Quitting anti depressants after benzos

[[53...]]

im totally off of  it 5weeks everything was fine no wd and boom after 5 weeks i have so much anxiety its like im coming out of my skin and not sleeping all of a sudden ,dr/dp it is totally brutal right now .so all i can say i was on them for 25 years that is probably part of the problem but taper slowly i should have went slower than i did .by no means did i realize that it would be that much of problem getting off zoloft after klonopin but it is .

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5312, I'm sorry to hear that! I did hear that AD withdrawal can kick in a while after you stop. Tomorrow is day #3 of my tapering. I'm taking it very slowly ...

[[ga...]]

I'm tapering off of Cymbalta and it's just as brutal and taking about 4 times as long as the benzo taper.  They are each like equally horrific but different LSD trips.

 

I'm down to 10.3 mg of Cymbalta and have to open the capsules and count beads since there is no liquid form of it and the lowest dose is 20 mg.  I can cut only 1 bead per week, currently, and I'm at 54 beads.  The lower I get, the longer I will have to hold between cuts so I may have 2 years or more before I'm off of this poison.  In the meantime, I can never stabilize as I always have anhedonia, fear, feeling of not being connected to anyone or anything.  Everything about my prior life seems foreign and I feel as tho I am alone in some nightmarish alternate reality.  I can no longer relate to anyone, normally, or socialize at all.  Going to restaurants and being around people is agony.

 

I've lost my home, family and friends and am completely alone at age 66.  Honestly, I think I could have recovered ok from the benzo withdrawal, but the AD nightmare has taken all the joy and accomplishment out of being benzo-free.  I really do wonder if I will ever recover.

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Garden lady, I’m so sorry to hear that you’re struggling. Do you think that you’re still going through benzo withdrawal? I’ve heard that it’s good to be pretty far along in the healing process before attempting to taper another medication.  I am not yet fully healed from benzo withdrawal but I’m hoping to at least lower the AD a bit.  Let’s see how it goes  ...

 

These trucks are poison and I so wish that I had never started !

[[ke...]]

I came off massive doses of Cymbalta, but I waited over a year after my detox before I attempted it. It worked out OK, but it was tricky, but childs play compared to benzo withdrawal. I would hang back a bit and try a slow taper in at least a few more months

[[ga...]]

I came off massive doses of Cymbalta, but I waited over a year after my detox before I attempted it. It worked out OK, but it was tricky, but childs play compared to benzo withdrawal. I would hang back a bit and try a slow taper in at least a few more months

That's great that you were able to get off of the Cymbalta.  How did you taper it and how long did it take?  I've been off of the benzo for over 18 months so am thru that withdrawal as the symptoms I had from it are gone.  I'm tapering the Cymbalta 1 bead at a time, so can't get any slower than that.  I guess I'm the oddball with the AD withdrawal being as bad as the benzo.  It's changed my personality in a way that the benzo didn't....I'm completely unrecognizable to myself and to others...really scary.  I have to isolate as I'm too angry, negative and hateful to be around anyone.  And, I still have two more years of tapering left and with recovery time added to that.  It's hard to imagine how I'll survive it.

[[ke...]]

I came off massive doses of Cymbalta, but I waited over a year after my detox before I attempted it. It worked out OK, but it was tricky, but childs play compared to benzo withdrawal. I would hang back a bit and try a slow taper in at least a few more months

That's great that you were able to get off of the Cymbalta.  How did you taper it and how long did it take?  I've been off of the benzo for over 18 months so am thru that withdrawal as the symptoms I had from it are gone.  I'm tapering the Cymbalta 1 bead at a time, so can't get any slower than that.  I guess I'm the oddball with the AD withdrawal being as bad as the benzo.  It's changed my personality in a way that the benzo didn't....I'm completely unrecognizable to myself and to others...really scary.  I have to isolate as I'm too angry, negative and hateful to be around anyone.  And, I still have two more years of tapering left and with recovery time added to that.  It's hard to imagine how I'll survive it.

 

I did it in stages over a few years. I was in no rush, because unlike benzos, there is no tolerance withdrawal issues. My last 20 mgs I removed a few beads at a time. I recently went back on 20 though because I was having anxiety and insomnia. This low dose works for me. Its possible that what you attribute to withdrawal may be rebound depression. Consider staying on a low dose.

[[Li...]]

If the AD doesn't give you side effects and even helps, why rush? I was on Effexor for 8 fantastic years in dosages ranging from 75 mg to 225 mg. Stopped over a year ago because  I had been symptom free for years but started again in a stressful period a year ago. This time round it didnt work for me. Wish I simply would have stayed on it. If you decide to come off, do it slowly. Even by counting the beads in your capsules, put them back in and close the capsule. And even in stages over a long time. That way I had no wd.

[[Gi...]]

Has anyone come off of anti depressants after benzo w/d? I'm just a little over 3 months off clorazapam. I was put on the lowest dose of prozac a year ago during a rough time. I could only tolerate a low dose. I gained a huge amount of weight though since being on it and now even with diet and more exercise (i still can't do too much) its really not coming off.  I don't think I need the medication really and if anything its making me miserable bc of the added weight. Normally I would def. just come off it but I'm sacred since I'm still in w/d. Has anyone come off of an anti depressant after benzo w/d?

Sunlit,

 

For what it’s worth I came off my anti-depressant BEFORE I came off Clonazepam. My logic was that I had been on it longer so I should come off it first. Many thanks to my neurologist who said this was fine!! Anyway, the good news is that although I’ve had a number of recovery symptoms, my depression never returned.

 

FYI have lost 10lbs during recovery by cutting out alcohol and processed food and by restricting my food intake to 8-10 hours per day (10-1800/2000).

 

Good luck

 

G

[[ga...]]

I am tapering the AD because ADs have never helped me and I don't want to be a drug addict.  I have found that for me, ADs are as addictive as any street drug....not psychologically as in craving but physiologically in that if I miss a dose, I become unglued and pretty much lose it.  Who wants to be addicted to something like that especially if it never helped in the first place?  It's scary being 66 years old and knowing that if I don't get my drug (Cymbalta), I'll lose my mind and become psychotic and perhaps suicidal.  There is something very wrong with that.

 

It's so sad that our culture has come to believe that psych drugs are the answer for emotional fragility or instability.  If anything, they've made mine even worse and the withdrawal is hell on earth.  I'm sorry to be so negative, but this is the only place I can be honest with others labeling me as mentally ill for having had this experience.

 

I am tapering this drug slowly, bead by bead over a long period of time and still having horrific withdrawals.  Slow tapering simply isn't the answer and is not symptom-free for some of us who are kindled.

[[ke...]]

I am tapering the AD because ADs have never helped me and I don't want to be a drug addict.  I have found that for me, ADs are as addictive as any street drug....not psychologically as in craving but physiologically in that if I miss a dose, I become unglued and pretty much lose it.  Who wants to be addicted to something like that especially if it never helped in the first place?  It's scary being 66 years old and knowing that if I don't get my drug (Cymbalta), I'll lose my mind and become psychotic and perhaps suicidal.  There is something very wrong with that.

 

It's so sad that our culture has come to believe that psych drugs are the answer for emotional fragility or instability.  If anything, they've made mine even worse and the withdrawal is hell on earth.  I'm sorry to be so negative, but this is the only place I can be honest with others labeling me as mentally ill for having had this experience.

 

I am tapering this drug slowly, bead by bead over a long period of time and still having horrific withdrawals.  Slow tapering simply isn't the answer and is not symptom-free for some of us who are kindled.

 

Kindling is BS, except for those with multiple alcohol detoxes. And you are NOT a drug addict for taking an AD

[[Re...]]

Update: continuing to taper ADs. Down to 20mg Prozac and 15mg Remeron. Doing pretty good and I feel like I’m coming out of the benzo fog. Hoping to be completely med free by November!!

[[Re...]]

Update: continuing to taper ADs. Down to 20mg Prozac and 15mg Remeron. Doing pretty good and I feel like I’m coming out of the benzo fog. Hoping to be completely med free by November!!

 

Hi there. Are you completely off benzos? If so, how long did you wait until starting your antidepressant Taper?

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Hi! Yes, I’m completely off benzos since 4/19. Tried to start tapering AD in May, but after my 1st cut I was in bad shape. I working on Prozac first because I think the Remeron helps me sleep.

[[Pt...]]

What does it feel like to have the brain fog lift? Do you wake up one day with a clear mind and just start remembering things? I can't even remember what clear minded feels like 

[[su...]]

I just started a new thread. I didn't realize so many people had kept this thread going. I'm sorry. I'm a mess. I guess check the new thread because I don't know how to erase it and it will be hard to keep updating both. It has been very hard though. 

My weight has not changed and if anything I've def been craving more junk food and eating it because its a struggle to get through each day. I'm trying to focus on the long term and getting off these meds and hopefully getting my diet together when I can function somewhat normally. I don't think once the prozac is out of my system I will just shed the weight. I think I will have to work at it but we will see.

Ptsdmiracle I had a glimpse of the fog lifting in like month 3 or something and it was crazy that for just a few seconds to a minute I felt like my old self which was like an entirely different than I feel now.

I will try to come back and respond to others questions here. My anxiety is so bad at the moment. I guess check my new thread and I will keep updating there.