Mort81

[Mort81]

Hello everyone glad I found somewhere to find good information and support . I'll just give a little introduction. I've been off Ciprelex 30mg for 6 months now after being on the ssri for 7 years.The side effects were far out weighing the benefits.

My doctors seemed clueless when it came to the tapering, from what I know now as well as the withdrawal I am currently feeling . I tapered fairly fast from what I read on this forum.My main symptom at first was abdominal pain,panic, discomfort and very poor digestion. I lost 30 lbs in the first month and I know for some people that's good but for my build, not so good.

Most of my symptoms at first were digestive related and my doctors didn't suggest withdrawal. Has anyone in here experienced horrible digestive issues right away ? So I had a million tests run, which came with months of worrying about every disease in the book. My tests came back clean which was good.

However I am still feeling alot of discomfort, sensitivity in the stomach(feels like I'm bruised) coupled with fatigue, vivid dreams and insomnia. I have been experiencing all this while working a Fulltime job, which I love. I have missed more days than I wanted to for the obvious reasons. However I've decided to ask for time off because my body hasn't recovered and I feel the only way for a better recovery is to get away from my schedule and take extra time for myself.

I see two different doctors. The one I saw today wants me to start a pain med and believes my stomach pain is related to migraines I used to get, which at times still show up. I am so scared of all medication but want this stomach pain to go away. I have improved over the 6 months so I'm leaning towards staying the natural course.

Does 5HTP help for withdrawal?? After all the suffering I have gone through in the last 6 months you would think my doctor would give a note to go on sick leave,but apparently that's like pulling teeth. They just see a healthy young man complaining .

Either way I need time for myself and recovery and sorry if I'm ranting. I'm glad to be hear in this forum and look forward to have a place for support and information because I feel my doctors are out too lunch on this topic.

Mort

Edited July 19, 2016 by scallywag
tags added

[Mort81]

Sorry for writing so much.

[Fresh]

Hi  Mort81 ,   welcome to SA.   There's loads of information here about all things related to antidepressant use and withdrawal.

 

The site recommends sticking with just magnesium and fish oil during withdrawal (see symptoms and self care).    Many people find vitamins and supplements too stimulating. There is a thread on 5htp and Tryptophan in the Symptoms and Self-Care section.

 

Digestive problems are common , and you'll find a lot of discussion here about natural remedies , like ginger , mint tea , greek yoghurt.     

I like your idea of looking for natural alternatives rather than start more medications when possible.

 

Best wishes ,   Fresh

[Petunia]

Welcome Mort81,

I'm sorry to hear you are still having some difficult symptoms after tapering too fast off Ciprelex, but at 6 months out, that's not unusual, not around here anyway. It sounds like you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms.  Doctors don't understand withdrawal syndrome. They often want to add or increase drugs, which can make it worse.  Many of us are here because we tapered too fast while believing we were doing it right.  Sadly, most doctors don’t have a clue.

 

Its good to hear that all your tests came back fine, that's what most people find after being tested for all kinds of things, it ends up just being withdrawal.

 

I agree with Fresh that going with natural symptom relief is better than adding more drugs at this stage, your nervous system is working hard to recover,  and unless its absolutely necessary, drugs are best avoided.

 

I also had some digestive issues during my first few months and lost a lot of weight, but that's settled down for me now.  I will list some links to topics you may find helpful:

 

Important topics about symptoms, including sleep problems

 

Digestive problems: Nausea, Diarrhea, Bloating, GERD

 

Have you or are you taking any other drugs? Please would you put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature.  Putting a short version of your drug and tapering history in your signature helps people understand your context, it appears below each of your posts.  Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

 

You will recover in time, it may take a little longer than you would like.  Please feel free to write whenever you want, you will find a lot of friendly help and support here.

 

Petunia.

 

PS.  Here is our 5HTP topic, its generally NOT recommended for withdrawal:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/656-5-htp-5-hydroxytryptophan-and-tryptophan/

Edited February 27, 2015 by Petunia
added PS

[Mort81]

Thank you Fresh and Petunia I appreciate the advice and support

[Mort81]

I was wondering how many of you have dealt with massive stomach disturbances from withdrawal? My stomach feels like it's been punched all the time. Food sensitivities? I feel like this has been my main side effect from withdrawal. It's almost like my stomach feels like it's missing something. I'm 6 months into withdrawal and things are getting better, but very slowly. I'd really appreciate feedback

 

Mort

[Fresh]

Hi Mort , did you take a look yet at the topics that Petunia suggested on your other post ?

 

Fresh

[Petunia]

Hi Mort,

I joined your new topic with your original intro thread, its one intro/update thread per member, please ask questions and update here. Did you read the links I posted earlier in your thread?

[Mort81]

Hey thanks I just read them

[Fresh]

I suspect everyone here has had stomach problems , so you're in good company Mort. 

[Mort81]

Thanks fresh, it's getting better just at a very slow pace. With all these symptoms of withdrawal stomach, fatigue etc.. How does anybody hold down a full time job? I battled for the first 6 months of WD trying to go as much as I could and it took a toll.

[Petunia]

Hi Mort,

I just noticed in your signature that you are tapering off Clonazapam by taking it every 3rd day.  How long have you been skipping doses like this? This method of tapering may be adding to your withdrawal symptoms, by causing rebound withdrawal and further destabilization.  You need to take it on a regular basis with your dose spread out evenly through the day, to keep a steady level in your body.

 

From  The rule of 3KIS: Keep it simple. Keep it slow. Keep it stable.

Do not skip doses to taper. These big, fast changes are the opposite of providing stability for your nervous system. Skipping doses causes the amount of the drug in your bloodstream to go up and down. Do not do this for any psychiatric drug.

 

I suggest you go to our     Members-only benzo forum    and read the topics pinned at the top.  Then maybe start a topic for yourself there if you have questions. 

[moodyblues78]

Thanks fresh, it's getting better just at a very slow pace. With all these symptoms of withdrawal stomach, fatigue etc.. How does anybody hold down a full time job? I battled for the first 6 months of WD trying to go as much as I could and it took a toll.

 

The trick is to do as little as you can until you start feeling better. My stomach was a horrible mess even before the meds, Mainly stress related. Wd made it even worse but I`m much better now. Probiotics help me a lot.

[Rhiannon]

Absolutely agree with Petunia, this is no time to be skipping doses on a benzo! Better to divide it into smaller amounts and take the same amount at the same time every day.

 

Gut issues are very common with benzo withdrawal and benzos in general so this is the last thing you need to be adding to the mix.

 

Clonazepam is usually okay taken once a day but in withdrawal people often find they do better taking it twice a day. Whatever you choose. Taking it less than once a day is going to be throwing you into withdrawal in between doses and will keep your nervous system (including the gut's nervous system) stirred up and unstable.

 

You might also want to do some reading about the gut's nervous system, "enteric nervous system." Quite a popular subject these days, you should be able to find a lot of info about it. It's very common for withdrawal to cause gut problems.

[Mort81]

 

Hey guys thanks for the responses, I'm gonna check out the benzo forums but this topic has me thinking that benzos may be making my withdrawal worse. I was taking clonzapam whenever I needed it. So I'm gonna do my best to remember how often I tool it,because their was never a set schedule. Before I was tapering off ssri I probably took clonzapam 3 times a week at a small does 0.25 but sometimes more. When I started tapering I took it more often. Probably 5-6 times a week. But when I first started getting stomach pain from WD

WD I pretty much stopped all meds completely for a few weeks. Than I started taking the benzos again to try and manage what I was feeling. Basically my doses have been all over the place! What should I do now? I'll read the forums. Has this increased my stomach sensations during withdrawal? I had cramps one day so bad it put me in tears. I haven't cried in a decade.

[Mort81]

Another thing I wanted to add to my last post is that when I got my first sharp stomach pains from withdrawal that sent me to the ER, what followed was severe indigestion for weeks. My stomach muscles weren't contracting to digest food. Food was getting stuck, hence my liquid diet for about a month. Was all this my mismanagement of benzos?? I'm doing lots of research now about this

[Mort81]

Okay I'm freaking out but not in a bad way, this new information could provide my blue print to recovery. Should I start taking 0.25 mg everyday for a while?

[Petunia]

There's one more thing which may be adding to your problems, the way you are weaning off your acid blocker.  That needs to be taken every day, please see:

 

Tips for tapering off stomach acid blockers or PPIs (esomeprazole, lansoprazole, omeprazole)

 

 

Should I start taking 0.25 mg everyday for a while?

 

Or you could try 12.5mg every day, that might be enough.

[Mort81]

Thanks I'm gonna try0.125 everyday and see if my stomach calms Down. I believe the half life of clonazapam is 30-40 hours so maybe 12.5 won't be enough but ill try it out. Reading the benzo forums of withdrawal the symptoms many experience like benzo belly sounds exactly I've been experiencing with my stomach.

[ten0275]

mort, hey.

 

benzo belly was my first symptom in benzo withdrawal/tolerance. i was still taking the ativan and xanax when it began. it was just as you have described. the sharp pain, the lack of digestion. i ended up on a liquid diet as well. i lost a massive, massive amount of weight. the pain would happen shortly after i would ingest food. the intense stabbing pain. i'm not certain i've ever felt physical pain on par with it.

 

rhi mentioned the "gut's nervous system" above. it's some good stuff to look into. i had no idea until withdrawal that there are GABA receptors in the gut, as well as the brain. and in that light, it made perfect sense that my gut would be rebelling at the same time my brain was.

 

i hope things steady out for you soon. the benzo belly goes, thankfully. occasionally, very very occasionally, i will still feel a tightness/bloated-type feeling in my abdomen that i attribute as a leftover echo-symptom. it's nothing so troublesome as the stabbing pain, but enough to remind me that it was once bad.

 

and my weight came back. i have never been so happy to throw away skinny jeans.

 

hang in there.

 

dave

[Mort81]

Your also right about the PPI, I need to break it up in lower doses but take it everyday. These two medications need to be stabilized while my body is going through the ssri WD. I have a month off work to get things on track.

[Mort81]

Thanks dave! Ya I lost a ton of good weight, cant fit into any of my clothes. Luckily my brother is skinny so I am borrowing his all his pants . I've stabilized my weight recently but it's been tough.

[Fresh]

Hi  Mort . how have you been doing?   Love an update 

 

If you click FOLLOW THIS TOPIC at the top right , you'll receive an email each time someone posts.

[Mort81]

Hey thanks for Asking Fresh . Im doing okay . I am finding alot more ups and downs lately . Like one day is okay than the next day is not good and sometimes ill have a bad day but a better night , more frequent better days than in earlier months. I cant say I have Truly have good days yet but hopefully soon. I have just started to work with an Osteopath and psychologist in my area to help me work on the issues that originally landed me on all these meds. I played competitive sports and had a few head injuries and I had another non sports related brain trauma.  These issues caused me headaches and daily panic attacks,PTSD etc...  

 

So the good news is I joined a gym and had my first workout , the bad news was I got a headache! I got discouraged at first but that's okay.Ill try again next week. The gym is a tricky issue for me because I feel so good when I have a good workout but It can also cause massive head tension even doing the simplest of exercises .  I have been off work for about 3 weeks which has helped tremendously. However my doctor gave me a sick note that stated I would be ready to work at thestart of April. She didnt think I needed anytime off and Thinks these withdrawl symptoms are in my head. So I am never seeing her again but I need a new note because I feel I am not ready to go back to work yet. I am really hoping that my work accepts a Psychologist note because she is more understanding and recognizes what I am going through. I figure that If I stay away from work until May or even June than I could recover much better than dealing with daily stress.

 

I am pretty exhausted all the time, thats something I truly notice everyday but one thing thats not bothering me as much is my Gut Pain/Discomfort.  Its still there but not as intense . Some days it still feels like someone hit me with a baseball bat but other days its not so bad and Im so thankful for that! Thanks for checking in on me ! I hope your doing well Fresh!!

[ten0275]

mort, hey.

 

hang in there with the ups and downs. ride them as best you can and realize that the fact that there are actually "ups" in the equation is a good sign that healing is chiseling away in that brain of yours. i am glad that you are stabilizing before your final drop from the klon. and really glad the tummy issues are decreasing.

 

in terms of your workout question, my best advice would be to drop any previously held notion of what you are capable of in the gym; essentially hit the "reset button." 

 

i think i started taking little walks around month 6. no strength training at all. i probably started jogging around month 9 or 10, but very timidly. around the year mark when i was feeling some palpable improvement, i started lifting fairly heavy, but cautiously. it takes time. the only way you are going to know is if you try. 

 

the way i started with the weights was i went into the gym and grabbed a set of 40lb dumbells - so 80lbs total. i hit 3 sets of 12 reps per arm and just did that for a couple weeks. threw some pushups in there as well. some days it did great things, other days i didn't have the energy or nervous system stability to achieve it. as time passed, i just increased the weight as i felt i could while adding other exercises to the mix. it's all going to be an experiment for you.

 

if you feel motivated to get in there and start hitting it - my personal view is that you should. but do so very very cautiously. remember, the iron always dishes you the absolute truth. 80lbs is always 80lbs. if you spend a half hour lifting more than you are ready for, you're setting yourself up for lifting nothing more than a spoon for months. and with withdrawal in the picture, you really need to watch how your nervous system is affected.

 

if you experiment, report back and let us know how you did. i have found strength training to be one of my most faithful allies in my healing. but i had to get into it with care and respect.

 

hang in there.

 

dave

[Mort81]

Thanks Dave your support is huge! I think I am probably at the light cardio and stretching stage at the moment. Slowly work my way up. Weight training has gotten me through some tough times over the years so can't wait to be able to lift.

[Mort81]

*post and replies moved from symptoms forum

 

I watched a documentary about antidepressants recently and I'm disgusted about what I saw . I am trying to figure out the name of it but I cant remember. Basically what I've got from it is that Antidepressant side effects and withdrawal are a big cover up by pharm companies and psychiatrists . Family Doctors either turn a blind eye or are just absolutely stupid and uneducated about this issue. It's a vicious cycle that puts massive dollars into the pockets of all involved. They get us hooked and make it nearly impossible to get off of them. When we have withdrawal it's automatically us going into a relapse so we need to go back on more meds!? Even though the symptoms may be completely different from the symptoms that suggested we use the drugs. I just can't get over what I saw, the world we live in is just so corrupt!

I never posted the exact side effects I was experiencing while on Lexapro that made me say I need to get off of this stuff now! I was curious if any of the SSRI users experienced this. After being on Lexapro for about 5 years 30mg my body temperature would always been extremely hot. I could never get cool enough. I woke up with the dryest mouth. My lips would be stuck to my gums and headaches. Anyway I played ice hockey regularly and anybody who has played this sport knows how hot your body can get. I blacked out twice after playing hockey. My body temp was through the roof. I had to stop playing but even when I wasn't playing It would continue to happen except for actually blacking out. I started getting ORAS. I don't know if I spelt that word right. But my heart would slow down and I'd get light headed and begin to shake. I got used to this happening almost weekly. My doctor had me see neurologists. I saw 2 neurologists lost my license and all that was said was that it was anxiety and I needed more meds. Not once did they suggest my meds could the culprit. I feel like we live in a world where we can't trust anyone. Sorry for the rant I wish we could expose these corrupt people. I Feel like their should be a huge lawsuit against doctors, pychs and Big pharm. Kinda how the older NFL players have sued the NFL for long lasting head injuries. Or something better like the people pushing these drugs on us should go on them for as long as we've been on them! I'm sorry sometimes I feel like an eye for eye.That DOCUMENTRY just got me fired up!

[stan]

i have same conclusions 

[Fresh]

Hi Mort ,     a member called Marmite is looking for people like you who have had cardiac and sensory issues whilst on Lexapro.

He's working with Dr David Healy with the goal of putting a case together against the pharmaceutical manufacturer.

 

The thread is in Symptoms and Self Care , called "Research:  Escitalopram/Lexapro , citalopram /  celexa".    This is a chance for us all to get involved.

Anyone interested can message Marmite.

[Mort81]

Thanks Fresh I will be on board 

[Mort81]

Just an update , I have actually had 2 fairly good days in a row. Stomach slightly tender but no pain. I am able to eat things that would have bothered me in previous months. Hopefully many more windows and better windows ! 

[Purplestars22]

So happy for you on your improvements wish you many more.

[Ruthjess]

Lexapro, has just taken a year and a half of my life from me. Its nasty stuff. Had to transfer to prozac to try and get off of it.

[Mort81]

Ya its been awful , we will come out better on the other end but I guess it takes a long time. Its pretty pathetic when my doctor tells me I should only experience 2 weeks WD. 

[Mort81]

Thanks purple ! today makes it 3 in a row !

[Skyler]

Just an update , I have actually had 2 fairly good days in a row. Stomach slightly tender but no pain. I am able to eat things that would have bothered me in previous months. Hopefully many more windows and better windows ! 

 

That's wonderful Mort.  I'm delighted to read your news.