Pacmile: the rough road

[Pacmile]

Hi all. My journey stared back in 2009 when I had a severe panic attack. My PCP prescribed me 20mg Celexa and 1 Mg per day of Klonopin. In 2017 I was switched over to Prozac. Later that year I decided I wanted off The Klonopin and tapered rapidly until March of 2018 when I jumped off. I immediately began acute withdrawal symptoms. The worst of it lasted for about 3 months and slowly I started seeing small windows. By June 2018,  I was starting to feel much better and began getting on with my life again. 

 

The goal was to get off all the meds at some point. I stuck with the Prozac on 20 mg until April of 2020 when I decreased to 10 mg. Didn’t experience much change but looking back now I see where SX were occurring. May 2020 I started a stagger taper (on my own) because I could not cut the dosages down in caplet form. October 2020 I jumped off last dose. November 9th 2020 I had a very upsetting situation at work occur and it Immediately through me into full acute WD symptoms.

 

Currently: 

I’m experiencing crippling insomnia, panic/anxiety, pins and needles feeling and heat in my hands and feet, tinnitus, dizziness, cog fog. Was in the ER twice for insomnia and the Dr reinstated me on 10 mg of Prozac, to try and stabilize me.  I had to quit my job because I have not been able to function in almost 4 weeks. The insomnia is the worst and exacerbates the symptoms.

 

I went through hell and back getting off benzos. But this situation feels a lot different and sometimes worse,  and I am feeling extremely discouraged at the moment. I know this is part of the healing process but I had such a long beautiful window after the Benzos that this time around feel so much more difficult. 

 

I am am here for support and to support and encourage others. Please say Hi. Looking forward to interacting with you all.

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by ChessieCat
reformatted font added spacing

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, Pacmile.  I'm sorry you're feeling so bad.  Please keep in mind that you will heal.  It may take some time, but you will recover from this.

 

As you know, you are experiencing antidepressant withdrawal from your decrease from 20mg to 10mg.  If by "stagger taper" you mean alternate day dosing, this also contributes to withdrawal.  The symptoms you describe are typical withdrawal symptoms.

 

When did the doctor reinstate you on 10mg Prozac?

 

So that you have a better idea of what you're experiencing, here is some information on withdrawal and the healing process.

 

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms (PDF) 

 

When we take psychiatric medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur.  

 

These explain the healing process really well.

 

Brain Remodelling 

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

Right now you need to stabilize on your current dosages.  Make no changes for several months. Then, once you've stabilized, you can begin thinking about tapering.  We recommend tapering by no more than 10% of tour current dose every four months.  We never recommend alternate day tapering.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Again, this is for the future after you've stabilized, but this link is specifically about tapering Prozac.  There are many methods for tapering Prozac.  The easiest and most accurate is to taper with prescription liquid Prozac.  Other methods are also discussed in the link.

 

Tips for tapering off fluoxetine (Prozac)

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members 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. Get supplements that are single ingredient (not mixed with other types of supplements).

 

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

 

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Gridley

[Pacmile]

Thanks Gridley

 

the Dr reinstated the 10mg on November 20th. Still in the window 

[Jennings]

I just hopped on here to say congrats on getting off the Clonazepam.  I too tapered off a benzo after being on it for a long period of time.  I agree it felt like hell and back.  But this AD withdrawal is some different type of hell.

 

When I got through the benzo withdrawals I felt like I could beat anything after what I endured.  I'm sure you felt that way too.  Try to keep that in mind during this too.

[Iman]

Hey there Pacmile

 

You're not alone in the department of insomnia. But just wanna make you sure that u WILL sleep eventually and ur brain will definitely ,sooner or later, find a way to fix this. U had the same brain when u could sleep, ur brain is just readjusting and this too shall pass. Try some contolrolled amount of Valerion root extract or a mouthful of rose water to help alleviate ur symtoms.

 

Have faith in urself and ur powers.

[Pacmile]

Thanks Jennings! When I was in the ER twice they gave me a rescue dose of Ativan. I’m hoping that doesn’t take me back to square one again 

[Pacmile]

Iman

 

thank you for the insomnia advice and encouragement. I have just had to let sleep happen when it does instead of trying to force myself to sleep at an early hour every night. That was just feeding into the big anxiety monster and created a paradoxical situation. I have to learn to trust the process again and listen to my body. 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Pacmile
Spelling

[ChessieCat]

2 hours ago, Iman said:

Try some contolrolled amount of Valerion root extract

 

@Iman  Please do not tell a member to try something because it might make them worse.  But you can tell them what you tried and whether it worked for you.

 

Pacmile before trying anything please do your own research.  There are many existing topics on SA where members discuss their own experiences.  Use a search engine and add site:survivingantidepressants.org to the search term.

 

valerian-root

 

Because our nervous system can become sensitised SA also recommends starting with a small dose and only try one thing at a time to see how you react to it:

 

the-rule-of-3kis-keep-it-simple-keep-it-slow-keep-it-stable

 

This is SA's insomnia topic:

 

Sleep problems - that awful withdrawal insomnia

 

[SSRWhy]

Pacmile, I'm sorry this is all happening to you.  This will pass.  I'm still having problems 18 months off the ssri but it has gotten better and it will get better for you too.  When things get bad for me it helps to think about the fact that my brain and body weren't always like this.  If it was possible to feel good at some point in your past it is possible to feel good at some point in your future.  The brain can heal.  It just takes time.  

[Iman]

@ChessieCat Thanks for the heads-up ChessieCat. You're totally right. Apologies for that. As u mentioned one has to begin with very small amounts to see whether the remedy works for his/her nervous system or not. For my case though, the small amounts of rose water and valerion root tincture seem to mitigate insomnia when I'm exeperiencing WD during my tapers.

[Pacmile]

@Iman thanks I will look into that! 

[Pacmile]

@SSRWhy

Thank you for the encouragement!!!

[Pacmile]

Last night was particularly bad with the anxiety! Had a wave hit that lasted from 9pm to 2am. That was the worst!!! 

[Pacmile]

After a terrible wave of anxiety last night and after being on a terrible 4 week long insomnia kick, I feel asleep early this morning around 4am. Woke up at 10 am and have fallen back to sleep every couple hours all day. Is this part of the healing? Is my body trying to catch up on missing sleep?

[Pacmile]

Last night I slept all night sans waking every few hours for a minute. Dreamt all night long. Noticed around 7 am my cortisol levels spiking pretty high. Is this a common occurrence? Any insight is appreciated 👍🏻

[Gridley]

16 hours ago, Pacmile said:

Is my body trying to catch up on missing sleep?

Insomnia is one of the most common withdrawal symptoms, and, yes, your body will try to catch up on sleep when it can.  This is a common occurrence.

 

23 minutes ago, Pacmile said:

Noticed around 7 am my cortisol levels spiking pretty high. Is this a common occurrence?

Cortisol spikes in the early morning are also a common withdrawal symptom.  

Early-morning waking - managing the morning cortisol spike ...

 

 

[Pacmile]

Thanks Gridley, did a search here and was just reading up on that 👍🏻👍🏻