Effexor and Paxil have the worst discontinuation syndrome effects of all the antidepressants due to their short half-lives. It’s a lot easier to wean if you replace it with Prozac which has a week half-life. The taper is gradual which lessens the side effects.
i don’t know if anyone here has come off of a hard addiction to street drugs, but is this what it feels like? just curious.
and i am starting the search for a more competent psychologist tomorrow. and i am going to go back on my paxil until then. i broke down today… and it almost ended badly.
[quote]Rockscar wrote:
I JUST got off that damn Effexor. You don’t feel anything when on it, but you sure feel withdrawls after missing a dose. I’ve got through 6 days of dizziness, brain electrical curret zaps, nausia, and hot flashes.
It’s scarey stuff, and I’m glad I stopped.
I feel just fine finally!! [/quote]
Congrats man, I’ve been off Zoloft for a couple weeks, myself. I tapered off so slowly that the dizziness didn’t really come into play. Last time I tried to do it I ended up cleaning out the liquor cabinet. Eight months later I actually feel like a normal person. And whenever I feel the anxiety creeping back in, I have Z-12.
I had actually been using trib to combat the sexual side effects. I’m young, my test levels are fine, but it worked. Now that I’m off Zoloft I’m horny as hell. And I swear my body composition is changing.
Wow. Scary thread. I’ve never had any intentions whatsoever of using those drugs but you guys confirm what I think of these dangerous pills: big pharma lobbyista have won, the different goverments dont protect us, and doctors have become legal pushers.
Just the number of prescriptions to children is plain scary and pure madness. They use people as guinea pigs while reaping profits.
I go in for my 1st med eval next week. I am scared to shit, but I have to. I have been suffering for going on 20+ years. I’ve always turned down medication, but therapy alone has not worked.
My diet has always been clean, minus a caffeine addiction I buck from time to time only to have it sneak back (and caffeine helps my migraines a lot and a few months of migraines w/o caffeine will find me right back).
Exercise is my meditation so physical release is not the prescription either. I just plain suffer from depression, call it what you want, say it is all in my head, whatever, I’ve given up and I am going for my med eval.
I run the gamut on the symptoms, from memory loss, sleep deprivation, sex drive loss, motivation loss, time lapses (a day could be a week long, sometimes I don’t know.) tears at random times for no reason.
A general feeling of hopelessness and being helpless to change it. I used to be a burner, a cutter and have suicide attempts as well.
Point of my ramblings is that, as some people tend to think it is just a lack of picking yourself up and doing what you need to do, I look at myself a say bullshit. I have ran my own businesses, I have accomplished a lot in my life, but the greatest accomplishment barely puts me into a smile.
So, I am scared shitless of taking meds, but the time has come to try it for me. Anyone have wellbutrin experience? I read that it does not provide the same sexual sides as ssri’s.
i’ve heard of a lot of people taking a low dose of wellbutrin in addition to an SSRI to combat sexual side effects, it seems to be a sexual booster.
I’m proud of you for admitting you need help, thats always been the hardest part for me, and not getting help has just made things worse.
and I know what you mean about the greatest accomplishment barely making you smile. I blew the perfect relationship, because i thought it was her i wasn’t happy with. Good luck with your struggle through this disease.
I know how it can feel like everything is hopeless, and you feel all alone, whether you are or not. All I feel is constant pain lately.
I am making huge strides in my tumbling (i’m a college cheerleader), but there isn’t satisfaction with it all. Even though I know my skill increase is also increasing my chances at the 2000 dollar scholarship for the top twenty. Its just a tough, uphill battle. Good luck man.
Same to you.
I may post updates on my drug as well as I go along if ya want, your thread.
[quote]JohnnyNinja wrote:
Same to you.
I may post updates on my drug as well as I go along if ya want, your thread.[/quote]
Since you’re not on the drugs yet, I’m going to suggest an alternative. Drink a crapload of green tea, supplement with a high dosage of taurine, and use Z-12. I think my “stack” works as well if not better without being addictive and screwing with your body. But the key is that nothing you take is actually going to make you happy. All you can hope is to feel a bit more normal while you figure out what the underlying problem is.
My problem was that I didn’t know what I wanted from life. I thought that because people made me anxious, I should avoid them. I thought that rushing through school doing something that was easy would ultimately make things better. Zoloft just made me apathetic, and I still had a lot of negative thought patterns even without the anxiety. I finally looked at my life and asked myself what was making me unhappy. So I dropped out of my engineering program. That alone made a world of difference. That summer I started my first meaningful relationship.
By necessity I got a job at a gym; it was close and I needed to work out. It turned out that dealing with people on a daily basis because it was my job made it feel natural to deal with them in general. I also realized that I really want to give personal training a shot. Now I enjoy meeting new people every day, I have a lot of great relationships, I’m working on my certification, and I’m going back to school in the fall for graphic design. After three years I’m off the meds, and I can feel again, only this time everything feels good. =)
Ultimately I think the answer is forcing yourself outside your comfort zone. And hopefully you can find a way to do that, be it anti-depressants, supplements, or something else.
I have had major success in my life doing the things I wanted to do. I owned my own business successfully in a field I wanted to be in. I have had success in my creative journeys as well, both personally and commercially. I am currently beginning a new business venture and am “excited” to get it off the ground and rolling along. None of this ever changes my mood, none of it ever relieves me of the daily “I’d rather be dead” type thoughts.
None of it relieves me of any of the symptoms I have outlined before. I appreciate what you are saying, I hear it all the time, but I have been dealing with this for 20+ years. Believe me, I have taken a look at myself and made changes to address things in my life that needed changing.
Ditching alcohol, smoking, bad friends from time to time, change of location, jobs, schedules, types of exercise (martial arts / gym / rock climbing, etc) and yes I’ve stuck with things long enough, remember this is all over 20 years. I have been in great relationships (and bad ones too lol) and I usually end them when they going is good, part of my “problem”.
Again, I am turning to the drugs cause I have tried everything else, including therapy. And believe me, I don’t want to turn to the drugs, I just simply don’t know what else to do, and with the new business springing up, I am going to need to be as on top of my game as I can be.
Before you start taking meds for depression, you should be aware that a major NIH study recently found that anti-depressants are no more effective than placebo. Worse, it wasn’t even a new finding- they knew this 10 years ago, the data was suppressed the same scientists were on Pharma’s payroll at the time. How anyone can accept treatment from an institution that behaves like this is beyond me. Like I said, better depressed than medicated.
hmm, I’ve read a lot to the contrary, granted it wasn’t huge improvements but improvements nonetheless. I also have a lot of personal experience (family) such as a sister who is bipolar I and in and out of being a ward of the state (mental hospital health watch for suicide) who now lives a pretty normal life due to her meds.
I don’t know, I know many people who have the opposite story too, glad to be off their meds, meds messed them up etc etc. But like I said, I don’t see any alternative, or know what else to try. If someone knows something else that I haven’t done, I am more than willing to give it a go. (granted I have not taken Z-12 before, but the rest of wifi suggestion has been done.)
[quote]JohnnyNinja wrote:
hmm, I’ve read a lot to the contrary, granted it wasn’t huge improvements but improvements nonetheless. I also have a lot of personal experience (family) such as a sister who is bipolar I and in and out of being a ward of the state (mental hospital health watch for suicide) who now lives a pretty normal life due to her meds.
I don’t know, I know many people who have the opposite story too, glad to be off their meds, meds messed them up etc etc. But like I said, I don’t see any alternative, or know what else to try. If someone knows something else that I haven’t done, I am more than willing to give it a go. (granted I have not taken Z-12 before, but the rest of wifi suggestion has been done.)[/quote]
Well, at least know that sides last only about a week when you quit…but going through them seems like a month.
Antidepressants definitely have their place. For people with milder depression; supplements, exercise, and therapy works great. Major depression is another story.
For people that have never experienced depression it is not much dissimilar to, trying to explain what the colour blue looks like to a blind person. You either get it or you don’t.
Well I thought I would do a little experiment and withdraw of Cymbalta after reading this thread. I had zero anxiety while on it, and felt great. My mindset improved a lot too, and I hoped that there would be no need for Cymbalta anymore.
Quiting was unbelievably easy. I experienced no withdrawals at all. When I quit Celexa I was throwing up. BUT, it’s been two days now, and the all too familiar feeling of anxiety is back now.
Should I wait a little longer to see if the anxiety subsides before starting Cymbalta up again?
The only benefit pharmaceuticals give is to Big Pharma’s bottom line. They all belong in the g-d damn waste basket! Of course that is a huge generalization… but for the most part, people would do so much better for themselves healthwise if they would be proactive about their health and quit believing in these fairy tales the fundie pharmies keep selling em throughout the media.
But I guess for many people, actively seeking positive health behaviors is just too much work. If thats the case, I hope their happy being worthless piles of human excrement and wasted space.
[quote]JohnnyNinja wrote:
hmm, I’ve read a lot to the contrary, granted it wasn’t huge improvements but improvements nonetheless. I also have a lot of personal experience (family) such as a sister who is bipolar I and in and out of being a ward of the state (mental hospital health watch for suicide) who now lives a pretty normal life due to her meds.
I don’t know, I know many people who have the opposite story too, glad to be off their meds, meds messed them up etc etc. But like I said, I don’t see any alternative, or know what else to try. If someone knows something else that I haven’t done, I am more than willing to give it a go. (granted I have not taken Z-12 before, but the rest of wifi suggestion has been done.)[/quote]
Have you heard of this company?
They sell a natural supplement that is suppose to be beneficial to bipolar patients.
[quote]Thomas Gabriel wrote:
Well I thought I would do a little experiment and withdraw of Cymbalta after reading this thread. [/quote]
Whoa dude…Doctor question. Anxiety disorder is a q for the dr. Just because people have been through a withdrawl period on a different drug, for a different issue, with a different case, does not mean you should do the same. Thanks for reporting, but it sounds like the reason you go on them has returned. I don"t suggest stopping without a doctors supervision and contact.
When I stopped, I had a doctor who was availble through the process, who did not approve of what I did, but after 6 days, and appointments that went well with me… he went with it and “did not want to interfere with 6 days off and improving withdrawl symptoms”.
From what you wrote, you are not experiencing the same.
Johnny, feel free to post any results you have with the drugs. its great to hear everyone’s experiecnes.
This is day 5 back on the paxil, and its stabalizing. i am seeing my therapist tomorrow and will be discussing were to go from here, as far as seeing a different psychologist, slowly tapering off, etc.
and thomas, that sounds like a very bad idea. thats all i ahve to say about it lol.
hey guys,
ssri’s are basically tweaked antihistamines, chemically. There has been anecdotal evidence that benedryl helps ease withdrawl symptoms. I’ll get back to you the source,where I read that, when I find it again…hold on…
Personally, from experience, fuck anti-depressants, anti-anxiety shit, muscles relaxants and any other bullshit pychs will prescribe. Go to the source don’t put a damn bandade on your mind man.