SSRI Withdrawal

[Pogre]

So after many years of being prescribed sertraline for anxiety, depression and ocd I've decided to start weaning off, with the support of my doctor. I've been taking 200 MG daily for about a decade? I'm about 4 weeks in now, down to 100 MG and starting to feel some withdrawal symptoms. Sensory disturbances, "brain zaps", mild headache, a sense of uneasiness and mild confusion. It sucks, but ima power through it. I hate being dependant on something like this and want to be done with it. I went damn near cold turkey under instruction from a therapist (who I will never go to again) a while back and it was pretty bad. All the same symptoms with the dial turned up to 11. I made up my mind I don't want to depend on something like that anymore.

SO... if I seem to be a li'l more confrontational it's because I'm coming off my meds. It ain't fun, but I'll be glad when it's over. Feeling a little better today than I was on Wednesday, but come Monday I'll be halving my dose again. So far so good, but what a crappy dependance to have. Fook.

 

[ryanosaur]

An OCD butcher? Never heard of such a thing. Nope. :roll eyes: Don’t believe that exists. You’re making it up.

I remember taking myself off Paxil back in the day. Just on it for a few years starting partway through college until about the second year after I moved out to SF with my band.
That sh!t was bad news… and even though the common wisdom was to get off it slowly, I cut that and some other meds I was taking (diagnosed for a chronic digestive issue) pretty much cold turkey while seeing a very good acupuncturist who was also a RN.
To this day, almost 20 yrs later, I still feel some of the effects of what that cr@p did to me.

Stay strong, amigo!

 

[Pogre]

An OCD butcher? Never heard of such a thing. Nope. :roll eyes: Don’t believe that exists. You’re making it up.

What's funny is, OCD actually made me quite successful as a butcher. I spent the bulk of my career in management positions. The downside is, everyone thinks I'm anal and demanding. I get results though, God damn it!


Just to clarify, while I have been diagnosed with ocd, it's not as severe and crippling as it can be for some folks. It wasn't a huge disruption for me. It did have a way of driving me crazy sometimes though, and added to my anxiety.

 

[Eppie]

Anxiety can be very debilitating. I suffered an anxiety attack during our reno gone bad, about 24 years ago. Called the doctor thinking I was having a stroke and he calmed me down and ensured it was just anxiety. Ever since that day, when I feel very stressed I can sense the anxiety lingering in the back ground. It has never gone away so I have had to learn measures to calm myself mentally and avoid stress turning into another anxiety attack. The doc prescribed meds but I decided to try and go without them and have managed ok to date.

Wish you the best on trying to manage this yourself. It will take time and mental training to figure this out. Doesn't mean you will never need the meds again. No one likes taking pills every day, but this can be a physical condition that is only treatable with meds. Hopefully your case will be one where you can manage on your own. Maybe if you listened to more James Taylor instead of heavy metal.

 

[Kleinst]

Good luck! I'll ignore any snarky comments to my posts for the next month or so

 

[ryanosaur]

What's funny is, OCD actually made me quite successful as a butcher. I spent the bulk of my career in management positions. The downside is, everyone thinks I'm anal and demanding. I get results though, God damn it!

Butchers come in two types. You're either a little OCD or quite the opposite. The ones that don't have a little OCD in their programming are a flippin mess. ...Disgusting creatures that shouldn't be touching food!

My Depression was "anxiety based." Woulda thought the cannabis woulda helped with that. But not so much...
It took a while to get myself to a point where I could release without becoming a mess. I think the worst part was the insomnia, especially while I was in school.
After I had gotten off the Paxil, my doctor (a different one) prescribed me Lorazepam (a benzo) and Flexoril. I didn't mind the benzo but hated the Flexoril (made me feel completely drugged for a day-and-a-half). Only took them when needed, usually when my stress started manifesting as severe muscle cramping in my head, neck and shoulders.
I found the combination of 1/4 flex with 1 lorazepam and a couple motrin made me sleep like a baby with a tit in my mouth and wake up completely refreshed.
I got myself off those too, but admittedly, sometimes a miss the benzo. Sort of a get out of jail free card for stress and giving a fcuk. I gave to many of those to be healthy. I've learned to be more judicious with those.

 

[Hetfield]

This reminds me I have to stop using the phase "my OCD in me" when it comes to home theater because it is a real thing and is damaging to people that have it. I don't have OCD thank goodness.

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[Pogre]

My Depression was "anxiety based." Woulda thought the cannabis woulda helped with that. But not so much...

That's the weird thing about cannabis. It can actually increase anxiety for some folks. Me? Not so much. If it wasn't for cannabis I would have a lot harder time falling asleep. I grow my own, for the record. It's so much cheaper, lol.

This reminds me I have to stop using the phase "my OCD in me" when it comes to home theater because it is a real thing and is damaging to people that have it. I don't have OCD thank goodness.

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It's true, a lot of folks say it without really understanding it. The way I understand it, it's a spectrum. We're ALL a little ocd. It's wired into us. It can go into overdrive in some tho, and to varying degrees. That's why I clarified.

 

[Pogre]

Wish you the best on trying to manage this yourself.

Thank you Eppie. I'm not all by myself tho. I got my doc involved and he agreed we can give it a shot. The pressures I was going through at the time are gone now, and life has gotten a lot calmer for me, especially the last couple of years. I'm not under near the stress I was and feel it's a good time to give this a shot.

 

[Mikado463]

Pogre, I'm pulling for you for I know what you're going through, at least from a parents perspective. My youngest son, now 41, has been dealing with OCD since college. His, like Howard Hughes manifested itself along the lines of a germophobe . He was doing incredibly well until he tried to go cold turkey about ten years ago which back fired. He has since resumed a med routine which has been trouble free for almost ten years now while successfully managing his engineering career with a large firm in Denver.

You can do it, stay focused and embrace the support group around you !

 

[Hetfield]

It seems to happen in more intelligent people which fortunately I don't fit into that category. No seriously that's what it seems to me anyway. I don't know if there has been any studies on that subject. I mean Howard Hughes was highly intelligent, a type A personality. Maybe it's that also, type A personality.

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[Trebdp83]

Stay healthy and happy! OCD is a bitch! I'd have said something sooner but I can't have a post of mine be an odd number and this one makes it an even number in the thread. S@#t, what does that say about me?

 

[shadyJ]

So after many years of being prescribed sertraline for anxiety, depression and ocd I've decided to start weaning off, with the support of my doctor. I've been taking 200 MG daily for about a decade? I'm about 4 weeks in now, down to 100 MG and starting to feel some withdrawal symptoms. Sensory disturbances, "brain zaps", mild headache, a sense of uneasiness and mild confusion. It sucks, but ima power through it. I hate being dependant on something like this and want to be done with it. I went damn near cold turkey under instruction from a therapist (who I will never go to again) a while back and it was pretty bad. All the same symptoms with the dial turned up to 11. I made up my mind I don't want to depend on something like that anymore.

SO... if I seem to be a li'l more confrontational it's because I'm coming off my meds. It ain't fun, but I'll be glad when it's over. Feeling a little better today than I was on Wednesday, but come Monday I'll be halving my dose again. So far so good, but what a crappy dependance to have. Fook.

What you need is some brand new subwoofer candy! A known cure-all for a wide range of maladies!

 

[Eppie]

Somewhat related.... Both our kids were diagnosed with ADD in grade school, one with a hyperactive component. We tried all of the natural recommendations after much research and counseling. Those grade school years were very tough on the kids since they don't comprehend what the problem is and why the other students react the way they do. Medication was the last resort and it was a game changer. First Ritalin and later Concerta which is time released. Got them through grade school and both of them slowly weaned themselves off of the medication by the end of high school and only used it on occasion for taking exams or tough assignments. Bugs me when people complain about Ritalin. It can be a life changer for some. Our daughter graduated with a bachelor degree in fine arts and our son is half way through a computer science degree. Without the help of a doctor I can't imagine where things would stand right now.

 

[TankTop5]

For this last couple years I have battled with mental health, stress and anxiety. My doctor had me try almost every psych med on the planet and everything made me feel terrible, we were both at a loss. That is until I finally decided to do a sleep study, sleep apnea will mess you up bad! My O2 sits in the mid 70’s and dips to 52 while I’m sleeping and I have over 300 episodes a night where I stop breathing. If anyone is having issues with mental health, stress or anxiety I highly recommend a sleep study first!

 

[Alex2507]

That's the weird thing about cannabis. It can actually increase anxiety for some folks

A friend of mine says that the anxiety is a relatively short lived part of "the buzz". Like 15 minutes into the ride there is a 15 minute period of no can do, not going nowhere, the couch is my friend. After that goes away, shopping at Walmart is a little like watching a Felini film. But knowing it will pass makes it easier to deal with.

... according to a friend.

 

[TankTop5]

A friend of mine says that the anxiety is a relatively short lived part of "the buzz". Like 15 minutes into the ride there is a 15 minute period of no can do, not going nowhere, the couch is my friend. After that goes away, shopping at Walmart is a little like watching a Felini film. But knowing it will pass makes it easier to deal with.

... according to a friend.

Is it possible to shop at Walmart without a Xanax first, asking for a friend?

 

[Alex2507]

Is it possible to shop at Walmart without a Xanax first, asking for a friend?

My friend isn't a pill guy. Thank God.

Okay, this time I'm not bullshitting about the friend but when I asked my doc about a "friend's" chances of getting off a med, he simply stated that some people are better off taking the meds.

If you need Xanax, take Xanax. These drugs have legitimate uses.

Man, drugs and mental health issues ... Vol. 1 ...

 

[Kvn_Walker]

For this last couple years I have battled with mental health, stress and anxiety. My doctor had me try almost every psych med on the planet and everything made me feel terrible, we were both at a loss. That is until I finally decided to do a sleep study, sleep apnea will mess you up bad! My O2 sits in the mid 70’s and dips to 52 while I’m sleeping and I have over 300 episodes a night where I stop breathing. If anyone is having issues with mental health, stress or anxiety I highly recommend a sleep study first!

Ugh, I was in the 300+ club too. Doctor was like "You spend more time not breathing than breathing. I don't even know how you're alive."

I tried the CPAP but I am super prone to head colds so I would use it for 1 or 2 nights then be too sick to use to for over week. I finally broke down and got surgery for it.

Due to my deviated septum I was a mouth breather for the first 30 years of my life. The surgery corrected that and even aside from fixing the slapnea (my word), being able to breathe with my mouth shut, and actually have a real sense of smell made it all worth the hassle!

Oh, and the world pretty much stinks, I've found out. Part of me misses my diminished sense of smell.

 

[panteragstk]

So after many years of being prescribed sertraline for anxiety, depression and ocd I've decided to start weaning off, with the support of my doctor. I've been taking 200 MG daily for about a decade? I'm about 4 weeks in now, down to 100 MG and starting to feel some withdrawal symptoms. Sensory disturbances, "brain zaps", mild headache, a sense of uneasiness and mild confusion. It sucks, but ima power through it. I hate being dependant on something like this and want to be done with it. I went damn near cold turkey under instruction from a therapist (who I will never go to again) a while back and it was pretty bad. All the same symptoms with the dial turned up to 11. I made up my mind I don't want to depend on something like that anymore.

SO... if I seem to be a li'l more confrontational it's because I'm coming off my meds. It ain't fun, but I'll be glad when it's over. Feeling a little better today than I was on Wednesday, but come Monday I'll be halving my dose again. So far so good, but what a crappy dependance to have. Fook.

Man, hope those symptoms don't get you down bud. Glad to hear you're feeling better, but tomorrow will hopefully be no big deal.