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floaks Luvox withdrawal: dental pain and neuropathy


floaks

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Hi,

 

I came off of luvox (fluvoxamine) almost cold turkey in August 2013. I was on it for 4 years at a dose of 150mg. Earlier also I had tried to very slowly (over the period of a year) come off it but it gave me peripheral neuropathy and TMJ once I was off it completely. I went back on it last year because I felt my OCD symptoms have increased.  Now again I have quit it but almost cold turkey (on August 1st, 2013). It has been 3.5 months now that I am off it.  I thought that my withdrawals lasted for about three weeks of quitting it and that I was successfully able to get rid of them. But two months after being off of luvox I started experiencing extreme sensitivity to hot and cold. This gradually worsened to enormous tooth ache and redness in gums by the end of three months. I got a root canal done after that. My pain kept jumping throughout my whole mouth. My dentist said that my teeth look okay. I have started a thread here earlier (http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/5185-sever-pain-in-teeth-and-gums/) because I didn't know that as a new member I should have posted here.

 

Yesterday I tried one of the supplement from "the road back". It seems that it has helped me with the teeth ache. The TMJ and stuffy feeling in face and limbs is still there. Before yesterday it was impossible for me to live without at least 1200mg of ibuprofen per day for the last 25 days. For many days I even took 3000mg. There is too much facial pain and it is difficulty lying down because the symptoms get worse when I lie down. I think luvox caused me teeth grinding and also damaged my peripheral nerves because of which I am experiencing tooth decay and teeth ache because the roots of my teeth are getting damaged and I am also having pain and tenderness in my joints and limbs.

 

Do you recommend that i should go back on luvox and withdraw gradually? Or is it too long now that 3.5 months have passed? I would really appreciate your advice.

 

Thanks

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I also want to point out that now that I am up from my bed for a while, the uneasy feeling and stuffiness in my face seems to have reduced. When I lie down, it gets worse.

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  • Administrator

Welcome, floaks.

 

What supplement did you take?

 

Teeth clenching and jaw tension can cause pain in the teeth and jaw. Some people (like me) find a bite guard worn at night to help relieve this tension.

 

You might also try acupuncture or chiropractic.

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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Thank you Altostrata. I took "neuro endure mini" after consulting over email with the road back specialist. He told me that I only need to take this one and not any other supplements. I cannot believe that it has relieved my symptoms so much. I am hoping that I will not relapse again.

My dentist has told me long time ago that I need a night guard. But another dentist also thought that I might need an orthodontic treatment. So my primary dentist said that I should wait for the night guard because after the orthodontic treatment the night guard would be useless. It turned out I started having some other dental problems and had to undergo surgery and two root canals. Orthodontic treatment could not be done in my case because my roots are weak because of the surgery and root canal and my dentist is worried that if I need another root canal (because of all the teeth ache that I have been having) then again my current nightguard will become useless. So he is just waiting for sometime on giving me a night guard. So basically I am stuck --  I cannot get a nightguard and not getting a nightguard can cause further problems in my teeth and jaw.

I am hoping that with this supplement will protect my teeth nerves and will not cause further damage to my nerves. My self diagnosis is that my teeth are aching so much because the nerves in the roots of the teeth have been irritated too much. I also began showing symptoms of peripheral neuropathy in my arms and limbs last year when I gradually stopped luvox. I also faced TMJ and dental problems back then. My neuropathic doctor wasn't able to find the cause of my pain and why my pain was behaving so erractically and was not localized to one particular location. So after several denials, he finally agreed with me on luvox being the cause of this. He had no cure and just politely told me that its my choice to either go back on the luvox or suffer in pain.

My psychiatrist just doesn't agree that luvox could cause these problems. She just turns deaf ears to whatever I say. She says that luvox works on CNS and my neuropathy is because of some damage in peripheral nervous system. When I told her that I only experience this while getting off of luvox, she said that  luvox was probably helping me with peripheral neuropathy which could have developed in my body otherwise. Look at her foolishness --  on one side she says that luvox cannot affect peripheral nervous system when it comes to damage but on the other side she says that luvox is probably helping me with neuropathy. How can a drug which according to her never affects the peripheral nervous system is able to help in the case of peripheral neuropathy? We all know that these doctors and no one knows how these drugs work and it is so troubling that these doctors keep on regurgitating the theory told to them by the drug manufacturers. It was not until I came across the book "Prozac Backlash" by doctor Glenmullen that I found relief. But otherwise  I just feel so alone and helpless in this battle.  At this point I don't even know what more I will have to face in the future. 

 

Thank you so much for opening this forum and listening to me.

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Also the supplement has helped me in case of tooth ache but not so far in the case of TMJ. My next step is to try acupuncture or chiropractor. Thanks so much again for your advice.

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Hi Floax I'm glad you are feeling a little better, you seem to be in a lot of pain and discomfort.Withdrawal causes lots of debilitating and painful symptoms, especially after stopping them suddenly. It was April when you stopped the Luvox so it is unlikely that reinstatement would benefit you, and could even make things worse. 

I'm not surprised your doctor didn't believe you, most of them don't know very much about the drugs they are prescribing! 

 

I hope you can find someone who can help with your teeth and jaw problems, it can't be easy for you. 

**I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge.

 

 

Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem)

1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat

2002  effexor. 

Tapered  March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads.

Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013

Restarted taper  Nov 2013  

OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015    :D 

Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014

 

Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg  

 July 2017 30mg.  May 15 2018 25mg

Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. 

 

My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33

 

Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible

 

 

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  • Administrator

Bruxism is a well-documented Luvox withdrawal symptom.

 

Withdrawal may also have made you more sensitive to pain. Good to hear neuro endure mini helps.

 

Yes, your doctor is not using good logic. Goes to show.

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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Thank you everyone for your response. I feel great to have support and comfort provided by the  members here. I am doing much better now. Even my TMJ symptoms are well in control  after taking neuro endure mini. I have increased it to 6 tablets a day now. I no longer have pain in my jaw after i wake up. However, still some discomfort is there in my facial bones. Also because of withdrawal I am again experiencing neuropathy in my arms and limbs. However, that is also much in control probably because I am taking neuro endure mini.

 

I remember last year even when I gradually went off luvox, my peripheral neuropathy was unbearable. That time I didn't know about the road back program. In fact last year I had severe dental problems and neuropathy and doctors were not able to give a conclusive reason about it. Some dentists said that I need fillings and root canal while my primary doctor also said that it could be sinus problem. I think that because of the nerve problems created by luvox it damaged the roots of teeth because of which they decayed rapidly. My diagnosis is that Luvox damaged my peripheral nervous system. That seems to be the reason that the roots in my teeth got inflamed causing immense pain in my teeth and because of which the pulp in my teeth got necrotic and started decaying. Also the damage to nerves caused pain in my limbs and also to the joints of my jaw causing TMJ. While bruxism was surely there and went unnoticed, I am quite sure that it did damage my overall nervous system. I am a poor student and insurance sucks in US. I ended up spending $$4500 on just dental and I am still spending. It's only now that I came to know that the reason is luvox. I wish I could do something like filing a lawsuit etc to at least get my money back. But I think it's close to impossible. 

 

I am just hoping that i do not get anymore bad effects of withdrawal and whatever damage has been done to my body gets reversed. But I am not sure how much of that is possible. 

 

Also now I feel that the problems that luvox created arose because it perhaps 

 

 

I apologize for the late reply. It just becomes a little difficult to take care of everything when you are going through all this withdrawal. But, I promise to keep updating about how I am doing on this supplement so that others can benefit too.

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  • 5 months later...

Hi Altostrata (and others),

 

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

After taking neuro endure my teeth problems went away like I mentioned earlier. I forgot to mention that the ingredients of neuro endure are: NAC and Acetyl L Canitine. The road back people do not mention the quantities in mg of each of the components. It also has another herbal ingredient which I don't remember right now.  If I am not able to wait for shipping from the road back program I just go to GNC and buy over the counter NAC and Acetyle L Carnitine (from GNC). I just take the max dose of NAC as mentioned on their bottle (1.6g) and max dose of Acetyl L carnitie (1g) daily. I split this dose into two doses.

One of my dentists agreed that my problems were caused because of ssri medications. She said that I can keep taking NAC as long as I want to and as long as I need to. She said that probably there is some problem with my bones and taking NAC is not harmful. If I dont take my regular dosage of NAc and Acetyle L Carnitine, I start experiencing some mild discomfort in my teeth.

By writing this reply I want to let people know that NAC might be very helpful in withdrawal. My primary care doctor told me that NAC is uised in case of overdoses and that tey have not heardf about any side effect from it and also she support me .

I found this post (http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=44173.0) where a woman suffered from severe dental problems and had to get dentures. I think she can get help too. I will try to reply there too.

 

Also another reason of this post is that now that my dental problems are getting managed (althoguh not cured completely) my anxiety has come back. I am also experiencing acute depression. I had never had depression before. I was reading alto strata's articles (http://beyondmeds.com/2011/07/28/ssriprotractedwithdrawal/) on protracted withdrawal and am very worried. Can I do something or taking any supplement to not experience glutamatergic disinhibition? JUst to recap I was on luvox for 4 years when I ended it abruptly on "August 1, 2013". Since then I have been under withdrawal. My first wthdrawal started about 2 months after being off of it and caused acute pain in all of my teeth and TMJ. I am very worried that now I am in stage two (where serotoinin receptors are repaired) and stage three is likely to follow (glutamatergic disinhibition). 

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I am also doing Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (after learning it by taking a course at one of Art of living centers; http://www.artofliving.org/sudarshan-kriya-benefitshttp://aolresearch.org/), Pranayam (http://www.artofliving.org/yoga/health-and-wellness/yoga-for-anxiety-disorder), and they have definitely helped me a lot with my anxiety and depression. Also I have heard that yoga exercises which include back bends (http://beyondmeds.com/2012/02/17/yoga-at-home/) are helpful.

I haven't tried Kundalini yoga (section 8 of http://www.theinternetyogi.com/btci-ky-ocd-article-2003.pdf) yet and am going to try it next. 

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Thank you for the update floaks,

 

Its great to hear that your dental problems and pain are getting resolved now.  I'm sorry that you have experienced some anxiety and depression lately, it sounds like you are handling it in a very healthy way by trying various kinds of yoga, I'm sure that this will help.  You may be experiencing a wave of withdrawal, or it could just be some temporary situational emotions, have you been through any extra stress in your life lately?

 

Have a look through our self care section for healthy ways to deal with difficult emotions:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1112-non-drug-techniques-to-cope-with-emotional-symptoms/

 

Whatever is causing this wave of symptoms, I'm sure it will pass soon, try not to worry.  Are you taking magnesium and fish oil, they can be very helpful.

 

Please would you put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature, it helps members to understand your situation when replying to posts, instructions are here:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

I hope you feel better soon.

 

Petu.

 

 

I'm not a doctor.  My comments are not medical advise. These are my opinions based on my own experience and what I've learned. Please discuss your situation with a medical practitioner who has knowledge of tapering and withdrawal...if you are lucky enough to find one.

My Introduction Thread

Full Drug and Withdrawal History

Brief Summary

Several SSRIs for 13 years starting 1997 (for mild to moderate partly situational anxiety) Xanax PRN ~ Various other drugs over the years for side effects

2 month 'taper' off Lexapro 2010

Short acute withdrawal, followed by 2 -3 months of improvement then delayed protracted withdrawal

DX ADHD followed by several years of stimulants and other drugs trying to manage increasing symptoms

Failed reinstatement of Lexapro and trial of Prozac (became suicidal)

May 2013 Found SA, learned about withdrawal, stopped taking drugs...healing begins.

Protracted withdrawal, with a very sensitized nervous system, slowly recovering as time passes

Supplements which have helped: Vitamin C, Magnesium, Taurine

Bad reactions: Many supplements but mostly fish oil and Vitamin D

June 2016 - Started daily juicing, mostly vegetables and lots of greens.

Aug 2016 - Oct 2016 Best window ever, felt almost completely recovered

Oct 2016 -Symptoms returned - bad days and less bad days.

April 2018 - No windows, but significant improvement, it feels like permanent full recovery is close.

VIDEO: Where did the chemical imbalance theory come from?



VIDEO: How are psychiatric diagnoses made?



VIDEO: Why do psychiatric drugs have withdrawal syndromes?



VIDEO: Can psychiatric drugs cause long-lasting negative effects?

VIDEO: Dr. Claire Weekes

 

 

 

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Thanks a lot Petu! You are right; I have been going through  some really extra stress recently!

I apologize for late reply and will also update my signature with my medicine history by this weekend. I am just not finding time due to a lot of anxiety and too much work lately. I have started fish oil and will also start with Mg as per your suggestion.

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