Oheygabge Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 My name is oheygambge and I’m 19 years of age, I don’t really want to make this long so I will cut right to the chase. About 18months ago I started taking the SSRI antidepressant sertraline 25mg for two months. After taking the medication I felt that I was kind of tired and dizzy so I stopped using it. After about a year ago so just 6months after discontinuation I started to experience symptoms such as the dry mouth, having basically no will to do anything as well as blurred vision and memory and concentration problems. It just felt like I was turned off and everything that I felt good or bad was being numbed. So basically the symptoms looked like depersonalization. But the weird thing is that there were times when basically all of those symptoms felt unreal and made up but then again they returned and made me believe that they were real. Could this be due to the horrible form of pure O-OCD which I have or is it caused by the medication. I know that this is a hard question to answer but if anyone could shed light on the matter I would appreciate it very much. Link to comment
Administrator Altostrata Posted August 19, 2013 Administrator Share Posted August 19, 2013 Welcome, Ohey. It sounds like you took sertraline for only 2 months. How did you go off? Did you have any withdrawal symptoms at the time? 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
Moderator Emeritus Rhiannon Posted August 20, 2013 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted August 20, 2013 It is not unusual for people to experience withdrawal symptoms from antidepressants in a time frame of three to six months after quitting them. It is not unusual to hear people describe symptoms of withdrawal which begin about six months after quitting an antidepressant. I have heard it many times. The symptoms like dry mouth, blurred vision, cognitive problems, and emotional numbness sound more like withdrawal to me than they sound like OCD. I am not an expert on OCD, however. It is typical in withdrawal for the recovery process to be up and down--to have better days and worse days, days when you have lots of symptoms and days when you feel better. So that also sounds more like withdrawal than OCD to me, but again, I don't know much about OCD. Started on Prozac and Xanax in 1992 for PTSD after an assault. One drug led to more, the usual story. Got sicker and sicker, but believed I needed the drugs for my "underlying disease". Long story...lost everything. Life savings, home, physical and mental health, relationships, friendships, ability to work, everything. Amitryptiline, Prozac, bupropion, buspirone, flurazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, Paxil, citalopram, lamotrigine, gabapentin...probably more I've forgotten. Started multidrug taper in Feb 2010. Doing a very slow microtaper, down to low doses now and feeling SO much better, getting my old personality and my brain back! Able to work full time, have a full social life, and cope with stress better than ever. Not perfect, but much better. After 23 lost years. Big Pharma has a lot to answer for. And "medicine for profit" is just not a great idea. Feb 15 2010: 300 mg Neurontin 200 Lamictal 10 Celexa 0.65 Xanax and 5 mg Ambien Feb 10 2014: 62 Lamictal 1.1 Celexa 0.135 Xanax 1.8 Valium Feb 10 2015: 50 Lamictal 0.875 Celexa 0.11 Xanax 1.5 Valium Feb 15 2016: 47.5 Lamictal 0.75 Celexa 0.0875 Xanax 1.42 Valium 2/12/20 12 0.045 0.007 1 May 2021 7 0.01 0.0037 1 Feb 2022 6 0!!! 0.00167 0.98 2.5 mg Ambien Oct 2022 4.5 mg Lamictal (off Celexa, off Xanax) 0.95 Valium Ambien, 1/4 to 1/2 of a 5 mg tablet I'm not a doctor. Any advice I give is just my civilian opinion. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus Skyler Posted August 20, 2013 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted August 20, 2013 Oheygabage, welcome to the forum! Lots of knowledgeable folks here. And it's really nice to have someone from your neck of the 'globe'. Beautiful thereabouts. Thought this link might help some following your thread... As Rhi said, dry mouth, blurred vision and emotional numbing are very much symptoms of WD. Cognitive problems might be shared by both OCD and WD, and those caused by WD may effect your OCD symptoms. While psychiatric diagnoses are short hand ways of describing symptoms, it's the you who is you that is important. As always, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! A proud supporter of the 10% (or slower) rule. Requip - 3/16 ZERO Total time on 25 years. Lyrica: 8/15 ZERO Total time on 7 or 8 yrs.BENZO FREE 10/13 (started tapering 7/10) Total time on 25 years. Read my intro thread here, and check the about me section. "No matter how cynical you get, it's almost impossible to keep up." Lily Tomlin Link to comment
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