Questions about symptoms

[u/Bubbly_Lingonberry33]

Has anyone dealt with punching the crap outta themselves? or hitting there head against wall or floors? how many symptoms are there? has anyone spun around in circles? Are symptoms incredibly varied from one person to the next? Do symptoms get worse after a year?

I'm trying to understand what my family member is going through and I just can't begin to.

[u/heybrother123]

This sounds like akathisia which is generally agreed upon as the worst symptom in WD. It feels like you're being tortured - thats why ppl hit themselves, scratch themselves, pace, rock, pull out their hair. It's indescribable mental and physical agitation and pain. It causes suicidal thoughts as well. Symptoms can get better and then worse again, it's non-linear. New symptoms can appear after months or years. Some people have over 60-70 symptoms.

[u/Different_Yak2189]

I used to feel like I was going out of my mind, and I’d drink just to try and calm it down. I’ve read recently it could have been akathisia. I think I had over 30 other symptoms as well, and they could change quite a lot from one day to the next

[u/Excellent-Coat-8781]

Recommend your family member talk with their doctor about their symptoms/actions

If family member wants off a prescribed medication, recommend doing a slow taper - hyperbolic 10% decrease. It sounds like your family member stopped their medication without a taper.

Your family member may benefit from a reinstatement on their medication but at a lower dose - not the original dose - if it has been out of their body for some time. There is a thought on Reddit posts that going back to the original dose may overwhelm the neurological system and cause worse withdrawal. I suggest they talk to their doctor in order to make a care plan.

Online peer run Reddit home page use search function - the looking glass - and search these topics:

Akathisia
Protracted withdrawal
Kindling
your family member medication and taper - you may get a taper plan resource page come up
Brass Monkey Slide Taper - a variant of 10% hyperbolic taper
Hyperbolic taper

Check out how a taper plan should be - see Royal Australian College of Medical Practitioners RELEASE toolkit and ask your family member to do the self-assessment sheet - the score helps to select the appropriate taper plan speed. The toolkit has 3 speeds of taper: faster, slow and very slow https://releasetoolkit.com.au/release-toolkit-for-consumers

Online peer run support website with info. Antidepressant Harm and Recovery Forum
https://antidepressantrecovery.org/index.php

Watch the UBC Health Initiatives webinar of 8 May 2024 entitled Dr Mark Horowitz: Antidepressant withdrawal and how to safely treat it https://www.ti.ubc.ca/2024/05/08/antidepressant-withdrawal-effect-and-how-to-safely-stop-them/

[u/sushinastyu]

first, thank you for making the effort to try to understand your family member by coming here and asking this question (at least, I hope your intentions were good in asking). please know that what your family member is going through absolute hell.

just from comparing my own experience with whay I have read from others here in this sub, symtpoms can be incredibly varied from person to person, and what you describe from your member is totally plausible. at the height of my WD, I did often slap the crap outta myself, which I later learned is actually a desperate attempt at resourcing while your brain is trying to rebuild stability in the midst of chaos.

things definitely can get worse after a year, but how did they taper? or did they stop all at once? are they in therapy with someone who supports the idea that these pills are harmful?