Did an SSRI during withdrawal help or hurt?

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Just wondering who opted to start an SSRI during their taper or benzo free withdrawal. (If you were already on an SSRI, feel free to chime in with your feelings about that therapy.)

 

Did it help? How?

 

Did it hurt? How?

 

I started Celexa a few days ago and now am not liking the side effects and getting cold feet. I'm hoping the Celexa will help my w/d anxiety but I'd almost prefer that to further trouble.

[[wh...]]

My p-doc gave me Lexapro (SSRI) and it made me kind of jittery and upset my sleep. Your reaction may be diffirrent. I only took it one time.

They say you have to take it awhile for the full effect, that scares me.

Im still horribly depressed

 

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I'm sorry to hear you're so depressed. Have you considered a different SSRI?

 

I think we have learned to mistrust drugs (and doctors).

[[Be...]]

I tried several SSRI's & Tricyclics during my withdrawal and they didn't help with my anxiety one bit; in fact, they actually made things worse.  The only thing that will help ease your withdrawal anxiety is time.

[[Fl...]]

I took St John's Wort for a few months. No way to say if it helped me or not.

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Well I'm hoping my Celexa helps and am fully prepared for it not to.

 

However, instead of relying on one person's opinion, I thought it would be interesting (and helpful) to have a bunch of people report their experiences in one thread. Hopefully I'll get many responses.

[[we...]]

I took remeron and it was a disaster.  Tapering was very very difficult.

[[An...]]

I was put on Effexor 150mg at time of the Valium. Responded well.  My new doc took me off it for a week as he wanted to start me on Paxil - supernervy and jitters, insomnia. Insisted I go back on Effexor and am fine now. It does calm me.  Will taper off when am over benzos. If you take an antidep during withdrawal it takes a few weeks to kick in.  Was on Effexor for 8 years up to a year ago and I get on with it fine.

 

Not sure if this helps!

[[De...]]

Angela- I must say your doctor must dislike you to put you on effexor then try to switch you to Paxil, two drugs known for potentially tough withdrawls..stick to the effexor.

 

Personally I've been thinking of doing an.SSRI for my anxiety as it is the only thing left to leave me. However I'm afraid of another tough w/d so keep going back and forth.

[[Cr...]]

I tried Lexapro and didn't tolerate it that well, ended up taking a klonopin for off the charts anxiety.  About a week or so later I tried Celexa 10 mgs and seemed to handle it pretty well, but by the 4th day my anxiety was extremely high and I decided to stop taking it.  Keep in mind that prior to stopping the Celexa I had taken 4.5 mgs worth of klonopin in a week, so a lot of the anxiety was probably due to withdrawing from that.  I don't know if Celexa would have helped had I stayed on it, but I do know that I am weathering the symptoms pretty good now without it.  The 24th will be 3 months benzo-free for me.

 

Crono

[[An...]]

Defaulted - Effexor was prescribed by one doctor and it was my new doctor who tried to switch me to Paxil.  But about a year ago I decided to get off the Effexor and, not knowing any better,  literally weaned by myself over a period of about 3 or 4 weeks by reducing the tablets over days and jumping off.  I had NO w/ds whatsoever - in fact, I didn't even know about w/ds from Effexor until I read about them on the internet afterwards.  Maybe I was lucky then and I may not be so lucky when I try to get off them again, but will do it slowly.

[[Be...]]

 

However, instead of relying on one person's opinion, I thought it would be interesting (and helpful) to have a bunch of people report their experiences in one thread. Hopefully I'll get many responses.

 

If you type SSRI's or variants of into the search engine you see lots of old posts on this very subject.

[[Ho...]]

I've tried pretty much all of them.

 

None of them worked. Everyone is so different that your reactions are guaranteed to be different. But the most important thing to remember is.... SSRIs have been proven to be no more effective than placebo.

[[Sk...]]

I had the same question on here a while ago. I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do but I decided not to take anything. It sounds like time is the only thing that will help the w/d. A couple of doctors that I saw didn't have a clue about the Benzo w/d but they were so eager to prescribe Lexapo. I didn't want to trade one problem for another. Of course everybody is different. I thought that if I got to the point where I thought I might go over the edge then I would do what I had to do to be safe. As rough as it has been, I didn't feel like I was at that point. I'm afraid of any of these Meds that mess with your brain at this point.

[[wh...]]

Angel, does the effexor disturb your sleep at all?

[[An...]]

I think it helps my sleep. At least I don't have sleep problemson it. I think it makes me tired.

[[wh...]]

i might try it for pain relief, (i get headaches).

[[ma...]]

I've tried several SSRI's and I always came away with more problems than when I started.  Paxil and Effexor were by far the worst.

 

I'm with Holly--I've read that recent studies show that SSRI's are not much better than placebo.  For myself, while not trouble-free, I find natural, homeopathic remedies to be more helpful.  They don't take the symptoms away entirely, but they take the edge off for me and make things more tolerable.

 

Good luck to you whatever you decide,

 

Mal

[[An...]]

What2do, I wouldn't recommend you take Effexor for headaches.  There's no guarantee they would help, your anxiety may be increased until they settle in and then you have to think about withdrawals which I have read can be awful when you want to get off them.  If I were you, I probably wouldn't start on a SSRI.  It is too late for me.

[[mi...]]

I take a very low dose of Doxepin, 10mg. It is an older antidepressant and works wonderful for me. It is also used as an antihistamine and it not only keeps my over active histamines normal but it gives me an appetite thus making it easy to eat. I never could take SSRI's because they always made me wired and restless.

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I am really enjoying everyone's take on SSRIs for withdrawal. I hope to get more.

 

I have been on Celexa (low dose) for 6 days. I took Celexa for a month 10 years ago for performance anxiety. It didn't help, so I got off. But I did notice that in less than a week, it removed that little bit of edgy anxiety so many of us have. It was nice to feel "normal" but I got off as I didn't work for what I needed and interfered with my sex life.

 

Anyhow, I had a window yesterday, slept last night for more than 4 hours the first time in a week, and when I awoke feeling anxious, I was able to quickly calm myself and return to sleep. Too early to know if this is the Celexa. I am definitely staying on a low dose, to make it easier to get off if this doesn't look like a good idea.

 

Anyone else?

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Not sure if this will help, but for about a month during my Lorazepam experience, I was put on Trazodone for sleep (and told by a psychiatrist to start tapering the Lorazepam).  After a few weeks, I started feeling more and more "strange" and decided that it was the Trazodone causing these feelings (I always felt sick).  I ended up tapering off the 50 mgs of Trazodone after 4 weeks of use (quick two week taper) and I held at .50 mg of Lorazepam.  Knowing what I know now, I would have completed my Lorazepam taper before starting to reduce the Trazodone, because although I felt weird taking the two drugs at the same time, I felt/feel much worse with the Lorazepam alone (and ultimate withdrawal).  Personally, I won't be taking another SSRI/SNRI anytime soon, if ever; however, it might help some people to have an AD in place during withdrawal.    

[[Ho...]]

Not sure if this will help, but for about a month during my Lorazepam experience, I was put on Trazodone for sleep (and told by a psychiatrist to start tapering the Lorazepam).  After a few weeks, I started feeling more and more "strange" and decided that it was the Trazodone causing these feelings (I always felt sick).  I ended up tapering off the 50 mgs of Trazodone after 4 weeks of use (quick two week taper) and I held at .50 mg of Lorazepam.  Knowing what I know now, I would have completed my Lorazepam taper before starting to reduce the Trazodone, because although I felt weird taking the two drugs at the same time, I felt/feel much worse with the Lorazepam alone (and ultimate withdrawal).  Personally, I won't be taking another SSRI/SSNI anytime soon, if ever; however, it might help some people to have an AD in place during withdrawal.   

I am taking 100mg Traz right now for sleep and have been for quite some time. I know everyone is different, but exactly what sick feelings did you get? Even though I'm early off Klonopin I can still feel that I'm not all "there" at all, like something huge is off and I don't know if it's the Traz. 

[Guest [Si...]]

I may have to start an a/d soon. I don't know yet.

 

I tried Celexa once 20mg, yes it helped but at first it made my scalp itch.

 

Not pro-a/d, but just my experience.

 

 

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The primary troublesome symptoms I had while taking both Lorazepam and Trazodone were hand tremors (seemed to occur everyday at the same time, around noon), swelling in my knees, especially when on a treadmill, cold/numb toes (left foot mostly), internal shivering, brain shivers/zaps (mostly after I quit Trazodone), and just an overall drugged feeling that lasted most of each day, etc.  Considering that after I got off Trazodone and that these symptoms disappeared after a week or two, I'd guess that they were more related to SSRI/SNRI usage.  I did have one scary symptom after discontinuing Trazodone, and that was impotence, and this lasted for about 5 days (SSRI/SNRI withdrawal syndrome I suspect).