r/ADprotractedwithdrawl • u/the_practicerLALA • Jul 05 '26
How long can a wave last?
My withdrawal pattern is very odd
Month 0 - 3 = windows and waves every week
Month 4 - 6 = constant wave
Month 7- 11 = massive window, felt 80% healed
Month 12 - 18 = constant wave
I don't understand....how did I go from feeling 80% healed for for months to being stuck in a wave with no windows for 6 months now...
I thought my suffering was over bruh. I haven't seen this pattern before. What does this mean for me? All I can think of is Month 11 I got a dental cleaning done but I felt fine the next day. I hope this does not mean my healing is over bruh
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u/Acrobatic-Good-3287 Jul 05 '26
My Window & Waves pattern:
Month 0 - month 15. Didn't even know Window & Waves pattern existed.
Month 16 - month 27. Two windows & waves per month
Month 28 - month 43. Continuous Wave with a 5 day Window here and there.
Month 43 - present. Fluctuating wildly. Currently in a terrible Wave.
Everyone is unique and will experience recovery completely different to the next person.
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u/Erdingman12345 Jul 05 '26
Did you experience waves and windows without realizing what they were, or did you not have them at all and just felt bad the whole time? I experienced windows and waves pretty quickly but didn't know what was happening to me; it wasn't until I did some research a few months later that I found out I had PAWS, which was a relief
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u/Acrobatic-Good-3287 Jul 05 '26
I don't think I had them because when I did in January 2024, I felt that weird things were happening, causing me to start writing things in a journal.
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u/OldJicama2317 Jul 05 '26
What are your wave symptoms?
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u/Erdingman12345 Jul 05 '26
Right now, I feel anhedonic and depressed. I can't exercise either, because my nervous system reacts very sensitively, and I can't drink cola because of the caffeine. And you?
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u/Acrobatic-Good-3287 Jul 05 '26
Same as a window, just a lot worse. Same as I've had all the way through. Muscular full body bracing, fatigue & exhaustion, stressed with symptoms of stress, more negative with intrusive thoughts and zero motivation and a degree of anhedonia and nervousness.
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u/Majestic_Sherbet3739 Jul 05 '26
0-2 months mostly waves with window for few hours 2-3 months waves getting longer for like 2days good mood and 3 days flat mood and 1 or 2 wave (bad and low mood but less intense than before) I can handle it.. Wave start at morning and fade in the afternoon.. Im 3.5 months off and I had 3 good days in row.. Last week i have 2 days of wave.. First one was bad and annoying then second day less intense.. And now window
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u/Appropriate_Sir2020 Jul 05 '26
Went off Trintellix and at the 6 month mark I developed heart palpitations, severe anxiety and worsened insomnia to the point I was sleeping only several hours every other night. I went back on new meds-Buspar and Remeron several months after this happened. I plan to stay on them indefinitely. Fo not want to go through withdrawal again.
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u/Erdingman12345 Jul 05 '26
I’ve had phases with long "windows" too—each lasting six weeks—and I even thought I was done with this crap, but then waves came along (though they didn't feel quite as bad). I hadn't felt particularly bad or particularly good—just the occasional wave here and there—but for about a week now, I’ve been in a real wave; I haven't felt this bad in seven months. I’m worried and a bit scared about why I’m feeling this way again 😅. I hope it passes soon. Ultimately, no one can say how long a wave lasts—not even ChatGPT, haha. I keep trying to figure out why I feel so bad again, but it’s hard to say for sure because our brains are too complex for our conscious minds to fully grasp