antidepressantsNoMore: Pristiq cold turkey 2.6 years later

[antidepressantsNoMore]

I found a therapist so I am going to see how it goes. I feel like I"m talking to myself. lol.

 

Hope everyone else is doing alright.

[Petunia]

Hi aNM,

I moved the topic you started in the symptoms forum to your own thread, because its more about your own unique journey/situation rather than a specific symptom. We already have a topic on OCD and another one on intrusive thoughts, and prefer that members add to existing topics if they already exist, rather than make new ones, this keeps the site organized with all available knowledge in one thread, easily accessible through searches.

 

The search function on this site doesn't work very well.  The best way to search this site for specific information is to use Google. Type in survivingantidepressants.org then the symptom or information you wish to search for.

 

If after searching, you can't find what you're looking for, please start a new topic.

 

Here is the OCD topic:

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/3882-ocd-obsessive-thoughts-compulsive-behaviors/

 

... and intrusive thoughts:

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/3382-intrusive-thoughts/

 

I'm happy to hear you have found a therapist, please let us know how it goes, either here on your own thread, or the OCD topic, probably both would be best if you have the time.

 

You asked if anyone has any insights about intrusive thoughts, I can share something which happened recently. My daughter told me that she finds it hard to enjoy herself when she is socializing because she keeps getting 'attacked' by thoughts about all the things she has to do in the coming week. This is what I told her to do: 

 

Realize that your mind is 'trying' to be helpful by constantly reminding you what you need to do, but that you don't actually need that kind of help right now. So silently thank your mind for trying to help, and tell it that you are fine right now and will need its help next week when you actually have to do those things, but for now, its not needed, so please be quiet, then gently brush those unnecessary thoughts away.

 

My daughter tried it for a few days and said it helped a lot. She said the quality of her life has now improved a lot.

 

I don't know what kind of intrusive thoughts you are having, but perhaps you could adopt this kind of dialog to your own situation and have this conversation with your own mind when its bothering you.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

I'm happy to hear you have found a therapist, please let us know how it goes, either here on your own thread, or the OCD topic, probably both would be best if you have the time.

 

You asked if anyone has any insights about intrusive thoughts, I can share something which happened recently. My daughter told me that she finds it hard to enjoy herself when she is socializing because she keeps getting 'attacked' by thoughts about all the things she has to do in the coming week. This is what I told her to do: 

 

Realize that your mind is 'trying' to be helpful by constantly reminding you what you need to do, but that you don't actually need that kind of help right now. So silently thank your mind for trying to help, and tell it that you are fine right now and will need its help next week when you actually have to do those things, but for now, its not needed, so please be quiet, then gently brush those unnecessary thoughts away.

 

My daughter tried it for a few days and said it helped a lot. She said the quality of her life has now improved a lot.

 

I don't know what kind of intrusive thoughts you are having, but perhaps you could adopt this kind of dialog to your own situation and have this conversation with your own mind when its bothering you.

 

Yeah I found a descent therapist so I am going to keep fighting. I am starting to feel better. I have a few self-help audio books I listen to on my mp3 about OCD reassurance and avoidance something is starting to "click" in my brain.

 

The WD is almost finally over ( 3 years) so maybe the OCD was worsened by WD, well of course it was.

 

Hope all is well with you. Happy Mothers Day.

[AliG]

 Hey, ADNM,   Just saying , "Hi".   How do you know , "it's over".  I'm seeing glimpses, but I wouldn't know.  How do you know.?

[antidepressantsNoMore]

 Hey, ADNM,   Just saying , "Hi".   How do you know , "it's over".  I'm seeing glimpses, but I wouldn't know.  How do you know.?

 

I am in tune with my body so I can tell when something is wrong. I have been through all the phases of WD. The last symptom I am experiencing is eye floaters and they are starting to dimenish. The symptoms should slowly stop. The personality changes should start to reverse. All these strange symptoms should start to subside. You won't notice much at first but slowly, it gets better. I am going on 3 years next month since stopping prestiq CT.

[Petunia]

So after I turned 22, things started to fall apart. I went to a psychiatrist and was prescribed prestiq (SNRI) ....

 

The SNRI, really didn't help much at all. I have tried other anti-depressants and they work to an extent but not as good as docs like to say they do. ...

 

Would you tell us a little more about your drug history? Here in your first post, you mention other antidepressants, but you have really only talked about being on pristiq for 1.5 years and then experiencing withdrawal for 3 years, I'm wondering if previous medication use may have contributed to your long withdrawal process.

 

You could put this information in your signature. Putting a short version of your drug and tapering history in your signature helps people easily understand your context, because it appears below all of your posts. It wasn't until I read through your entire thread that I understood your withdrawal process has been going on twice as long as you were actually taking pristiq.

 

I'm really happy for you that its over (almost) and you are moving on with your life now, I'm sure that going through withdrawal has made your OCD worse. I'm also having to deal with lots of issues (again), that I thought I had put to rest. You may find that as time goes by, and you become established in your life and more stable, it may settle down on its own.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

 

Would you tell us a little more about your drug history? Here in your first post, you mention other antidepressants, but you have really only talked about being on pristiq for 1.5 years and then experiencing withdrawal for 3 years, I'm wondering if previous medication use may have contributed to your long withdrawal process.

 

You could put this information in your signature. Putting a short version of your drug and tapering history in your signature helps people easily understand your context, because it appears below all of your posts. It wasn't until I read through your entire thread that I understood your withdrawal process has been going on twice as long as you were actually taking pristiq.

 

I'm really happy for you that its over (almost) and you are moving on with your life now, I'm sure that going through withdrawal has made your OCD worse. I'm also having to deal with lots of issues (again), that I thought I had put to rest. You may find that as time goes by, and you become established in your life and more stable, it may settle down on its own.

 

 

 

Well my issue was also abusing pot, alcohol and caffeine, other stimulants ( 7 years plus) on top of WD from prestiq along with two major life changing events.

 

I also isolated myself for over three years. I would barely go out, even stopped going to the gym, only have a few friends and family left.

 

I think it was a combo of both life changing events but yes, WD was a huge part. I know my body and right after I stopped all these weird side effects started. They got potentially worse until I was full of anxiety and dizziness etc, I couldn't even function for a good two year period.

 

And I really haven't functioned like a normal person in over 3 years. I am just started to get back to therapy. I was looking for a job, worked two temp jobs, quit one. I have my degree but it is set up for a masters so I am going to work another job for a year, save up every penny and pay off half my loans and go back for the masters, do an internship and do things right, this time around.

 

I have matured a lot. I have come to realize I cannot take short cuts in my life. I took so many short cuts starting back in high school such as cheating my way through. I took short cuts in college and did bad things to make money to pay bills and spent the rest of women and booze.

 

The worst thing of all was the isolation part. This contributed to my paranoia, and social anxiety. I am just trying to get back into society and function. I KNOW though for a 100 percent fact that WD was a huge part of the downfall of the last year but so were my bad choices.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

 

You could put this information in your signature. Putting a short version of your drug and tapering history in your signature helps people easily understand your context, because it appears below all of your posts. It wasn't until I read through your entire thread that I understood your withdrawal process has been going on twice as long as you were actually taking pristiq.

 

 

I forgot to mention my past history of medications, I've used,

 

prozac, 6 months back when I was 16, mild depression, didn't even need it

zoloft 1 year, at 18, mild depression, didn't even need it

lexapro, 6 months, at 21.5 yrs old , first major depression

amitripylimine ( i know I spelled it wrong) 10 months - taken during WD

klonopin 1 year, on and off - During WD

 

So my brain is probably healing for all that as well

[antidepressantsNoMore]

I stopped taking the SNRI Prestiq CT, about 2.7 yrs ago, a rough estimate. I took other Anti-depressants in my life and a few during the duration of WD so in some ways, looking back on this experience have come to the conclusion that I may have been WD'ing from multiple AD's.

 

You may have read some of my threads on here, I certainly posted quite a few about my experience with anti-depressant WD and other issues closely related to WD etc.

 

The good news is the W/D is over. I am no longer struggling with symptoms of WD. I am moving on with my life. My life hasn't been so good for the last five years but the last three during WD were hell. WD has taught me not to be afraid of anything in life and try to be happy with your life even when it isn't good. I want people to realize that life can get better even when you feel it won't.

 

I for one realize I can't live in the past anymore. I was allowing my past mistakes and WD to control my life. I was basically having a pity party. My other issues were related to past mistakes I made in life. I thought I knew it all and could do anything I wanted. I was selfish and naive to believe so and in some ways paid for my past mistakes. There is nothing wrong with having feelings and emotions but we need to put them into prospective. I'm moving forward with my life. Thanks to everyone for your advice, your constructive criticism and kind words of encouragement. You will overcome WD, stay strong.

 

Thanks.

[alex]

Antidepressants W/D will make us better,stronger, wiser people.

I am happy for you.

[Altostrata]

Thank you, antidepressantsNoMore.

 

To summarize, what were your worst symptoms at the beginning, how did they go away? Do you have any now?

 

What was most helpful in dealing with your symptoms?

 

(antidepressantsNoMore's Introductions topic is here http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/8462-%E2%98%BC-antidepressantsnomore-pristiq-snri-wd-cold-turkey-26-years-later-updates-did-stopping-cold-turkey-cause-severe-social-anxietylow-self-esteem/ )

[Altostrata]

I am happy to report antidepressantsNoMore's Success Story topic is here http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/9513-antidepressantsnomore-cold-turkey-pristiq-and-other-antidepressant-wd-finally-over/

 

Please continue your conversation with him there.

 

In keeping with our tradition, I will lock this topic as he has embarked on a new part of his journey.

[oskcajga]

Congrats.  You're so lucky to have escaped after such a short amount of time.  Some people never recover.  Recovering from SSRI withdrawals is sort of like recovering from a mild form of brain cancer - some do, some don't - but when someone does, you're really really happy for them.

 

I'm really happy for you, congratulations and best of success in dealing with normal anxiety and depression.  It's tough, but finding a support team is very important.  There's different places you can find a support team.  I always found  (before the brain damage from SSRIS) that having people to call every day was very helpful.  Maybe you can figure out somewhere you can make friends that you can talk to every day about what's going on in your life.  That's the best way I've found to deal wth anxiety and depression.

[LoveandLight]

Osk..how do you know some people don't recover?

[antidepressantsNoMore]

Thank you, antidepressantsNoMore.

 

To summarize, what were your worst symptoms at the beginning, how did they go away? Do you have any now?

 

What was most helpful in dealing with your symptoms?

 

(antidepressantsNoMore's Introductions topic is here http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/8462-%E2%98%BC-antidepressantsnomore-pristiq-snri-wd-cold-turkey-26-years-later-updates-did-stopping-cold-turkey-cause-severe-social-anxietylow-self-esteem/ )

 

I listed a ton of symptoms in my thread, the worst were the depersonalization, rebound anxiety and fear though. However, the dizziness and tiredness caused me to feel like a zombie for a while. They just went away over time. Of course, I stopped drinking so much. I also took a lot of magnesium. I guess my brain just had to reboot.

 

As far as dealing with the symptoms. I don't know. Honestly, I suffered a lot these past few years. Better things are ahead.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

Congrats.  You're so lucky to have escaped after such a short amount of time.  Some people never recover.  Recovering from SSRI withdrawals is sort of like recovering from a mild form of brain cancer - some do, some don't - but when someone does, you're really really happy for them.

 

I'm really happy for you, congratulations and best of success in dealing with normal anxiety and depression.  It's tough, but finding a support team is very important.  There's different places you can find a support team.  I always found  (before the brain damage from SSRIS) that having people to call every day was very helpful.  Maybe you can figure out somewhere you can make friends that you can talk to every day about what's going on in your life.  That's the best way I've found to deal wth anxiety and depression.

 

Yeah, I'm in therapy. It seems to be doing some good. I talk about my issues with people though. It helps.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

Antidepressants W/D will make us better,stronger, wiser people.

I am happy for you.

 

Thanks Alex.

[Jemima]

FYI, I found that a daily dose of magnesium at recommended levels (350 mg. for a woman, 400 mg. for a man) caused fatigue, depression, and severe diarrhea.  I also recently quit taking 1000 mg. Vitamin C twice a day, which was contributing greatly to stomach upsets, bloating, and  diarrhea. I've concluded that reaching for a pill for most problems in life is a very bad idea.

 

Glad to see you made it through!

[Altostrata]

Note: Taking magnesium in divided doses is more effective for relaxation. Taking 350mg magnesium at once might very well cause diarrhea for a lot of people, including me.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

I guess everyone is different.

 

I need to take vitamin C, 5,000 mg a day. Here's why, I have OCD and really never learned how to handle stress. Working out does help and I am trying to get back into the habit because at one time, I was a very dedicated weight lifter. It REALLY helps me with stress more than any other supplement.

[a99]

Congratulation !!  so good to read stories like this .

have all of your symptoms go away ?

  did you have brain fog / derealization / impaired short term memory ? 

[antidepressantsNoMore]

Congratulation !!  so good to read stories like this .

have all of your symptoms go away ?

  did you have brain fog / derealization / impaired short term memory ? 

 

No. I do suffer from OCD but I've always had it. Mine got worse during w/d, really bad. It was also masked for years by alcohol and pot abuse. It eventually came back and hit me full force.

[Altostrata]

I moved the excellent discussion What does "fully healed" mean? from this topic to the Symptom forum.

[andy013]

Are you still taking amitriptyline as it says in your signature?

[antidepressantsNoMore]

Are you still taking amitriptyline as it says in your signature?

 

no, the only thing I take is Saphris which is a new generation anti-psychotic and it works great for me. I take it before bed time and helps me sleep through the night. It also helps me the next day.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

Congratulation !!  so good to read stories like this .

have all of your symptoms go away ?

  did you have brain fog / derealization / impaired short term memory ? 

 

No, those symptoms all went away. However, they were VERY bad during w/d.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

Congrats.  You're so lucky to have escaped after such a short amount of time.  Some people never recover.  Recovering from SSRI withdrawals is sort of like recovering from a mild form of brain cancer - some do, some don't - but when someone does, you're really really happy for them.

 

I'm really happy for you, congratulations and best of success in dealing with normal anxiety and depression.  It's tough, but finding a support team is very important.  There's different places you can find a support team.  I always found  (before the brain damage from SSRIS) that having people to call every day was very helpful.  Maybe you can figure out somewhere you can make friends that you can talk to every day about what's going on in your life.  That's the best way I've found to deal wth anxiety and depression.

 

Thanks. I really don't post here any more. I am still focusing on getting my priorites into place. I am staying positive. SSRI's are some bad stuff.

[oskcajga]

 

Are you still taking amitriptyline as it says in your signature?

 

no, the only thing I take is Saphris which is a new generation anti-psychotic and it works great for me. I take it before bed time and helps me sleep through the night. It also helps me the next day.

 

 

 

What happens when you miss a dose or if you were to stop taking it completely?

[antidepressantsNoMore]

 

 

Are you still taking amitriptyline as it says in your signature?

 

no, the only thing I take is Saphris which is a new generation anti-psychotic and it works great for me. I take it before bed time and helps me sleep through the night. It also helps me the next day.

 

 

 

What happens when you miss a dose or if you were to stop taking it completely?

 

 

No, I won't. I stopped completely because I was being an idiot. This stuff helps me big time.

[oskcajga]

 

 

 

Are you still taking amitriptyline as it says in your signature?

 

no, the only thing I take is Saphris which is a new generation anti-psychotic and it works great for me. I take it before bed time and helps me sleep through the night. It also helps me the next day.

 

 

 

What happens when you miss a dose or if you were to stop taking it completely?

 

 

No, I won't. I stopped completely because I was being an idiot. This stuff helps me big time.

 

 

I was just asking what happens, do you have dependency?  Have you ever attempted to stop it, what sort of symptoms do you get?

[antidepressantsNoMore]

 

 

 

 

Are you still taking amitriptyline as it says in your signature?

 

no, the only thing I take is Saphris which is a new generation anti-psychotic and it works great for me. I take it before bed time and helps me sleep through the night. It also helps me the next day.

 

 

 

What happens when you miss a dose or if you were to stop taking it completely?

 

 

No, I won't. I stopped completely because I was being an idiot. This stuff helps me big time.

 

 

I was just asking what happens, do you have dependency?  Have you ever attempted to stop it, what sort of symptoms do you get?

 

 

No. I just started it. It's used off label for severe anxiety. It is working great for my anxiety. It is a new generation anti-psychotic, a lot better than that serquol crap. I just take it at night. Hey, if I take just one of these at night, I'm fine with that. My anxiety is a real problem for me so being on it, has helped.

[oskcajga]

 

 

 

 

 

Are you still taking amitriptyline as it says in your signature?

 

no, the only thing I take is Saphris which is a new generation anti-psychotic and it works great for me. I take it before bed time and helps me sleep through the night. It also helps me the next day.

 

 

 

What happens when you miss a dose or if you were to stop taking it completely?

 

 

No, I won't. I stopped completely because I was being an idiot. This stuff helps me big time.

 

 

I was just asking what happens, do you have dependency?  Have you ever attempted to stop it, what sort of symptoms do you get?

 

 

No. I just started it. It's used off label for severe anxiety. It is working great for my anxiety. It is a new generation anti-psychotic, a lot better than that serquol crap. I just take it at night. Hey, if I take just one of these at night, I'm fine with that. My anxiety is a real problem for me so being on it, has helped.

 

 

Are you familiar with the fact that the half life of Sapharis is 24 hours?  Therefore, if you "just take it at night" you're really taking it for the entire next day? 

 

What dose are you currently taking?

[Altostrata]

Please update your signature.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

 

 

Are you familiar with the fact that the half life of Sapharis is 24 hours?  Therefore, if you "just take it at night" you're really taking it for the entire next day? 

 

What dose are you currently taking?

5 mg

[oskcajga]

 

 

 

Are you familiar with the fact that the half life of Sapharis is 24 hours?  Therefore, if you "just take it at night" you're really taking it for the entire next day? 

 

What dose are you currently taking?

5 mg

 

 

That's a sizable dose of an antipsycotic that you're taking there on a daily basis.

 

I'd tread with extreme caution moving forward with this strategy if I were you.

 

There's a considerable body of evidence that demonstrates that atypical antipsycotics are actually more dangerous and more brain damaging than the typical or older antipsycotics.  Not only that - but they come with long term metabolic, renal, GI issues as well.

 

Have you read the book "Mad in America" or Psychiatric drug withdrawal"  http://www.amazon.com/Psychiatric-Drug-Withdrawal-Prescribers-Therapists/dp/0826108431

 

 

 

These two books detail the risks of these drugs more accurately and more carefully than I can document.  I hope you find the information helpful.

[apace41]

Googling Saphris withdrawal or discontinuation suggests that staying on that long term will likely result in similar problems to those experienced on SSRIs.  Another generation of meds that the FDA, pharma and docs say "have no withdrawal symptoms" which is contradicted by those on the front lines dealing with the meds and getting off of them.  Before you get too far in it would be worth considering, as Osk suggests, whether this is really the best way to go.  If you problem is anxiety, there are natural ways to deal with that issue or at least try to work through it. 

 

It is always up to each individual to make their decision on how to proceed, but in very few cases is long-term prescription medicine the answer that produces the best outcome over the longer haul.

 

Good luck,

 

Andy