AgusHey4511: Amitriptyline and topiramate possible withdrawal symptoms. Help for complete detox

[AgusHey4511]

So let me introduce myself. I’m a male of 19 years old from Argentina. I discovered this forum through the Reddit’s Talk Therapy forum and I’ve been seeing some Peter Breegman videos that have very good explanations about the psychiatric drugs so I decided to do something about my situation. I was having a lot of severe symptoms of OCD and anxiety and I’m now diagnosed with depression and anxiety. The thing is that before being diagnosed psychologically I went to a neurologist because of my pediatrician because I was having so heavy headaches. The neurologist gave me these 2 meds thinking it was Post-COVID headache and it wasn’t. The doses changes are described in my signature section and as you can see I’m not taking any meds but while I was taking them my symptoms nor my headaches diminished and I was feeling like a zombie. Now that I’m off the meds I’m not like a zombie but I feel like my mind doesn’t function like before. I feel like my mind is less sharp and is like sticky. I’m still depressed having headaches and I think I’m still expieriencing withdrawal symptoms. Can you help me to fully detox my brain of these meds? Because I had no idea that it was bad to taper with that dose changes like you can see in my signature. Now I’m not taking them but I don’t know if I have to start taking them again, how to do it, etc. I wanna start therapy because I really need it but I think I can’t in this situation where my brain doesn’t function normally. Please help me if you can! Thanks for reading!

[getofflex]

Hello, and welcome to SA.  We are a volunteer-run community of people who have been or are getting off of psychiatric drugs.  Congratulations for getting off the psychiatric drugs!  Your brain should slowly improve, until it functions normally again.  These things take time, because the brain is very complex.  Are you having any other symptoms?  Luckily, you were only on the drugs for a short time.  

 

Here is some information about how these drugs actually work.   This explains why we get symptoms from going off of these medications. 

 

How Psychiatric Drugs Remodel Your Brain

 

 

This helps you understand what withdrawal syndrome is: 

 

Video on Recovery from Psych Drugs

 

Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

 

Here is a link with checklists of common WD symptoms: 

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen Withdrawal Symptom Checklists

 

 

Here are some techniques to cope with symptoms: 

 

Non Drug Ways to Cope with Withdrawal Symptoms

 

Stability is really important when we are tapering off psych meds.  Please read the link about stability:

 

Keep It Simple, Slow, and Stable

 

 

We don't suggest many supplements, but 2 that many of us find helpful are magnesium and omega-3 fish oil. Here are the links for info about those. It is suggested to add one at a time, and start with a low dose to see how it affects you. 

Magnesium

Omega 3 Fish Oil

 

This link talks about the brain fog.  You will probably recover more quickly that some of the people in this link, because you are so young, and you were only on the drugs for a short time.  

 

Brain Fog

 

Please keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.  

[AgusHey4511]

@getofflex

 

Hey getofflex! Thanks for the answer!

 

About the symptoms that I have:

 

Well, as I said I felt like a zombie when I was taking those tablets (they weren’t capsules, sorry for the mistake). Now I can be more focused but I think that my cognition and my attention are not at a 100% percent yet. I feel like my mind it’s like sticky and not as sharp as before and the headaches are not as hard as before also, now sometimes I have like a very intense pressure.

 

The doubt that I have is about if it’s necessary to take the meds again or I can simply just let my brain heal without taking them again. I went to a psychiatrist and she said to me that I need meds for my depression but I don’t want to be worse than I’m now because the effects of the psychiatric drugs can be very bad and risky as I read and I think I can resolve it with therapy having in count the bad experience that I had with the drugs. By the way she didn’t tell me what drug/s she wants me to take. If I can continue without taking psychiatric drugs it will be better I think.

 

What’s your opinion?

[getofflex]

3 hours ago, AgusHey4511 said:

The doubt that I have is about if it’s necessary to take the meds again or I can simply just let my brain heal without taking them again.

We personally do not feel that these meds are necessary to take.  They help some people to reduce symptoms in the short term, but in the long term, they are shown to actually increase depression and anxiety, and make it more chronic.  The vast majority of psychiatrists and doctors are brainwashed by the drug companies, who make billions of dollars per year from these drugs.  Let me give you some information about this:  

 

Robert Whitaker, author Anatomy of an Epidemic video

 

Chemical Imbalance is a Myth

 

Mad in America - Robert Whitaker archives

 

I've seen too many people here jump back on the drugs after getting off, and usually, they only get worse.  Your nervous system will heal, given lots and lots of time, and good self care.  The keys are time, patience, and persistence.    Sometimes life is just difficult, and we get depressed for a time. The medical profession has pathologized painful emotions such as anxiety, depression, sadness, etc.  There are many non drug ways to help with depression and other emotional states.  

[AgusHey4511]

@getofflex

Ok so, about my symptoms now I think I’m starting to have some stitches in my head. It’s like the headaches are changing. Could it be a sign that my brain is recovering its stability and its balance little by little or something related to that?

[getofflex]

On 4/12/2022 at 8:57 PM, AgusHey4511 said:

Ok so, about my symptoms now I think I’m starting to have some stitches in my head. It’s like the headaches are changing. Could it be a sign that my brain is recovering its stability and its balance little by little or something related to that?

Quite possibly.  The symptoms do have a tendency to morph and change.  You'll hear about that if you watched the videos in the links I gave you in my initial post.  

[AgusHey4511]

@getofflex

 

I see. So I think I’m quite stabilized now. Obviously that my brain isn’t healed completely yet but I have a question. Is it good to go to therapy even if your brain is fixing the disbalances created by the meds or it could worsen the situation? I mean, does the therapy function while being in this state or not too much?

[getofflex]

This is a question I can't answer for you.  It depends on what you are going to therapy for, and what type of therapy it is.  It is generally suggested on this forum not to go to therapy for trauma, as this can be very intense.  If you are going to therapy to help you deal with mundane day to day situations, I'd say that's fine, but if you want to go to address highly emotional, intense things from the past, then if it were me, I would wait until the nervous system is pretty stable.  

[AgusHey4511]

@getofflex

 

Yeah, ok. That makes sense.

 

About my symptoms the last week I think I had the first time that I was able to go to the bed and sleep naturally. Before that time I was having problems falling asleep. It took me around 2 hours to do it until that time but fortunately I was able to do it the last week, I think 3 days maybe.

 

The thing is that because I was feeling better I decided to go and play some tennis the Thursday 14 and the Friday 15. The thing is that I also went to play yesterday and when I went to sleep I had to wait again 2 hours in order to fall asleep. I woke up and I also think that the sleep quality decreased.

 

Maybe going to play tennis worsened the healing process? What do you think?

[getofflex]

3 hours ago, AgusHey4511 said:

Maybe going to play tennis worsened the healing process? What do you think?

Yes, exercise can definitely set us back - moderate to intense exercise can cause us to produce adrenaline, which is an activating hormone, and this will make it harder to go to sleep.  I do believe the tennis probably did cause this for you.  Try gentle exercises like walking.  Tennis can be pretty intense.  I used to enjoy tennis when I was younger.   No worries, this should resolve itself in a few days or so. 

Edited April 19, 2022 by getofflex

[AgusHey4511]

@getofflex

 

Yes. Adrenaline was what I thought about. Makes sense. But the question is: how do I know if my brain is ready or not to go to therapy without chemicals’ impediments?

[getofflex]

11 hours ago, AgusHey4511 said:

how do I know if my brain is ready or not to go to therapy without chemicals’ impediments?

That's a subjective question that only you can answer.  If it were me, I would wait until I had minimal withdrawal symptoms. 

[AgusHey4511]

@getofflex

 

Ok. It’s hard to wait because I have depression and I want to go to therapy.

 

Having in count that I had OCD, despite the fact that I don’t feel anymore like a zombie, I’m not able to ruminate. And what I try to say with this is that I think that my mind is really stuck and I don’t know how to be more in flow in that aspect.

 

What do you think about this?

And by the way, thanks for answering my updates!

[getofflex]

I don't have an answer to this question, I don't know.  Please do not tag me repeatedly.  Reserve tagging for dire situations, such as severe withdrawal.  We are all unpaid volunteers, and there are many members here and few staff.  Read this from our site creator Altostrata.  

 

- Overuse of tagging to get reassurance from the staff

Please be aware that the staff is all unpaid volunteers, who often have worries, jobs, families, and health issues of their own. While we do our best to help, none of them can fulfill the role of therapist or social worker. You cannot expect them to fulfill your emotional needs. 

 

If you want to go off psychiatric drugs, you must learn to manage habits of mind that might have led you to seek psychiatric treatment originally. These habits of mind may include: Irrational worrying, health anxiety, perseveration (repeating the same thing over and over again), rumination, inability to make decisions, needing constant reassurance, chronic pessimism, chronic hostility, finding fault with everything.

 

These habits of mind might have caused you a great deal of distress in your life, as well as causing distress to your family, friends, and employers, who may have urged you to seek psychiatric treatment. While we are sympathetic to the pain these problems have caused you, there is no way around your responsibility. If necessary, you may need to engage the services of a psychotherapist or other counselor to learn those self-management skills.

 

The staff here cannot meet the emotional needs that overwhelmed your family, friends, and employers, and it is unfair and exploitative of you to expect them to.

 

If a staff member communicates to you that you are wearing them out, please do not continue to demand their attention. We require you to respect the time, and dedication of the staff and limit tagging them to important questions about tapering or withdrawal symptoms. 

 

Be mindful not to exhaust the patience of a volunteer staff member. They may refuse to respond to your posts. They are people too, and too much can be too much.

 

If your demands for attention are extreme or if you overuse tagging, you may get warnings and eventually be banned from this site.

 

This is found in What Will Get You Warned or Banned

Edited April 23, 2022 by getofflex

[AgusHey4511]

Ok. Sorry for the tagging. I’m not very used to this site but yes, sorry for the excessive tagging.

[AgusHey4511]

Now I think I’m doing well compared to the time when I was taking the meds. It’s like the most present symptom it’s the brain fog. Like my mind being a little bit sticky and stuck and the rumination doesn’t run too much through my mind (I know it’s a bad thing but you know what I’m talking about). So having in count what I read on the links about it I think it should be disappearing with the time.

 

And by the way getofflex, sorry again for the overuse of tagging.

[getofflex]

On 4/27/2022 at 5:06 PM, AgusHey4511 said:

I think it should be disappearing with the time.

Yes, it will, very slowly.  It takes a long time for the brain to recover.  

 

On 4/27/2022 at 5:06 PM, AgusHey4511 said:

And by the way getofflex, sorry again for the overuse of tagging.

No worries. 

[AgusHey4511]

Can walking be too much to provoke the body to create the sufficient amount of adrenaline to worsen the symptoms?

[ChessieCat]

exercise-do-more-do-less-do-nothing-what-worked-for-you

 

[AgusHey4511]

Ok, so as I understand it depends on our own singular regulation.

 

Another question, can the brain fog cause you to not be able to regulate yourself? For example: feel like you loose your limits and you are being bad without being able to control it? Like, your superego doesn’t send you signals, or at least not so strong signals?