Requesting your advice and prayers

[Dragon Snacks]

Long story short. I thought I was done with anti-depressants. I had quit the last one about a week ago. Now my anxiety is back and it's pretty awful.

Maybe I tapered off too fast. I had an ear infection las week and was taking prednisone, and an oral antibiotic as well as a topical antibiotic. I'm wondering if there was a reaction.

This week, BAM, the anxiety really hit me hard.

Any advice and all you prayers for a speedy recovery would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lizziespreparetogovegan]

Pipe Breathing is usually excellent for acute anxiety and instruction is in the first video below by Laura if you don't already know how:

http://eiriu-eolas.org/online-version/

Ten to fifteen minutes of this usually has a noticeable effect

Also, not sure which country you're in or if it'll be available (they sell it most health shops in the UK here) but if you can get hold of Yogi Bedtime tea, it has Camomile and Valerian in it. I know it's only tea but you'd be surprised the sedating effect it has:

_http://www.yogiproducts.com/products/details/bedtime-tea/

Good luck Dragon Snacks :)

 

[Laura]

What is your diet like? You might need to stick with your anti-depressants until the diet is under control and your body has had time to re-balance itself.

 

[Esote]

Too short for a long story, imho.

My advice, together with those from Zenith and Laura, would be to write everything about your anxiety.
And my prayers for a speedy recovery are to ask for you to really write that as it is...

Take care

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

Hi dragon, I fully agree with the diet advice. However, gut health plays a huge role in our physical and psychological well being, and the anti-biotics may very well have disrupted it as they tend to do, making you more susceptible to anxiety etc. The keto diet goes a long way to restore balance in that sense, though in your case got may also wish to consider a natural pro-biotic as well. See this post by Laura regarding the tremendous impact our gut has on every aspect of our mental and physical health:
https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,28799.msg515439.html#msg515439

Good luck!

 

[Dragon Snacks]

Taking a probiotic and I think I'm going to get back on AD to get stable. I really think it was the steroids, or a combo of them and the antibiotic. I'll check out the keto diet.

 

[Gimpy]

Long story short. I thought I was done with anti-depressants. I had quit the last one about a week ago. Now my anxiety is back and it's pretty awful.

Maybe I tapered off too fast. I had an ear infection las week and was taking prednisone, and an oral antibiotic as well as a topical antibiotic. I'm wondering if there was a reaction.

This week, BAM, the anxiety really hit me hard.

Any advice and all you prayers for a speedy recovery would be greatly appreciated.

What anti-depressant was it?

Depending on the kind, quitting the last one for a week, then taking prednisone is not going to be a good time.

You need at least 6 weeks to a year (yes, I know that's a long time) to get your brain healed from an anti depressant. It depends on what kind you were on, how long, what dose, etc.

If you've been on a AD longer than two years, you may need a doctors help in reducing the dose in a gradual taper to avoid nasty side effects. There is a book I found to be helpful in learning about doing a taper and what kind of supplements can help make the process smoother: http://www.amazon.com/How-Get-Psychiatric-Drugs-Safely/dp/1451513003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408671426&sr=8-1&keywords=getting+off+psychiatric+drugs

I've done these tapers myself, and they did help, in addition to monitoring by a doctor.

 

[Dragon Snacks]

I've been off Lexapro for quite a while, over a year.

Was on Mirtazipine 15mg for over a year, cut it down to half that for about a month then a quarter for about two weeks before i decided it was such a small dose I could just quite. I had been completely off it about a week before the ear infection/steroid freak out.

 

[Gimpy]

I've been off Lexapro for quite a while, over a year.

Was on Mirtazipine 15mg for over a year, cut it down to half that for about a month then a quarter for about two weeks before i decided it was such a small dose I could just quite. I had been completely off it about a week before the ear infection/steroid freak out.

From the wiki article on this one:

Discontinuation

Mirtazapine and other antidepressants may cause a withdrawal syndrome upon discontinuation.[5][56][57][58] A gradual and slow reduction in dose is recommended in order to minimize withdrawal symptoms.[59] Effects of sudden cessation of treatment with mirtazapine may include depression, anxiety, panic attacks, vertigo, restlessness, irritability, decreased appetite, insomnia, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, flu-like symptoms such as allergies and pruritus, headaches and sometimes hypomania or mania.[56][57][60][61][62]

source here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirtazapine

If it were me? I'd go back to the quarter dose, pick up the mentioned book, and contact a doctor if it remains bad. If the doctor refuses to listen, the book will give you a better idea on how to help yourself transition away from taking the AD. Its safer to go as slow as you need to go to taper off these.

 

[osher]

Dragon Snacks, as others mentioned EE and diet are critical to improvement. EE will work instantly and diet in long term. As long as there's something to do in life you will get better over time. Though i'm depressed myself now, i'd never get back to meds, they don't work, there are different reasons than just chemical imbalance inside brain and different solutions. Also, antibiotics will hurt your gut flora, which is most important factor to emotions, and make you feel depressed and anxious. Saying that, i repeat: make your food from scratch - no ready to eat products - no gluten (also flavour enhancers), diary, sugar (carbohydrates), fiber. You may consider supplements like triptophane, tyrosine, NAC (cysteine), melatonine and of course magnesium and vit C. Get well.