• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums
  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Having a huge problem - AD withdrawals.

L

ldawg616

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
Messages
261
Location
houston tx
I'm having a huge problem right now, my doctor had me on 300mg of zoloft, but now wnats me to taper down every 3 days, and the depression is getting so bad I just cant take it, its screwing up my daily habits and interests in life. There is no risk for suicide because I know it's just the chemicals, but the thing is, being at 150mg and feeling the effects scare the shit out of me because I still have to get down to 0 and then wait weeks for the paxil to kick in. It's almost as if i'm having a panic attack, but with my weed addiction, there would be no way he would put me on a benzo to calm down, so is there some QUICK ACTING ANTI-DEPRESEANT that I can take to temporarliy relieve my symptoms or could I Temporarily use benzos at low dosages to mute the emotions until everything get sorted out? I also has adderall, but the increase addictive behavior comes out.

I am is suffering here and has only acces to shitty generic xanax (from doctor) and instant release and ext release adderrall

Ty for your time
 
Last edited by a moderator:
First of all Bluelight isn't a pool.

Someone who is YOU is having the problem. ;).

I would say low dose benzo's could tide you over or you could experiment with tramadols snri properties.
 
Only thing is you'll have to wait till you are completely off the Zoloft so as not to risk seretonin syndrome.

Tramadols effects:

Tramadol possesses weak agonist actions at the μ-opioid receptor, releases serotonin, and inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine
 
Well when im off the zoloft Im gonna be on paxill, so would take a quater of a bar (2mg) throught the day help with the symptoms?
 
Anti-depressant withdrawal quite frankly sucks; it's well published but not too much discussion is had about it before you start taking them. Why is she switching you to another SSRI when Zoloft was ineffective and why a SSRI with the worst withdrawal symptoms. I could understand citalopram and fluoxetine since they have less pronounced SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome. I would question your doctor here. Is he a psychiatrist? I'm not one by any means. I do Acute Medical Assessment work.

I do not know your dx's but I believe your symptoms could be better managed.

I'd write #60 Clonazepam 0.5mg. BID and perhaps adjust your taper schedule; you said your doctor was anti-benzo. I mean there are plenty of recreational drugs to solve your problems-- with benzodiazepines being the most logical solution. I'm not sure of anything worth a damn that your doctor would prescribe. I could see Buspar but I would never write that.
 
Honestly there is no reason to go through withdrawal of an SSRI just to get on another one. It's not like they are COMPLETELY different.. they are both inhibiting the serotonin transporter. (Also, Paxil is notorious for causing killer withdrawals, just a friendly heads up, but don't let that stop you from going through with a med that might help you)

As said before, a benzodiazepine will probably help curb withdrawals.

SLOW THE TAPER DOWN! If 300mg of sertraline is a very high dose.. "special" doses require "special" tapering.. Maybe down 25mg every week or two. I would highly advise against tapering as fast as your doc is trying to taper you. Tell him of the effects you are getting. In the end it's your choice, taper as you feel. Again though, it's pointless to fully taper just to get on another SSRI.

I've got a bit of first hand experience with SSRI withdrawal. PM me if you need to talk!

~snr
 
SNR, you touched on basically the same points I made. We share these "tl;dr" points:

Switching to another SSRI would likely be counterproductive for the treatment of your dx.
Paxil is notorious for causing intense cases of SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome.
Benzodiazepine use would be suitable for your severe withdrawal symptoms.
Using a slower tapering schedule may be more efficacious

I would advise to consider getting on fluoxetine and tapering off that; it's half-life is a lot longer than sertraline. I question the reasoning behind the 300mg. dose of sertraline; it's hardly as effective as a 50mg. dosage. The doctor should have realized that sertraline would not be effective for your Depression before reaching the 300mg.

PM me too, if you'd like. I enjoy helping others out with things like this.
 
I think that he thinks that Im going to get addicted to it or something, honestly I hate the guy and want to leave him, but i can' for personal reasons...ok so i guess its benzos for me,any recomendations?

I also have adderall instant and ext could that help?
 
Last edited:
^^^

What country are you in, this has a very sting affect on what doctors prescribe, Zoloft (Sertraline) gave me an internal bleed at that point I stopped cold I don't remember from what dose but it was no where near what your on.

At that time I told my GP I'd had enough of ADs for a bit and went a couple of months AD free.

Due to continuing suicidal thoughts I'm now on Venlafaxine and trying to not read the horror stores of coming off them, in the UK getting benzos off a GP is a tricky business where as some countries they seem quite happy to hand them out.

I'm no doctor or even a medical person but given you were on such a high dose of SSRIs you must have quite severe depression so to me it seems a bit odd that a doctor would withdraw you completely from a drug that is supposed to combat those symptoms. To a simple person like me that just sound stupid, if it were me I'd find another doctor, but again you choices in this are different depending on what country you are in.
 
Pregabalin is a very soothing drug. I use it PRN.. Its often prescribed for anxiety. could you check it out with your doc?
I would be very wary of Tramadol if I were you its a very vicious pill.
 
Last edited:
Pregabalin is a very soothing drug.
Click to expand...

Benzodiazepines > Pregabalin for GAD but I'm definitely an advocate of Pregabalin being indicated as a less addictive alternative for GAD, don't get me wrong. I really don't see this doctor prescribing this as well, especially "off-label" based on the evidence here.

Pregabalin would help more than hurt here.
 
ldawg616 said:
I think that he thinks that Im going to get addicted to it or something, honestly I hate the guy and want to leave him, but i can' for personal reasons...ok so i guess its benzos for me,any recomendations?

I also have adderall instant and ext could that help?
Click to expand...

Then leave him and go to another dr There is no reason you should hate your shrink.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top