Should i go back on SSRIs?

[george11]

Hey everybody iam new to the forum and iam from Bulgaria and please excuse me for my bad English :)
I'll try to tell you everything about my story.I got my first panic attack before 4-5 years and was somethink terribly.After that i went to a psychiatrist
and he gave me zoloft.So i started with zoloft for 2-3 months and i get my second panic attack and i was very scary.After that i start with seroxat and clonazepam for the cases in which iam very anxius.So i was on seroxat for 4-5 years and was generally well , and in very rare cases used clonazepam.
So 3-4 months ago I decided one day to stop the seroxat at once(i know that is not the right way but i did it)
At the first days i was very dizzy,cold turkey and other side effects.After 2-3 weeks the side effects almost disappeared.Now after 3-4 months that iam not taking the seroxat started to feel very weak,and a very bad feeling.Iam very anxiety,depressed,slightly dizzy,I have nausea and i dont know what to do!I wake up the morning and i feel awful and i started to freak!I think all the time that i have a serious disease and i want to go to doctors and getting help.
I forgot to say that iam a singer by profession and many times is very difficult for me to sing publicity.Should i go back on SSRIs?
Before an hour i got clonazepam 0,5 mg and calmed me down a little but now again i get sweat and anxious and dont know what to do.Is it possible to have another problem some?
Please help me!!
Thanks very much!

[Spot-the-frog]

Hi George and :welcome:

Sorry to hear that you are not feeling too good. I think you should go back and speak to your doctor and see what medication he suggests for you.

I was on paroxetine (seroxat) and the withdrawal is probably one of the worst of all the SSRIs so when you go cold turkey you would of had really bad withdrawal symptoms.

[george11]

Hi George and :welcome:

Sorry to hear that you are not feeling too good. I think you should go back and speak to your doctor and see what medication he suggests for you.

I was on paroxetine (seroxat) and the withdrawal is probably one of the worst of all the SSRIs so when you go cold turkey you would of had really bad withdrawal symptoms.

Thanks very much ''Spot-the-frog'' for your fast response respect!
Tommorow i will go to my doctor.I talked before 30 minutes with him and he told me that there are other medicines for serotonine except seroxate and etc..I dont know but we will see tomorrow.Why iam feeling so bad and weak?
I also asked my doctor if is impossible to have any problem with the thyroid hormones or something else and he told me that is all from the anxiety,depression and panic.Is it possible to have another problem some?
Thanks very much in advance!!

[Darbysa]

Hi George

Sorry you are having such a bad time. It sucks doesn't it?! I have been in your shoes and though I didn't come off seroxat cold turkey I did taper very quickly. Like you, after a couple of weeks I felt ok but then a couple of months later, wham, I was right back where I started. I did go back to the doctors and they put me back on seroxat and I've been ok since then and managed to go down to 10 mg which is where I have been for a couple of years. I do sometimes wish I had managed to stick it it out but I felt that bad I jumped at the chance to start them again. Only you know how bad you are feeling and whether you can cope without going back on them. I would agree with spot the frog. It sounds to me like it is withdrawal and you should see your doctor anyway.

Spot the frog - it sounds like you managed to break free of seroxat. How did you manage that if you don't mind me asking?

Sal

[Spot-the-frog]

Hi George



Spot the frog - it sounds like you managed to break free of seroxat. How did you manage that if you don't mind me asking?

Sal

Well I may have come off seroxat but unfortunately I went back to square one as well. I am now taking citalopram, which I have been taking for for 12 weeks now and it is not doing that much, I don't know whether to ask to go back onto seroxat or not. My doctor was not keen to put me back on it :weep:

[Mozzer999]

Hi George

I can relate to what you are going through. It is normal to feel very unwell as your body comes to terms with not having the medication. Justtry to remember that every bad feeling you have is your brain getting better.

Exercise will help more than you can imagine.

[george11]

Hi George

Sorry you are having such a bad time. It sucks doesn't it?! I have been in your shoes and though I didn't come off seroxat cold turkey I did taper very quickly. Like you, after a couple of weeks I felt ok but then a couple of months later, wham, I was right back where I started. I did go back to the doctors and they put me back on seroxat and I've been ok since then and managed to go down to 10 mg which is where I have been for a couple of years. I do sometimes wish I had managed to stick it it out but I felt that bad I jumped at the chance to start them again. Only you know how bad you are feeling and whether you can cope without going back on them. I would agree with spot the frog. It sounds to me like it is withdrawal and you should see your doctor anyway.

Spot the frog - it sounds like you managed to break free of seroxat. How did you manage that if you don't mind me asking?

Sal

Thanks very much Darbysa for your response!I have to say that now the biggest problem is not the cold turkey,i dont feel like cold turkey now.That was when i stopped the seroxat and was only for a week.Now my problem is that iam feeling bad,weak,dizzy and all the time i begin to think that i have other health problem...
Last night i was singing at a disco.Before starting the program i felt anxious and i took clonazepam(rivotril)0,5 mg but i felt that i was still anxious and i took second clonazepam(rivotril)0,5mg but after that i felt very weak like a rubbish and i was still a little anxious,that was very strange for me because when taking clonazepam always iam feeling better.I talked to my doctor today and he said me that maybe overdose with the clonazepam and that was the reason to feel like a rubbish :huh:
That was my first time to take clonazepam and felt like a rubbish and bad feeling :shrug:
Generally when iam taking the clonazepam iam feeling always better but last night i dont know what happened :unsure:
Thanks in advance!!

---------- Post added at 20:39 ---------- Previous post was at 20:20 ----------


Hi George

I can relate to what you are going through. It is normal to feel very unwell as your body comes to terms with not having the medication. Justtry to remember that every bad feeling you have is your brain getting better.

Exercise will help more than you can imagine.

Thanks for your response Mozzer999
Iam not taking medication already 4 months.Is this normal after 4 months that iam not on medication to have these reactions?4 months are not enough?
Thanks very much!!

[Stormsky]

Personally I'd give it longer without meds... I took meds for 11 yrs, went through hell coming off them, must have been at least 6 months before I felt something like myself again... And yes i was tempted many times to start them again..but i was determined to last it out.....It's been 2 yrs now off them, never felt better.
But that's me personally , you should have a good think about what you want, and like said maybe discuss with your doc...

[george11]

Personally I'd give it longer without meds... I took meds for 11 yrs, went through hell coming off them, must have been at least 6 months before I felt something like myself again... And yes i was tempted many times to start them again..but i was determined to last it out.....It's been 2 yrs now off them, never felt better.
But that's me personally , you should have a good think about what you want, and like said maybe discuss with your doc...

Thanks very much Stormsky for your response
You said that 2 years now you are off them and never felt better.What do you feel?
Iam 4 months now off them.For the first 1-2 months i was feeling good but now 3-rd and the 4-th month iam feeling horible.Iam feeling very bad like a rubbish and also when I felt something happening with me i am starting to think that i have some problem and run to the doctors every time :unsure:
Iam going to my work at the disco to sing and the last 1-2 months if i dont get clonazepam or alcohol i can not get up on stage and sing....

[Stormsky]

I felt ok the first 4-6 wks coming off them too, then I just hit rock bottom.. Physically anxiety was worse than ever, constant thoughts , couldn't switch off.. Thought I was going mad..
I was told by doc that coming off meds could take me back to square one...
And it did...meds don't cure, they only mask symptoms...
So I dealt with my anxiety, my fears, my racing mind... Gradually I became rational again..things were clearer...
Now I'm calm, I control my thoughts, they don't control me...no more anxiety, no doom and gloom, and I'm finally awake again after 11 yrs of being drugged / sedated...
I have emotions again too... So for me, I'd never go back on meds..god knows what they did to my brain for all that time, and there can be long term damage to central nervous system my doc said.

[Emphyrio]

Hi George,

What you're likely experiencing is protracted withdrawal symptoms. Many people think that withdrawal symptoms last a few weeks to a month, and then you're back to square one. Unfortunately for a % of people, withdrawal can last many months or even years.

Seroxat is known for its withdrawal symptoms - so much so, that there is a special site set up - known as "paxilprogress" (paxil is the brand name for paroxetine in the United States). I suggest you visit and post your story there. I don't think you have any health problems - it sounds like a protracted withdrawal. One of the possibilities for you is to go back onto paroxetine at 10mg if you can, wait until the symptoms disappear, then do a very, very slow taper off it. Maybe take 1-2 years to get off the 10mg, dropping 10% of your previous dose every month. Its a long process but it does seem to work - your brain can recovery slowly and naturally from the decreases in the medication, and in the meantime you can make changes to your lifestyle and diet to tackle anxiety in other ways.

Good luck :)

[george11]

Hi to everyone today i went to my doctor for my problem.We talked about the SSRI discontinuation syndrome and he said that the discontinuation syndrome continues for 2-3 weeks after SSRI off and said that my symptoms are not from the discontinuation syndrome.He claims that now iam not on antidepressants and iam feeling like my first time and for that reason everything repeated from the start :huh:
So he suggest me to try with fluanxol 0.5mg 3x2 pills per day as he does not want to go back to antidepressants.What do you think about fluanxol?
How many days should elapse to get work the fluanxol?
Thanks very much in advance!



Hi George,

What you're likely experiencing is protracted withdrawal symptoms. Many people think that withdrawal symptoms last a few weeks to a month, and then you're back to square one. Unfortunately for a % of people, withdrawal can last many months or even years.

Seroxat is known for its withdrawal symptoms - so much so, that there is a special site set up - known as "paxilprogress" (paxil is the brand name for paroxetine in the United States). I suggest you visit and post your story there. I don't think you have any health problems - it sounds like a protracted withdrawal. One of the possibilities for you is to go back onto paroxetine at 10mg if you can, wait until the symptoms disappear, then do a very, very slow taper off it. Maybe take 1-2 years to get off the 10mg, dropping 10% of your previous dose every month. Its a long process but it does seem to work - your brain can recovery slowly and naturally from the decreases in the medication, and in the meantime you can make changes to your lifestyle and diet to tackle anxiety in other ways.

Good luck :)

thanks very much for the response Emphyrio

[george11]

Hi everyone i was at fluanxol for 10 days but it didnt helps me.Last night i was at a concert to sing and i get anxious and panic and i took 2 tablets of clonazepam 0,5 mg and calmed down.I dont know what to do with my work.when i go to sing iam getting anxious and panic.i really want to start ssri again!!