Relief : I need relief now

[Relief]

Hi,

 

I am 24(F). I have a history of depression, GAD, and OCD. I have a brief history in the past of celexa and Prozac for depression/ocd symptoms. They all worked very well. Prozac was for depression. I haven’t been depressed since. I used celexa for coming off of depo because I’m very sensitive to hormones. That worked while it did. I’ve not had a horrible experience with either. I was even able to stop cold turkey without any problems. 
 

Flash forward to summer 2020. I start having an OCD flare up. I needed something fast as you know pandemic stresses aren’t good for mental health. I got on Bupropion HCL twice a day. It was wonderful it worked very well. I got on 150 XL in November. It was still good for the most part. It kept my intrusive thoughts at bay. I got COVID in December and that’s when everything went down hill. I have horrible covid anxiety now. I stopped taking my bupropion like I should have. I was inconsistent. I’d skip days. It stopped working as well as I was losing energy, short term memory was bad, brain fog, and I noticed my intrusive thoughts came back. Well, I didn’t take it for three days and that was the straw that broke the camels back. I normally didn’t have problems skipping days until this day. I took it on an empty stomach with coffee and had the worst panic attack of my life. It was like that for the rest of the week. I had high nerves, vertigo like feeling, brain fog, and panic attacks. My doctor wanted me to quit cold turkey but I couldn’t. I should have tbh. We tried tapering. She put me immediately back on the 75 mg hcl twice a day for ten days then once for 10 days. I couldn’t even get through the twice a day. I went down to one this week. I also had a CBD gummy unwittingly not knowing that cbd and bupropion can have adverse reactions. Needless to say, I had a horrible reaction. I was so high. I thought I was going to go into psychosis. (I wasn’t that’s just my ocd trying to figure out why the hell we were reacting like that)

 

it set me back so badly. I kept taking the bupropion for a couple of days after that. So my doctor told me to start Effexor 37.5 and stop the bupropion. It was ineffective because of how I was taking it and the withdrawals were horrible. So the next day I took the 37.5 Effexor with vitamin D and omega 3. I needed to get back on my supplements. I know you’re not supposed to take it on an empty stomach and I paid for it. I had the worst reaction to the Effexor. I had really bad nausea, my blood pressure shot up to 140 (I’ve never had high blood pressure in my life), I had hot flashes through my arms and chest, and heart palpitations. I was so exhausted. My doctor told me to immediately stop taking it. That was yesterday. I slept most of the day yesterday. I feel so much better than I did. Just on edge. My BP went down and so did my heart rate. I’m having minor GI issues and I’m a little disoriented but nothing compared to yesterday. I feel better than I was going through the bupropion withdrawals. I’m not dissociating or going through derealization . Effexor probably shocked the hell out my system. I’m just tired. My doctor wants me to start lexapro tomorrow. I still have to treat the panic and ocd I’ve got. I feel safer with SSRIs. But I don’t want to overload my system. I feel like I’ve shocked my system as it is. I just want to know what’s going on and what should do. It was my own irresponsibility that got me into this mess. I should have taken the bupropion like I should have. My ocd is so bad now because of all the adverse reaction. I don’t want to end up in a psychiatric hospital. My family just wants me to keep throwing pills at it until it stops. They think I’m overreacting now. I don’t think I am. I’ve never had a reaction like this on or coming off of Prozac and celexa. This is horrible! Any advice is appreciated

Edited February 24, 2021 by Erell

[Erell]

Hello

 

And welcome on SA. 

 

This site is run entirely by volunteer Administrators and Moderators, all have been through or going through withdrawal.

There are no commercial interests or influences  involved.

 

--》 I understand that you've given the infos above but could you please create a drug signature ? Please include drugs, dates, discontinuations. Also include supplements. This will help us give you the most accurate advice we can, and allow us to see your history at a glance.
 

This is a direct link to your signature:

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

I'm so sorry for what you've been through. Unfortunately, doctors don't realise how powerfull these drugs can be, and how destabilised our Central Nervous systems can get.

 

It seems that you have withdrawal symptoms from a too fast taper from Bupropion and Effexor might have added fuel on the fire.

 

We usually advise people to do a very slow taper (no more than 10% drops every 4 weeks) and to never skip doses to taper.

 

---》 When exactly did you stop taking Bupropion ? (Date)

---》 Are you now drugfree ?

 

On 2/20/2021 at 7:56 PM, Relief said:

I’ve never had a reaction like this on or coming off of Prozac and celexa. 

 

Thanks to thousand of testimonies, we notice that the more we change/updose/stop drugs, the more our CNS become sensitive.

This is probably why you managed to stop previous drugs easily but are now having some issues.

 

On 2/20/2021 at 7:56 PM, Relief said:

My doctor wants me to start lexapro tomorrow. I still have to treat the panic and ocd I’ve got. I feel safer with SSRIs. But I don’t want to overload my system. 

We do not recommend to add new drugs to treat withdrawal symptoms : your CNS has been through quite a shock, there's no way to predict how it would react to new drugs.

 

We recommend our members to learn non drug coping skills to deal with symptoms.

For example, some people find great help with CBT to deal with OCD :

 

cognitive-behavior-therapy-cbt-for-anxiety-depression-and-withdrawal-symptoms/

 

And :

 

online-cognitive-behavior-therapy-lessons/

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry you're going through this, we do know how hard it can be. It does get better with time, really.

 

And I'm also sorry that had to go through Covid : do you feel like you recovered ?

What are your current symptoms ?

 

Again, welcome ☺

[Relief]

I’ve updated my signature. I stopped taking the Bupropion after 1 75 mg dose on February 17th, 2020. I stopped cold turkey because my doctor wanted me to try Effexor. Had adverse reaction to Effexor the next day. I am now cold turkey from all meds.

 

I had covid a week before Christmas. It was an extremely mild case. My smell and taste isn’t 100% recovered. Other than that I thought I was fine. I guess not. They are saying it takes covid people 6 months to a year to fully recover. The bupropion was causing me extreme fatigue already. I don’t feel like I’m fully recovered from anything with the addition of coming cold turkey off of meds. 
 

current symptoms are fatigue and senses are not 100%. As far as withdrawal goes: I still have heightened anxiety, panic attacks aren’t as intense, tinnitus is back to normal, I can hear clearer now, and my vision isn’t as blurry. Intrusive thoughts aren’t as extreme. 
 

I have never dealt with something like this before or to this extreme. I’ve always been kind of anxious but it’s manageable. I’ve never had panic attacks like this or this random. I know it’s the medication and exhaustion of numerous factors. I never needed medication for every day. If I could just get something for anxiety only and taken as needed I would be alright. I need to recover. I want to return to work. It’s like I’m agoraphobic and reclusive which is unlike me. Any and all advice is appreciated. I want to be okay again. I currently have a therapist and I am taking magnesium and a probiotic for my gut health. That is it. 

[Altostrata]

Hello, Relief.

 

It sounds like maybe you have some lingering symptoms from covid, such as fatigue.

 

Other than that, it's possible you have post-discontinuation symptoms from inconsistent bupropion dosing and the adverse reaction to Effexor. Post-covid syndrome might be involved in the anxiety, too.

 

It might be best for you to try non-drug treatments for your anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Can you work with a psychotherapist on stress reduction techniques? Also see 

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

Easing your way into meditation for a stressed-out nervous system

 

Music for self-care: calms hyperalertness, anxiety, aids relaxation and sleep

 

Ways to cope with daily anxiety

 

Many people find fish oil and magnesium supplements helpful, see

https://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/36-king-of-supplements-omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil/

https://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/15483-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

 

You might try a little bit of one at a time to see how it affects you.

 

Please let us know how you're doing.

[Relief]

Hello,

 

Felt like I should give an update. I was diagnosed with PTSD. Anxiety isn’t any better. I’ve turned agoraphobic. It’s hard to leave my house. I’ve had to take a leave from work. I did a GeneSight test to see what meds would work best with me. Turns out majority of SSRIs are in the moderate interaction category. (Which I’m not sure how to feel about the test as it said Effexor was well tolerated for me....which wasn’t true) Which is most of what I’ve taken. I got a psychiatrist, she wanted to get my OCD under control. She prescribed me Zoloft 25mg and then wanted me to go up to 50mg. Well, it sat in my cabinet for a long time. I didn’t want to go through the same reaction I had with Effexor and coming off the bupropion. Zoloft ended up being one of those SSRIs that I could have a moderate reaction to. As in, I should only keep it low and I  have something that could interact with the medication to make it ineffective. I got desperate. I split the 25 mg in half to slowly get used to it. So it would be about 15? 12.5, I’m not sure. I only made it to the third day and the side effects were unbearable. It’s not just standard insomnia and nausea, although I have it. I’m talking brain zaps at the base of my skull. A general feeling of malaise. I feel so out of it. It made my. DPDR agitated. I cried all day. I’m grinding my teeth. It’s heightened my anxiety. I feel generally unwell. Apparently, it’s common to have hellish side effects at first. You have to push through it. I don’t have that kind of time. I need to get better. I need to return to work. Im probably being too hard on myself. As far as long haul covid goes, I’m in a heart monitor for 14 days due to heart palpitations. My hr can go up to 130 walking or higher. My resting hr is never below 80. I’ve got to see a cardiologist for an echocardiogram.  My ANA came back positive so I have inflammation and I need to see a rheumatologist now. Some of my symptoms have subsided over time. It’s just mental ones now. I’m so very exhausted. I am starting EMDR for my PTSD/OCD. I will be starting DBT pretty soon with CBT. I gave up my supplements, but I will restart. I’m trying to get my health back on track, it’s extremely overwhelming. Headspace meditation app helps somewhat. Meditation calmed me down a lot. I need to continue it. I’m not nearly as bad when I first came here, but I still can’t leave my house or drive....so that’s not good either. I’m probably doing all the wrong things. Things aren’t good right now. I don’t want to keep trying on medications.