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.
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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).
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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.
 
Dorado said:
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.
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Would you or anyone else thats gotten through protracted withdrawal, be able to help point me in the right direction? I am expericing these symptoms and still partly believe it is caused by an issue with the brian and chemistry. I ended up reinstated my meds, but still experiencing waves and windows of symptoms. The most serve is akathesia, which feels unlike anything I have experienced with TMS before. It is like a severe internal sensation that feels like terror, and you have to pace and move to find some relief. Also severe issues with impulse control that I never had before I tried getting off my medication. Also waking up very early every morning, nightmares, bowel issues, fatgiue. If you had similar things that would help with the beleif this can be tms. as it affects even when im unconsious like sleep, dreams, etc. I cant fully understand the mechanisms behind how it could fully be TMS. am I in withdrawal but only because I haven't calmed down and given my brain time to heal without fear ? I guess I have a hard time believing something is tms before i can logically see how a mechanism would be causing it that isn't structural in nature. Maybe that's my own issue, but once it clicks in my head then things get a lot easier with every symptom. My doctor is telling me he does not think its withdrawal either. Hope that makes sense. I have had many TMS symptomns in the past and gotten over each one. I also just read in howard book under neuroplastic symptoms that protracted withdrawl was on there, which is encouraging towards gathering evidence.

EDIT: Hey Dorado and any other listeners. I found your post with a member Scytaic, and she recovered. It seems that she had a setback after she recovered tho. So you dont need to respond much to my post, as I felt like all my questions were answered in that post anyway by you. Really loved the STeve quotes that he gave to you when you were overcoming your withdrawal. I am curious if you did have any akathesia or restlessness that is an extreme type of symptom? that one is still very weird. It comes and goes, though, so I dont see why the same methods should work for that b/c of its inconsistency. It just amazes me that my brain could learn such a horrible sensation and mental state. Thank you for your support and help.
 
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It might be a side effect of the medication. If the dose is/was too high. Or, a side effect of the withdrawal. Drink more water to get the medication out faster. It sounds like an idiotic advice but it works.

Just my opinion...I can't be certain. Take care.
 
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