Posted by Conundrum on August 25, 2010, at 8:29:26
In reply to Re: Post SSRI side effects--anyone found a way out? » wzlong_D, posted by weatherfreak on August 25, 2010, at 4:57:57
Hi,
I recently sent this to wzlong in an email but thought it could help people here as well. I also posted it on the alternative board so everyone could read it and because many remedies listed are natural or alternative.
I recently sent someone a list of things that helped with some of the lingering side effects after stopping prozac. I realized most of them were alternative medicine so I decided to post them here.
magnesium - helps with anxiety, now I no longer need it.
fish oil - can help with any remaining sadness.
Neuro Optimizer by Jarrow Formulas - Helps restore some feelings and improves cognitive effects, also helps with creativity. (may cause constipation)
low dose prozac - when I take 2.5 mg, (5mg every other day) prozac it helps concentration and gives me more interest in things. If I go higher than this dose it blunts emotions. (not too many side effects but can still effect libido at this dose)
Magnesium and Fish Oil had no side effects. I hope this list will benefit someone.
As far as stumbling over words and fatigue that can go away with time. I no longer really stumble with words and don't have any fatigue. The fatigue I have now is more mental. For example I could run around my block but I would continually slow down. Not because I couldn't do it but because my brain would lose focus or not really care. I can still do it though. I can ride my bike for miles. I think you will find this will go away with time. Concentration, memory, and anhedonia stuck with me, but everyone is different and I hope that you guys get better and a lot sooner than I did.
I think one of the main problems stopping an SSRI is continued high serotonin. I once read a study showing the number of serotonin transporters remains low after SSRI use. perhaps tianeptine could help with this?
Norepinephrine is important too. The most success I've had of recent is with drugs that increase norepinephrine. None are strong enough.
I've tried L tyrosine, NADH, mucana puriens, ritalin, and wellbutrin SR and none of those helped. Part of the reason is because they a) only really increase dopamine, and b) they don't work for a 24 hour period, which seems to be necessary to restore depletes neurotransmitters. For example I got a pleasant effect for a few weeks on pristiq, but nothing from immediate release ritalin or wellbutrin SR.
Right now I'm taking abilify which seemed to be helping for a little while but since my pdoc wants me to discontinue mirtazapine and I've been weening off I've noticed the effects diminishing. I believe its because norepinephrine is dopamine's secret weapon.
The following study shows that norepinephrine depletion inhibits dopamine release when exposed to morphine in rats. It also is necessary for dopamine release in the Nucleus accumbens.
http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/15/12/1877
http://www.pnas.org/content/104/12/5181.full
"Here we report evidence that prefrontal cortical norepinephrine transmission, through modulation of dopamine in NAc, is a necessary condition for motivational salience attribution to both reward- and aversion-related stimuli."
To explain this study in short. Mice are put in a square one side with something pleasant either chocolate, cocaine, or morphine. The other side has something unpleasant, lithium cloride.
After the normal sham treated mice are exposed to this stimulus they will spend more time in the side that had the pleasant substance (chocolate, cocaine, morphine) and less time in the lithium cloride side. Using microdialysis they found that norepinephrine is released in the prefrontal cortex in all of the situations, negative or positive.
However, mice with norepinephrine depletion can't tell the difference and spend more time in the lithium cloride side than sham treated mice.
This may explain why alcohol, oxycodone, and THC do nothing for me. Alcohol just makes me stare mindlessly and the other drugs make me feel kind of icky. When I was feeling a little less anhedonia 5 years ago they gave me a pleasant response. I never abused them. Just tried them to see if I could get some relief."Norepinephrine in the Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for Amphetamine-Induced Reward and Mesoaccumbens Dopamine Release"
Iatrogenic post-SSRI problems: anhedonia, memory and concentration problems, sexual dysfunction. (not a formal DX)
Country:USA
Currently taking Lamictal, mirtazapine, and abilify.
poster:Conundrum
thread:959728
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100821/msgs/959780.html