Abir - 2 months after antidepressants withdrawal

[abir]

thank you so much Altostrata...

last night i did not take any meds either.. the only symptom that i had was my anxiety is back... before reinstating zoloft, i did not have these anxiety symptoms at night, they started at 5 am and continued until 3pm but last night they started in the early evening, had them all night and now in the morning still having them... they are not as bad as before re-instating zoloft so i guess the zoloft effect is still here..... my plan now is to go back on zoloft, half a dose.. i will take it in the morning instead of at night...

thanks again for all the help Altostrata...

[Altostrata]

You might want to try a much, much smaller dose, such as 2mg or 5mg, to be on the safe side.

[abir]

I will ask my doctor because i need a prescription for the compounding pharmacy to create the solution for me...thanks again

[Altostrata]

If you can't get a compounded prescription, you can mix your own liquid with water, see http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1441-tips-for-tapering-off-zoloft-sertraline/

[abir]

thank you, i got the prescription and found a pharmacy.. but we are going to wait until i am able to sleep again..i still cant sleep at night (or during the day) since reinstating zoloft and this is killing me..

[Hudgens]

Abir, I get the burning feeling in the center of my chest many times in the morning. I usually lay in bed then doing slow, abdominal breathing, and it comes down to the managable level in about 20-30 minutes. Anxiety can get to the point when it's searing especially during a classic panic attck.

 

Really hope you're feeling better, Benz

[abir]

thanks benz... this burning in chest/legs/arms is very minimal now , i think/hope it will go away as the zoloft effect is gone from my body...

[abir]

Altostrata, i can't pretend that i am able to read/understand all the info you posted... but one question - since my symptoms seem to be related to the autonomic nervous system (breathing, heat regulation, nausea, sleep...etc), is it too late or inappropriate to reinstate AD?

[abir]

Altostrata, i read somewhere how you described how the flight or fight response system gets over-activated whenever we try to relax..this seems to be what is happening with me.. at night, i sleep for 1 hour and then wake up feeling nauseous, not breathing easily, overwhelmed, can't go back to sleep ...even during the day, when i get too tired and lie down, i end up feeling worse, again the nausea, breathing difficulty, even a little anxious..etc you said there that going back on AD does not help, actually it can do more damage... what can help the autonomic system recover?? especially with the insomnia? you said something that would gently lower cortisol,, like what??

[Altostrata]

Abir, you took too much Zoloft to reinstate.

 

You have an adverse reaction PLUS withdrawal syndrome.

 

All of this affects your autonomic nervous system.

 

See our Symptoms and Self-care forum for suggestions on how to help your system heal.

 

In the meantime, if I were you, I surely would make a liquid from the tablets I had and take a very small amount of Zoloft, say 2mg, to help the withdrawal symptoms -- as I've said many, many, many times.

[abir]

you're right, you did... sorry i keep asking the same questions over and over... thanks so much for saying it one more time

[abir]

this is my 6th month after stopping AD... this past month was the worst, still is... today, i will be starting zoloft again at 2.5mg (the 25 mg i tried last week made me worse).... i hope this dose will help...

[abir]

ok so now, i have to wait for 4 days, and if i don't see improvement by then, then i would increase the dose to 5mg?

again thanks for all the help...

[Altostrata]

No, just don't expect to see definite signs of anything for 4 days.

 

If you get worse immediately, stop it.

[abir]

thank you Altostrata... i will do that... thanks again

[abir]

please bare with me, my brain has been dead for more than a month and my body so weak i can barely eat...not sleeping is making everything worse too.... please forgive me if i am rambling..

it is hard to judge if i got worse because since i took that 25 mg about 12 days ago everyday is different... yesterday i took the 2.5mg at noon, at night i was able to sleep better than the 2 nights before, i slept for 3 hours in total...however last night i felt a little nauseous and felt like my breathing was not easy, and these are among the symptoms i got when i took the 25mg so i think i can say that i got worse?? it is hard to analyze... so i won't take it today... does this mean that i should try a smaller dose tomorrow or is it too late for me to reinstate the meds at this stage?? if this is the case, then what is next??

again, sorry i know i don't make sense sometimes, i am trying really hard to hang on and you are the only one who can help.... thank you so much... i realize i am asking so much of you, i know, i just don't know what else to do,,, thank you again

 

i should add that not sleeping at all at night started only after i took 25 mg zoloft.. 5 days after the last pill (took it for 3 nights) my sleep got better for a couple of nights then bad again for a couple of nights - don't know what it went bad again... then i took 2.5mg zoloft and i slept but got the other symptoms i mentioned earlier...

so should i stop, or take a smaller does>

[abir]

sorry i should also say that the nausea and effort in breathing that i had last night were not nearly as bad as when i took the 25mg zoloft

[Altostrata]

You've still got too much in your bloodstream from the 25mg, it was too much for you, it will take about 4 days to go down.

 

I would keep taking 2.5mg and STAY CALM.

[abir]

what do you mean by 4 days ? the last 25mg i took was saturday 10 days ago

[Altostrata]

Sorry. Try the 2.5mg for 4 days at least.

[abir]

oh i see... thank yo uso much

[abir]

hi,

i think the 25mg effect has gone now and i have taking the 2.5mg since monday...

again, i stopped the 25mg about 12 days ago because although it stopped my anxiety it gave me insomnia and other symptoms... i went on 2.5mg because i felt that anxiety was back after few days of stopping the 25mg... the anxiety was back yesterday but was not too bad, today is worse... i was able to sleep for most of the night until 6:30, when i woke up with this anxiety... i am going to wait till tomorrow and see how i feel, but if the same does that mean that i should increase the dose to 5mg?? as always, thank you so much for all your help

[Altostrata]

It's hard to tell what symptom is from what but it's possible the anxiety is a withdrawal symptom.

 

How does it compare now to just before you started 2.5mg?

[abir]

thanks for the reply.. it is hard to tell especially because before i started the 2.5 i was still under the effect of the 25mg which i took for 3 days, and during those 3 days and maybe 4 days after i stopped i did not have any anxiety..which was great because the only reason i went back on AD in the first place was because of the horrible anxiety...maybe it is a little better now than before i started 2.5..

how does re-instating AD usually work? do you start low and keep going up until we feel better? i know, maybe in my case it is a little more complicated because i waited for 5 months before i decided that i can't take any longer and decide to go back on AD.. thanks..

sorry, are you wondering if it is withdrawal versus sensitivity to zoloft (like zoloft is too strong for me now?) .. if this is what you mean, it is definitely not sensitivity to zoloft, because when i took the 25mg it was too strong for me but still it relieved my anxiety, just gave me insomnia...

[Altostrata]

How about the breathing issues?

[lexicon]

Hello Abir,

I hope that you are stable now and not going through all the torture.

But I wanted to say that I identified with you, your withdrawal symptoms., such as the anxiety,

the twitching in the hands and feet, the breathing problems. These are the worst, as they trigger my anxiety attacks ..They include my nose too ..my nose plugs up, and I smell terrible smells ..Do you experience that ..?

I too have, end am suffering with these symptoms ..

I know too well being jerked awake, like something is alerting you to breathe ..

I am sorry you had to endure all that ..

I nope the 2.5 Mg will help you ..I had Sertaline jerked abruptly from me by my doctor, along with Lexapro ..That was almost 3 months ago, and am still suffering with debilitating withdrawals, especially in my head ..

So hang in there, and please have faith that one day we will be whole again ..We are in good, and carrying hands here ..

Thinking of you, and wishing you well ..xx

[abir]

the breathing issues (feels like my body stops breathing everytime as i am falling asleep)started a week before i went back on zoloft but it used to happen around 6am and not every day... the first night i took zoloft 25mg it happened all night starting from 2:30 am, the next night started at 11:20pm...the third night, i took half a pill, i could not sleep from nausea until early morning, when nausea was gone but that breathing issue came back...then stopped that dose of zoloft... the breathing issues continued for the next 8 days but they were other symptoms that stopped me from even getting to the point of falling asleep (hot flashes more like burning sensation inside the bone of my chest, neck, arms and legs, body jumping as falling asleep, some anxiety...etc.. ) so it felt like the breathing issues got better but maybe they were masked by other symptoms that did not allow me to get to the point of falling asleep???....

then started 2.5mg but like you said i was probably still under the effect of the 25mg too: first night slept for 1 hour then for the rest of the night was experiencing shallow breathing, breathing that stops, mausea but all these were mild compared to 25mg... the next night i slept much better, no breathing issues..

and last night i slept until i woke up at 6:30 with anxiety... but what is weird is that i don't feel it in my chest and stomach as much, i feel it in my legs and arms (weird tingling feeling in legs and arms that comes with anxiety)... i think i started getting this feeling in legs and arms on the third day of zoloft when i took half a pill... don't know if this is withdrawal from the 25mg.....this is too complicated, i am so sorry...i am keeping a diary of my symptoms and still it is still so hard for me to give you a useful summary... my brain is still dead and the symptoms are not predictable or consistent.... i am so sorry about my messy description of my symptoms

[abir]

thank you so much lexicon for our encouragement... i hope you will feel a lot better soon...

nose symptoms:no i don't think i do... but i get days when every smell, noise bother me...

i hope you are right, i hope that we will all get over this soon.... it is so hard right now, and so scary not to know what is coming next... but you are right, we are so lucky to have the support and the knowledge of the people on this site... so lucky...actually you just reminded of something: i have been having this huge painful pimple inside my nose since my withdrawal symptoms started but i never thought it was related to that!!!

[Altostrata]

abir, give the 2.5mg another few days. If the restlessness in your arms and legs continues, you may wish to increase it to 5mg.

 

Did we talk about taking fish oil and magnesium? See http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/36-king-of-supplements-omega-3-fatty-acids-fish-oil/

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1300-magnesium-natures-calcium-channel-blocker/

[abir]

oh so this is what it is called: restlessness in legs and arms?

i am taking fish oil and i will check out your link, thank you...

i am mostly worried about my anxiety, it is the worst, it starts early in the morning and it is pure torture until late afternoon.. you are right, i need to wait, hopefully tomorrow will be better... thank you so much Altostrata...

[abir]

I don't know anymore what is happening..last night was worse. I slept for one Hour and woke up with racing heart and feeling too hot... Don't know if I fell asleep again... I had bad dreams as I am falling asleep... Kept waking up as I am falling asleep with a bit of a racing heart... It was not like this before I went back on Zoloft..I used to sleep till 5 or 6 the wake up with clear anxiety with all the symptoms in chest,stomach etc... I can't find a pattern in my current symptoms. Don't know if I should stop Zoloft or wait..don't think I should increase it until I am able to sleep

[abir]

Those bad dreams I got also on the third day after taking Zoloft 25mg...OK maybe I should take 2.5 again today and see what happens...sorry for all the messy posts

[lexicon]

I am saddened that you are still in distress Abir ..

Maybe you should continue on the 2.5 Mg until you are stable ..

Thinking of you, and wish that you will find some serene time, to be able to relax and sleep ..

Praying for your well being ..

[abir]

Thank you so much ...wishing you the same..yes I will take 2.5 today..thanks again

[lexicon]

Abir, are you feeling at all better?

I hope so .. Wishing that you will have a serene night. ..Lexicon

[abir]

Thank you lexicon...it was a better night, no bad dreams and maybe I slept for 2 hours...hoping that my day will be better than yesterday too, without anxiety or sensitivity to smell and noise...thanks again