish oil, Magnesium as needed, and plenty of exercise. 

[ChessieCat]

October 2020- finally stabilized for a while. Lowered again to 0.5mL oral solution. 

November 2020- Waves of withdrawal, still holding at .5 mL. 

 

Please change the dosage to mg.  Thank you.

 

*Just wanted to add that as soon as I started my taper in May 2019 I felt amazing and had the best year of my life until I crashed in September 2020* 

 

That's interesting that you say that.  I had been taking citalopram for many years and then had several major life stressors in a short period of time and had a major breakdown.  At the time I didn't realise that it was due to the drug reaching tolerance.  Because I felt rotten on the drug and felt that it wasn't doing anything I decided to stop taking it.  I felt great for a couple of months, like you I feel better than I had for a very long time.  Then I crashed and spent 2.5 weeks bedridden, unable to eat and lost 8kgs.  It felt like the flu but it was different.  When I joined SA I learned that it was delayed withdrawal.

 

Q:  How do you feel after making a reduction? 

 

Q:  Do your symptoms seem to improve for a while and then begin to worsen?

 

or

 

Q:  Do you begin to feel withdrawal symptoms and then as time goes on they start to lessen?

 

The reason I ask this is because it depends on your response to these questions what the next step will be, ie decrease or updose.

[Elysium]

After making that reduction from .6mL to .5mL I had about two days where I didn’t feel well and then it went away. I didnt have any withdrawals on the other reductions. So far it seems my withdrawals have been triggered by something I have been doing that is taxing. 
 

 

[ChessieCat]

36 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

October 2020- finally stabilized for a while. Lowered again to 0.5mL oral solution. 

November 2020- Waves of withdrawal, still holding at .5 mL. 

 

Please change the dosage to mg.  Thank you.

 

11 minutes ago, Elysium said:

reduction from .6mL to .5mL

 

Please discuss drug doses in mg not mL otherwise it can become very complicated and mistakes can be made.  Thank you.

[ChessieCat]

12 minutes ago, Elysium said:

After making that reduction from .6mL to .5mL I had about two days where I didn’t feel well and then it went away. I didnt have any withdrawals on the other reductions. So far it seems my withdrawals have been triggered by something I have been doing that is taxing. 
 

 

 

Okay then it's unlikely to be poop out / tachyphylaxis / reached tolerance.

 

That being the case than a tiny updose might help your reduce your symptoms.

 

Once you change the mL to mg we will be better able to suggest an updose amount.

[Elysium]

Sorry these withdrawals are messing with my focus a bit so the math is difficult haha so when I left the hospital I was taking 1.2 mg which is .625 mL and now I’m on 1 mg at .5 mL 

[ChessieCat]

Okay, that's more helpful.  Please change it in the drug signature.  Thanks.

[ChessieCat]

Before I can make an updose suggestion I need to know the dates.

 

Please add DATES to your SIGNATURE.

 

22 minutes ago, Elysium said:

I was taking 1.2 mg which is .625 mL and now I’m on 1 mg at .5 mL 

 

You made a 16.6667% decrease so an updose might help reduce the withdrawal symptoms, but I need the dates as mentioned above.

[Elysium]

I switched up my signature I hope this helps. Also is there an oral solution syringe that is popular on here when making minor adjustments? 

[ChessieCat]

Thank you for adding more information to your drug signature.

 

1 hour ago, Elysium said:

Also is there an oral solution syringe that is popular on here when making minor adjustments? 

 

using-an-oral-syringe-and-other-tapering-techniques

 

19 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

You made a 16.6667% decrease so an updose might help reduce the withdrawal symptoms

 

Citalopram

March 2020 - 2.5mg   50% decrease

 

September 2020- 1.25mg   50% decrease

October 28, 2020- 1mg   16.7% decrease

 

You could try updosing by 0.05mg or 0.1mg (ie to 1.05mg or 1.1mg).  It takes about 4 days for a dose to get to full level in the blood and a bit longer for it to register in the brain.  It's better to increase by a small amount than to risk taking too much.  If after one week you have had NO improvement you could increase by a tiny bit more.  If after 1 week you have noticed some improvement you would reassess the symptoms after 2 weeks.

 

Please keep your own notes about your symptoms, improvement/worsening, so that you can be more objective.  Sometimes we don't actually feel improvement because we still don't feel how we want to feel but the notes can help with that.  It's also important to try and stay calm and not panic.  When we panic we can make bad decisions.

 

SA strongly encourages members to learn and use Non-drug techniques to cope

 

Please let us know what you decide to do and update your drug signature if you do updose.

 

Please continue to let us know how you are.

 

 

[Elysium]

Just to update, I have not updosed yet and am currently not working so I can rest up. Hoping that the longer I rest, the longer my next window will be. Currently not experiencing any skin sensations but I am dealing with the emotional symptoms. Very bad depression and randomly will feel like bursting into tears but I’m not a cryer so I can’t get anything out. Also when I’ve been focusing or looking at my phone for too long it feels like someone is slowly drawing on the back of my forehead, last for about 3 seconds and fades away. Exercise helps but I’m nervous to do too much of it. Praying for another window soon. No need to respond to this I just saw one of the success stories make this into a journal almost, it helped reading that. I read my first success story last night and it helped so much. I soaked up the positivity like a sponge. 

[Elysium]

Had a few days of decent mental health with only a few symptoms but now the skin sensations are starting again. Skin feels tight and itchy. Sensitivity to light and sound is creeping in. This sucks so bad, this is my third wave in the last month. Still have not tried the updose. For some reason I’m opposed to going back up at all seeing as it feels like a backwards step in my progression 

[Elysium]

Hey guys not sure if this has happened to anyone else but I started a fresh bottle of oral solution yesterday and I feel completely different than I did on the previous bottle. About an hour after I took it I felt amazing and calm, the next day was great as well, almost too good? Today wasn’t as good a new symptom of high cortisol and heightened anxiety which I didn’t feel before. Not sure if this has happened to anyone else?