Considering reinstating or getting on an SSRI.

[[Li...]]

The anxiety is too much. It's like being stuck in a panic attack 24/7. Can't distract, the thoughts are loud and hard.. Every single thought causes severe sensations in my stomach and adrenaline throughout my entire body.. Not able to sleep or function. I don't know how to do this anymore. This Month 4-5 wave is worse than my initial "acute" Month 1-2. Going on 4 weeks now and I'm not coping well.. Constantly breaking down.

 

I'm so afraid, though.. I'm afraid that it will backfire and make things even worse.. Do SSRI's help or make things worse for anxiety, during benzo withdrawal? This level of anxiety/panic can't possible sustain for much longer, right? I'm in a constant fog and can't rationalize or think clearly, I feel like I'm going absolutely insane and it has me constantly questioning whether this is withdrawal or just a chemical imbalance in me that needs to be treated with meds.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[[Ca...]]

I was on Zoloft loft for years... then it stopped working ( looking back, it never fully worked). In July I was in WD but didn't know it because I always took Ativan here and there...but I think a new generic brand us what out me into wd - anyway, every doctor told me to reinstate the Zoloft (it was that it try Wellbutrin and I was sooooo sick). Anyway, the four days I reinstated at like 5mg were possibly the 4 worst days of my life in terms of how my body felt. I'm surprised I serviced - I that fir sure I wasn't going to make it. I'm also convinced that the people who have been on ssri have worse wd than those who haven't.

[[Ca...]]

Isn't prestiq an ssri?

[[Wo...]]

Think gabapentin might help?

[[Es...]]

Take into account this fact. If you start an SSRI like Prozac or Zoloft, your anxiety levels may get very high. Luvox, Paxil or Effexor XR (the third is an SNRI) are rather sedating. But there’s no guarantee how you’d react. All those psych meds would interfere with your sleep. May cause anxiety and insomnia lasting up to a month. You should see a benzo-wise pdoc and discuss the problem. Starting an SSRI is a very serious decision. The consequences may last the lifetime. Same with benzos. A lot depends on what WD symptoms you’re having.

[[Li...]]

Yeah, I think you're right and it's wising me up. I'm having a lot of what you mentioned the meds would worsen. Severe, unrelentless anxiety that just lasts all day, insomnia, constant OCD and thoughts that I never had before, along with sensorimotor OCD about my breathing, which is a nightmare. I was diagnosed with OCD tendencies as a kid, but never understood what that meant and have never dealt with anything like this before.

 

It's the constant OCD intrusive thoughts, obsessive thinking, awareness and breathing OCD that is driving me insane. I think I can hang in there, but I need reassurance that all of this will just end when I am healed. I had a good window during month 3, before this huge wave and had NONE of this. I had the OCD thoughts during the first two months, but they all but went away in my window of month 3.

[[Ca...]]

Estee - do you know of anyone who has healed after taking an ssri? I think you're right, the consequences will last a lifetime

[[Es...]]

Estee - do you know of anyone who has healed after taking an ssri? I think you're right, the consequences will last a lifetime

 

As consequences, I mean chiefly “SSRI WD syndrome”. Difficult to differentiate between the syndrome and the disease itself. I don’t know anyone healed by an SSRI. Many ppl just get some temporary relief from their symptoms. Then it often gets worse. I know I was able to function before SSRIs, on benzos solely. Once I started taking SSRIs/SNRIs. Been 15 yrs. I cannot see a possibility to withdraw. I tried to taper twice. The effects were terrible. Pdocs keep telling me I need it “like a diabetic needs insulin.” All I can do is lower the dose from time to time. A lot depends on how long a person has been taking it and what diagnosis they’ve got.

[Guest [Le...]]

Estee - do you know of anyone who has healed after taking an SSRI? I think you're right, the consequences will last a lifetime

 

As consequences, I mean chiefly “SSRI WD syndrome”. Difficult to differentiate between the syndrome and the disease itself. I don’t know anyone healed by an SSRI. Many ppl just get some temporary relief from their symptoms. Then it often gets worse. I know I was able to function before SSRIs, on benzos solely. Once I started taking SSRIs/SNRIs. Been 15 yrs. I cannot see a possibility to withdraw. I tried to taper twice. The effects were terrible. Pdocs keep telling me I need it “like a diabetic needs insulin.” All I can do is lower the dose from time to time. A lot depends on how long a person has been taking it and what diagnosis they’ve got.

 

I was told that I had to be on an SSRI and Ativan for life, but I believe doctors tell us that because they don’t know how to help us get off these drugs.

 

I was on Paxil, Adderall and Ativan for years and yes, withdrawal was absolute hell. But I can tell you, I am far better off these drugs than I was when I was on them. There are better ways to manage the stresses that can lead to psychiatric drugs, and now I know that. Too bad it took the absolute ruination of my life and a few years of incapacity to learn that.

 

Now I get to start over my life over, and despite residual neuropathic pain, dizziness and weird sleeping patterns, I’m getting to a much better place, and my mind is sharp again.

 

LiveAboveIt, all of that stuff you’re talking about goes away, it just vanishes one day, like magic.

 

If you’ve already had a window this early, that’s a good sign, and you can expect more of the same in your future. I didn’t get a window until after I was off a year, but then the improvements began to land one after the other. No more all-day depression, no more waking up in inexplicable terror, no more having sleepless nights merging into despair-filled mornings. Insomnia? Gone!

 

Memories now stay in their right place on an accurate timeline, instead of intruding as though they are happening to me all over again, right now. No intrusive thoughts, no running back in because I have to check the faucets and burners. You name the horror, I had it. Gone.

 

Try to picture that, and run toward it in your mind. 

 

[[Lo...]]

I was on Prozac long before the benzos, but after being in benzo wd for a while, I cannot tolerate a single SSRI....

 

 

[[Li...]]

Estee - do you know of anyone who has healed after taking an SSRI? I think you're right, the consequences will last a lifetime

 

LiveAboveIt, all of that stuff you’re talking about goes away, it just vanishes one day, like magic.

 

If you’ve already had a window this early, that’s a good sign, and you can expect more of the same in your future. I didn’t get a window until after I was off a year, but then the improvements began to land one after the other. No more all-day depression, no more waking up in inexplicable terror, no more having sleepless nights merging into despair-filled mornings. Insomnia? Gone!

 

Memories now stay in their right place on an accurate timeline, instead of intruding as though they are happening to me all over again, right now. No intrusive thoughts, no running back in because I have to check the faucets and burners. You name the horror, I had it. Gone.

 

Try to picture that, and run toward it in your mind. 

 

God, I hope so.

[[Lo...]]

So sorry LiveAboveIt. Sounds like you were prescribed a particularly difficult combination, with pristiq being a very activating SNRI and Klonopin being a very heavy benzodiazepine. It's no wonder that you are going through what you are going through. Hope it gets better for you soon.

[[Ca...]]

Estee - do you know of anyone who has healed after taking an SSRI? I think you're right, the consequences will last a lifetime

 

As consequences, I mean chiefly “SSRI WD syndrome”. Difficult to differentiate between the syndrome and the disease itself. I don’t know anyone healed by an SSRI. Many ppl just get some temporary relief from their symptoms. Then it often gets worse. I know I was able to function before SSRIs, on benzos solely. Once I started taking SSRIs/SNRIs. Been 15 yrs. I cannot see a possibility to withdraw. I tried to taper twice. The effects were terrible. Pdocs keep telling me I need it “like a diabetic needs insulin.” All I can do is lower the dose from time to time. A lot depends on how long a person has been taking it and what diagnosis they’ve got.

 

I was told that I had to be on an SSRI and Ativan for life, but I believe doctors tell us that because they don’t know how to help us get off these drugs.

 

I was on Paxil, Adderall and Ativan for years and yes, withdrawal was absolute hell. But I can tell you, I am far better off these drugs than I was when I was on them. There are better ways to manage the stresses that can lead to psychiatric drugs, and now I know that. Too bad it took the absolute ruination of my life and a few years of incapacity to learn that.

 

Now I get to start over my life over, and despite residual neuropathic pain, dizziness and weird sleeping patterns, I’m getting to a much better place, and my mind is sharp again.

 

LiveAboveIt, all of that stuff you’re talking about goes away, it just vanishes one day, like magic.

 

If you’ve already had a window this early, that’s a good sign, and you can expect more of the same in your future. I didn’t get a window until after I was off a year, but then the improvements began to land one after the other. No more all-day depression, no more waking up in inexplicable terror, no more having sleepless nights merging into despair-filled mornings. Insomnia? Gone!

 

Memories now stay in their right place on an accurate timeline, instead of intruding as though they are happening to me all over again, right now. No intrusive thoughts, no running back in because I have to check the faucets and burners. You name the horror, I had it. Gone.

 

Try to picture that, and run toward it in your mind. 

 

[/quo

 

 

 

Thanks Leslie def Great to read this. hope you're feeling well! Sounds like it's getting bette for you.

[[Es...]]

I was on Prozac long before the benzos, but after being in benzo wd for a while, I cannot tolerate a single SSRI....

 

I was given almost every SSRI/SNRI that’s on the market. As well as tricyclic ADs. After 15 yrs, I can only tolerate Prozac. I would try to diminish the dose if it weren’t for my washing OCD. I attempted to get off of SSRIs twice (Prozac and Lexapro). Each time, it was a nightmare. I don’t know whether it was my original disease or SSRI WD symptoms. After having tapered Prozac to 0 in April 2014, I was unable to function. Pdoc tried switching me to different SSRIs, tricyclics. Nothing worked. Finally, I ended up on benzos for the second time in my life in May that year. As benzos didn’t alleviate all my symptoms, Lexapro was added. Lexapro is the second SSRI I can barely tolerate. Was trying to taper that too, for half a year. Ended up in psych ward. I honestly hate these psych meds. But cannot imagine life without them anymore. For 15 yrs, I was switched from one SSRI/SNRI to another. My dream is to at least diminish my Prozac dose when I’m stable on the lowest dose of Valium. And when this washing OCD finally lets me function. Right now, it’s an ordeal.

[[Ca...]]

I was on Prozac long before the benzos, but after being in benzo wd for a while, I cannot tolerate a single SSRI....

 

I was given almost every SSRI/SNRI that’s on the market. As well as tricyclic ADs. After 15 yrs, I can only tolerate Prozac. I would try to diminish the dose if it weren’t for my washing OCD. I attempted to get off of SSRIs twice (Prozac and Lexapro). Each time, it was a nightmare. I don’t know whether it was my original disease or SSRI WD symptoms. After having tapered Prozac to 0 in April 2014, I was unable to function. Pdoc tried switching me to different SSRIs, tricyclics. Nothing worked. Finally, I ended up on benzos for the second time in my life in May that year. As benzos didn’t alleviate all my symptoms, Lexapro was added. Lexapro is the second SSRI I can barely tolerate. Was trying to taper that too, for half a year. Ended up in psych ward. I honestly hate these psych meds. But cannot imagine life without them anymore. For 15 yrs, I was switched from one SSRI/SNRI to another. My dream is to at least diminish my Prozac dose when I’m stable on the lowest dose of Valium. And when this washing OCD finally lets me function. Right now, it’s an ordeal.

 

 

I was sent to the psych ward, Estee... for two days. It was a sad joke. We watched tv 12 hours a day and they monitored us on a points system. I went to the ER with wd symptoms and they called a pet team and sent me 40 miles away.  Did the psych ward help you? I'm not too functional myself - i go everywhere with my mom and can't really leave her side. Did you have OCD before you started the ssris? I have OCD in my head right now - just keep thinking the same things in repeat, all day everyday.

[[Li...]]

I'm suffering from the same as you, Caligrl, but in a different way. I have severe 24/7 anxiety that seemingly came out of nowhere after a 6 week window and now I am in a constant state of racing/intrusive thoughts. My thoughts are very obsessional and repetitive, checking and questioning everything, very irrational and hypochondriatic. It's the most intense, severe anxiety I have ever dealt with in my life. I have moments where I convince myself it is all withdrawal and I feel confident and at peace, only to be totally shaken moments later and sent back into panic land. Can't help but question everything that is going on and feel like I'm becoming severely mentally ill..

 

I think the window I had almost makes it worse.. I don't understand how I could go from feeling horrid, to suddenly feeling normal in month 3, to suddenly falling back into hell in month 4-5. This just seems so bizarre and I can't wrap my head around the fact that this is withdrawal.

[[Es...]]

I was sent to the psych ward, Estee... for two days. It was a sad joke. We watched tv 12 hours a day and they monitored us on a points system. I went to the ER with wd symptoms and they called a pet team and sent me 40 miles away.  Did the psych ward help you? I'm not too functional myself - i go everywhere with my mom and can't really leave her side. Did you have OCD before you started the ssris? I have OCD in my head right now - just keep thinking the same things in repeat, all day everyday.

 

I had to stay there 9 days, as required by the law. The whole thing was fake. I mean I was placed there on false grounds by parents during their attack of fury. Pdocs got it very quickly and let me out after 8 days. They CTed my Ambien, for which I’m grateful. Did a very brutal Valium taper, which didn’t help much. I was soon on a higher dose. Like a month after I got out. The conditions there were horrid. It was one of the worst experiences in my whole life. I was hospitalized many times before, out of my own free will. It never helped, but wasn’t as traumatic. I refused all additional psych meds. They only wanted to give me meds in case I have an epilepsy attack caused by WD. I refused those meds and did not have the attack. The effects of this involontary hospitalization will haunt me for the rest of my life. Too tired to describe what I went through and what I saw. Could probably write a book about it. Don’t know if I could manage to stay mentally stable after writing this book in my native language.

[[Ca...]]

I'm suffering from the same as you, Caligrl, but in a different way. I have severe 24/7 anxiety that seemingly came out of nowhere after a 6 week window and now I am in a constant state of racing/intrusive thoughts. My thoughts are very obsessional and repetitive, checking and questioning everything, very irrational and hypochondriatic. It's the most intense, severe anxiety I have ever dealt with in my life. I have moments where I convince myself it is all withdrawal and I feel confident and at peace, only to be totally shaken moments later and sent back into panic land. Can't help but question everything that is going on and feel like I'm becoming severely mentally ill..

 

I think the window I had almost makes it worse.. I don't understand how I could go from feeling horrid, to suddenly feeling normal in month 3, to suddenly falling back into hell in month 4-5. This just seems so bizarre and I can't wrap my head around the fact that this is withdrawal.

 

 

 

Liveaboveit, same here. I'm only 3 weeks out so I haven't really had a window, but I'm not as bad as I was when I randomly wd without knowing it in July - thought I was dying then. I have all of your symptoms. I think and fear for the worst. I cannot for the life of me go anywhere by myself w out having an anxiety attack - its debilitating. I also can't kick my flu like symptoms - they liketo come and go on their own. I question everyday as to why I jumped off of the ssris and then I remember that they just stopped working, so I can't stay on them (although, I'm convinced something bad happened w a new generic brand my pharmacy switched to - but). Breathing, yoga, nothing really helps. My blood feels like it's constantly shaking - like an etch a sketch on shake repeat...the my body aches.

How did you start feeling bad again? Did you wake up one morning w wd or did they come on due to stress or? do you feel like you're going to pass out? I always do. Tonight, I had to remind myself where I was like 3 times. It's sooooooo weird and I hate it.

[[Ca...]]

I was sent to the psych ward, Estee... for two days. It was a sad joke. We watched tv 12 hours a day and they monitored us on a points system. I went to the ER with wd symptoms and they called a pet team and sent me 40 miles away.  Did the psych ward help you? I'm not too functional myself - i go everywhere with my mom and can't really leave her side. Did you have OCD before you started the ssris? I have OCD in my head right now - just keep thinking the same things in repeat, all day everyday.

 

I had to stay there 9 days, as required by the law. The whole thing was fake. I mean I was placed there on false grounds by parents during their attack of fury. Pdocs got it very quickly and let me out after 8 days. They CTed my Ambien, for which I’m grateful. Did a very brutal Valium taper, which didn’t help much. I was soon on a higher dose. Like a month after I got out. The conditions there were horrid. It was one of the worst experiences in my whole life. I was hospitalized many times before, out of my own free will. It never helped, but wasn’t as traumatic. I refused all additional psych meds. They only wanted to give me meds in case I have an epilepsy attack caused by WD. I refused those meds and did not have the attack. The effects of this involontary hospitalization will haunt me for the rest of my life. Too tired to describe what I went through and what I saw. Could probably write a book about it. Don’t know if I could manage to stay mentally stable after writing this book in my native language.

 

 

 

 

I feel you, Estee. I feared for the worst, but it actually wasn't as horrible as I was expecting it to be. But def not helpful at all. I had to take Ativan while I wa there though...it was the only drug I knew of and they made everyone there take  Something. I still can't believe I was sent there. Ugh. What country are you in? I'm in the us in California. Sad that these places make no effort to actually help people. they called tv time "depression detox" but they let anroom

Full of supposedly suicidal people watch Criminals minds all day long.

If you want to write it out and be cathartic I read it. I was supposed t be held for at least 3 days but I threatened to sue them because the pet worked said to me, "I have an open bed and you have good insurance." If I felt well enough to do anything, I would try to help this broken system.

[[gi...]]

I would recommend against it.  I went on ssri (Lexapro) in month 2 of my benzo withdrawal.  I was on it only for about 30 days, but it didn't do anything for me, in fact, it made things worse, so I discontinued it.  It had a withdrawal of its own, screw that!  I was on Lexapro before, and it worked fine, but not this time.  I don't want to subject my body to any of this crap anymore, I just want it to heal naturally.

[[Ca...]]

Same here, Ginger - except w Zoloft.

[[Li...]]

I would recommend against it.  I went on ssri (Lexapro) in month 2 of my benzo withdrawal.  I was on it only for about 30 days, but it didn't do anything for me, in fact, it made things worse, so I discontinued it.  It had a withdrawal of its own, screw that!  I was on Lexapro before, and it worked fine, but not this time.  I don't want to subject my body to any of this crap anymore, I just want it to heal naturally.

 

Yes, you're right. This has been my experience with meds, as well. And as bad as I feel right now, I still feel better than I did when I was fogged and crippled by the meds. I know that this ends.

[[Se...]]

SSRIs are unlikely to help your anxiety right now, as they're working on completely different receptors.  The heightened anxiety is largely from damage to your GABA receptors (or at least down regulation)...essentially your brain cannot relax because your GABA receptors aren't doing what they should).  Concurrent depression may be helped, but it's hard to know.  For me, it's impossible to be happy with a panicked mind, so I don't attribute my depression to Serotonin issues.

 

Gabalentin may help.  It helped me quite a bit, but Im hesitant to recommend it, as I've heard stories of WD that I can neither confirm nor deny.  During week 2 of my last WD, I would up hospitalized for a seizure.  The doctor told me to just stay on benzos forever.  It was really hard not to listen, especially then, but I refused to balk.  The only way out of hell is through the 🔥.  I'm still walking.

[Guest [sa...]]

Then Try a SSRI and see how you react! Escilatopram seems like the most modern one and the one with the least amount of side-effects.

[[Ca...]]

I lost my dog, too, Sean...and I beat myself up about it everyday. No way I took care of her properly during her last months while I was in wd. I beat myself up about it daily. Your story sounds intense. I hope you're feeling better.

 

LiveAbove - how are you holding up? Any better?