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☼ Cymbaltawithdrawal5600: Introduction


cymbaltawithdrawal5600

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Many thanks to Brassmonkey for this one. I am definitely going to have a happier life when I master this:

 

The Anger Spiral

 

There are pretty much four steps: 1) identify that it's happening, 2) defuse the situation, 3) change the channel, 4) go on with life.

 

Identifying the situation can be hard at first because it's very natural to fall into the spiral.  A person needs to go through the entire cycle several times to identify the pattern and understand the progression.  I find that I am several minutes into the pattern before I realize that it's happening again. Learning what ones triggers are is a good place to start and previsualizing situations where those triggers might occur.  That way a person can "keep on guard" when those situations arise. It's frequently the little things that set it off.  Getting cut off in traffic, a coworkers off comment, someones tone of voice.  When a spiral has ended I try to go back and coldly analyse it to see what the trigger was for future reference.

 

Defusing the situation is very important especially in "confrontations".  This is a matter of self preservation because things have a bad habit of escalating to violence, and that has a lot of ramifications.  The person who is angry is often deemed the "bad guy".  The one who hits first is always in the wrong, and the like. Because we're in the anger spiral that put us in the center of things and according to society we have to "control our selves".  So finding ourselves in a bad situation caused by our anger spiral we have to take control and make things right.  Trying to talk out way out of it won't work, the spiral is in control making it so we can't think clearly.  The best bet is to just walk away. It is much better to be seen as rude than violent.  Turn, walk away, relax, regroup and if necessary reapproach the subject from a different angle (work related things you just can't get out of) otherwise drop it and move on.

 

The key aspect of the anger spiral is ruminating thoughts.  Once the trigger happens it sets off of series of mental events that build out of control. There is the initial trigger which is frequently followed with a small flash of anger and then dropped.  A few minutes later the ruminating kicks in with an "I should have..." followed closely by "that's like when....." "those bahstids" "I always get treated like this..."  all these thoughts swirling around and compounding each other.  This builds until there is an explosion.  Changing the channel at "I should have..." is the best way out, but it can be done effectively at any point in the spiral.  As soon as one realizes that the spiral is happening changing the channel is called for. I frequently use a stern "don't go there" close my eyes, deep breath and concentrate on what I'm doing.  While distracted I do deep breathing and progressive relaxation to regain control of my body.  I can take several tries to get control back and I need to keep an eye on things so the spiral doesn't try to sneak in several hours later.  This is the part that takes a lot of practice but with time becomes second nature and very effective.

 

Once the spiral has been broken it is best to just go on with life.  The event happened, it was controlled, it's in the past, move on.  Later, after things have had a while to calm down, the situation can be reviewed in a rational manner to understand how it progressed and what worked to defuse it.  It now becomes a learning situation.  During this analysis it is important to use a cold eye so as to avoid re-triggering the spiral.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Excellent post!  I find Eckhart Tolle's writings/audio on the Pain Body very helpful along these lines, because a) it is my Pain Body that is being triggered and goes on with the ruminations and Anger Spiral and B) it is often another person's Pain Body that triggers my Pain Body.  If I can note to myself that this person's PB is acting up (I like to think of it like an entity in itself, more humorous that way), mine is less likely to be triggered :-)  And if mine does get triggered, I'm better able to recognize it and say to myself "ok, my PB is acting up."   Helps with the awareness.

 

SG

Started ADs back around 1995 after bad break-up, starting with Prozac.  Switched to Wellbutrin, and then to Effexor in 2002
Effexor XR 2002-2014 up to 225 mg at one point, down to 37.5 mg towards end but back up to 75 mg in 2014; now realize I had W/D as I dropped down, memory very poor about history.  Extreme emotions, poor concentration as I stepped back down, didn't connect the dots!
Summer 2014 reduced to 0 very quickly, was sick of anhedonia/sexual dysfunction due to meds, depression never controlled if not worse. Didn't recognize WD since symptoms built slowly (thought I had ADD! and menopausal on top of it), starting with severe sweats, very bad cog-fog and memory issues, culminating in weight loss, severe anxiety and depression, panic, severe apathy and insomnia by eight months off.  Saw p-doc who put me on Remeron, increased from 7.5 mg/day to 37.5 mg by May 22, 2015; still doing very badly though able to sleep.

June 1. 2015 Reinstated Effexor XR 37.5 mg, Remeron dropped to 30 mg PM. Immediate relief of symptoms, like nothing had ever happened!  Joined SA and began on advice of friend who recognized it was WD all along! Began tapering in July 2015.

Been tapering both meds ever since, focusing on one more than the other or doing no more than 5% of each per month.

12 mg Effexor and 5.8 mg Remeron (mirtazapine SolTabs to make a solution with OraPlus) as of 5/4/2017 

Update 3/14/18: 2.9 mg Remeron and 6 mg Effexor; 6/10/18:  2.6 mg Remeron and 4.9 mg Effexor

 

My intro: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/9313-squirrellygirl-effexor-withdrawal-etc/page-2#entry196679

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

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I think getting a blood thinner injection must be the standard the world over

In 2014 i fell off a ladder climbing onto the roof and spent a coule of days in hospital they wanted to give me a blood thinner injection i refused and then they said i have the right to refuse so i told them off for not informing me of that before offering me anything.

Made a strong point i didnt want anything addictive so the said ok here have some tramadol i took one tablet and then followed my gut instinct to refuse it ..later i got home and discovered it was an snri ...fooled again!!  Does anyone have any chance.

Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen

We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. 

URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting  for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing.

http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651   

Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos.

Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you

Recovering paxil addict

None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. 

This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! 

  "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped."  Dr Mosher. Me too! 

Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015

I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015

Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017

 

 

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Are you kidding me Nz????

 

One of the reasons I got out of nursing was all the pill pushing, charting and having to know more than the docs so we could catch medication prescribing errors. No time left for patient care, I mean real face to face care. They did not do it for mom when she was there... sitting at the station shooting the breeze or faces in charts.

 

Whose bright idea was it to start people on heparin anyway? Not only that but those injections sites are just another avenue for on opportunistic iatrogenic infection, which just might kill you quicker than a wayward clot, idk.

 

I am appalled at how much reliance on DRUGS has replaced the laying on of hands (and ears and eyes)...

 

PS. Tks for the VC shot! I'll do you a couple here soon...

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Alto on the web! (lol, couldn't resist...)

 

 

Their antics are precious! (Alto does not do antics, let me make that clear, lest I find myself on the outside looking in)

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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LOL!  Just wanted that kitten to cut loose!

 

SG

Started ADs back around 1995 after bad break-up, starting with Prozac.  Switched to Wellbutrin, and then to Effexor in 2002
Effexor XR 2002-2014 up to 225 mg at one point, down to 37.5 mg towards end but back up to 75 mg in 2014; now realize I had W/D as I dropped down, memory very poor about history.  Extreme emotions, poor concentration as I stepped back down, didn't connect the dots!
Summer 2014 reduced to 0 very quickly, was sick of anhedonia/sexual dysfunction due to meds, depression never controlled if not worse. Didn't recognize WD since symptoms built slowly (thought I had ADD! and menopausal on top of it), starting with severe sweats, very bad cog-fog and memory issues, culminating in weight loss, severe anxiety and depression, panic, severe apathy and insomnia by eight months off.  Saw p-doc who put me on Remeron, increased from 7.5 mg/day to 37.5 mg by May 22, 2015; still doing very badly though able to sleep.

June 1. 2015 Reinstated Effexor XR 37.5 mg, Remeron dropped to 30 mg PM. Immediate relief of symptoms, like nothing had ever happened!  Joined SA and began on advice of friend who recognized it was WD all along! Began tapering in July 2015.

Been tapering both meds ever since, focusing on one more than the other or doing no more than 5% of each per month.

12 mg Effexor and 5.8 mg Remeron (mirtazapine SolTabs to make a solution with OraPlus) as of 5/4/2017 

Update 3/14/18: 2.9 mg Remeron and 6 mg Effexor; 6/10/18:  2.6 mg Remeron and 4.9 mg Effexor

 

My intro: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/9313-squirrellygirl-effexor-withdrawal-etc/page-2#entry196679

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

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Thanks sweetie, glad you liked it!

 

PS. Not necessary to quote a post to respond to it. Just type in the reply window. Now there are 2 instances of the player on the page, makes reading difficult.

 

You know what I thought was funniest? That thing they did with their mouths. Lololol

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Fixed!  Yes, liked the mouth thing and head bobbing, quite silly.  But such a calm, placid expression otherwise!

 

SG

Started ADs back around 1995 after bad break-up, starting with Prozac.  Switched to Wellbutrin, and then to Effexor in 2002
Effexor XR 2002-2014 up to 225 mg at one point, down to 37.5 mg towards end but back up to 75 mg in 2014; now realize I had W/D as I dropped down, memory very poor about history.  Extreme emotions, poor concentration as I stepped back down, didn't connect the dots!
Summer 2014 reduced to 0 very quickly, was sick of anhedonia/sexual dysfunction due to meds, depression never controlled if not worse. Didn't recognize WD since symptoms built slowly (thought I had ADD! and menopausal on top of it), starting with severe sweats, very bad cog-fog and memory issues, culminating in weight loss, severe anxiety and depression, panic, severe apathy and insomnia by eight months off.  Saw p-doc who put me on Remeron, increased from 7.5 mg/day to 37.5 mg by May 22, 2015; still doing very badly though able to sleep.

June 1. 2015 Reinstated Effexor XR 37.5 mg, Remeron dropped to 30 mg PM. Immediate relief of symptoms, like nothing had ever happened!  Joined SA and began on advice of friend who recognized it was WD all along! Began tapering in July 2015.

Been tapering both meds ever since, focusing on one more than the other or doing no more than 5% of each per month.

12 mg Effexor and 5.8 mg Remeron (mirtazapine SolTabs to make a solution with OraPlus) as of 5/4/2017 

Update 3/14/18: 2.9 mg Remeron and 6 mg Effexor; 6/10/18:  2.6 mg Remeron and 4.9 mg Effexor

 

My intro: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/9313-squirrellygirl-effexor-withdrawal-etc/page-2#entry196679

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

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SG,

 

You are simply the best!

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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I flashed on this piece from the Dan Harris video:

 

(edit in progress)
 

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Oh no!!!!!!! My time to edit the above post expired while I was editing it and I got this message "You do not have permission to edit this post". That's IPB-speak for "you spent too much time on the phone" and the edit window closed. Good thing I copied the text so I could insert it here (and if a mod happens to be reading, please delete the post abve? Tks!)

 

I flashed on a piece from the Dan Harris video, starting at 11:48 and ending at 12:23, where Dan asks Tolle if he ever gets annoyed. To summarize, Eckhart says he does not get upset at things such as someone cutting him off in traffic, that he treats it as he would a "gust of wind, you don't personalize a gust of wind, do you?"

 

(I wanted to just embed that piece of the video but all of the online tools that purport to do so aren't working for me.)

 

So the reason for mentioning this is to underscore my plaint about it taking too long to reach that stage of enlightenment and I don't have the time. I would have loved to see me react as Tolle did when my mother started needling me again this morning and I took the bait and started yelling at her. I have forgotten all about my promise to sit for 5 minutes a day watching my breath. Honestly, I have no hope that will work anyway..... I have totally given up on the concept of 'enlightenment'.

 

I might as well give an update on the thyroid problem I thought I had and the extreme tiredness I had been feeling after stopping the bike riding. It was so bad, I was so unable to stand at the sink and do the dishes my legs ached so bad and not from the biking either.

 

I had gone to the health food store hoping to find a thyroid supplement that the manufacturer had sneaked some real thyroid into but all I found was a concoction of ALL the endocrine glandular tissue from a bovine source (they were all out of porcine). I had consulted my fave doc and one link cautioned against using bovine stuff because of the danger (I think remote, presently) of contracting BCE.

 

I let the bottle sit on the counter while I tried to figure out what to do. In the meantime I got some iodized salt (yes it was mortons, but what are you gonna do?) and some geritol (don't laugh!) vitamins with iron. Iron normally constipates me badly so I decided to do it this way: I took one tablet and then did not take another one until I had a BM. I have had about 4 pills and about a teaspoon of salt every so many days (I am not a salter so I have to make an effort) and for some reason that has done the trick. That horrible tiredness is gone. Not a very scientific assessment and treatment but it is good enough for now.

 

So I took the glandular stuff in its unopened bottle back to the health food store and told the lady I was returning it. She looked at the bottle and said "I wouldn't take it either". I said why not and you aren't supposed to tell people that and she said it was because she is a vegetarian. Well I am too but I don't react like that to meat products, I just prefer not to eat red meat and pork because I don't like the taste of it anymore. I find the health food store people just as likely to push supplements as an alt med might and I wonder how many people spend their money needlessly or even cover up real illnesses with spurious concoctions (like I was planning to do, lol)

 

And the cat is now doing his biz back in the litter box and not in front of it. I knew he was trying to tell me something and I finally flashed on him drinking water all of the time. I had gotten lazy and was giving him his nightly handful of crunchy cat food that was made with grain and that is a no no for cats prone to diabetes. I switched his food and we are good to go now.

 

Ok, all lined up and ready for the next crisis, bring it on! I'll find out Friday if my craft project will be heating up and then I won't be posting much after that, I don't think.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Hey, at least you had awareness that your mom was triggering you and you took the bait!  

 

Sorry, I love Eckhart, and I love the Pain Body bit because it makes me laugh to think of it like a monster dwelling within, trying to take the reins...It also makes me laugh when my husband gets triggered (which would normally trigger me in return since I am a classic merger) and I think "there goes his Pain Body!" and I am less likely to then get triggered in response.  Just try it next time your mom goes off:  "Ah, there goes her Pain Body - she's so un-conscious!"  LOL!

 

SG

Started ADs back around 1995 after bad break-up, starting with Prozac.  Switched to Wellbutrin, and then to Effexor in 2002
Effexor XR 2002-2014 up to 225 mg at one point, down to 37.5 mg towards end but back up to 75 mg in 2014; now realize I had W/D as I dropped down, memory very poor about history.  Extreme emotions, poor concentration as I stepped back down, didn't connect the dots!
Summer 2014 reduced to 0 very quickly, was sick of anhedonia/sexual dysfunction due to meds, depression never controlled if not worse. Didn't recognize WD since symptoms built slowly (thought I had ADD! and menopausal on top of it), starting with severe sweats, very bad cog-fog and memory issues, culminating in weight loss, severe anxiety and depression, panic, severe apathy and insomnia by eight months off.  Saw p-doc who put me on Remeron, increased from 7.5 mg/day to 37.5 mg by May 22, 2015; still doing very badly though able to sleep.

June 1. 2015 Reinstated Effexor XR 37.5 mg, Remeron dropped to 30 mg PM. Immediate relief of symptoms, like nothing had ever happened!  Joined SA and began on advice of friend who recognized it was WD all along! Began tapering in July 2015.

Been tapering both meds ever since, focusing on one more than the other or doing no more than 5% of each per month.

12 mg Effexor and 5.8 mg Remeron (mirtazapine SolTabs to make a solution with OraPlus) as of 5/4/2017 

Update 3/14/18: 2.9 mg Remeron and 6 mg Effexor; 6/10/18:  2.6 mg Remeron and 4.9 mg Effexor

 

My intro: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/9313-squirrellygirl-effexor-withdrawal-etc/page-2#entry196679

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

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Ah but the rub is that because of past experiences, I am in rage in an instant and I go into attack mode! I have not been able to catch myself in the nanosecond before I find myself reacting in rage and attacking.... Right now I am in the struggle of stopping the rage when it starts and I admit to getting a teeny bit better at cutting it off when it has started.

 

I still feel the "pain body" concept is good but better delved into when severe wd has settled. But others may be able to use the concept, my wd rage was so unexpected and virulent that it surprised even me. It is still there and I wonder if I won't have a lingering baseline 'irritability' for some time longer. That coexists with this concept from PON (on pg 27-28 of a pdf version I downloaded, I have the link if anyone wants it):

 

"Once the pain-body has taken you over, you want more pain. You become a victim or a perpetrator. You want to inflict pain, or you want to suffer pain, or both"

 

I deffo go into the 'inflicting pain' mode, I feel compelled to lash out and 'get even'.

 

I do that here too. You'll notice my comments sometimes have a 'bite' to them and much as I re-read them and try to soften their language, sometimes I cannot do it. I let some people get to me, I can feel it.

 

SG, I tried to send you a PM but you have either blocked me or have a full mailbox. If it is the latter, I put some directions about 'Archiving Convos' in the 'How to use this site' thread so you can clean out your box. If you blocked me, well that's another matter. I have no idea if the messages are the same when one tries to msg someone who has blocked you. Maybe I'll ask someone to block me so I can see.....

 

Anger and its expression is a genetic legacy in my family: wife beaters, child spankers, sarcasm and backbiting talkers, divorcers, abandoners, and I am afraid I am loyally carrying out the tradition, albeit semi-consciously.

 

That's why I never wanted to have children. Too afraid I'd raise one as messed up inside as I was.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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On the road yesterday, I sort of got after my husband for braking hard (he was traveling too close in congested traffic - causes me a big ol' adrenalin rush, happens a lot), and he let loose on me with a degree of rage that surprised the heck out of me, and I thought "there goes his pain body!" but at the same time my merging kicked into gear and I got all upset inside, despite my awareness.  So, it just takes constant work.  I have always tended to merge, finding some way for it to be my failing when someone gets upset.  Fat wire that will take a long time to get broken down.

 

I also chose not to have children.  Never had the clock go off and felt I couldn't even take care of myself so how could I take care of a child?  And I knew I would just screw one up.  

 

I love that Dan Harris video!  I've been doubling down on trying to do short meditations, but it's hard.

 

SG

Started ADs back around 1995 after bad break-up, starting with Prozac.  Switched to Wellbutrin, and then to Effexor in 2002
Effexor XR 2002-2014 up to 225 mg at one point, down to 37.5 mg towards end but back up to 75 mg in 2014; now realize I had W/D as I dropped down, memory very poor about history.  Extreme emotions, poor concentration as I stepped back down, didn't connect the dots!
Summer 2014 reduced to 0 very quickly, was sick of anhedonia/sexual dysfunction due to meds, depression never controlled if not worse. Didn't recognize WD since symptoms built slowly (thought I had ADD! and menopausal on top of it), starting with severe sweats, very bad cog-fog and memory issues, culminating in weight loss, severe anxiety and depression, panic, severe apathy and insomnia by eight months off.  Saw p-doc who put me on Remeron, increased from 7.5 mg/day to 37.5 mg by May 22, 2015; still doing very badly though able to sleep.

June 1. 2015 Reinstated Effexor XR 37.5 mg, Remeron dropped to 30 mg PM. Immediate relief of symptoms, like nothing had ever happened!  Joined SA and began on advice of friend who recognized it was WD all along! Began tapering in July 2015.

Been tapering both meds ever since, focusing on one more than the other or doing no more than 5% of each per month.

12 mg Effexor and 5.8 mg Remeron (mirtazapine SolTabs to make a solution with OraPlus) as of 5/4/2017 

Update 3/14/18: 2.9 mg Remeron and 6 mg Effexor; 6/10/18:  2.6 mg Remeron and 4.9 mg Effexor

 

My intro: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/9313-squirrellygirl-effexor-withdrawal-etc/page-2#entry196679

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

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Oh you and I are at the same level then! Or nearly so.... I managed to count my breath for exactly 5 min today before I bailed. It brings up anxiety. I had been meditating for about a month about an hour at a time, before I went too far with the relaxation and lost the ability to sleep. I was sliding into wd syndrome and did not know it. That's on pg 29 of my miserable long thread.....

 

So 5 min is 5 min I otherwise would not have I guess.

 

I love Dan Harris too. Even his wife likes him better now. I love the picture of him 'meditating with the chickens'.

 

So baby steps, baby steps..... (I do not like that movie, do you remember it, with Bill Murray and that guy from Jaws who played a shrink? Now I'll have to go to IMDB to look it up or I won't sleep)

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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.........pfffft.........stuck on the name of that movie now too...........grrrrrrrrrrrrrr, urggh.  Although better frustration than my previous thoughts were.

 

And ahhh.......What about Bob?  I liked his goldfish........I remember that part anyway.

Late 2023- gone to emeritus status, inactive, don't @ me, I can check who I've posted on, and I'm not really here like I used to be......thanks.

Started with psycho meds/psychiatric care circa 1988.  In retrospect, and on contemplation, situational overwhelm.

Rounding up to 30 years of medications(30 medication trials, poly-pharmacy maximum was 3 at one time).

5/28/2015-off Adderal salts 2.5mg. (I had been on that since hospital 10/2014)

12/2015---just holding, holding, holding, with trileptal/oxcarb at 75 mg. 1/2 tab at hs.  My last psycho med ever!  Tapered @ 10% every 4 weeks, sometimes 2 weeks to

2016 Dec 16 medication free!!

Longer signature post here, with current supplements.

Herb and alcohol free since 5/15/2016.  And.....I quit smoking 11/2021. Lapsed.  Redo of quit smoking 9/28/2022.  Can you say Hallelujah?(took me long enough)💜

None of my posts are intended as medical advice.  Please discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical provider.  My success story:  Blue skies ahead, clear sailing

 

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Well, I went through the entire alphabet in my head 3 times and could not get it, and I could not make out his face by memory in 'Jaws' (is this the beginning of the slide into dementia? I always worry.....I already view myself as crazy and friends, and maybe enemies, do too, but crazy I'll live with. Demented, no way. If it ever gets to the drooling on myself stage, I am out of here.)

 

So I caved and visited IMDB:

 

Richard Dreyfuss  (oh DUH!)

 

I don't remember the goldfish, I was too busy hating Murray's idiotic character. At least you remembered Murray's character's name and the title of the movie, I did not even remember that.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Movie - What about Bob?

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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That's it Scally, rub it in, lol. My memory is failing.....

 

Both of you got the movie, I could not even get that. That movie made me cringe the whole time I watched it.

 

A cursory glance through the 'most cringeworthy' lists of Hollywood fare has it missing (but there's some real stinkers in those lists.) So it must have been just me.....

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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While I am sitting here waiting for my latest youtube vid to upload, I thought I'd do a net search on my nick 'cymbaltawithdrawal5600'. Apparently I am prolific enough that I have been included in a list of terms that might lead one to 'www.some_website.com' (I am not going to give them the traffic) to by rx drugs (without a script, I assume).

 

Get a load of my search term buddies:

 

 

purchase tramadol no visa
Posted Jun 09, 2016.Category: pain_relief/

Purchase tramadol no visa. Order WHO certified quality medicines in online drugstore. Online drugs store. Contouring On A Budget: purchase tramadol no visa. Brand and generic products. Buy purchase tramadol no visa online at affordable prices from accessrx. Our licensed Canadian pharmacy will save you money. Buy tramadol online from india

ETA: By itself, a spinal cord, and distal expansion; the circuit near you. To buy provigil india without script, I ready been arrests and pill! ! Without Perscription tramadol 15mg and jumpy tramadol exists. Incidence of thumb with Sir, tramadol eats your input cymbaltawithdrawal5600. No signs and catatonic. After one that relevant data virus I wake in Heart Failure Hospitalization and can't localise to awaken strapped in there; I moved is chronic pancreatitis. I managed whilst adding reliable medical supervision, medically unreported sources like oxycodone. And snorting is laughing dose dogs Can he ordered. Those who become weak (poor bioavailability), and sieving them run into effect. Such evaluations to encourage SWIY needs time should cease distribution of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Serotonin Releasing Agent Targets (9) Tanzania (4) United Nations estimated effect 3 big DEA may exist within 8-16 hour before it suddenly. Your Dog medicine out (especially depression 9. 6% YoY to take,

 

 

Heh, heh, I'm faymoose! (and never said I was not cray...)

 

(The ones in green about dogs have me rofl.)

 

There's a whole loooooong page of terms, it's crazy!!!!!

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Wow even the scammers know your handle and are name-dropping. That's some internet famous!

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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Looked it up CW.  It started driving me demented.

 

It kind of sounds like a story I might write.  Your search.

Late 2023- gone to emeritus status, inactive, don't @ me, I can check who I've posted on, and I'm not really here like I used to be......thanks.

Started with psycho meds/psychiatric care circa 1988.  In retrospect, and on contemplation, situational overwhelm.

Rounding up to 30 years of medications(30 medication trials, poly-pharmacy maximum was 3 at one time).

5/28/2015-off Adderal salts 2.5mg. (I had been on that since hospital 10/2014)

12/2015---just holding, holding, holding, with trileptal/oxcarb at 75 mg. 1/2 tab at hs.  My last psycho med ever!  Tapered @ 10% every 4 weeks, sometimes 2 weeks to

2016 Dec 16 medication free!!

Longer signature post here, with current supplements.

Herb and alcohol free since 5/15/2016.  And.....I quit smoking 11/2021. Lapsed.  Redo of quit smoking 9/28/2022.  Can you say Hallelujah?(took me long enough)💜

None of my posts are intended as medical advice.  Please discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical provider.  My success story:  Blue skies ahead, clear sailing

 

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I don't know how you found it, I accidentally left the link in the first edit and had to back and edit it out. My brain nearly exploded only reading the first few paragraphs.

 

There's really no good place for me to put some of my thoughts about things that are happening to me as I continue to recover except here in my thread.

 

From dictionary.com

 

   
credulous adjective    
1. willing to believe or trust too readily, especially without proper or adequate evidence; gullible.
 

 

Credulousness is having the quality of the above.

 

We are so easily led by people who have a knack for stringing words together to guide us toward a desired end. The one desired end (there are many) I want to speak to is people who are into 'making lots of money' for themselves while purporting to 'help' you achieve YOUR ends, whatever those may be.

 

One thing I very nearly bought (not with $$ tho) into recently was that series of videos on "Curing Cancer". The first episode hooked me with a very reasonable sounding premise that the rich fat cats of yore successfully made drugs (with the resulting windfall to the pharm companies who got in on the action) the basis of standard medical care as opposed to more 'hands on' treatments and those using more 'natural' substances like those in certain foods. ('Natural', however, has to my mind become just as perverted as pharma nowadays). I still have yet to go back and read the document that is purported to have started this trend.

 

The "Curing Cancer" spell was broken the minute (in ep 3) they started recommending everyone have their mercury amalgam fillings removed. I am sure the fluoride conspiracy was in there too....

 

I am too much of a skeptic by nature and that is fueled by an unholy desire to 'dig up dirt'. Did not find out about the negative reviews of Ty Bollinger until after I became disillusioned. I just put the word 'scam' plus the name of his video series (or his name) into search and there were the links.

 

One could just as easily make the case that I also suffer from credulousness too, because I am more likely to believe in the negative as opposed to the 'glowing testimonials' so ok, point taken. But I will bet my wallet has not been lightened nearly as much as yours has over the years, especially since I got a computer and internet and google loves to do my bidding uncritically (for now anyway). If there's dirt, goog will dish it up alongside the glow and it is up to the reader to decide which fork they want to take.

 

One of the things that is missing in testimonials about supplements from companies such as The Road Back is a sense of history. You see these one-off testimonials everywhere, on countless message boards (amazon is full of them) but you never see how, over time, that scenario really plays out. Do those supplements continue to work? Those people never come back to say because they are long gone and never come back to report on a continuous basis how life is going for them. I bet you $$ to donuts those people run out of money long before they see the benefits that time and good living habits have over synthetic chemicals.

 

But we do that here. Look at the people who post here continuously over the course of their recovery (or non recovery). Those are the ones you want to take heed of what they have to say about supplements and drugs and activity . I have built up quite a repository of knowledge after reading stuff here for nearly 4 years and I have a pretty prodigious memory. I also have a 'history' here, for good or ill you can see who I am and what I believe in and gain a measure of my reputation and see if I am a person you can trust to tell you the truth.

 

I am not above credulousness at times but I generally catch myself now. I did not used to (is that bad english? it looks bad...)  I went back (after I'd been on the internet quite a while) and looked up some concepts I had always believed in which have now proven to be false in light of current knowledge. One of the things I had always believed in was the love story Richard Bach related in his book "A Bridge Across Forever". He burst my bubble with what he wrote about that in later years. I revealed  this somewhere in my long thread....

 

So with testimonials of any sort, you need to establish the trustworthiness of the person giving the testimony and you may also need to look at who stands to gain what by what they are advocating for or against.

 

Now, when I develop MY money machine line of supplements geared towards REALLY helping you with withdrawal issues, I expect y'all to line up and start heaving handfulls of moolah at moi. Stay tuned.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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I am going to make this a separate post, I forgot the real reason I wanted to talk about 'credulousness', and it had nothing to do with supplements.

 

I have a neighbor and apparently he is one of a type of people who nowadays do all their surfing on facecrap (and they really belief fb is the internet, just like people used to believe aol was the internet and not the 'walled garden' it really was. FB is now the new 'walled garden'.

 

So my friend is wanting to get into an industry which has not become legal in our state but he is active in talking about it on fb. He comes to me excitedly the other day saying he was just contacted via fb by some high roller VC that wanted to drop a couple of mil on him to fund his dream (even tho he only needs $41k) and he wanted to know how to transmit his bank details to the 'offshore' bank this guy uses so he could start sending him money.

 

My 'Nigerian 401' bells went off like rockets.  So I told him I would look it up. He told me to be careful and not '*****' his deal (please do not send complaint letters to me, it's in quotes and apparently SA thinks it needs to be bleeped anyway). The phone numbers that were given were to a cell phone registered in espana. The email address, the domain part, belonged to a social networking site, also in spain. IOW, totally bo-o-gus.

 

The guy's profile was kinda bare but had some inconsistencies in it. Even when I logged in via my account that i use for stalking (I mean RESEARCH, darn it, this computer seems to want to type stuff that will give a bad impression of me) there was no real info there. You have to befriend someone to be privy to their 'real' stuff, but it is only the stuff they want people to know. The ONLY record of this person's name was that of the fb page. Surely a VC would have some mention of being an angel investor somewhere?

 

So I went to my friend and told him that I was pretty sure it was going to turn out to be a scam but he was not having any of it. The one key thing about fb is that you are who YOU say you are, you get to make up all the details. (Tub of salt here.) My friend had never heard of a 401, he just got on the net about a year or so ago with an easy to use tablet. Spends all his time on fb I fear.

 

So I told him he needed to beware, that I feared it was a scam and told him to look up 'Nigerian 401' scams (which btw, are becoming more common on fb which is ripe for the pickings about now).  I told him he must not give the guy his REAL bank account number, the one all his disability checks and socsec were going into, that if he was to chance it he needed to have a different acct. He actually believed he could go into the bank and open an account on the PROMISE someone was going to deposit a few mil into it. He did not realize that most accts cannot be opened with less than $100 nowadays. He only had about $41 to his name. His hopes were starting to crumble.

 

I came back and continued my search. Typed 'richpersonname + scam' into search and bingo! there it was. Someone (who probably REALLY IS a top record industry personality but idk) wrote on the rich guy's wall that he had been approached by the same person and it was a SCAM. Other people chimed in. I printed the page and took it to my friend and he was so disappointed I thought he would cry (but making someone cry is preferable to watching them lose all their money to a scam artist and doing nothing to prevent it). He tried to string the guy along but his heart wasn't in it so he blocked him the next day.

 

I since went back and all the stuff that had been written about him being a scammer was gone. It doesn't get logged into google cache nor the internet archive just like our private threads don't either (the ones you have to be logged in to read, the 'members only' stuff, not our intro threads).

 

We WANT to believe, it is how we are wired. The trick is to believe in the right stuff. The stuff that will ultimately make your life better.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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CW,  I just saw what you quoted here.  What is in the quote box a couple posts above.  I'm not really very computer savvy at all!........so thanks for thinking that......

 

My search referred to the movie title.

 

And oh yah......me too.......I can be very gullible and naive I am finding.......improving a little, thanks to SA, but as to other stuff that I allow into my consciousness and all.......sometimes I have to wonder........why?........did I need to know.........in some areas.  Not sure that makes sense.........I guess I am saying that I never realized how naive I am.

 

Also my other lesson recently learned.......still learning.........is the power of words used and all.........how easily misinterpreted.........how difficult to clearly express myself sometimes with words.........  Somewhat related to your postings above.

 

Okay........have a great day.

 

MMT

Late 2023- gone to emeritus status, inactive, don't @ me, I can check who I've posted on, and I'm not really here like I used to be......thanks.

Started with psycho meds/psychiatric care circa 1988.  In retrospect, and on contemplation, situational overwhelm.

Rounding up to 30 years of medications(30 medication trials, poly-pharmacy maximum was 3 at one time).

5/28/2015-off Adderal salts 2.5mg. (I had been on that since hospital 10/2014)

12/2015---just holding, holding, holding, with trileptal/oxcarb at 75 mg. 1/2 tab at hs.  My last psycho med ever!  Tapered @ 10% every 4 weeks, sometimes 2 weeks to

2016 Dec 16 medication free!!

Longer signature post here, with current supplements.

Herb and alcohol free since 5/15/2016.  And.....I quit smoking 11/2021. Lapsed.  Redo of quit smoking 9/28/2022.  Can you say Hallelujah?(took me long enough)💜

None of my posts are intended as medical advice.  Please discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical provider.  My success story:  Blue skies ahead, clear sailing

 

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CW,

 

Actually, for any Amazon product, the question would be how it holds up long term.   That is why I am so appreciative of the rare times that reviewers come back to update their review which I recall them doing on the vacuum cleaner I purchased almost two years ago.   And if it seemed they had to replace it quickly, they would explain why they felt it was the case and not necessarily due to a faulty product.   I am very happy with it by the way.

 

But your point is well taken about the supplements.   Even if one has alot of high reviews on the Amazon site, how do we know the long term record is unless they are updated?

 

After I read this post, I went back to the reviews of a nasal spray I was considering for nasal congestion and while there were alot of great reviews, I didn't see any updates.  I still might give it a shot since so many claimed it worked after trying so many other things but because of what you wrote, I will have to make sure I don't get my hopes up too high. 

Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010
Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006
Finished taper on June 10, 2010

Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016

Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week

April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia

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Yes but we are not talking about about products holding up here, per se.

 

I also forgot to mention that you have to look at where the recommendations come from: are they on a site where it is trivial to 'game' the comments? Most web sites aren't that picky about restricting accounts and signing up for multiples is a way to influence perceptions.

 

The internet is a vast wasteland populated by evil children making mischief! Corrupt merchants and scammers, trolls, flame wars, conspiracy nuts and axe grinders abound.

 

Other days, it's kinda neat!

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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So if is not the wholesale degradation of the internet, it is the scammery going on in the REAL WORLD.

 

You guys know about this? I did not know that cc skimmers had gotten so sophisticated! (But they stil have to come back and retrieve the device to make good on their stolen data). As soon as they can figure out how to miniaturize a transmitter to fit on that thin device that can work independently (and get a signal out around all that metal) or tie into the transmission pathway the card data travels as it gets authorization to let you pump gas, we are done for.

 

Just make your monthly check out to the criminal of your choice and thank you very much. Reminds me of that scene from "LA Story" where "Steve Martin and company line up at the ATM machine, then hand off a twenty to the dude standing in line with a gun waiting on the other side of the instant teller, saying "Good evening, I am your mugger." (quote from here)

 

What happened to 'working for a living"? The only people getting honestly rich are the ones in the industries designing and using nano scale electronics. You better believe a transmitter is being worked on at this very moment.

 

I stopped using the ATM for anything much years ago and about 10 years ago gave it up for purchasing gas at my local convenience store when the day after I used my card (which I had not done FOR years) I got a call from my bank saying my card had been stolen. Never knew where it was compromised but that was enough to get me to quit it completely.

 

One of my new cards has the new fangled chip in it. Is that chip going to be responsible for more stealing of my data so the stores can send me circulars and other mail and call my house too? I may have to go to a 'cash only' economy.

 

And see where MSoft drove up to LinkedIn and dropped off a shipping container full of dinero and picked up the keys. I never used that site, all snooty and requiring a log in to see much of anything (except from those people who have no clue about privacy settings like some noobs on fb). All I ever use it for is to hunt up info on people who post a pic of themself there and then re-use the pics as their avatar here and on other sites (like dating sites). Ties them right to their real name and I use THAT in my searches.

 

Now you know all my tricks and how nosy I am. I don't do anything with what I find out (unless it is needed by someone), I am just plain nosy.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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Had another recovery milestone last night and I describe it near the end of this post so I won't repeat it here.

 

I have some emotional quirks left that I attribute to AD withdrawal and a couple of 'paresthisias' popping up here and there that make me a bit unwilling to end my thread and post a recovery story. And I feel I have a few more things to say about the recovery process that I don't want to keep coming back to add to a recovery story.

 

But I'll be gone soon, I imagine..... and all that will be left is a story in a forum that people read but don't believe...... because it's not 'exactly' what they are looking for, I guess.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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I found this, of all places, on an internet forum devoted to computer issues that I frequent.

 

If this does not jerk a tear from your eye, I fear you are a stone.

 

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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That is one intense minute.

 

I can imagine it, with someone in my own life.  I don't think I could keep as serene as she did.  Nor could I face the next minute of Presence.

"Easy, easy - just go easy and you'll finish." - Hawaiian Kapuna

 

Holding is hard work, holding is a blessing. Give your brain time to heal before you try again.

 

My suggestions are not medical advice, you are in charge of your own medical choices.

 

A lifetime of being prescribed antidepressants that caused problems (30 years in total). At age 35 flipped to "bipolar," but was not diagnosed for 5 years. Started my journey in Midwest United States. Crossed the Pacific for love and hope; currently living in Australia.   CT Seroquel 25 mg some time in 2013.   Tapered Reboxetine 4 mg Oct 2013 to Sept 2014 = GONE (3 years on Reboxetine).     Tapered Lithium 900 to 475 MG (alternating with the SNRI) Jan 2014 - Nov 2014, tapered Lithium 475 mg Jan 2015 -  Feb 2016 = GONE (10 years  on Lithium).  Many mistakes in dry cutting dosages were made.


The tedious thread (my intro):  JanCarol ☼ Reboxetine first, then Lithium

The happy thread (my success story):  JanCarol - Undiagnosed  Off all bipolar drugs

My own blog:  https://shamanexplorations.com/shamans-blog/

 

 

I have been psych drug FREE since 1 Feb 2016!

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I'd like a moderator or administrator to lock my topic please.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my journey. I have left my contact details in my profile should anyone wish to contact me, I am always available to support those who are suffering. However, please don't send any PMs as I will be unable to respond to them.

 

Bless you all, I am glad you were here when I needed help.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

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CW.  I'm so sorry to hear that you want to do that. You are such a valued member with much experience.  Personally , I always learn a lot from your posts, as I'm sure we all do .  Is there a particular reason that you are moving on when you still have a wealth of knowledge to offer this community?

I hope you reconsider. It would be such a shame to lose you from this forum . Maybe, just take some " time out ". Sometimes , we all need that in the midst of this turmoil.

Wishing you well, no matter what you decide to do. 

I hope you stay. Maybe , you could leave it open for now - " lock " is such a harsh word. Perhaps, just a  " mini - break" . :)  I hope you have a think about it and stay around.

Hugs,

Ali

Many SSRI's and SSNRI's over 20 years. Zoloft for 7 years followed by Effexor, Lexapro, Prozac, Cymbalta, Celexa, Pristiq, Valdoxan, Mianserin and more - on and off. No tapering. Cold turkey off Valdoxan - end of May 2014

 

                                                  Psych Drug - free since May 2014
.
         

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Well, DUH! The referenced article was named in the first post and it WAS on MadInAmerica (linked again here).

 

There are 2 crucial concepts in the article that I believe need explanation and emphasizing because they have everything to do (I think ) with people's frustrations in dealing with their doctors regarding the antidepressants they get put on (and the other crap piled on to either make them work 'better' or to treat the inevitable side effects they create.)

 

The problem starts with nomenclature. The citizen scientists [that's us!] of the Internet have labeled the problem ‘protracted withdrawal.’ To physicians, withdrawal is a phenomenon that starts when the blood level of a substance drops to near zero and persists for a week or two. The concept of ‘protracted withdrawal’ is inconsistent with the very definition of withdrawal. So when a patient tells their doctor that they have ‘protracted withdrawal’ the doctor draws a blank.

Yep, they get the concepts surrounding how drugs act drilled into them and that knowledge is cemented by those 24-48 hour shifts they spend on duty in various hospital specialty areas during their internships and residencies. There is no precedence for the way psych drugs really act and I am sure there will never be (until the likes of us and more Healys and Breggins and others flood the scene.)

 

To a doctor there is no such thing as protracted withdrawal. Perhaps we should ever and always refer to it as "discontinuation syndrome" or perhaps "rebound effect" (docs are familiar with that term as it refers to the use of nasal sprays: you stop their chronic use and oft times the rebound congestion leaves you mouth breathing forever it seems. And stopping PPIs seems to do the same thing. The body gets used to something in its system and when you yank it away you see in reality what it has been doing all along is rebelling against chemical meddling with a vengeance.)

 

The other term in the doctor's mind is this "tardive dysphoria" concept. Shipko again:

 

What I have observed is that the ‘withdrawal’ symptoms occur while patients are on a steady dosage of the drug, shortly after stopping the drug and weeks or months after stopping the drugs. The only precedent for this type of presentation is tardive dyskinesia (TD). Tardive refers to symptoms that occur later and dyskinesia refers to movement disorder. TD is generally associated with antipsychotic medication, and is also a manufacturer labeled side effect of the SSRIs. TD occurs while on antipsychotics, primarily occurs shortly after stopping them, and may occur months or even longer after stopping the drugs. With the SSRIs, it is not so much a tardive movement disorder as a tardive problem with akathisia, a sort of constant restlessness or agitation that is accompanied by an agitated anxious/depressed state. It is a very uncomfortable sensation.

Of note here here is that he does not state specifically that not everyone gets this. But from that he slides right into:

 

It is generally unappreciated that people who stop SSRIs often develop a new onset of severe depression or anxiety months after stopping the drugs. It took me years before I realized that this is what was occurring, but this seems to be fairly common. Patients often did well for months, only to develop fairly acute profound states of anxiety and or depression. The anxiety and/or depression was not a relapse, because the patients never had these symptoms before starting the drugs. Because people are thinking of the discontinuation problem as withdrawal, they are not considering the later onset symptoms as related to stopping the drugs. What is somewhat frightening to consider is that patients with tardive dyskinesia sometimes do not manifest symptoms for years after stopping antipsychotics. Will this be the fate of those who stop SSRIs? This won’t be known for a long time, particularly if nobody is doing careful research on the topic.

Ah, the WHOLE quote really needs to be in red ink, bold letters and the equivalent of the 70s internet type of flashing banner in contrasting neon colors. It's the tardive dysphoria that happens to many of us. The "tardive" word may come into the mind of the doc (and us) and it's all downhill from there.

 

It is entirely possible that even using the term "tardive" sets up a quite dismal outlook in people's (doctor's) minds because after all, it is most associated with movement disorders seen to develop after long term use of antipsychotics and some of those don't seem to go away for a long time.

 

But our "late blooming" perturbations of feelings, emotions, and thoughts after psych drug use do eventually return to a more "normal" state after SOME period of recovery the longer we stay off the drugs. I am nearing the start of year 4 of recovery from a precipitous stopping of 3 powerful drugs and I had an epiphany last night.

 

We recoverees often go through a period where we cannot watch tv or read. Then, we may be able to watch a bit of TV but any show with violent content can really affect us badly. I was stuck watching HGTV and "Pawn Stars" till my eyeballs bled, anything else started up waves of bad feelings. I remember that year, on History Channel (where Pawn Stars airs) there were previews for that viking show beginning that fall and I'd have to have the remote at the ready to mute that part and turn my head. Just hearing the music was enough to set me off.

 

That's all gone now it seems. I watched the entire rerun of Jaws last night, even the last scene with sharkie doing his thing and I did not flinch once. I deliberately did it to see what my internal reaction would be, and it was the usual "oh gross!!!" as it would have been pre-AD withdrawal.

 

So to sum all this up, I think we need to scrub Shipko's dire pronouncements from the site, they do little to give hope to the ones beginning their period of suffering and everything to discourage them. They can stick in your mind and fester there....

 

I'll cast the first vote.

 

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.

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cw, please let us know how you're doing as time goes on.

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 comment

Where are you going ???

Lexapro: started in 2002 at 10 mgs.

Ambien: started as a as needed sleep aid in 2010.

Quit Lexapro cold turkey in June 20015 due to contributing to low sodium issues.

Restarted Lexapro in late November for a week (only 5 mgs) but quit due to dizziness side effects. Side effects worsened for 3 weeks until

12/24/15: Protracted WD hit, experienced extreme anxiety, insomnia lack of full concentration and social challenges.

Reinstated Lexapro on 1/1/16 at 5 mgs. Increased per Dr to 7.5 MG. Tapered off Lexapro in March 2016.

Started 50MG of Seroquel in late January 2016 for bedtime to help in eliminate Ambien. Tapered off both Seroquel and Ambien in March 2016.

2/14/16: Prescribed both Remeron (15 MG) and Temazapam (15 MG) for sleep. Also use Klonopin and Ambien again in place of Temazapam to avoid addiction. However I did take Temazapam 60 straight days

6/15/16: Stopped use of all benzo's and now use Belsomra 1-2 times a week. Still on 15 MG of Remeron

10/11/16: Off all psych medications

 

After kindling, trying to regain my strength suffering from severe mental and physical fatigue.

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