161–170 of 379 posts
I’ve been on a SSRI for 5 years and not once have I thought about getting off of it. It literally saved my life. I remember a while life of depression and constant churn of recursive emotions destroying me. I’m worried that too many people are downplaying the benefits that this drug for those of us that it has helped immensely. And it’s extra risky to be downplaying it while RFK jr is actively working to remove the d…
I've been on 40mg citalopram for about 20 years now. I've tried a few times to come off either tapering or cold turkey and in all cases it's been horrendous. My biggest worry is that I'll never be able to come off them as I'm on such a high dosage, even if it was tapered off over a very long period of time.
Though this article concentrates on the SSRIs, other meds like the SNRIs can have a similar or even worse withdrawal effect. We didn't call it "Side Effexor" for nothing. People legitimately need these drugs, including in the short term. The problem for acute stressors once they resolve is how to get them back off.
For something prescribed to get someone through a temporary crisis, "how and when do we get you back off this safely?" should probably be discussed at the beginning, not years later when the patient decides to stop.
This is an absolute failure on the part of medical science. SSRIs went mainstream in 1988. By 1992! We knew about withdrawal issues: https://www.wikidoc.org/index.php/SSRI_discontinuation_syndr... Let's be generous and give it until the 2000s for the knowledge to spread and science to validate; and we're still left with 26 years of blundering around without IMO sufficient warning to patients about withdrawal risks. I…
In the United States, our physicians are paid by taxes for grad school. The physicians decide the supply with an unelected private org ACGMe.
It really shows that despite the corruption, people will go to great lengths for health.
There is a real lack of transparency in communicating some of the long term impacts of SSRIs to new patients. When I was prescribed sertraline not one doctor mentioned the massive (and sometimes permanent!!) sexual side effects, the likelihood of weight gain or how brutal it would be to taper off. Also, I ended up ignoring my doctor's (way too aggressive) tapering schedule and managing my own down-dosing with a pill…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Venlafaxine has a small half-life so that might be why if you miss a dose by a few hours you'd get withdrawal symptoms. Drugs is leaving fast you body and so concentration is quickly decreasing. Apparently there's a extended-release, don't know if it's already what you have but maybe you could ask to try another SNRIs that has a longer half-life.
Yep I’m on XR, I’ve tried taking half my dose twice daily instead, which did smooth out the effects a bit but also made me much more likely to miss a dose. Not really any other solution other than tapering afaict.
At least that would give you more room to miss by a few hours a dose and not going haywire into withdrawal. Especially when anxiety is already a problem and withdrawal symptoms kicks back the anxiety stronger...
Hope you find something that suits you!
I’ve been on a SSRI for 5 years and not once have I thought about getting off of it. It literally saved my life. I remember a while life of depression and constant churn of recursive emotions destroying me. I’m worried that too many people are downplaying the benefits that this drug for those of us that it has helped immensely. And it’s extra risky to be downplaying it while RFK jr is actively working to remove the d…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anxiety is a common comorbidity in depression patients and buprioprion can dramatically raise anxiety levels It is a second-line treatment for a reason. Great when it works. Harmful when it does not.
Yeah, this is exactly why I couldn’t stay on it. I already deal with GAD and OCD, and whatever benefits it had for the depression were directly counteracted by the return of acute anxiety. It was truly hellish. Feeling like I had this energy that I needed to use, while also feeling so anxious that I didn’t want to leave the apartment. I know it works really well for some people but I was definitely not one of them.
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ADHD is not great. and in many cases it's so bad people die from "not paying attention", and Ritalin (methylphenidate) is visibly helping people avoid those early deaths.
To provide one additional anecdote: I came off escitalopram with no taper after taking it for about five years (10mg). I got brain zaps for a while, got very irritated at times, but largely was fine after a few weeks. Not downplaying the withdrawal effects for some people, but they’re not as catastrophic as this article suggests for many (perhaps most). And overall I’m very glad I took it! It got me through a rough p…
If I were to take your approach, and make generalized statements based on my own experiences, I would say many if not most actually do experience significant withdrawal symptoms for an extended period of time.
You need to take into account: dosage, age, health, life circumstances, and I would think even more before you can suggest even the slightest correlation or "average" experience.
I get what you're saying and I'm very glad it was easier for you than others, clearly. I think though, it's dangerous to others to make claims based on one person's experience.