Questions on withdrawal

I wasn't quite sure how to title this thread - also I am unsure if I am posting in the appropriate forum section, as it was spurred by an article I read on SOTT.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/232947-How-Did-These-Babies-Die-Question-Unites-Grieving-Families

Reading this article really brought home for me the reason I first decided to try and cut back on the medication I am taking.

The specific medication I am refering to is 'Venlafaxine' (or Effexor). I managed to cut back from 225mg to 150mg without much ill-effect. However due to bad timing on my part when I needed to order a repeat prescription, I went without them for 3 days and suffered severe withdrawal symptoms. Partially out of fear from a repeat occurance, I stopped my attempt at cutting the dose down, and further difficulties that arose when I moved house, and some emotional difficulties with my husband caused me to 'give up' for the time being.

However reading through the material on this site, is helping me to bolster my courage in many things. I still feel terribly alone, but for the moment all I can do is try and improve my health.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSRI_discontinuation_syndrome

The above is a link to some details of the symptoms brought on by not taking the medication.

There is only one suggestion in the article of something which might help:

Some people report that supplementing the diet with Omega-3 Fish Oils alleviate some of the symptoms of withdrawal from SSRI

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Does anyone have any advice or suggestions of anything which might help alleviate the temporary distress of the withdrawal symptoms?

Hi Soluna,

I have just spent the last 3 months withdrawing from Remeron after 9.5 years (this is a slightly different drug than yours)

The symptoms of withdrawal were all there and i was posting for help this last fortnight when i decided to drop the drug completely on Thursday 21st July.
My body went crazy - and insomnia and agitation were off the charts over the last fortnight. I was losing it - see here http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,13612.0.html

I know our bodies all react differently, but i tried Magnesium pills ('amino acid chelated' form), and could not believe the effect - my body greatly relaxed and agitation decreased.

My insomnia stopped last week and i began sleeping 7 hours a night again. I started using 5-HTP for sleeping as well although i have found i may not really need it - although it does make a small difference.

Some other reccomendations i was given by forum members was: Melatonin, Passionflower herb, valerian.

Good luck!

Soluna said:

There is only one suggestion in the article of something which might help:

Some people report that supplementing the diet with Omega-3 Fish Oils alleviate some of the symptoms of withdrawal from SSRI

Click to expand...

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions of anything which might help alleviate the temporary distress of the withdrawal symptoms?

Click to expand...

What condition were you taking the SSRI for?

Thank you for your responses so far =)

I started taking Venlafaxine in late 2004, or possibly early 2005 but no later than that. This was for anxiety and depression. The dose has varied over the years. I was also prescribed Aripiprazole (an anti-psychotic) to 'help' with disturbing dreams and violent feelings, and the doctor also told me it was supposed to have a 'counter' effect to the weight gain effect the Venlafaxine was having on me. I cut out the Aripiprazole however around Feb-March this year.

I have learned a lot about withdrawal in the last little while. Cold turkey is quite different from a weaning off schedule.(as you have just learned). If you want to avoid any ill effects, you can make sure to withdraw no more than 5-10% when you get down to a low dose. Just be patient. Don't let anything scare you from just not doing it. This is the one thing that has really made me do it, as i know things are gonna get bad in the future, so i would rather do it now, as comfortably as i can, rather than be forced to go cold turkey for some unforseen reason.

Hi, i was takin SSRIs for 9 years or so, didn't have withdrawal symptoms from this group of medications, but from alprazolam and marihuana -yes. Diet, supplements and EE together are the key. Actually EE is instantly helpful, triptophane and tyrosine are essential to elevating mood in a few days and magnesium, vit. B6, C are needed to maintain serotonine production on high enough level. Hold on, we are together in this s@%#, although everybody feels alone in worst moments...

Mod's note: Has been modified to the request of the author.

I am still on Remeron, 15mg/day which my psych doctor prescribed with an anti-psychotic that I took two days and said nooooooooo wayyyyyyyyyy!! It made me much worse with depression and violent images in my head. I ran out of Remeron for 4 days early on and didn't sleep. My therapist is very supportive of me stopping all medication and thinks I was better off without it.
Chamomile tea and melatonin at night was helpful and I noticed that I now cannot tolerate caffeine at all. Which is a good thing!
A young man I used to work with who was addicted to pain meds said that the valerian root I gave him kept him from going crazy when getting off the meds but it doesn't do much for me. Kava Kava also helps me with anxiety and works better than the Xanax I was also prescribed and do not take. Also helpful is walking daily no matter what the weather and just taking in nature. Hope this helps.

Soluna said:

...Does anyone have any advice or suggestions of anything which might help alleviate the temporary distress of the withdrawal symptoms?

Click to expand...

I don't know anything about the specifics of managing withdrawal. I will, though, suggest again that you read the book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America by Robert Whitaker. It won't tell you very much about managing withdrawal either, but it can certainly help put your situation in perspective and provide insight into what other people have done. It will also put you in a better position to know who and what to believe.

I think it is very important to develop this broader perspective, even as you are looking for specifics about how to withdraw. Perhaps your doctor now, or another one, could be a valuable resource once you are well informed and very clear about what you intend to do. A great many people are ending up on disability or worse as a result of "taking their medicine." Learn as much as you can about it, and don't let yourself be one of them.

osher said:

Diet, supplements and EE together are the key. Actually EE is instantly helpful...

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I don't know if you have been visiting the diet section of the forum much yet Soluna but as Osher mentioned, along with EE diet is hugely important. If you haven't checked out the Life Without Bread thread, do so. You're best chance at reducing withdrawal symptoms is by helping your body chemistry find its natural balance. Check out the books "Life Without Bread," "The Vegetarian Myth," "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living," "The Fibre Menace" and "Primal Body, Primal Mind". Sorry if you're already aware of these but just in case you aren't or haven't caught up on these topics, it can't be stressed enough how important they are :)

Diet and Health Book List
By the way, I just saw this link after posting!

edit: added link

As for the stress of withdrawal, I can say that changing my diet to any extent, and doing EE has helped tremendously, although you are not supposed to do the round breathing part while you are in withdrawal, as you are not supposed to be doing it if you have any kind of neuro-chemical imbalance. How's that for a run-on sentence, eh? :D

Hello Soluna,

I, like the others, also recommend the EE breathing program. It is by far the most amazing breathing program I've ever experienced and it has helped me keep away from Xanax in the past.

Have you heard of St John's Wort? I stopped taking Prozac recently and started using it instead. However, it's hard to say if it's been helping though, because I've been using progesterone cream to treat a hormonal imbalance and have been experiencing such amazing results from that alone.

How is your diet going? Are you sleeping well?

:)

Scarlet said:

Hello Soluna,

I, like the others, also recommend the EE breathing program. It is by far the most amazing breathing program I've ever experienced and it has helped me keep away from Xanax in the past.

Have you heard of St John's Wort? I stopped taking Prozac recently and started using it instead. However, it's hard to say if it's been helping though, because I've been using progesterone cream to treat a hormonal imbalance and have been experiencing such amazing results from that alone.

How is your diet going? Are you sleeping well?

:)

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Personally, i have found St johns wort to be a little too much like pharmaceuticals. It is the only thing, (other than this anti psychotic drug i was given for sleep for 2 days) that actually made me feel psychotic. I was getting feelings of wanting to harm people. This scared me, as i am quite the opposite of this. I was recommended to take 5-htp for my withdrawal from opiates, and it is quite amazing in small doses.