Intolerance to SSRIs even Lamictal after coming off Benzo's

[[Ge...]]

Hey Guys,

 

Haven't posted in quite some time. I have been off benzo's pretty much since August. What a messed up roller coster I have been through. This whole cold turkey thing has made me feel nuts in a different way. I don't have all the crazy stuff I had before, like the severe panic attacks ironically. Its more severe anxiety caused by intrusive thoughts and generally just feeling mentally weird and out of it. Never had the out of it thoughts before, and it scared the hell out of me. Not sure what it worse, panic attacks or this. I got real bad depersonalization for a while and everything spun out of control from there, mentally speaking. I truly feel nuts at times.

 

I use to be on Zoloft for a year which worked out quite nicely for me. After a while I wanted to get off of it because of the sexual side effect. However I continues the xanax afterwords which got me into trouble.

 

Ever since I came off benzos, I haven't been able to tolerate SSRIs. I tried Lexapro about a month after I stopped, at that time I started getting less physical symptoms and more mental like depersonalization and derealization which scared me but I understood it was common at the time. I had burning headaches and screwed up my sleep which has never completely recovered. I pretty much went nuts. I couldn't relieve the symptoms, I found my self pacing in circles freaking out and frustrated not knowing what to do.

 

I even started Lamictal, which seems to not been as bad but as soon as I got to 75mgs that familiar burning headache is starting to come back. I feel really loopy and out of it. My mind is really not clear and my thoughts aren't organized. Bleh! As a result I don't want to do anything. I don't know what the heck is wrong with me anymore. I also had trouble when I started getting tolerance withdrawal from xanax. I question everything that I though was happening to me. I fear the worst at times and feel like I'm loosing my mind and will have to take even worse meds like Abilify (had a real bad experience when I was on Lexapro, the gave me serequel then zyprexa for sleep. I couldn't handle either, it made me feel even crazier) However, I don't want to feel nuts or end up in the looney bin so I have considered Abilfy, maybe for a little while at least. Not sure if its any better then the other neuroleptics.

 

Just an FYI, bipolar diagnosis is still up in the air. Haven't ever felt like this before and never been prescibed these types of meds. Has anybody had a similar experience?

 

 

 

[[Be...]]

Hi, Geo-hey~!

 

Long time no see. 

 

Have you been diagnosed with depression?  Are you on any anti-depressant currently?  Lamictal isn't an A/D which you probably know. Have you talked to your doctor about which A/D's have the fewest sexual side effects?  As I remember, Serzone is one and Wellbutrin isn't an SSRI. 

 

Some day I may list for myself all the psch meds that have been tried on me but I'm not up to it tonight.  I can tell you that after 10 years of unsuccessful depression treatments, one psych doc decided I had bipolar disorder, took me off all A/D's (they purportedly cause mania) and started trying me on the atypical anti-psychotics and other such "off label" drugs, including Lamictal and Seroquel (and topomax and depakote and tegretol and....).  This was in addition to the lorazepam.    Be very careful proceeding down that road, G.  I feel like I wandered around in a fog for many years due to those drugs.  I felt nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

[[Ge...]]

Yea- totally feel ya. I have been very careful and torn but its been concluded that its gotten very bad. For now there is no diagnosis but Depression and Severe Anxiety with Depersonaliztion. The Lamictal was thrown into the picture since I haven't been able to tolerate SSRIs for some reason recently. It is classified as a mood stabilizer but is mainly used for its anti-depressant properties (other then a seizer med). I hate this road I've been on, but I have to be patient and careful. My current Pdoc is pretty cool in the sense that everything is in low doses and moderation. I seem to have an oversensitivity to meds right now.

 

Have you ever watched the movie or read the book 'In to the Wild'? This is what really led me to want change. I have always been one to want to be with nature, see the world and screw materialist things. I don't want to give the story up, but its amazing. I want anybody that reads this post to check it out, truly life changing and inspirational for the people that have a deep yearning to go out and just live life.

 

The movie is great, please check it out. Google is, rent it, Netflix it. Whatever you do just watch it.

[[Ge...]]

By the way, its a true story.

[[...]]

Saw the movie and loved it.  Yes, I have fantasized about doing the same thing as that guy.  That picture he took of himself at the end (the real one) gave the movie an even more sobering if not eerie feel because you really understood that it was all about a real person.

 

Back to the subject......

 

Like Beeper says, be REAL careful heading down the road of A/Ds and mood stabilizers.  Been ther, done that.  You wonder why you feel like a zombie?  How's that for a stable mood?  I'd say zombies are as stable as it comes.  I am overly sensitive to all that junk too.  It lead me into some serious darkness that I wouln't wish on anybody.  Find another way to deal.

 

Nice to see you around.  I sent you a couple of emails a long time ago but you never responded.  Hang in there.

 

Thomas

[[ha...]]

Hey Geo,

So nice to hear from you again. Sorry you are still struggling, but you sure sound so much more at peace than you did awhile ago. I hope it all comes together for you. I'm so glad that you are ok, and came back to let us know. Kel

[[Mi...]]

Hi Geo

I'm glad to hear from you but I'm so sorry for what you are going through now.  I took Prozac for 10 years and it worked, but then I quit taking it because I was trying to get less meds in my body.  Then a few years later when my sis died,  my former doc gave me Lexapro which I took for a week and it truly made me wacko - I mean it turned my brain into a hive of bees and gave me super headaches and insomnia.  That's when he put me on Xanax and my own personal heck with benzos began. The Lexapro was awful for me.  Since then, I have been very reluctant to try any type of antidepressants.  The doc who is weaning me off of the valium wanted me to try imiprimine and I did - for 1 day.  It made the w/d worse.  A/d help many people, but I know they no longer help me and I must steer clear of them.  Our bodies and brains are not what they used to be.  I know I am suffering terrible depression right now because of the benzo withdrawal, but I'm simply too frightened to add another med to the mix.  Each of us reacts differently to meds.  I read a great book by Peter Breggin when I started benzo withdrawal. It really opened my eyes to benzos , a/d's and other meds.

 

I'll be thinking of you and I truly hope you get relief soon.

 

Missy

[[Pe...]]

I doubt you're bipolar. That's probably just your doctor trying to pawn off more bullshit diagnosis on you.

 

As for taking an SSRI, you do need to give them 4-6 weeks before passing judgement. That having been said, most people in w/d can't take these meds due to the raw nature of the mind/CNS. You might do better looking into a different class of meds...

[[do...]]

Hi Geo

Like others I have been on the pharmaceutical rollacoaster ride whith doctors who at the time, were nice and meant well but they did me no good whatsoever. The Seroqual is really serious stuff and even at 25-50mg a night I noticed how strong it was and how it threw me totally into the land of the dead. This was given by a psych to substitute Nitrazepam on a taper but real reason was they were testing me for bi-polar and I think were slipping this in by the side door. I have just read a book by a manically depressed female and even though Benzo withdrawal does give what could be seen as a mild form it is nothing compared to real mania from what i have read and i have experience in my distant family of Bipolar and its really serious and a form of complete insanity. This is why I say benzo gives a mild version when there is nothing mild about it as i have had weeks of being 'high' during withdrawal and some crashing 'lows' but the scariest for me was when my regular GP gave me a strong version of Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) to help me sleep and another antipsychotic I cant remember and this was the only time in my life when I have felt truly mad. These are drugs for people who are very, very ill and i had a benzo dependance and they just made me worse. Also Carbamazapine and gabapentin seemed to do nothing but it was a bleak period as i remember and i have never been able to tolerate ADs which i think makes doctors sometimes assume Mood disorder as they think drug reaction equals diagnosis as its all about drugs with most Doctors! Good luck.