Misc Long-standing Complications due to SSRI/SNRI Treatment.

[Thou]

Hope this is the right place for this.

I'd like to pool a large number of individual experiences from SSRI/SNRI users experiencing health problems due to their use of the drug/s. Ideally I'm looking for people who have been off for a considerable amount of time and still experience health problems that you're pretty sure can be attributed directly to said drugs.

Some problems I've been facing after 3 courses with SNRI's: (Effexor 300mg q day, Pristiq 100mg q day).


My main concern is the longstanding effects these drugs have. I have issues with photosensitivity, which I fear may degrade into cataracts at a younger age than normal. This is a common side effect. Among the others I currently deal with:



Exacerbation of inattentive ADD-like symptoms

Exacerbation of social anxiety and panic attacks

Pronounced sexual side effects including but not limited to: Premature ejaculation, no ejaculation, very little ejaculate being produced, etc.

Gastrointestinal Distress which may possibly be ulcer-related.

Vivid nightmares/excess sweating and night sweats

Increased blood pressure. Increased heart rate. Ringing in ears.



I've also taken lexapro and celexa for 6-months - 1 year in between the two effexor courses). First course of effexor I was barely 17 and he had me up to 475mg in two months, which to me just screams negligence on the doctors part.

Doctors know the drug should only be used for 1-2 months. It builds tolerance ala benzodiazapines, stops working and requires you to get off and experience horrible withdrawal symptoms, and worse depression than before. It's impossible to taper correctly and continues to affect your health in a large way indefinitely.

My main curiosity here is can these people be held responsible for this? Its clearly malpractice and I've lost many years of my life and opportunities simply because the drug exacerbated every problem it was supposed to cure, and the withdrawal lasts months. Unbelievable. I'm talking to others who share this fate and who ar themselves considering legal action.

Thanks for listening.

 

[amapola]

Hi thouart_that,

The Other Drugs Forum focuses more on the technical aspect of harm reduction and any discussion on medical malpractice lawsuits is not appropriate. That being said we do have many members who are prescribed SRIs and discussing common side effects both on and after discontinuation of the drug after lengths of use is a worthwhile subject.

Substantial and lengthy emotional perspectives would probably be better off in TDS (The Dark Side), however we'll see how this thread turns out in the more concrete OD atmosphere for now.

 

[Thou]

Thanks Amapola.

 

[anterrabae]

All I can say is that coming off of a high dose of Effexor caused me about a month long period of psychosis that required a long hospital stay with many tranquilizers. A pure nightmare and loss of a whole semester of university.

Also while I was on it I complained of still being severely depressed and he just continued to up the dosage which turned me into a literal zombie.

Was he held accountable? No. If I were to have sued him I don't think I would have a case either, as he wasn't forcing me to take his prescriptions and psychiatry is still such a misunderstood science.

 

[Thou]

Let it be known that I'm not looking for legal replies, mainly just subjective effects.

Thanks for the report anterrabae. There was a local band that went by that name in these parts, I wonder if it's a coincidence.

Have you noticed any sexual side effects after stopping usage?

How were you treated in the hospital? Were anti-psychotics implemented? Were they successful or did they make matters worse?

 

[anterrabae]

I've heard of the band too. Actually I got the name from a book. It was a character within the mind of a young schizophrenic woman.

I have not had any sexual side effects since stopping that drug fortunately.

I was treated quite horribly in the hospital, but that was mostly because of the abusive and nowhere near understanding staff, with the exception of perhaps two nice nurses. I was given substances like Seroquel, Ativan (initially, to put me out) and they began prescribing me Lamictal because they believed I was bipolar because of the episode (caused by stopping Effexor).

None of this was successful except for perhaps the Ativan, because I hadn't slept in five days. Other than that, the Lamictal didn't do anything as I am not bipolar and the Seroquel simply kept me more or less an obedient zombie, unable to see straight or do much of anything.

 

[Thou]

They didn't realize a simple prozac or lexapro taper would have allowed you to spend your month at home? Maybe clonazapam PRN for anxiety and brain zaps? Ugh.

We're in need of an agonizing reappraisal in the form of basic rights watchdogs in asylums. People in mental hospitals have less rights than those in prison. Not by much, but you get the point I'm making.

I'm surprised they didn't use haldol PRN with risperidone QID or something equally cruel.

What they did to you was chemical castration, pure and simple.

 

[anterrabae]

Yes, I completely agree with you. That hospital was pure horror. The nurse's station was all the way at the front of the wing, my room all the way at the back. They had one orderly at night who would just hang out at the station and usually sleep. One night, a schizophrenic male woke me up at 3 AM beside my bed. He could have raped me or smothered me with a pillow and killed me. They sent him to a higher security hospital the next day, but I received no apology for the complete lack of safety.

On top of all this mess, they kept taking my blood pressure with a broken machine, which they only realized was broken when the orderly took my sister's BP during visiting hours just for kicks. She had had a physical that morning and her BP registered way too high. So I was put on BP meds, kept on a low sodium diet so I lost 15 pounds in about two weeks and also got an unnecessary MRI. Plus taking bloods every morning by the very worst phlebotomists, one which stuck the needle in my arm and then fished around for the vein. My arms were black, yellow and maroon by the time I left.

It was torture, I still exhibit nightmares about it.

 

[orange floyd]

One single use of Lexapro ruined my entire life. Rewind to age 16, my mom has me in drug counceling because I smoke pot Takes me to the doctor, telling him that I must be "severely depressed" because I'm smoking so much weed at such a young age, to give me something. He tells me that this Lexapro is "something mild that will juts help ease anxiety and make you a little happier." I took this drug ONCE, and within an hour the ceiling was spinning all sorts of colors, i was shaking, getting hot and cold sweats, brain zaps, feelings of impending doom/like i was about to have a heart attack. It was like literally every bad symptom you could experience from it, I was getting, from the lowest prescribed dose given to me once. I had not smoked any pot in about a month, and was drinking on the weekends, but this was during the week. I was unable to go to school the next day I was so out of it, it felt like what i'd imagine a horrible acid trip to be like. That was my first panic attack, I'm 20 years old now and have been on klonopin for almost six months. The panic attacks never stopped until I started taking benzos daily. How this drug is legally allowed to be sold is beyond me. I never understood the true meaning of anxiety before this drug, the word anxious to me was like "oh my ride is late I'm anxious about if theyre going to show up" not a physical symptom that can occur for no reason whatsoever, make you feel like you're dying and basically unable to socialize during the duration of the panic attack, which can be anywhere between minutes to about two hours. That's my lexapro story, and I wouldn't wish this drug prescribed to even my worst of enemies...

 

[Thou]

What were the doctors explanations for why this happened to you?

Did they give any? What about in the hospital, assuming you went to one?

Was panic disorder the only longstanding side-effect? Did you have any physical health problems that you can attribute this one-time lexapro reaction?

You mentioned hallucinations. Have you ever taken any serotonergic psychedelics like LSD, Mushrooms, MDMA, etc.? If so, how did they compare?

I'm terribly sorry to hear about your situation.

 

[suessmayr]

I am a 23 yr old male weighing 90kg and have been prescribed many different psychiatric meds since the age of about 19: Zoloft, Prozac, Cymbalta, Pristiq, Effexor, Cipramil, Avanza and the following mood stabilisers: Lamictal, Epilim, Lithium and Abilify. Psychiatry has been a fucken waste of my time and I did not even begin to get better until I took on some real initiative, accepted that I would not feel great and began to make the right choices and do the right things.

On the whole I have tolerated the meds extremely well, with one exception: when I stopped taking Pristiq after a taper over a fortnight or so from the maximum dose I got ALL SORTS of fucked up symptoms. More than one doctor has told me that citalopram and escitalopram (Effexor and Cipramil) are the worst drugs when it comes to discontinuation syndrome. I was, for a period of about 4 days, sweating uncontrollably, hearing noises, seeing objects in my room move, suffering a terrible and debilitating anxiety and coming in about 4 seconds. I have never had it this bad with any other med.

It seems that these effects have mostly receded and the fact that I am now unbearably anxious at all times I tend to attribute more to the fact that I have come from 90mg methadone to 2mg bupe in about 2 months. But I cannot be sure that these drugs have not harmed me in big ways.

At any rate, I am certain that the solution is not to start taking more of them; I am totally finished with psychiatry and its bullshit 'prescribe a pill for fucking anything' mantra.

S

 

[anterrabae]

There's just so many negatives and so few definite positives in this all too new pseudoscience. Our country really does revolve around pharmaceuticals, the psychiatric ones seem to be the most pushed, yet needed least.

 

[Cohesion]

people who have been off for a considerable amount of time

2 months ago, quit
Paxil 40mg
Wellbutrin 100mg

My main curiosity here is can these people be held responsible for this?

Google "_____(drug name)___" and "lawsuit". Many have won. Lots of reading there, good luck. I'm looking at "paxil".

I don't know if I am worse for taking them. I have taken too many substances to point out anything specific. (Unless I find a great lawyer.)

Keep us updated

 

[muvolution]

I was on Zoloft for quite some time. It caused serious sexual dysfunction as well as GI problems. I continue to have GI problems - (not sure if it's from the SSRI's or not, but they started when I started SSRI's)

Also, it still takes me a considerable amount of time to reach orgasm, or I don't ever get there, and while this is generally appreciated by women I sleep with, now that I have a long-term partner, it is quite frustrating.

I haven't taken SSRI's in 3 1/2 years, btw. (I am a frequent, chronic abuser of opiates, benzos and marijuana, as well as pretty much any stimulants or psychs when they come around) I am a poly-drug addict, so that is what could be causing my GI problems, although I was before I started SSRI's and never had trouble...

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I was on Zoloft for quite some time. It caused serious sexual dysfunction as well as GI problems. I continue to have GI problems - (not sure if it's from the SSRI's or not, but they started when I started SSRI's)

Also, it still takes me a considerable amount of time to reach orgasm, or I don't ever get there, and while this is generally appreciated by women I sleep with, now that I have a long-term partner, it is quite frustrating.

I haven't taken SSRI's in 3 1/2 years, btw. (I am a frequent, chronic abuser of opiates, benzos and marijuana, as well as pretty much any stimulants or psychs when they come around) I am a poly-drug addict, so that is what could be causing my GI problems, although I was before I started SSRI's and never had trouble...

Have you tried not using opiates/benzos? They can delay orgasm on their own.

Having quit sertraline a long time ago, I don't have any side effects that are permeating today.

 

[muvolution]

Yeah... I had a nice stretch of being opiate free (am currently benzo free, well, and opiates, but not by choice) and after the initial immediate withdrawal (when I may have premature orgasm/ wet dreams from my body wiggin out) I go back to how sex is normally.

It's kinda maddening, although when I do bust a nut it is usually quite epic and looks like someone tried to make a milkshake in my bed without a lid on the blender tbph.

I'm sure now everyone will flock to this thread now that the OD mods are discussing wet dreams and orgasm, btw.



Thouart - are you asking in order to justify NOT taking SSRI's? in my experience, for people who truly are depressed, the benefits outweigh the negatives.

 

[Cohesion]

in my experience, for people who truly are depressed, the benefits outweigh the negatives.

I would agree....though after some time IME I don't think they are effective/relevant any more. It helped me get out of a rut- after 6 months I looked back and said - Wow, I've been less lethargic. Then I just kept taking it because I didn't want to W/D. (awful withdrawls! I'm thru it now.)

 

[hotelyorba]

I did not take an SSRI or SNRI, but I did take a tricyclic antidepressant which works on serotonin and norepinephrine like an SNRI as well as a host of other receptors in the brain. I took a low dose of Doxepin for a month about a year ago and continue to have problems. My problems are mainly with focusing, and I get weird head sensations and pressure that I never had prior to taking the doxepin. Also, my brain and body do not respond to weed like they used to. I have started a thread about this but received very little feedback...probably because tricyclic's are not used very much in psychiatry anymore.

Although the doctors are definitely responsible for giving us the drugs, and should therefore be held accountable, it is ultimately the drug companies that need to take the most blame. They create these medications, and believe me, they know quite a bit about the complications they cause, yet they hide all of those facts. If they feel there is even a little bit of benefit in a drug like Zoloft, they will easily push it through the FDA and conceal all of the complications that may arise. Simply put, they care more about profits than creating sound and safe medications for the consumer.

 

[Thou]

Stump.

 

[ErgicMergic]

These experiences remind me to keep my tramadol use in check, which is similar in SNRI effects as Effexor. 2-3 doses a week shouldn't mess with my 5-HT receptors, right?