Misc Are antidepressants hard to get off of/ withdrawal.... expereinces?

[checktest]

Just to add in another experience- I've never really had problems with coming off of any AD I've been on. (Didn't have good interactions while on some of them, though.)

I think that it can be tricky to balance what is a side effect versus an effect of depression. Some people have "withdrawals" that seem awfully similar to how their depression was before treatment.

On the other hand, a family member can't miss a day of Effexor without feeling it. She certainly has plenty of emotion after 7 years.

Untreated depression can do quite a lot of damage as well. Pros and cons.

*Forgot to mention drugs: escitalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine, cymbalta, bupropion, desipramine, some other tricyclic, and a few others. On tranylcypromine.




Consistency definitely seems to be key, though.

 

[tricomb]

In my experience, FUCK YES. I have never had such a hard time discontinuing any class of drugs like I did with SSRI's. FAR worse than benzodiazepine cold turkey withdrawal.

 

[ErgicMergic]

The only SSRI I would ever put, and have ever put, in to my body would be Prozac (fluoxetine), due to its very mild action at the ultra-low dose I take (10mg daily), and very long half-life. I didn't have any w/d when I was without Prozac for 8 days. I would not recommend doses over 10mg, and feel that all other SSRI's are not worth taking.

As far as the atypical antidepressants go, I'm a huge fan of ultra-low dose Remeron (mirtazapine), since it is low-profile in terms of side effects at low doses (less than 3.75mg daily), and relative to other AD's, it is a nice anxiolytic, sedative, and hypnotic.

I take 2-3mg Remeron daily, and 10mg Prozac daily, and they work fantastically in conjunction with each other.

 

[tricomb]

Fluoexetine was the SSRI I had the biggest problem discontinuing. Worse WD than cold turkey benzo WD.

 

[QUARE]

The withdrawal symptom from Paroxetine where VERY unplesant but it wasnt that hard to stop using, you need to taper off of course.

Symptom include

- Sort of electric shock in the head while moving eyes <-- this was very annoying
- Dysphoria
- Nausea/Vomiting

 

[ErgicMergic]

Fluoexetine was the SSRI I had the biggest problem discontinuing. Worse WD than cold turkey benzo WD.

What dose were you on, and for how long? Most doctors prescribe ridiculous doses for SSRI's. For example, I am scripted 100mg a day, but I only take 10mg, 10% of my scripted dose.

Also, did you taper, and weren't you using it to come of off Paroxetine (Paxil)?

 

[tricomb]

100mg / day????? Sheer insanity, or raping profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

Dude it's strange how you're always acting like you know my medical history. No offense or anything, but I've never came off, let alone, used Paroxetine (Paxil) in my life. Sorry, It just really bothers me when people make assumptions.


I've tried fluoxetine many times for many different lengths of time, the longest I could ever bear was about 6 months and I've never had so many suicide attempts or "visits" to the psych ward during that time. I did my best tapering slowly with 10mg tablets, I refused to ever take more than 30-40mg/day because I have NEVER had any faith in SSRI's since I was first recommended them as an adjunct to benzodiazepine therapy.

The last time I ever WD'd from prozac, I had been taking it for 3 months at 10, 20mg per day TOPS, and I was so sick and tired of thinking about suicide 24/7 that I threw every bottle of prozac and every other SSRI I'd ever been given into the 55 gallon oil drum I use to incinerate things in, doused it all in kerosene and then did what I've done many, many, times before, and lit my joint or cigarette (don't recall which) and flicked it in from a distance as I've done many times before and incinerating those pills brought me more anti-depressant action than any anti-depressant ever has in my life.

So cold-turkey 3 month at 10-20mg/day and still had withdrawals that I would compare to cold-turkey benzo WD.

 

[ferinox]

I was using 100 mg sertraline for months and months combined with 500 mg 5 htp. That combo gave me saucer pupils everyday. I developed extrapyrimidial symptoms from that combo and eventually and had to come off. I noticed a WD but it wasn't even in the same league as opiate or benzo WD. It's funny how different everyone reacts to drugs.

 

[checktest]

The black abyss pupils. I remember someone asking me if I had just come from the eye doctor.

I don't know of any psych ward that would keep someone on a particular AD after multiple suicidal attempts or dysphoric states. That's almost a guaranteed trip to Lithium/mood stabilizer island from what I've seen.

The 2nd oldest SSRI with tons of generics isn't quite a big profit maker. I was on 80mg and came off smoothly, and some MDD and especially OCD cases can go a good deal above that.

Fluoxetine is a common taper for people coming off of Effexor because of its half life, which can be a bit of a bother for those switching to MAOIs.

Psychiatry and psychopharmacology is in such a weird place. So much extreme variation. It is sad to hear that some of the pharmaceutical companies are going away from developing mental health drugs though. People suffering from bipolar disorder, OCD, and schizophrenia, amongst others, really need better treatments. (Not to mention general societal education about mental health and regular health habits, but that is a whole other deal.)

 

[F1n1shed]

If you can handle an MDMA come down , coming off SSRI's is a walk in the park.
At first you may feel a little more annoyed with the world but it's real short lasting. I was using 100mg of zoloft for like half a year or so. The main thing that bothered me coming off it was the head spins, they'd keep coming and going. Depression wasn't really bad at all, i was actually happy i could feel my emotions again.