Peter23 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 I can relate to so much that has been written here about antidepressants. I developed tardive dysphoria after being on them for 25 years. I am now virtually off antidepressants but still suffer terribly because of the tardive dysphoria. I feel suicidally depressed, anxious,worried and restless every day. I struggle to get out of bed and to get washed and dressed. Everything seems like an impossible task. I have been like this for over 2 years and despair that I will feel better. It took me about 18 months to taper off Sertraline. Does anyone else have experience with tardive dysphoria? Will I ever recover? Link to post
Administrator Altostrata Posted January 17 Administrator Share Posted January 17 Welcome, Peter. I moved your post here to start your Introductions topic, where you can report your progress and ask questions about your situation. How long have you been off sertraline? Did you have withdrawal symptoms while you were tapering? What does "tardive dysphoria" feel like to you? This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to post
Peter23 Posted May 3 Author Share Posted May 3 Thanks. I have been off Sertraline for about 3 months. I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms coming off it, as I tapered very slowly. The dysphoria feels like being in a constant state of low mood, severe anxiety, restlessness, worry and dissatisfaction. Link to post
Administrator Altostrata Posted May 4 Administrator Share Posted May 4 @Peter23 did you have any withdrawal symptoms as you came off? What method did you use to taper? This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to post
Peter23 Posted May 5 Author Share Posted May 5 No I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms as I came off Sertraline. I used the liquid form of the drug and reduced the dose by 10 per cent every four weeks. My problem is that I developed "tardive dysphoria " while I was on the drug. I have been on three antidepressants over the past 25 years. Venlafaxine (Effexor) 150mg : Sertraline 150mg : Mirtazapine 30mg. I was on both Sertraline & Mirtazapine for a few years so had to come off the Mirtazapine first and then the Sertraline. I am now off both of these drugs and feeling really awful. My psychiatrist tried me on Trazodone more recently and I felt even worse. So have now decided that I need to tough it out without any antidepressant with the desperate hope that my nervous system will eventually recover. I now accept that there is no pill to fix me. Link to post
Marmot Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Hi Peter, Welcome to the forum. Really sorry to hear what you have been put through. I also have the low mood and high anxiety since my taper. I don't have any answers for you, just letting you know that you're not alone. I guess my gardening helps me a bit with the struggle but that's about it right now, planted some wildflower seeds and hoping they sprout. Anyway, peace. 2004: Clonazepam and Celexa. 2005 - 2006: Effexor, then increased to high dose, then switched to Valproate and Seroquel. 2007: Wellbutrin + Strattera + Celexa. 2007 - 2008: Wellbutrin + Adderall + Paxil. 2008 - 2012: Wellbutrin + occasional SSRIs when I had worsened "depression", which happened around 4 times, usually after CT of WB. 2012 - 2014: WB + Sertraline, then WB + Pristiq (awful W/D) then WB + rTMS, then ketamine. 2014 - 2016: Wellbutrin 200 mg + Abilify 4 mg + Adderall 20-40 mg + Cipralex 20 mg. Oct 2016: "Tapered" Cipralex, felt outrageously anxious, irritable. Dec 2016: "Tapered" Adderall, then felt depressed, hopeless, fatigued. Feb 6 2017: reinstated 20 mg Adderall. Mar 2017: switched to Vyvanse, upped to 30 mg. May - Aug 2017: "Tapered" Vyvanse + Abilify to zero. Oct 25, 2017: Wellbutrin from 200 to 100 mg. Sep 10, 2018: Wellbutrin from 90 to 60 mg. Oct 29, 2018: WB from 60 to 50 mg. Dec 19, 2018: WB from 50 to 45 mg. Apr 15, 2019: WB 41 mg. May 14, 2019: WB 37 mg. Jun 8, 2019: WB 33 mg. Jul 22: WB 30 mg, then down by around 10% per month. Aug 2020: 0 Working hard to take my life back. Anything I say here is as a friend or peer supporter; it is not medical advice. Link to post
Peter23 Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 Thank you Marmot for your kind words of support. It means a great deal to know that I'm not alone. Sounds like you too are going through a really tough time. I do hope that things improve for you given time. Link to post
Peter23 Posted May 6 Author Share Posted May 6 Do you think I should ask my psychiatrist for ECT? I feel so desperately unwell and afraid that I am going to commit suicide. Link to post
Fallensoul Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 Peter, have you considered rtms? I also became in very bad shape after being on paroxetine for 18 years. I suffer almost 3 years now. I don't know what the cause is,( I hypothese downregulated serotonine receptors). I'm still in the tapering proces, after several faild attempts to other Ad's. I hope you will improve. 1998-2020 Paroxetine 20mg, stopped working 2018/08 tapered down to 6mg now @ 1%/week 2019 /04 Lorazepam 3x1mg, 1x0,5mg night, Lormetazepam 0,5mg night2019/05 Buspirone addition 3x5mg worked like wonders for one month, stopped ct 2019/12 Mirtazipine, first 2x10mg til 2021/2, no effect, now 3mg for sleep2020/06 Wellbutrin 6 weeks, no effect stopped ct 2020/08 Lexapro, trying, to crossover, got crazy from 1 mg/day after 6 days, stopped2020/11 Clomipramine to 50mg, adverse effect, restless, panic, low mood, anxiety, fast taper down to 30 (plan is go to ~20 and hold and taper only parox. and benzo's and maybe Mirt if I sleep) 2021/1 3x1000mg gaba, 3x10mg Lithium Orotate, 3x 1000mg L-Tyrosine,2-3 times 1x400mg magnesium citrate , 2-3 times 1x1000mg vit. C,1x15mg Zinc, 3 times 2mg Molybdeen Glycinate, 2 times 2000mg Omgea 3-6-9 and 1x16mg B6 (P5P) 2021/03/17 Gaba, Tyrosine and Lithium orotate to 3x1 tablet. 2021/03/17 Cl 30, P 5,8. 2021/03/20 Cl 28. 2021/03/23 M 2,7. 2021/03/25 M 2,6, Cl 26, P 5,7. 2021/03/28 Cl 25. 2021/04/1 P 5,6. 2021/04/07 Cl 24,P 5,5. 2021/04/08 Cl 23,5. 2021/04/13 P5,4 2021/03/26 Lor 3x0,9, 1x0,45 night, Lorm 0,45night 2021/04/13 CL 23, M 2,5. 2021/04/16 Cl 22,5, P 5,3. 2021/04/18 M 2,4. 2021/04/24 Cl 22. 2021/04/29 M2,3, P5,28. 2021/05/8 Cl 21,5. 2021/05/9 M 2,2, P 5,22. 2021/05/12 Cl back to 22, 2021/05/20 Lor 3x0,8, night 1x0,40 Lorm 1x0,40 2021/05/27 Cl 20(holding)2021/05/28 P5,15 (holding)2021/05/31 Cl 22 (holding) 2021/06/7 Lor 3x0,75 1x0,38 night, Lorm 0,38night 2021/11/7 P5 Link to post
Peter23 Posted June 2 Author Share Posted June 2 Hi Fallensoul thanks for your message. Hope things improve for you. I'm not sure if rtms is available in the UK or on the NHS. I have now been off antidepressants for around 6 weeks. Having some better days, but also some very difficult days. Just hoping that antidepressant abstinence will allow my brain to heal gradually. With best wishes. Link to post
Fallensoul Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 If you have better days, that's a good sign! Thanks and keep it up. 1998-2020 Paroxetine 20mg, stopped working 2018/08 tapered down to 6mg now @ 1%/week 2019 /04 Lorazepam 3x1mg, 1x0,5mg night, Lormetazepam 0,5mg night2019/05 Buspirone addition 3x5mg worked like wonders for one month, stopped ct 2019/12 Mirtazipine, first 2x10mg til 2021/2, no effect, now 3mg for sleep2020/06 Wellbutrin 6 weeks, no effect stopped ct 2020/08 Lexapro, trying, to crossover, got crazy from 1 mg/day after 6 days, stopped2020/11 Clomipramine to 50mg, adverse effect, restless, panic, low mood, anxiety, fast taper down to 30 (plan is go to ~20 and hold and taper only parox. and benzo's and maybe Mirt if I sleep) 2021/1 3x1000mg gaba, 3x10mg Lithium Orotate, 3x 1000mg L-Tyrosine,2-3 times 1x400mg magnesium citrate , 2-3 times 1x1000mg vit. C,1x15mg Zinc, 3 times 2mg Molybdeen Glycinate, 2 times 2000mg Omgea 3-6-9 and 1x16mg B6 (P5P) 2021/03/17 Gaba, Tyrosine and Lithium orotate to 3x1 tablet. 2021/03/17 Cl 30, P 5,8. 2021/03/20 Cl 28. 2021/03/23 M 2,7. 2021/03/25 M 2,6, Cl 26, P 5,7. 2021/03/28 Cl 25. 2021/04/1 P 5,6. 2021/04/07 Cl 24,P 5,5. 2021/04/08 Cl 23,5. 2021/04/13 P5,4 2021/03/26 Lor 3x0,9, 1x0,45 night, Lorm 0,45night 2021/04/13 CL 23, M 2,5. 2021/04/16 Cl 22,5, P 5,3. 2021/04/18 M 2,4. 2021/04/24 Cl 22. 2021/04/29 M2,3, P5,28. 2021/05/8 Cl 21,5. 2021/05/9 M 2,2, P 5,22. 2021/05/12 Cl back to 22, 2021/05/20 Lor 3x0,8, night 1x0,40 Lorm 1x0,40 2021/05/27 Cl 20(holding)2021/05/28 P5,15 (holding)2021/05/31 Cl 22 (holding) 2021/06/7 Lor 3x0,75 1x0,38 night, Lorm 0,38night 2021/11/7 P5 Link to post
JesusSavemefromWD Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 On 6/2/2021 at 7:35 PM, Peter23 said: Hi Fallensoul thanks for your message. Hope things improve for you. I'm not sure if rtms is available in the UK or on the NHS. I have now been off antidepressants for around 6 weeks. Having some better days, but also some very difficult days. Just hoping that antidepressant abstinence will allow my brain to heal gradually. With best wishes. How are u doing? I feel dysphoria non stop after just 3.5 weeks on Zoloft, are u getting any relief? I hope so Aug. 16-17, 2020, cipralex: went CRAZY! Recovered in 24hrs Aug.28,2020; 3.5 weeks 25mg sertraline/4.5 weeks taper Oct. 25: Last dose (4mg) Symptoms while on zoloft DPDR/out of my body/soul despair/feeling dead;eye floaters/ tinnitus/no appetite; constant fear, anxiety/panics 4 months OFF: pure hell soul despair, anxiety/fear, brain disconnection/ DPDR, brain feels swollen-numb/crazy/bedridden barely functioning, tinnitus, eye lid twitches; face spasms. Feeling slightly better after 10pm. - sleep & appetite are fine 9 months OFF: Constant hell, no windows, same symptoms as above (only eye and face twitches have stopped) plus intense arm/shoulder pain and visual issues. Tinnitus replaced by head buzzing. 10 months-1 year: all above symptoms, plus Insomnia (out of nowhere), depression, no peace of mind (mental Akathisia?). No windows or feeling better late nights. Sept 2021-present 2.5mg melatonin Link to post
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