• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Withdrawing from anti-depressants

BraidedPony said:
Hi owlet, when I went of Zoloft it was awful, I had those symptoms too! That was when I learned that weaning onto Prozac during the process helps because it has a longer half life than Zoloft.
Ive heard about the liquid form too, but I was hoping just eyeballing the contents of the capsule would be good enough.
I’m feeling pretty good now, I think maybe mornings are the hard part.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry you had them too, the symptoms were terrible. That's a good point, I hadn't thought about using Prozac, but I did hear it was a lot easier to come off because of its half life. Actually, doctors in the UK seem a bit unsure about prescribing Prozac (fluoxetine) any more, which is a shame because it doesn't seem to come with all the side effects sertraline has.
Eyeballing might be okay, but it's important to be consistent too, so having measured doses would be helpful, I think. I'm glad you're feeling okay though!
 
In my experience, if you're not sure if your AD's are still doing anything they probably aren't.

Ah, the electric shocks every time I touched something.. I don't miss those.

Slow is the way to go!
 
I was on Paxil for about 2 years, I quit cold turkey, I was homeless at the time. I got the most terrible vertigo and some kind of electricical feeling in my neck to my brain that would sometimes put me to my knees. It went away almost completely after 6 months, but occasionally I get the neck/brain electric feeling in mye neck/brain to a more minor degree, and that was 5 years ago.
 
I went off Escitalopram (on my own without doctor approval, not recommended!) after being on it about 12 years. I too wasn't sure they were doing anything for me anymore. Brain zaps, insomnia, increased anxiety, so many withdrawal effects! It was hell. I was off them for about six months. After the withdrawal effects wore off, it was still hell. Tons of irritability, anxiety, depression. My anxiety was so bad that my memory and cognition had deteriorated to an embarrassing level. I went back on Lexapro and don't ever plan to go off again. Personally, I'm better with them.
 
I’m afraid these medications have changed my brain to a point where I won’t be able to get off and stay off them. But I gotta try. My doctor seemed to think i can do it.
I have Valiums for anxiety and other non drug methods to calm down.
 
Really slow and steady and keep your doctor regularly updated about how you’re feeling and any physical effects.

Keep a detailed diary of signs and symptoms if it’s easier to show the doctor that.

I’ve cold turkeyed before now.
Not the brightest ideas I’ve ever had.
Really rough going for several months.
I wouldn’t recommend it.

I’m currently changing habits, perspectives and lifestyle.
It slow going, plenty of hurdles and failures, ‘dips’ and disasters.

Amongst the only times my frustration and stubbornness can be used to my advantage. (To keep going) :)
 
I’m going to go back to 20mg Prozac (from 13mg for 3days). This dose was comfortable for me and a relatively low dose anyway and stay at 20mg for a while so I can adjust to other changes in my life.
And that is true what Gracey said about using stubborness to our advantage! I’ll add some patience to the mix and it should be ok.
Thanks everyone for your support, I appreciate it.
 
Update: I went back to the 20 mg dose of Prozac for two weeks and starting again now with 13 mg. I’m feeling better this time but having some digestive issues but that could be from anything and not that unusual for me anyway.
But at least I am completely off the Cymbalta. Now just tapering, slowly, off the Prozac.
It’s confusing when one of the symptoms of withdrawal is depression! So, in other words, when I have a bad couple of days I don't know if it is because I need the meds or I’m just have temporary withdrawal symptoms.
 
Done! Mission accomplished!
Off all anti-depressants and I feel better than when I was taking them all these years. But I did add a supplement called 5HTP and I think that it is helping with depression and anxiety and without it would probably have to go back to a low dose of Prozac at least. I need that little bit of help with the seratonin I guess.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom