Withdrawl

[Loon-A-TiK]

What are your stories of withdrawl from a psych med? Right now I"m eliminating Paxil, my love partner of 10 years, and need some inspiration!

[Squirlygrl]

I had a pretty easy time, but I did get physical symptoms from Klonopin withdrawal, even with a Valium taper.

My hands shook like Gene Wilder's in Blazing Saddles.  ("Yeah, but I shoot with this one.")  My eyeballs hurt, as though they were over-pressurized.  I was hypersensitive to light and sound.  I felt wired.

It helped to lie on the floor in the sun listening to Bach and doing the corpse pose, or to wear shades and a scarf, which made me think I looked like a detoxing rock star.

Good luck and feel better,

sg

[Dweii]

I took Xanax during a period of two weeks, up to six mg a day. In the hospital they only gave me up to 2 mg a day on a as needed basis. And one day I felt so normal I didn't have one.

BAM! I was shaking, freezing, sweating, fevery, had muscle aches, headache, got paranoid and wanted to die. Lasted two days before I finally realized what it was and tapered off the Xanax.

That beats any other of my withdrawals.

[MiaB]

Oddly enough, I've never had any probs with going off valium - eg from 20mg to 0.  No weird side effects, other than a slight headache.

The real bitch for me was going off effexor - aka Devil Drug.  This was SO hard.  I was on 225mg and had to go down in very small increments because each drop brought on major shaking, aches, panic attacks (at one point up to 5 attacks/day)... generally very scary stuff.  I do hope you have a better time with paxil... unfortunately I don't know much about it as a specific drug, so can't give you any personal experience.  My biggest advice would be to take it SLOW - taper off gently rather than screeching through the process.  That way your body has time to get used to the idea that you're taking something away from it.

Good luck,

Skittle

[~nestling~]

efexor withdrawal....see my threads about this current horror. totally not recommended!

[Loon-A-TiK]

Now I think I'm upgrading from a depressed mood to a mixed one. I feel totally mean (read my thread about hating people at the library), AM totally mean (yelled at the bldg main. person at my apartment for being a moron) and I feel like shit. I feel bad for being a bitch from hell and feel bad enough to be a bitch from hell.

[Min]

geodon withdrawl and effexor withdrawl is horrible.  especially when you miss both meds at the same time.  i go right into panic attack mode.

currently tappering off effexor and so far it's not going too bad.  i was worried it'd be harder.

[crazyethel]

I got off xanax by using klonopin, but all my other med changes have been pretty easy as long as I took them slowly.

The worst I went through was a withdrawal from oxycontin, which I was given after some surgery.  When they gave it to me, they didn't even tell me it was addictive.  Well, it sure works, but it's hell to come off of. I had the shakes, nausea, couldn't control my limbs, on and on.

[LikeMinded]

I didn't like withdrawal from Zyprexa from the very end.  Was at 10 mg for therapeutic dose, went down to 5 mg, went down to 2.5 mg no prob.  Then quit from there, couldn't sleep for 2 weeks and drove myself into a torpid depression which was so bad that both of my parents were bawling.  But, after that, and after Cymbalta and Trazodone, hello hypomania.

[pazzesca]

I know I haven't posted like... at all... since the first few weeks after I signed up -- I just tend to lurk instead. But anyhow.

I'm finally, FINALLY titrating off of Symbyax, the zombifying drug from hades (alright, it works, but it numbs brain cells -- minor rant): I was up to 12/50, and had been since October; so my brain was all "hurr hurr, hardcore stoner".

I wanna know: is it supposed to suck this much?!

I went down to one dose every-other-night last week, and kept at it for about two days. I then ran out of 12/50s, and instead of paying for a full bottle just to wean off by, I switched to what I had in the cabinet: left over 6/25. Yeah, I know, probably not the best of ideas. A couple days after that pdoc told me to move to one dose every three days, and then this past Thursday I officially was told to stop.

But I feel like warmed over dog poop. I'm dizzier than I've ever been, and nauseous out the wazoo: the past two days I haven't been able to keep any solid food to stay where it's supposed to. As long as I sit in one spot and breath slowly, I don't totally feel like dying... but getting up and walking sends the room sliding sideways, and me running to pray to the porcelain god. Driving is fucked -- I get carsick under the best of situations.

I've had two panic attacks since Thursday: I have Xanax for that, but I've only taken <6 pills over the past 4 months; Benzos scare the shite out of me. I took one Friday and felt some better, but it didn't last more than a few hours.

And then there are the lesser things. TMJ has come back in full force -- I've actually ground my teeth so much that just breathing cool air hurts. Migraines and IBS have both flaired up in full force. I'm crabby, I'm confused as all hell, and heaven help me if I try to do on something with audial distractions around: I have zero focus.

So anyway. This is my first time titrating off something I've taken this long -- and it freaking sucks. Someone tell me its not all in my head... cause that would be great.

[revlow]

I wish I could really help you with info; I've never taken Symbyax, so don't know what getting off it is like. I have, however, titrated off other long-term meds -- in the Non-SSRIs, so again different than what you are dealing with. However, I bet I'd be safe in saying that indeed this is not all in my head; titration off meds can be a bitch.

Hopefully, someone with more direct experience with Symbyax will write.

Take care. And most importantly -- if you haven't yet -- TALK TO YOUR PDOC! You really need to let your pdoc know what you are going through.

[wannabeok]

What are your stories of withdrawl from a psych med? Right now I"m eliminating Paxil, my love partner of 10 years, and need some inspiration!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had a horrible time withdrawing from paxil and my doc's didn't know it was the paxil.  I ended up having all kinds of tests on my head and my ears.  Then they put me back on the paxil.  When I tried to go off it again, I knew it was the paxil.  Anyhow, I had the zaps, vertigo, no energy at all, headaches, etc.

The good news is, all that went away, eventually.  It took a few months, but the whole time my symptoms became less and less, until finally fading away.

[crazyethel]

Glad you got rid of it successfully.  I've read (here?) that it's one of the hardest to get off of.  I was one of the lucky ones with no problems, but of course, I was put on another SSRI at the same time.  None of them were successful except perhaps to help with the withdrawal.  They all affected my mood negatively.

What are your stories of withdrawl from a psych med? Right now I"m eliminating Paxil, my love partner of 10 years, and need some inspiration!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had a horrible time withdrawing from paxil and my doc's didn't know it was the paxil.

[pazzesca]

However, I bet I'd be safe in saying that indeed this is not all in my head; titration off meds can be a bitch.

Thank you for that -- it helps to know I'm not, um, crazy! 

I spent yesterday afternoon playing invalid, and feel some better this morning: I've found one drink I can keep down, so at least hopefully I'm rehydrating. Tomorrow I plan to call the doctor and let her know what's up, see what course of action to take next.

[Loon-A-TiK]

I stuck out last night with symptoms like what Helena had going off of Klonopin- shakes, sweating, seriously considering suicide, seriously considering the hospital, seriously considering the Paxil I do have left...but I stuck it out. I'm feeling agitated and somewhat depressed today, and it could get worse or better at any time. I know what it is, so that is half the battle.

I blame the sleeplessness on both Paxil withdrawl and the increase in Abilify. I took some more Abilify last night to try to get my thoughts in order, and it threw me into a full mixed mode. Mixed modes are no fun and usually mean bad stuff! I took my AB in the morning and still feel the energy. I'm actually hoping it will be some kind of miracle and help get rid of the weight I gained on Z.

Yes, for those of you chopping off the Z- been there, done that. No kind of horror compared with the Paxil, at least for me personally. Symbiax should suck because it is both an AAP and an AD. Bad news!

Thanks for the support and stuff.

Oh, and my "boyfriend" wouldn't return my calls last night. Maybe it should be an EX boyfriend. I can cross him off my list of meds maybe! lol

[groovyone]

I'm with Skittle.  I went off Effexor THREE times! I was on 375mg a day at the maximum point.  OMG.  The first time, I actually took time off work to do it.  It was that bad.  I felt like a heroin junkie (or at least, imagined that I felt like a heroin junkie.)  And the stupid "brain zaps" (or whatever term you prefer to call them.)  It felt like my brain had been converted to scrambled eggs that were then being throw up against a brick wall.  Nausea, dizziness, chills, sweats, headache, violent mood swings...ARGH!

Finally the third time around I learned the Prozac trick.  At least then I could somewhat function even though I still felt a little icky.

Karen

[Loon-A-TiK]

I'm on Weight Watchers, started a new exercise habit (ran 4 miles today), switched meds, and fell and hit my mouth/nose so hard on a metal chair yesterday that I thought I'd broken my nose and lost some teeth. Lucky for me, my beauty has not been tainted

Change makes us brittle. Hearts are brittle and they break. I just felt like saying that...

Paxil withdrawl is going well...

I should add an update line for it to my sig hahahahah

[LikeMinded]

Loon-A-TiK -

Congratulations on getting your ass running.

One thing, Cleveland is NOT the armpit of America.  You've yet to have extensively visited Pittsburgh, Detroit, Newark, Indianapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Oakland, the entire state of Wyoming (whose entire population is only a third that of Cuyahoga county's!), or many other cities I won't list here.

And another thing.  'Withdrawal' refers to removing onesself from a certain medication.  'Withdrawl' refers to a mode of speaking typical in the South as well as southern portions of the Midwest.  I should know this well; I speak 'withdrawl' myself, having lived in northern Florida, Alberta, Georgia, North Carolina, and Indiana almost all my life.  Y'all got a problem with that?

[Rabbit37]

Withdrawing from xanax. My sucky former tdoc had me on 4 mg/day. That's a hell of a lot to be tapering! It wasn't so bad at first, but now it's getting worse. I'm down to 1.5-2mg/day now; I take .5 and hope that'll do the trick, and add another .5 if it doesn't. My hands are shaking badly, and I feel like I'm going to explode out of my skin at times. I'm having a hard time even typing, my fingers tend to just skip right over some letters. Editing takes forever.

I'm sure my new tdoc knows what he's doing. But this still sucks, sucks, sucks.

[Rabbit37]

I speak 'withdrawl' myself, having lived in northern Florida, Alberta, Georgia, North Carolina, and Indiana almost all my life.