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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Hopespringseternal on January 14, 2005, at 16:56:29
This is my first posting . . . I was prompted to respond to the various descriptions of strange/unusual "brain" activities. They DO occur!!! I've been taking some form of SSRI since January 1997 when I was in graduate school and had become depressed due to personal relationship issues. My family doc started me on Paxil -- I think it was 10mg - - but I quickly "progressed" to 20mg and then 30mg...until I was finally on 40mg by which time I had developed high blood pressure. My doctor reduced my dosage to 30mg, which I continued for a short period. But, since I was not getting the "desired" antidepressant/antianxiety effects (could part of that have been due to the fact that I was in law school and living away from my husband except for weekends?! LOL). Soooo, my doc switched me to Prozac - - Yeee-hawww! I was just the perkiest miserable woman one could hope to be!!! I really don't remember what my final highest dosage was, but eventually even Prozac didn't help much, especially after I was divorced, changed jobs three times, and lost my house. In addition, both of my parents became very ill AT THE SAME TIME and I took on a lot of their responsibilities. One day I found myself in the ER with a heartrate of 185, crying my eyes out and totally confused. The ER doc sent me to a psychiatrist and the first thing she did was give me Effexor... that was three years ago. Now the jist of this is that I've been on three different SSRI's without a break, ALTHOUGH I TRIED REPEATEDLY TO DECREASE OR DISCONTINUE THESE EVIL MEDS OVER THAT EIGHT YEAR PERIOD!!! These TRUTHS have been made manifest to me:
1. Docs, whether "family" OR "shrink," do not believe there are any significant withdrawal symptoms -- who KNOWS why they are so obstinate on this point??!!
2. Docs might try to decrease your dosage at a frightenly fast rate, thereby exacerbating the horrible symptoms/reactions, and if you suggest going a little slower, they practically sneer at your wimpishness.
3. There ARE such things as "BRAIN SHOCKS." Mine are best described as auditory - - imagine you are deep in the woods on a hilltop. In the distance you see the flash of a hammer, as a builder pounds a nail into a timber. He strikes the nail, and there is the slightest pause as you wait for the sound to travel. When it hits you, it's as though the hammer is stiking your tympanic membrane. The sound strikes again and again, especially with the slightest movement of my head. It wakes me up at night, provided I have managed to go to sleep in the first place. These "shocks" are very, VERY REAL. And it is painfully obvious that no one in the medical profession believes me.
I am currently taking a whopping 225mg of Effexor. I have managed in the past to get down to 150mg, just by splitting the little, bitty "pills" inside the capsules until I reached that level over the course of a month. BUT, the worst part of withdrawal for me is the anxiety, muscle cramps, sleeplessness, inability to concentrate, aggression (pure, nastiness toward others), carbohydrate cravings, gnawing nerve pain in my back, hands, feet, and legs... I have been terrified of trying to reduce my dosage below 150mg because I'm afraid of suicide or finding myself running naked in the park; the possibilities are endless and unknown! I began again today, trying to discontinue this horribly damaging medication. I took only two 75mg caps (150mg) and plan to take 225mg tomorrow, 150mg the next - - and so on unti I feel like I can go two days on only 150mg each day... I will continue this stepdown program until I am no longer addicted to Effexor, the "miracle" antidepressant that is supposedly non-addictive. One thing I have been doing for anyone and everyone I know who is thinking of taking it: I WARN THEM EMPHATICALLY TO NOT GO THERE! Please, if anyone has any advice for me, I am begging for any assistance you can offer.
Posted by Jai Narayan on January 16, 2005, at 19:08:38
In reply to Brain Shocks, posted by Hopespringseternal on January 14, 2005, at 16:56:29
Welcome to psycho babble.
I know there are many people who could help you with all the questions you have.
I don't have that knowledge.
but I am happy to direct you to the next step.
there are many boards on this site filled with interesting and wonderful people who might share your concerns.
please feel free to explore.
I am sorry you have been having such a hard time.
welcome to our lovely and interesting place.
Jai Narayan
Posted by cityguy on March 5, 2005, at 11:47:27
In reply to Brain Shocks, posted by Hopespringseternal on January 14, 2005, at 16:56:29
My first posting as well. I was very intrigued to find someone who was also experiencing "auditory brain shocks". My experience has been rather different from yours since I was not trying to "get off" the Lexapro. I ended up on Lexapro because I had screwed up my hearing during some target shooting. It landed me in the ER with bilateral labyrinthine concussions. In other words severe dizzines, naseau, tinnitus and hearing loss. Of course the Dr. said that the dizziness and naseau would eventually return to normal but that the tinnitus and hearing loss would probably be permanent. So you can imagine I was pretty depressed - my whole world change. About two years after that accident I started having these episodes where looking up or turning my head over my shoulder would cause these brain shocks along with some light-headedness, but I could hear the shocks usually you just feel them like when you hit your funny bone. Of course I went to the ENT and they didn't see anything wrong and never heard of "auditory brain shocks". And there should be no pain with labyrinthine concussions. So as with everything they treat you symptomatically prescribing antivert and occassional anti-naseau pills. Although the antivert helped somewhat it was not a panacea. These episodes would usually last about 3 days and go away. I began to get use to these episodes as much as someone could.
I seem to have a limit to how much of these SSRI's my body can take and since they are cummulative no matter how many milligrams you are taking eventually I get to a point where my brain starts to feel kinda spacey. The Dr's typically just change to a different brand and we continue on for a little while and then I'm back to the same place. My solution is to cut back, intially skipping a day or reducing the dosage by a small amount.
Around Thanksgiving I I was starting to feel like the Lexapro was getting to that point. So I decided to go from 20mg to 10mg.
Around Christmas of 2004 I started to feel as if I was coming down with something like a cold or the flu. Having been a month since I cut back my dosage I certainly didn't attribute it to that, but I took it easy and waited for what I thought was the inevitable flu. The first week of January the shocks where back...but they were not going away like they had in the past. I went to see my new Psychiatrist because I had just moved and talked to him about my medication and the "brain shocks" and expressed that I felt that my past Dr. tended to treat anxiety with SSRI's because of the feared addiction to ativan and the other "benzies" but that I was feeling more anxious than depressed at this time. He agreed to get me off the SSRI's and try the Ativan. He warned me that I might have some side-effects as I weaned myself from the Lexapro. I had told him that I had already cut my dosage in half and had not had any noticeable side effects. So I was to take 5mg for a week and if I felt OK I could stop the medication. I took the 5 mg pills for about 10 days and not having noticed any problems stopped the medication.
The next week the "brain shocks" where at an all time high so I called the Psychiatrist and told him that the shocks were now coming on without "batting and eye". I now had them when I tried to go to sleep or take a nap. The shocks would radiate into my face, down my right arm, down my right leg and at one point jolted my entire upper body off the sofa. He didn't think there was any relation to the medication. Although my emotions where running the gambit as well. I would start crying at the littlest things.
Back to the ENT. The ENT still doesn't think it's related to my ear problems and suggested I see a neurologist that it might be MS. The Neurologist doesn't think it's neurological. Huh? Did I just say that? Well that's what he told me. In the meantime...my whole body seems to be out of whack...my hands and feet are freezing cold while my face feels like I have a severe sunburn other than that I feel like I have the flu but don't have the congestion. I feel so bad that I just want death to take me. With all this going on my "anxiety" is non-existent. How weird is that.
So within the last 3 days I started feeling a bit better. The shocks were pretty much gone and I wake up feeling a bit better in the mornings although I do seem to deteriorate as the day goes on. I think I'm almost through this. So last night I am laying down trying to go to sleep and what happens. Tiny brain shocks with every other beat of my heart. So what happens during the alternating beat - I'm not sure how to describe it - it almost feels as if I'm having a stroke/seizure or period of unconciousness. I'd be hard pressed to describe it but I couldn't get to sleep because of the uncomfortable feeling.
I'm not sure if this is SSRI related or not, but it certainly does seem like a similar sensation. The medical community has not been of any help - but I'm really not surprised. I've learned to look at Dr's like just another "fry chef" at McDonalds, doing just enough to get through the day...their real interest is in collecting their paycheck and helping people put bandaids on cuts and looking forward to the weekends. Doing any more would cut into their personal time. By the way the cost of these so-called medical professionals for 2 visits to the ENT, 2 to my primary and 2 for the Psychiatrist and 1 to the Neurologist and the lab tests/MRI - well the results aren't in just yet...but I can tell you for the ENT to stick a scope into my nose through to my throat was $731 and it took them about 3 mintues.
Posted by Jai Narayan on March 6, 2005, at 21:40:46
In reply to Re: Brain Shocks, posted by cityguy on March 5, 2005, at 11:47:27
I would love to have you bring this conversation to the med. board...
sounds like you have been through the ringer...
I have constant inner ear infections and problems (dizziness. etc)The sensations your are experiencing sound like TIA's or mini seizures.....
do you get migranes?
I'm not a Dr. so I probably should leave this to the experts...but your symptoms interest me.
Have you tried acupuncture?
it works on the nerves and energy lines.please keep posting.
Ja*
This is the end of the thread.
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