Antidepressants?

[[An...]]

Has anyone been on antidepressants during their w/d and felt like they helped?  I am experiencing depression and it is making it hard to go day to day with family life. I am on 25 mg Zoloft fo about 6 weeks. It is not a therapeutic level and I am considering going up to get rid of this horrible depression until sometime after I am done with this benzo w/d.  I was on remeron also for a week and a half at the lowest dose of 7.5, I felt my depression lift and I slept 8-9 hours a night just after a few days of taking it. Unfortunately it makes you gain weight and is extremely constipating. I gained 8 pounds in just over a week!! It also made my w/d symptoms less, but now I am barely sleeping again and depression is coming back:(. I might have to go back on the remeron and suffer with being chubby until after this is over:)

 

I would rather be on nothing but I need to be able to look after my kids. So I was wondering if AD's such as zoloft have helped anyone with depression during withdrawal as I think the benzos have been a great cause to it.  Also have they helped with sleep at all?

 

Thanks for anyone's input:)

[[re...]]

Yeah, remeron sounds like an answered prayer, until you realize that it makes you eat sugar right out of the bag. There's got to be something wrong with a drug that makes you that ravenous.

 

I've had bouts of depression during this process. They've lasted days, weeks, at a time. I've wondered about going on some a/d, but I want to wait, if I can, until at least 6 months off the drug, so I can be sure what drug is causing what symptoms. But you're on Zoloft already, so you might as well give it a shot. Prof. Ashton says the withdrawal depression does respond to antidepressants. But it takes several weeks for an antidepressant to really work. It may be that your present dose will be enough, in a few more weeks. You'll have to play this one by feel. Only you can say whether you can bear it. Good luck.

[[An...]]

Thanks redeven,

 

Literally, that's what remeron made me do!! I couldn't stop thinking of food, but 8 lbs in a week? The sleep was sooo good though, but I am scared that I wouldn't be able to sleep without it when the time came to get off of it.......sigh. I wonder too that it can't be to good with the ravenous appetite.

[[sa...]]

Hey Annie,

In the 6 weeks you were on zoloft, did it make you feel anxious? Or affect you negatively that you could tell at all?

 

I"m struggling with depression, too. Very much and I am considering an antidepresant. Like Evan said Dr. Ashton indicated that it did help some people, but in order for it to lift depression makes sense that it agitates an already raw nervous system.

 

What have you decided to do? I know how hard it is, and especially with little ones. I have a son and its hard on everyone.

 

Sarah~

[[Ga...]]

I am, too I am sick of being depressed. I am kind of afraid of side effects. I s on imprimamine once and it made my mouth dry and upset my stomach. I have thought of Desipramine, its supposed to have not too bad of side effects?

[[An...]]

Hi Sarah, I don't knowif Zoloft was a good idea orbad. When I first started to take it I was in a bad place. It definitely made my anxiety worse, but I needed a way out of ths depression.  I am on such a low dose and I am too scared to go up and too scared to go off.  It wasn't until the remeron which I use on the lowest dose to sleep that I started to feel a bit better and able to do tasks and look after my kids again.  I am not sure if it is because I sleep now or that low of a dose has a/d properties, but remeron does not  ramp you up it is more sedating. I want to be on nothing right now, but I need to be functional.

 

If you can get past the first few weeks that can increase anxiety it would probably help you.  You might not want to taper benzo at that point.

 

I still feel depression and a nxiety some days more than others, I think I am going to seek therapy this week.

 

I know how hard it is to look after a family when you feel this way. I had to have my poor mom look after us for 2 months. I don't think I was much help asi am still looking for answers myself.  I wish you well as everyone else here.

 

[[sa...]]

Hi Annie,

Thanks, of course it helped. Just finding out what other's BB experience is helps.  I see my dr in a few weeks and I'm going to talk to him about it. Actually what you indicated here, is pretty much what I'm finding that everyone is saying. Not really sure how it works, it revvs up anxiety a bit, everyone is afraid to add something to the mix for fear of it negatively impacting an already challenging withdrawl process.

 

I do have one other question, did you have depression issues before benzos?

 

Thank goodness for your Mom. I hope you aren't letting guilt seep in there, what a blessing to have some help. I am gratetful that my son is with his friends family for a couple of days.

 

I'm typically more of a "use the coping skills" kind of person, but even doing those, and it's challenging to get to that, it's not lifting.

 

Hi Gardiana,

This withdrawl is not for the faint of heart, eh? I think I could deal with an upset tummy and dry mouth, I just don't want my anxiety to go off the chart as it's pretty low since I switched over to valium. Most of my anxiety has been med induced so it stands to reason that lowering the dose would lower my anxiety. I'm afraid I haven't heard of the AD you mentioned but I will check them out today so I can run them by my doctor. When you say they have low side effects, did you discover that personally? Read it? Was it low side effects in general or in regard to people in benzo withdrawl? If you don't remember, I get that, too. lol My memory, although better than before, is still on slow mo.

 

I was able to take ADs in the past, but my body is a completely different reactor since embarking on this. Even food taste different.  I'm prepared to do a little study on it but  I don't want to throw myself into a crazy mess of symptoms that takes months to recover from.

 

Evan mentioned an herb that showed some promise with depression, Rhodiola rosea. Although the studies are few, and showed varying degrees of promise, it was difficult to determine doses, and many said not to take it every day. I didn't see any studies or comments from those in withdrawl, either. Interesting study, though.

 

I'll keep you posted. Perhaps you guys could do the same.

Thanks so much for being a part of a forum that is a life line for me.

Sarah~

[[Ga...]]

Sarah,

This depression is so bad, its hard to get motivated to DO anything:( I can just sit for hrs. I have to force myself to get up and going. So, if i try one I will let you know how Im doing. better or worse, etc.

Good luck to you I did read alot of good reviews on Celexa...there is a website where patients leave comments good or bad.

[[jr...]]

Hi-My doctor put me on Celexa last summer right after my c/t.  I have had terrible reactions to a/d's in the past, so she started me on a very low dose, 5 mg, and very slowly over several months bought me up to a therapeutic dosage of 40 mg.  I think it has helped.  However, once I got up to 40 mg I began having some problems from it, so I have decreased my dosage back down to about 20 mg.  My biggest remaining problem is apathy, so now she wants to add Effexor, which is an SNRI.  After starting a thread asking for information from other BB's about Effexor, I have decided not to take it.  I still have a lot of anxiety, and it almost everyone said it makes that worse.  Bottom line, I think the Celexa has helped my depression.  Jenn

[[Up...]]

Yeah, remeron sounds like an answered prayer, until you realize that it makes you eat sugar right out of the bag. There's got to be something wrong with a drug that makes you that ravenous.

 

Yeah, it did that to me too in 48 hours! Awful drug! Stopped it fast and was put on another. Such an awful drug! I was hungry 24/7!

[[sa...]]

Good to know, Jenn. Celexa does have good reviews but mostly by people who aren't on benzos or at least its not a benzo site. Since you, Ms. darling Jenn, are also dealing with anxiety maybe it's adding to that or interferring with the healing of it. (don't mean to be negative, but I'm not having that much trouble with anxiety and it does stand to reason that the get the depression lifted the medication might have to agitate cns. I'm not ruling it out completely, however I'm not convinced it will be a good addition.

In the meantime, I'm wondering if I pulled out of it faster than I normally would because I'm meditating, reading positive material, doing yoga, walking, eating healthy food and sleeping. One thing for certain, none of those things can hurt. You know?

 

Wishing everyone as smooth a taper and you can manufacture.

xoxox

S~

[[La...]]

Has anyone been on antidepressants during their w/d and felt like they helped?  I am experiencing depression and it is making it hard to go day to day with family life. I am on 25 mg Zoloft fo about 6 weeks. It is not a therapeutic level and I am considering going up to get rid of this horrible depression until sometime after I am done with this benzo

 

Hi Annie,

I don't know if this will really answer your question but I've been on zoloft for 9 weeks now. I started at 25mg and worked up to a therapeutic dose of 125mg, which I'm currently taking. I started taking lorazepam at the same time to help with the side-effects of the a/d.

When I started tapering off the lorazepam i was already on the therapeutic dose of zoloft and doing really well. I still got withdrawal symptoms but, compared to what I've read others have gone through on this board, they were not severe. I did experience some depression, when I started my taper but it was short-lived. IMO the zoloft did help.

I can certainly relate to what it feels like to have to take care of a family while you're going through depression. It's awful, to say the very least, but once you find something that works for you then everything will fall into place. Good luck 

[Guest [vi...]]

hi annie,

 

interesting post. i am on similar meds. as you (and more). you are right in thinking that 25 mg zoloft is not a therapeutic dose. i think going up to 50 mg or 100 mg will definitely help you cope with depression during withdrawals. i do not have any experience on this but can tell that after years of fleeting depression ('cos of benzo tolerance withdrawals), escitalopram totally erased the benzo tolerance depression. so i am  guessing that if ssris help with tolerance depression then they will help with taper depression too. good thing you are on the mirtazapine. that should take care of your insomnia. you should consider getting off of ssris and mirt. only AFTER you have successfully tapered from benzos. bumping up zoloft might not be a bad idea (but be careful of the start ups for they will be very bad -- and "very" is an understatement -- since you are already in benzo withdrawal). i started my ssri on a c/t from benzos so i know how awful they get. later my benzo was reinstated.

[[An...]]

Thank you everyone for your replies.  I think I might have to go ahead and bump up my dosage.  I really want to enjoy my summer with my kids and not live in the depressive nightmare that I fell I to in November.  My long term goal is to be off all meds so my naturopath will help me wean off the ad but doesn't want to start until I am off of benzos for some time. Thank god he is benzo wise, More so than my actual prescribing doc. I just wasn't sure if antidepressants have a impact in withdrwawal, but it sounds like it has taken a bit of the edge off for some of you.  As muchas  I cringe every time I swallow another pill I might just have to do it for the time being.  Thank you. Annie

[Guest [vi...]]

your naturopath is doing  the correct thing annie. i know nobody likes to add meds. but here ssri is the lesser of two evils and much easier to get off of. you might find of interest this man's journey (and how ssris actually helped him cope with taper depression/crashes): http://ashtonbenzomanual.com/

 

to quote from his link: "I don't believe I could have got off the benzos without the help of the A/D. "

[[An...]]

Thanks vinvleet,  have you ever heard of deplin? It sounds interesting.

[Guest [vi...]]

welcome annie. no i have not heard of deplin but a cursory googling leads me to believe it is a natural(?) supplement with folic acid properties and that it might enhance ssri mechanism of action. interesting. tell me more --- i mean what you've read/heard.

 

[[An...]]

Hahah,  sorry I was hoping you knew more, but the natural part is what got me.  I read on that link that the guy really thought deplin is what also helped him get off benzos.  I will look into it more 

[[An...]]

I just found this thread on it.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=18716.0

[Guest [vi...]]

OMG, i totally missed the deplin reference in his link. i got to try this out! LOL and thanks for pointing me to this important hint in his link. it's a vitamin supplement -- won't do you any harm!

 

edit. thanks for the benzobuddies link annie. am reading them now.

[Guest [vi...]]

yikes! mixed reviews of deplin and it is by prescription only.

[[An...]]

Ya I just read online line that it might increase colon cancer.  that runs in my family.... No thanks

[Guest [vi...]]

lol annie. also, going through the benzobuddies thread on deplin, i've realized that this deplin fever started 'cos of tony pirog's story (the link i gave you above)! talk about running in circles!

[[An...]]

Oh well, back to the drawing board.  I am getting some inositol to hopefully help with anxiety.....recomended by my naturopath.

[Guest [vi...]]

i hope the zoloft increase works for you annie (i'm quite certain it will) and i hope you have a swell summer with your kids (which is important). meanwhile, chatting with you has sort of convinced me that i should seek a naturopath once i stop alcohol (benzo taper next) to at least keep my mind busy and full of hope during withdrawals. i have my older going to college this year and he needs me functional to help him get into the right school (i'm in india), not to mention my business, and i cannot afford to be dysfunctional -- i'd rather drop dead. it's hard. partly we are to blame (i am in my case) and partly we are accidental addicts. but we all have to recover.