I felt like this thread was missing from the forum.

This is for anyone who has quit their medication, and then after quiting, had either re-occuring depression or withdraw symptoms mimicking depression.

This is a scary phase for everyone: questioning, is this withdrawal OR am I doomed to be on meds forever? Hopefully we can all add to this and come up with some answers, some support, and some joy.

I'll start off by stating my example, and will continue to add what I learn in the next few weeks as I conduct this grand experiment called Life.

Me, 24-yr-old, male: I am on 2 mg on Celexa, and have been weening off by 1 mg increments since 10 mg. I must be HIGHLY sensitive, because each 1 mg drop knocks me out for 2-3 days (dizzy, anxious, irritable, want to be alone...more than usual :) )

Now, at 2 mg, I'm planning on dropping at smaller increments, perhaps .2 mg drops. WHY?

While energy is HIGHLY up from when I was at higher doses, my brain energy doesn't seem to have kept pace. It is extremely slow. OR, my cognitive function is slow. I'm not sad, weepy, having any physical symptoms. My only symptom is slow cognitive function, and stating that this scares the s*** out of me is an understatement.

So that is my story. No anecdotal advice at the moment. But I hope as more people post, valuable advice can be given, and received.

I quit all meds out of frustration about 2 1/2 years ago. I went cold turkey - not good - all I can say is I crashed and burned BAD. Crashtst your idea of reducing by small amounts is better than mine, but why fight meds. Today I am back on my meds and have been since my stupidity 2 1/2 years ago. I am also very healthy, the best that I have been my entire life. I am also in acceptance of the fact that I have some emotional shortcomings. I have depression and have had it my entire life. I also realize that I am not alone - lots of people have it. Medication is in no way the only therapy to use to battle depression, but it is one of them. And medication can be very beneficial to some. I wish you well and luck with your experiment, but if you find that you need them just accept them and realize that they are just another tool against depression and nothing to be ashamed of.

I was on 10mg of lexapro for 6 months due to "situational depression" I moved from Delaware to Texas which really messed me up big time. Anyway the Lex made me feel 100% better and I finally decided to stop taking it because I am all settled in and feel comfortable in Texas now. At first I went from 10 mg to 5 mg and stayed this way for a whole month then I took the 5 mg every other day for another month then stopped. Well it has been a month now since I totally stopped and I am not depressed, however, I am EXTREMELY angry and short fused all the time. I am constantly getting frustrated at things and yelling at my children alot. It is really starting to scare me. I am hoping that is just an adjustment period and that our brain will finally level out


Great idea for a thread by the way! ;)

Hey everyone! I just found this super interesting post on another forum, and thought I'd past it here. Some pretty interesting stuff on hyperthyroidism. (I forget what the author's screen name was, sorry whoever you are)


[i]I have had situational depression, which my doctor managed to morph into something other than situational depression, to suggest that I absolutely had to be on psych medications.

About one year ago, I put myself at the mercy of psychiatrists and agreed to start taking an antidepressant, i.e., Zoloft. Before I began taking the antidepressant, my thyroid levels were all normal. Shortly after I began taking the antidepressant, my thyroid shifted to a hypothyroid state, with my TSH rising up to about 8. I was then diagnosed with "hypothyroidism."

After I went off the antidepressant for a while in the beginning of 2006, my TSH dropped back down to normal without thyroid medication. I then went back on an antidepressant again in the spring of 2006 - that time on Celexa. At first the medication did relieve feelings of depression. But as the weeks turned into months, I began to feel really bad.

Almost two months ago, I stopped taking the Celexa, feeling almost instant relief, and then I went in to ask my doctor to check my thyroid levels. My TSH was way up at 13.87 - I was back into a hypothyroid state. I was then prescribed synthroid, which I didn't receive in the mail until just today. However, being several weeks out from when I was on Celexa, just three days ago, I had my TSH level checked again, and it was back to normal at 1.99 without having taken any thyroid medication.

So, before I started antidepressants, my thyroid levels were fine. After starting antidepressants, my thyroid went into a hypothyroid state. After stopping the antidepressants, my hypothyroidism went into remission. While that isn't empirical evidence of a causal relationship, it is certainly a preponderance of antecdotal evidence pointing towards the medication having precipitated a hypothyroid state.

This would certainly explain why I felt like I was getting worse on the medication. Hypothyroidism itself can cause depression. I wonder how many people go on medication, end up with hypothyroidism, get even worse depression, and are then told that the worse depression is the effect of some underlying "mental illness," and are then given prescriptions for even higher doses.

If you are on antidepressants, I strongly suggest you get your thyroid levels checked.[/i]

That's an interesting story about hypothyroidism. It's important, when you go for professional help, to have blood work done to see if there is anything wrong with your thyroid, or if you have some other condition that could exacerbate depression, like anemia, low hormone levels, etc. Based on the story above, it sounds like a good idea to have your blood checked again in a few months.

In response to the topic, I've been on Lexapro, Celexa, and Wellbutrin. I got the typical startup side effects, but I never got withdrawal symptoms when I stopped. I just slipped back into depression. The first time it took several weeks, but the second time was just a few days. I've had major depression my whole life, and now I've come to accept the fact that I'll need medication for life.

For me, coming off the meds was the worst thing I could have done.

After the horrible anxiety effects I was getting from staying on this thing, when I came off the meds, depression returning was the most horrible feeling I think I've ever had. It was like waking up to discover the light had turned into darkness, and realised that my entire life previously had been ruined by this thing. Within a couple of weeks of tapering gradually to not taking it at all, within two weeks I was hurting myself, having very evil obsessive thoughts, not sleeping at all - you can read all about that in my threads.

For me I am willing to sacrifice anything to feel good. I am on a med now which made my hands numb, and I was prepared to live like that to get rid of the thoughts. THat hurt, because I play the guitar and had to just give up. Thankfully things are getting better for me and those effects are gone.

So for me, as long as I'm not depressed, I'm happy and accept I need to be on meds for life.

It was great to read that you're feeling better. Me too, a little bit at a tme. I've tried to get off at least4 or 5 times in the past 10 years. Sometimes with more success than other times. But I've rarely felt stable or comfortable when I was off meds. I have trouble accepting that I, indeed, seem to have a definate biological stituation that affects me so profoundly. But clearly, I do. I just do. Sucks, but true. I have recently gone back on Wellbutrin 300 after detoxing for 6 months off of a really horrific cocktail of about 7 meds that just got far too complicated and conflicting. My body feels much better but until my mind is still rockin'. It's getting better. Lots of situational stuff going on, as well, and that has made things wacky.

Foxfollower

I am really starting to think I need to go back on my meds. I am just so D*** ANGRY and irritable all the time. Everything annoys me especially my precious children and wonderful husband. I thought my moods would even out by now ( I have been med free for about 5 weeks now.) and the anger would go away but it just seems to be getting worse. Oh and now it is affected my sleep at night. I slept so soundly with Lexapro the whole time I was on it and the last month I was off of it but I have been having some insomnia issues for about a week now. This whole situation is just making me sick to my stomach because I thought I was fine and I thought I would do good without the meds. :(

Happiness is just too valuable for me now. I treat every day as if it's my last, because the nature of my illness has the potential to make it my last. If I can have fun at any time I will just go for it. I stressed myself out at work too much where I alienated everybody and my life was worthless.

This post has been edited by kirkwuk: May 2 2008, 04:45 PM

Leesaw, when I was first told I was depressed by my Dr several months ago, I told him I was not depressed, just angry all the time. He told me depression can manifest itself in many ways and anger was certainly one of them. He was right.