Timetobedone Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hello- I have been on an antidepressant for about 15-16 years now. I was originally put on them not to control depression or anxiety, but rather to prevent migraine headaches. Over the years, I have been switched to numerous different antidepressants for various reasons. . That was a whole other mess. When I switched from Zoloft to Viibryd, my doctor didn't bother telling me about AD withdrawal and I got hit with a tone of bricks! Ultimately, that withdrawal took me about a year before I was able to completely stop taking Zoloft. I was also on numerous meds over the years for insomnia (which I am now realizing may be due to the effects of the AD..go figure ). Nonetheless, I went through a horrible time with sleeping meds and had really bad anxiety and depression and was put on a benzo to counter the effects. I went through a horrid withdrawal from the benzo and sleeping meds. Fast forward to today, I have noticed that although I am about 16+ months out of my benzo taper, I am still experiencing a lot of side effects and I am speculating that its my 40mg of Viibryd that I am on, that is causing a good chunk of my issues. I have been waiting until I was in a good place to start a taper of my Viibryd and I think it's time. Any advice or recommendations on tapering this medication would be greatly appreciated. TIA Was put on antidepressants for migraines in 1999. Have taken several different ones including Amitriptyline, Paxil, Trazadone, Lexapro, Zoloft, and now Viibryd. Was misdiagnosed with insomnia and put on Ambien for several years when Trazadone stopped working. Big mistake by my doctor. I didn't truly have insomnia. But had sleep issues because of the antidepressants. Nonetheless, when the FDA came out with warnings on Ambien, my doctor cut my dose in half (10mg nightly, never more, only taken as prescribed) and I went through living hell immediately but my doctor had no idea what was wrong so she added Ativan to the mix for 4 months. Needless to say, I got really really sick with anxiety beyond anything I can explain. After several months, I researched on my own and found out what the problem was. I was in withdrawal. June 2013, Viibryd 40mg, 10mg of Ambien July 2013, Ambien cut in half to 5mg, doctor added .25mg Ativan 3-4 times per days as needed. Dec 2013, rapid taper off Ativan because of tolerance withdrawal and horrible sxs. April 2014, finished 5 mg taper of Ambien April 2016-40Mg Viibryd taper started. Viibryd was cut by 5mg increments from April 2016- August 2017; always reduced as tolerated. Held at 10mg for a year to stabilize. Yes, these are larger cuts than recommended, but it worked for me. August 27, 2017-Done with Viibryd Worst symptoms now are tension headaches and increased anxiety. Tolerable, as I have managed to maintain a full time job and raise two kids without issue. Symptoms are just annoying and fuel my anxiety. Take 5-10mg of Atarax per day as needed to help take the edge of anxiety. Link to comment
Moderator brassmonkey Posted July 28, 2015 Moderator Share Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) Hi TIA-- Welcome to the group. I'm sorry to hear that you've been going through all this trouble. It does sound like you're in a good place to start tapering off of things. There is a lot of good information in the tapering forum that is well worth a read. A good place to start might be with this thread; Tips for tapering off Viibryd (vilazodone) there is another good threads about why to taper at 10% that I would recommend. Edited July 28, 2015 by Altostrata fixed link 20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013. Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks. The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better. Final Dose 0.016mg. Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017 "It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general." Stephen Hawking Link to comment
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