Mandrake Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 Has anyone experienced feelings to complete worthlessness during their withdrawal and thereafter. While I have experienced depression in my life before I withdrew from my meds (and before I first started taking meds) but it was never like this. I feel like everything I have done in my life is totally meaningless and pointless, and this feeling combined with my burning nerve pain, insomnia, and serious head pressure makes it very hard to get through every day. Even when friends and family try to engage me with the various professional and personal milestones in my life, I cannot take in what they are saying -- I continue to feel totally worthless and wonder whether I will ever have a positive feeling again. Effexor 56.25 mg 1996-2018 tapered off in 3 months — last dose May 31, 2018 Temazepam 15 mg August-Oct 2019, switch to 7.5 mg Valium to taper, last dose Feb 2019 Trazodone 100 mg January 2021 began taper April 2021 three 12.5 mg cuts every two weeks. Upped dose 6.25 mg late May 2021, current holding at 62.5 hoping to stabilize Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Onmyway Posted August 3, 2021 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2021 (edited) 14 hours ago, Mandrake said: Has anyone experienced feelings to complete worthlessness during their withdrawal and thereafter. While I have experienced depression in my life before I withdrew from my meds (and before I first started taking meds) but it was never like this. I feel like everything I have done in my life is totally meaningless and pointless, and this feeling combined with my burning nerve pain, insomnia, and serious head pressure makes it very hard to get through every day. Even when friends and family try to engage me with the various professional and personal milestones in my life, I cannot take in what they are saying -- I continue to feel totally worthless and wonder whether I will ever have a positive feeling again. Hi Mandrake, yes, it is a common withdrawal symptom. Withdrawal is like putting on really ugly glasses and seeing everything through them. For months in the beginning I was disgusted by everything including myself. It was very unpleasant. So it is important, then, to recognize that it is withdrawal speaking in your mind and it is a false advisor. It is giving you wrong and biased information. It is your brain misfiring in its attempts to bring you back to balance. Recognize that and change the channel. You don't need to be giving yourself a 360 feedback right now. Be who you are, worthful or worthless - you have the right to be who you are. In terms of how to help this feeling - there are a few CBT techniques that might help. I would look into it. Philosophically speaking, who even determines our worth? What makes one person worthless and another one not? What are the criteria for this? I don't think it is a useful point of even considering. I can't ever judge another person as worthless or worth-ful so why should you judge yourself along those lines. You are here and you're enough. That's what matters. Edited August 3, 2021 by Onmyway "Nothing so small as a moment is insurmountable, and moments are all that we have. You have survived every trial and tribulation that life has thrown at you up until this very instant. When future troubles come—and they will come—a version of you will be born into that moment that can conquer them, too." - Kevin Koenig I am not a doctor and this should not be considered medical advice. You can use the information and recommendations provided in whatever way you want and all decisions on your treatment are yours. In the next few weeks I do not have a lot of capacity to respond to questions. If you need a quick answer pls tag or ask other moderators who may want to be tagged. Aug 2000 - July 2003 (ct, 4-6 wk wd) , citalopram 20 mg, xanax prn, wellbutrin for a few months, trazodone prn Dec 2004 - July 2018 citalopram 20 mg, xanax prn (rarely used) Aug 2018 - citalopram 40 mg (self titrated up) September 2018 - January 2019 tapered citalopram - 40/30/20/10/5 no issues until a week after reaching 0 Feb 2019 0.25 xanax - 0.5/day (3 weeks) over to klonopin 0.25 once a day to manage severe wd March 6, reinstated citalopram 2.5 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 mg for sleep 2-3 times a week Apr 1st citalopram 2.0 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 once a week (off by 4/14/19- no tapering) citalopram (liquid) 4/14/19 -1.8 mg, 5/8/19 - 1.6 mg, 7/27/19 -1.5 mg, 8/15/19 - 1.35, 2/21/21 - 1.1 (smaller drops in between), 6/20/21 - 1.03 mg, 8/7/21- 1.025, 8/11/21 - 1.02, 8/15/21 - 1.015, 9/3/21 - 0.925 (fingers crossed!), 10/8/21 - 0.9, 10/18/21 - 0.875, 12/31/21 - 0.85, 1/7/22 - 0.825, 1/14/22 - 0.8, 1/22/22 - 0.785, 8/18/22 - 0.59, 12/15/2022 - 0.48, 2/15/22 - 0.43, 25/07/23 - 0.25 (mistake), 6/08/23 - 0.33mg Supplements: magnesium citrate and bi-glycinate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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