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happy pill withdrawal

Siúil a Rúin

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I quit my Zoloft cold turkey because i had taken it twice without water and my entire esophagus and stomach took to burning as a result. :doh: I didn't want to take any more until it healed. It's been about a week now, so i'm tempted to just stay off them. I am having exceptionally weird dreams and feel dizzy and tired more during the day. I've known other people with more serious withdrawal.

Anyone out there have some experience with this?
 

Totenkindly

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I quit my Zoloft cold turkey because i had taken it twice without water and my entire esophagus and stomach took to burning as a result. :doh: I didn't want to take any more until it healed. It's been about a week now, so i'm tempted to just stay off them. I am having exceptionally weird dreams and feel dizzy and tired more during the day. I've known other people with more serious withdrawal. Anyone out there have some experience with this?

Aaaaa, Toonia! :(

I'm sorry about the Zoloft thing. I messed up my stomach lining for a year once (it took that long for it to feel completely better) by taking naproxen for a few weeks (= ibuprofin) without eating food with it. Medicines can be very ugly sometimes.

I think I mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago how I tried to go off Effexor, cold turkey, and about 24 hours later I started to get VERY spacey, couldn't focus on anything, and felt exhausted. I don't know how long the effects last until your body catches up and compensates, but it is not good, and I had to go back to a half-dose a day later, it was so bad. Some of the side effects from cold turkey withdrawal can be deadly for some meds, I would really talk to your doctor about it and see if there's anything they can give in the meanwhile that would not irritate your stomach lining.

Please be well.:hug:
 

Wolf

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Ugh...Zoloft... I might as well take it as a recreational drug, that is, provided I'm only after a bad trip.

You'll probably be very low on certain neurological chemicals for a while and need to ride that out as your body slowly recovers and resumes normal operation.
 

cafe

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I had some funkiness coming off of Lamictal. Mostly kind of dizzy and light-headed (are those the same things?). I can't remember how long it lasted, but I think I accidentally tapered myself off to some degree because I kept forgetting to take my regular dose.
 

Wolf

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It's not a "happy" pill, either. Happy is derived from totally different stuff, or so I'm told.
 

Sahara

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I quit my Zoloft cold turkey because i had taken it twice without water and my entire esophagus and stomach took to burning as a result. :doh: I didn't want to take any more until it healed. It's been about a week now, so i'm tempted to just stay off them. I am having exceptionally weird dreams and feel dizzy and tired more during the day. I've known other people with more serious withdrawal.

Anyone out there have some experience with this?


I actually felt that way on the Zoloft, which was when I quit all anti depressants completely, no other pill had made me as miserable as the Zoloft, and the eating disorder I had didn't like the increased appetite those pills give.

I have withdrawn from other anti depressants, and the withdrawl symptoms are almost enough to put you off, sweats, shakes which seemed like electronic pulses being sent through my body every time I moved, crazy dreams in which I woke scared and disorientated.....I think all anti depressants have the same problem.

The suicidal thoughts are even a warning on the packet, how can anti depressants increase the desire to commit suicide?:shock:

Do you really feel ready to leave them completely though? it's been about 7 ^ months since I stopped, and I think I am just about ready to admit that I have been pretending to be well, when in reality I haven't been coping.

I think that suddenly quitting as opposed to truly being ready to come off them is not going to work.:hug:
 

Natrushka

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Toonia, it sounds like SSRI discontinuation syndrome, and it can happen when you go cold turkey, or even just wean off a SSRI. I would advise talking to the doctor who prescribed the drug, maybe he/ she can give you something to help until all the drug is out of your system and you can function better.
 

Wolf

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Toonia, it sounds like SSRI discontinuation syndrome, and it can happen when you go cold turkey, or even just wean off a SSRI. I would advise talking to the doctor who prescribed the drug, maybe he/ she can give you something to help until all the drug is out of your system and you can function better.
That's rather pointless, because the only thing they could "give you" is something else that does the same thing. It basically increases the natural amount of serotonin that is "free" in the system by making it more difficult for the neurons to recover that which they released.

The problem is that eventually you need the drug to be normal because the cells just decrease their production even more, so when you go off them you dip lower than you were before you started.

Our world/lives are worse for us as life forms, which is the root cause. We can't enjoy our lives and live the way humans should. Over a couple centuries, accelerating to this point, we've constantly decreased the amount of natural human activities to the point that many of us don't even use those instincts, or they might end up causing 'negative' effects. I'm a firm believer in fixing the underlying reasons that people feel the way they do, and it isn't by giving them a pill.
 

Natrushka

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It is not pointless. If it is indeed SSRI discontinuation syndrome it can be dangerous.
 

ptgatsby

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It is not pointless. If it is indeed SSRI discontinuation syndrome it can be dangerous.

Yes, and there are two ways to get off - the first is to replace it with another SSRI that is longer acting or similar without the same withdrawal problems, and the other is to taper off the full SSRI over a long period of time (depending on if it is a fast or short acting drug.) Zoloft is fast, I believe, with a very short half life.

Either way, if you are taking zoloft, and have been for a while, be careful coming off of it. You may be able to taper off safely... I think the short action ones recommend about a 5% drop/week, but this is one case where I'd see a doctor about it before going cold turkey.
 

dissolved girl

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If it's still bothering you then taper the withdrawal. My withdrawal from Effexor was not pretty. Feverish, headaches, strange dizzyness, emotions everywhere, digestive system completely screwed up. I tapered my dose incredibly slowly (over 2 months) and still got this.

If it's tablet form use a pill cutter to slowly decrease your dose, if it's capsule form or enteric coated talk to your doctor.

I believe that Prozac - Fluoxetine has the longest half-life of the SSRIs. It is the AD usually used if withdrawal is an issue, or at least it was last time I checked.

P.S. I could never decide if the crazy dreams were a bonus. I used to get confused with what was real and what was a dream which did get a bit odd... That was before my withdrawal though.

P.P.S. Goodluck
 

Ivy

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I went cold turkey off of Prozac (or a placebo, but I think it was Prozac) when I did a social phobia study at Duke about ten years ago. It wasn't pretty. They told me to taper it but I just quit. I was a wreck for a week or so.
 

The Ü™

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I'm on Paxil, and whenever I forget to take it, I display my inner rage, but I also get a terrible headache.

Unfortunately, I was on Paxil long before I was 18, and so my parents made the decisions. One day, I'm gonna make them pay for tampering with my natural persona. I have a feeling that Paxil is what screwed me up, because it's done nothing to help my anxiety or depression.

I'd use drugs for physical pain, but I wish I wasn't dependent on mental drugs. My mentality is the definition of myself, and when tampered with, I lose touch with my true self, because antidepressants and antipsychotics mess with your natural state.

And I think psychiatrists are no better than drug dealers...except the government encourages you to get hooked through the use of psychiatrists. The government wants to have records of the people in society that are hooked, so they can manipulate your thoughts and make you easy to control. And they can't have that with a non-certified drug dealer.
 

Athenian200

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I'm on Paxil, and whenever I forget to take it, I display my inner rage, but I also get a terrible headache.

Unfortunately, I was on Paxil long before I was 18, and so my parents made the decisions. One day, I'm gonna make them pay for tampering with my natural persona. I have a feeling that Paxil is what screwed me up, because it's done nothing to help my anxiety or depression.

Oh, my.... Paxil? I'm really against the use of that drug. I don't really like the effects. It basically forces people to be happy and less shy, whether they want to be or not. And look at the side effects:

Wikipedia said:
Most common

* Weight loss or gain (most often gain rather than loss)
* Headache
* Nausea
* Dry mouth
* Increased sweating
* Drowsiness/Somnolence or Insomnia
* Increased or decreased appetite
* Constipation or diarrhea
* Inability to achieve orgasm
* Partial or complete loss of libido (sexual desire)
* Erectile dysfunction
* Tremor
* Vertigo/Dizziness/Motion sickness

[edit] Less common

Check with your doctor if these continue or are bothersome.

* Increased feelings of depression and anxiety (initially)
* Apathy
* Loss of empathy
* Flattening of emotional response

* Nocturnal salivation
* Nocturnal bruxism (teeth grinding)
* Pupil dilation
* Asthenia or muscle weakness
* Muscle ache
* Pruritis
* Rash
* Nightmares or change in dreams

* Change in sense of taste

[edit] Rare

See your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.

* Myoclonus (involuntary muscle twitching)
* Sodium depletion
* Severe restlessness or akathisia
* Uncharacteristic levels of aggression (especially in children and teens)
* Uncharacteristic risk taking

[edit] Very rare but serious

* Suicidal ideation and Suicide

* Serotonin syndrome
* Bipolar mania or hypomania
* Schizophrenia (unverified)
* Jaw, neck, and back muscle spasms
* Fever, chills, sore throat, or flu-like symptoms
* Yellowing of the skin or eyes (Jaundice)
* Black, tarry stools (this can indicate upper GI bleeding)

I really think this might have happened to you.. just horrible.
 

The Ü™

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Hmmm...what makes you think I have nightmares and changes in dreams? (I actually don't remember my dreams.)

And apathy, well, let's just say I consider that a gift and not a curse. The minute you care about someone else, that's when you lose perspective.

And Paxil certainly didn't make me less shy or happier...

But now I have a reason to kill my parents. For they killed me first.
 

ygolo

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Wow! Is there something about people who post on the web that makes them prone to depression (or Bipolar disorder)? I guess statistically 1/3 of us would be.

I was off Effexor for just the weekend because I got to the pharmacy late one day, and when I came the next day, they had some mixup which took another day to clear up.

During that time I had really bad headaches, vertigo, and rather disturbing dreams (not nightmarish in content, but I thought I would never wake-up).

Anyone else have dreams where they seem to be caught in a loop of waking-up? -- to the point you don't remember what was real and what was stuff you dreamt (the dreams consisted of pretty normal occurences)?

I think I "woke-up" 30-40 times before actually waking up (I hope I did anyway) when my parents called.
 

Totenkindly

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I think I "woke-up" 30-40 times before actually waking up (I hope I did anyway) when my parents called.

Yes, how do you know you're still not dreaming? :unsure:
 

Geoff

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Sometimes I feel like an outsider on the web, because I have never taken anything like this. Not even considered it, never needed anything diagnosed or prescribed. I can't imagine being on a zoloft-like drug.

When I was recovering in hospital from a serious operation I even refused the Morphine because I preferred the pain to having my mood changed.

Am I the odd one out here?

-Geoff
 

The Ü™

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Wow! Is there something about people who post on the web that makes them prone to depression (or Bipolar disorder)? I guess statistically 1/3 of us would be.

I was off Effexor for just the weekend because I got to the pharmacy late one day, and when I came the next day, they had some mixup which took another day to clear up.

During that time I had really bad headaches, vertigo, and rather disturbing dreams (not nightmarish in content, but I thought I would never wake-up).

Anyone else have dreams where they seem to be caught in a loop of waking-up? -- to the point you don't remember what was real and what was stuff you dreamt (the dreams consisted of pretty normal occurences)?

I think I "woke-up" 30-40 times before actually waking up (I hope I did anyway) when my parents called.

I was on Effexor for a while. It only lasted a week or so, but I was forced off of it. A side effect for Effexor, I believe, was loss of appetite, and yet it required me to eat when taking it. The thing was that I was rather chunky at that time, and the Effexor made me lose weight. I remember my parents nagging me to eat something, and I became unusually snappy...but at least I was assertive. My snappiness intensified because before the medication, my parents nagged me to stop eating and lose weight, and when they got their wish, it became a contradiction.

The first med I'd ever been prescribed was Zoloft, and then I got switched to Ritalin for a while, and then, I think Prozac. And now, Paxil, which I continue to be on, and it is limiting my creative potential. It doesn't make me less anxious, as far as I'm concerned, it just makes me even less motivated. And unfortunately, I can't get off of it without getting splitting headaches.

I rarely ever remember my dreams, but I'd much rather have nightmares to remember than no dreams at all. I think a lack of dreams at night is what has caused my lack of motivation for so long. When I don't feel empty, I'm usually spiteful and angry, and so I guess erectile dysfunction and constipation slipped into me somehow.

I wish I could get off the Paxil because I want my imagination back!
 
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