Hello everyone! I thought I'd write my medication background and see if anyone has any ideas/suggestions, etc. Mostly I need some encouragement at this point.

I was on Cymbalta 60 mg for about 1 year (at the time was in graduate school and thought it might help to have the support of the medication to get through an extremely difficult program), weaned off successfully or so I thought. After around 4 months I experienced insomnia and major anxiety symptoms - worse than anything I had ever experienced before. This happened at a very stressful time so i chalked it up to stress. I tried to get back on an anti-depressant thinking that would help relieve my symptoms but had a lot of trouble getting on another medication - everything made me feel even worse - even more anxiety, insomnia....I felt like I was going crazy. Finally my provider decided to put me on Klonopin and Zoloft. The combo seemed to work (mostly I think because of the Klonopin). I finally settled down again into life but then decided after around 4 months, it was time to taper the Klonopin. I took it slow but apparently not slow enough because i had major withdrawal symptoms - vomiting, major anxiety (once again), insomnia, headache. I went back up on the Klonopin and tapered very very slowly using a liquid form of the drug. This seemed to help and I successfully went off of that around November or December 2008. At this time i was on 100 mg of Zoloft still.

I decided a few months later that it was time to start tapering the Zoloft as I wanted to see how I did at a lower dose and eventually wanted to taper off completely (have experienced a lot of weight gain and decreased libido/sexual side effects that I was tired of dealing with). I have been tapering slowly - a 25 mg cut every 2 months or so. At first it was going well but I am now at 50 mg and have started to have pretty bad withdrawal symptoms - anxiety, esp. in the morning, some difficulty with sleep, very bad headache. I feel like a mess! I tried increasing back up to 75 mg around 4 days ago to try to stabilize but so far I don't think that has helped much.

A few questions....I am wondering if my first experience with anti-depressants (when i had gone off of the Cymbalta and four months later had a reaction) was actually some sort of delayed withdrawal as it really feels similarly to how I feel now interestingly (and this time I am not in a stressful life situation)?

And I am wondering if anyone has any advice about tapering anti-depressants? My primary concern at this point is that I am not stabilizing. Should I give it some more time and then if i still feel bad, try to go back to 100 mg? I feel like I can't start my taper again until I feel stable.....but what if i don't stabilize (is it possible to never stabilize?)? I am looking for some encouragement at this point as I am very dismayed I am going through this AGAIN. I feel like there is this awful cycle with these meds of trying to go off and ultimately having to go back on because of the withdrawal. i really want to try life without medications but am feeling scared, frustrated, and sad that maybe I won't be able to do this. Any advice/help would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Michele

When coming off any med, or even tapering you need to work very closely with your Dr. I have no advice for tapering other than that as I have never tried to come off Zoloft. I think maybe as the drug leaves your system you might have some of the same issues as you had when going on. Please take care of your self. Maybe it isn't your time to come off the med yet? Keep us posted on how you are doing

HI nomoremeds,

I am currently coming off citalopram.
I consulted my doc about how to wean off them. I started at 40mg and then moved slowly down to 30mg, then slowly down to 20mg and then now to 10mg. When I say slowly I took one day 40, one day 30, one day 40, one day 30 and then 30 for a while until I was sure I didn't feel too bad. I wasn't interested in stabilising on the new dose as I didn't want to stay there, but that was my personal preference.

I wasn't having any trouble until now as I am trying to go from 10mg to 0mg. I am currently taking 10mg every second day, The first day I feel ok - have very odd vision linked dizziness but apart from that I'm ok. On the second day i can't sleep, restless, agitated, extremely dizzy, blurred vision and bad nausea. When I take a tablet it make me feel worse for about an hour and then I start to feel much better again.

That's really as much as I can tell you as I haven't got any other experience. Benadryl is apparently good for combating some of the withdrawal effects from SSRIs but I haven't tried it yet. Going to hunt some out tomorrow.

Good luck and let us know how it goes for you. xx

Hold on, Michele

Are you saying you went on Cymbalta in anticipation of stress you may feel?
That's never a good idea. But regardless, that isn't your current problem.
I never heard of a "delayed withdrawl" and doubt such a thing exists. What happened is that it took a few months for your brain to go back to the way it was while on Cymbalta. That happened to me when I went off zoloft- okay for three months, then all hell.
So what i am saying is that what you experienced was not withdrawl but signs you needed to still be on the medication. Sometimes when you go off a med, the symptoms come back worse and are harder to treat than at first. That happened to me when I tried to wean off zoloft in the 1990's. Of course, your stress could have compounded things as well.
It sounds like your Klonopin experience was withdrawl, however, and kudos to you for sticking with it and eventually getting off it. I used that combo of zoloft and klonopin for 5 years, and was able to wean without any withdrawl, but I was lucky.

It does not sound like your zoloft symtpoms are withdrawl- if so, they should not last for that long. Considering you have had multiple episodes, it seems likely your problem is more chronic than you realize. I would advise you to stay on the zoloft at the dosage that worked for you! You are needlessly torturing yourself..... and for godsakes I do not know what professional is advising you, but find someone else.
The Zoloft side effects are bad, but they could leave, or your doc could give you something, at least for the sex part.
As for tapering, I avoided withdrawl by tapering for about eight months... yeah, eight months. Basically cut out only one pill a week each month. So month one I took six pills a week, month two I took five, etc.
Good luck.

Hi PRT,

Thank you for your message. I wanted to check-in to see how you were doing on your taper? I hope the withdrawal effects you were feeling have lifted. I have stabilized at 75 mg. of Zoloft and will re-start tapering at some point soon.

I hope you are well,
Michele

Hi nomoremeds,

When I tapered off Citalopram 40mg in April 2008, I took it very slowly and did not get any withdrawal effects. However 4 months later and all hell broke lose and I get depressive type symptoms which put me back to my orginal symptoms. I would consider this delayed withdrawal or a return to depression.
When I put myself back onCitalopram again, (doctors advice) and back to my usual 40mg it did not work for me at all.

So I went on to Prozac 40mg (over a period of 1 month - doctors advice) and this took the edge of the depression, howeve I found it unstable for me as everyday was different. After a few months I went back on too a different brand of Cilalopram and within 2 weeks I was feeling well again.

Coming off any AD meds needs to be a slow and gradual process and there are withdrawal symptons simply because you are reducing the level of this medication from your brain chemistry.
I found that no matter how slowly I had tapered, I still got a backllash four months later.

The neurotrransmitters that produce the happy hormones don't just kick back into action one you withdraw from an AD. From what I read they have been decommisioned and need to be stimulated to produce. This is a case of good diet, exercise, maybe a little CBT to change your thinking process. The biological side of withdrawal needs time to allow the natural production of happy hormones become activated, and this may take a little time.

Like you I would like to taper off and stay off Citalopram?ADs, and when I do I will take some considrable time to do so.

Best Wishes on your tapering plan

Regards

Jim Bow

Thanks for your post, Jim Bow. It is interesting how we both got hit at the 4 month mark with symptoms. it is hard to say if it is delayed withdrawal or a return of symptoms. For me, I think it was a delayed withdrawal reaction because the symptoms were so much worse than anything I'd ever experienced before meds. And it felt similar to the withdrawal I had experienced before. I am going to start tapering again at the end of the month and will go even slower this time around. I am scared that even with going slower I'll still run into trouble along the way or have another delayed reaction when I finally do make it off. But I am determined to try as I am really sick of the side effects of Zoloft. For me, these psych meds have caused more harm than good......I feel like I've made my situation worse than it ever was to begin with by taking these drugs. :( Very frustrating.

Thanks again,
Michele

Hi nomoremeds,

When I tapered off Citalopram 40mg in April 2008, I took it very slowly and did not get any withdrawal effects. However 4 months later and all hell broke lose and I get depressive type symptoms which put me back to my orginal symptoms. I would consider this delayed withdrawal or a return to depression.
When I put myself back onCitalopram again, (doctors advice) and back to my usual 40mg it did not work for me at all.

So I went on to Prozac 40mg (over a period of 1 month - doctors advice) and this took the edge of the depression, howeve I found it unstable for me as everyday was different. After a few months I went back on too a different brand of Cilalopram and within 2 weeks I was feeling well again.

Coming off any AD meds needs to be a slow and gradual process and there are withdrawal symptons simply because you are reducing the level of this medication from your brain chemistry.
I found that no matter how slowly I had tapered, I still got a backllash four months later.

The neurotrransmitters that produce the happy hormones don't just kick back into action one you withdraw from an AD. From what I read they have been decommisioned and need to be stimulated to produce. This is a case of good diet, exercise, maybe a little CBT to change your thinking process. The biological side of withdrawal needs time to allow the natural production of happy hormones become activated, and this may take a little time.

Like you I would like to taper off and stay off Citalopram?ADs, and when I do I will take some considrable time to do so.

Best Wishes on your tapering plan

Regards

Jim Bow
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