• Alan has completed the new Pain Recovery Program. To read or share it, use this updated link: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/
  • Welcome to the new TMS Wiki server! Things aren't finished yet: email is not set up, so notification and password-reset emails don't go out, and new registrations are paused until email is installed. Details and updates are in this thread (click here). Locked out? Email tmswikisignups@gmail.com from the address where you receive TMS Wiki notifications.

Tapering off meds

Joulegirl said:
I just watched a video on Curable and Dr. Stracks answered this question about tapering medications. He said you can't go too slowly on it. Meaning, that sometimes we want to withdraw faster which our body may not be ready for (like a dependence on it) but also tapering really fast can trigger our nervous system and bring the symptoms back. He recommends going slow and not being in a rush which helps your nervous system not feel any danger. He also said that many mainstream medical doctors will tell you to withdraw pretty fast, and in his experience going slowing helps us TMS'ers.
Click to expand...
My doc wanted me to drop 75 mg a week. Even AI/Gemini told me whoa nelly, that's a big drop (I talk TMS with it a lot). My doc even originally told me I could drop it cold turkey and I was like uh, no way.
 
I have been through protracted withdrawal myself. The fear of coming off does not help and I bemieve can keep.you suffering longer. However it is a very real thing.
Coming off slowly is much better for you. Your brain feels safer, it gives it time to adjust and its just generally kinder to do so.

Dont be afraid to do. I found once I was off it was much easier for me to access my emotions again.

But slow and steady wins the race.
 
My medical team was unaware of how to discontinue Cymbalta safely, so I stopped cold turkey after a very short taper. Over a year later, blood testing showed that my liver cannot process the medication correctly, so I was already dealing with symptoms before antidepressant withdrawal.

I'm alive and I made it through, but I don't recommend going cold turkey. After quite a few months, Steve Ozanich met with me and believed that I was dealing with TMS. I still agree with him. While antidepressant withdrawal is very real, the body can heal. I wasn't healing as quickly as I could have due to fear and cortisol from stress further impacting my serotonin and neuroplasticity.

Work closely with your medical team and ask them about their experience with withdrawal.
 
Jheronimus_van_aken said:
SSRI withdrawal and illness related communities are horrible in general (SurvivingAntidepressants and Reddit are good examples of places to avoid like the plague) and not helpful, I’d steer clear of them. There’s a pretty good chance that many of the people online who told you about how they have been sick for 15 years and have ‘irreversible brain damage’ from the drugs were members of said communities, which have basically turned into chronic victimhood mentality cults (something that is also highly associated with TMS).
Click to expand...
This is so true. Antidepressant withdrawal is very real, but the body can heal itself, and those communities are part of what kept me stuck for much longer. My cortisol was sky high from thinking my life was over. It wasn't.

Many of those people are never getting better - even after 15 years - but not because of antidepressant withdrawal. They truly believe they are permanently damaged, thus creating that reality for themselves without realizing it.

I was that person who spent hours a day on health forums, begging for answers. I haven't done that since 2017. I truly hope those people are able to move on one day as well. Anything is possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top