Posted by barbaracat on October 6, 2005, at 0:57:20
In reply to Re: Prozac Withdrawal - need advice - going off m, posted by gracieplatt on October 5, 2005, at 20:58:33
I have a very strong feeling you should not be taking an SSRI type med without a corresponding mood stabilizer. This might be lithium, depakote, or on the natural side, high doses of L-taurine. I say this because your experience is similar to the one I had, especially the 'trippy' part. This is a giveaway of too much serotonin and/or norepeninephrine.
You may have bipolar disorder (I do and was surprised to find this out) and antidepressants will exacerbate the weirder symptoms of this disorder. It's more common than anyone realizes.
Lithium was my saving grace. For me, taking an antidepressant without lithium is a sure recipe for panic, clenching jaws, psychosis, and bizarre behaviors that are fascinating only to myself. Not everyone can take lithium but if you are bipolar, you cannot take an SSRI without a mood stabilizer. Period. I would stake large amounts of honor (which I have) and money (which I do not have) on this irrefutible fact. Another way of looking at it is this: there is a chemical component to depression which ADs serve well, and an electrical component which ADs make worse if the electrical frequencies of your symptoms mesh with the disorganized frequencies of bipolar disorder. If this makes sense to you, you're on the right track.
You can get L-taurine in a health food store and 1 G am and pm would be a good place to start. Don't expect your pdoc to be familiar with it since it's in the realm of orthomolecular medicine. Until you find the right mood stabilizer L-taurine will do in a pinch, both before and after (Margot Kidder of Superman fame uses it as her mainstay of bipolar maintenance).
Start researching mood stabilizers and Bipolar II disorder. This is not to say you don't need an antidepressant - I certainly do. But an AD without a needed mood stabilizer is bad trip city. If you have a savvy pdoc, he/she will know where to go from here. But don't take their word as Gospel. Do your own research and become informed. Go to www.psycheducation.org for tons of info on this subject. - Barbara
> I stopped the 40mg Prozac I was on for the last 2 years about 5 weeks ago. I think I weaned..I first skipped a day, then after about 3 days, skipped another, then after a week, skipped 2 and so on...maybe it's considered cold turkey, but I was fine for about 4 weeks. This past weekend, my anxiety level went sky high. I'm lightheaded, feel like I'm short of breath, and my dreams are vivid and awful..today I took a short nap which was more like a LSD trip...it was about screaming at my husband, being anxious and woke up in a sweat, shaking and crying. I'm afraid of what's ahead. Any thoughts on what to expect and for how long? Before Prozac, I was on Lexapro which was awful, but I did get off that before being put on the Prozac, and that didn't seem half as bad as getting off Prozac.
> I just don't want to hurt myself or anyone else. I found myself yelling at my dogs today, and even hit one for not listening, which I have never done. I have a 13 week old puppy who decided to play with a towel I was using, and I literally ripped it out of her mouth and flung her to the floor. I'm SO scared of what's to come. I do take Xanax, so I took 1mg. after waking up, about 7P, then another at 9PM. I feel a lot better, but is there anyone out there who has run the gamut and can advise me of what to expect, how long it will last, and whether I should continue reading my Bible everytime I get these feelings come over me.
> Thanks.
> Gracie
poster:barbaracat
thread:545377
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050822/msgs/563577.html