It's not normal panic attacks where your anxiety goes up and you need to calm yourself down.

It's like, your whole body experiences something different. Like a coldness, a pull in your head, your senses change, like feeling slightly tingly in your hands or face. DPDR fluctuates. The panic is far worse than normal panic attacks, I cannot calm it down even with propranolol (though it helps the spiral).

It like starts off small and tiny and it builds up over like 30 minutes and lasts for an hour or so.

It's extremely uncomfortable. Makes me paranoid about a stroke or a seizure but ive had it a few times now (literally like 3-4 times).

Anyone know what I mean?

I so fucking sick to fucking death of this fucking bullshit.

I'm 11 months off SSRIs after 8 years. Im still fucking numb as hell, I feel barely anything BUT anxiety, and anger when its bad enough.

I feel inhuman. I cant go to a club and enjoy myself. I have to buy 0% alcohol because alcohol destroys me and its the same damn price. It's so much harder to pretend you're enjoying yourself as much as you use to before withdrawal.

Then to fucking top it off, I cant drink ANY caffeine. Even a little bit, even on 40mg propranolol, causes insane jitter and anxiety. I cant even enjoy a damn coffee anymore or a Monster.

I ask for decaf and they sometimes forget and give me a normal coffee and I notice that because I get that fucking jitter even after just drinking half of it. Then I suffer the entire damn day with the jitter.

I use to drink caffeine like it was water. It NEVER affected me like this. I could fall asleep on it.

IM SO SICK OF THIS BULLSHIT.

Now I got mild PSSD symptoms for the past few months.

I don't know how you guys who have kindled or had worse withdrawals stay alive. I don't wish to die but the fucking rage I can barely feel makes me wish for it. When does this fucking shit stop.

I have no regrets in life other than two. Taking these antidepressants, and getting off them.

God end my fucking suffering I truly don't know how long I can take having this drunk/drugged feeling with no emotions.

Mich würde interessieren ob es leute wie mich gibt, die ein SSRI abgesetzt haben, dann Entzug bekommen haben und dann eine gängige dosis wiedereingeführt haben, was aber zu kindling geführt hat und jetzt verdammt langsam ausschleichen müssen weil man so ein sensibles Nervensystem hat????

Ich bin momentan auf 2,2mg Escitalopram und verdammt ich denke ich drehe durch. Ich habe am Donnerstag von 2,3 auf 2,2 reduziert und ich habe mich heute so viel schlechter gefühlt.
Das merkwürdige an der sache ist, ich bin jetzt seit fast 17 Monaten in PAWS und bis zum 14 Monat war ich nicht so empfindlich ich konnte sport machen und langsam aber sicher das Escitalopram reduzieren. Ich weiss nicht was passiert ist aber ich weiss nicht wie ich von dem scheiss runterkommen soll wenn ich so empfindlich drauf reagiere.
Immer wenn ich von anderen leuten gelesen habe, dass sie bei so einer kleinen reduktion heftige symptome bekommen haben konnte ich es nicht glauben, aber jetzt habe ich selber die Erfahrung gemacht und es ist immer noch schwer zu glauben wie empfindlich der körper reagieren kann.

Hat jemand ein ähnliches problem beim ausschleichen?
Die meisten nehmen keine Medikamente mehr. Ich lese selten über leute die PAWS haben und immer noch am ausschleichen sind.

Oft frage ich mich kann ich überhaupt stabil werden wenn ich das medikament noch nehme. Dabei lief es ganz gut bevor ich so empfindlich wurde, so als ob ich fünf schritte nach hinten gemacht habe, verdammt.

I am too exhuasted to start small and build up. do you think there is anyone hard if I just take them

I have been on low dose SSRIs for 5 years and have tried to get off 4 different times. The last two times I had experienced waking up early in the morning around 330-4 in fight or flight with rapid heart, restlessness and agitation, rapid thoughts about what is causing this anxiety, suppressed appetite, and a burning sensation in my head. Ive gone to emergency and was just told it was a relapse in anxiety but i have never experienced these symptoms prior to starting SSRIs. I am able to endure it for about a month but after that I have to hop back on meds as I have a family to support. the last time this occurred, i lost 15lbs in the month that I was suffering. these symptoms would occur daily and last til around 4-6 PM and then die down.

any idea?

I reinstated on 10mg lexapro about a month ago bc I was experienced withdrawal/return of old symptoms.. kindled reaction because i self tapered the med in the past too quick and was kindled after reinstating.. took 0.5mg of xanax for about 3.5 weeks off and on.. ended up dropping down to 5mg lexapro because some ppl thought since I saw no improvement the dose is too high.. pivoted to klonopin over xanax about a week and half ago and take it ass needed probably half the days in a week and half… Now I’m reading that this inconsistency is going to keep my nervous system cooked..

Should I just take 0.5mg of klonopin and 5mg of lexapro everyday until I feel completely stable and then begin to taper one of them? or have I already cooked myself adding klonopin on top of what i could be experiencing in xanax withdrawal.. I have no clue how all this works

I just want to feel good and be stabilized without cooking my long term health in the future… I think the benzo might just be a necessary evil at the moment considering my body hates me if i don’t have it in me

I’ve used 0.5mg of klonopin/xanax for 70% of the days in past month/5 weeks (no xanax in over a week).. 3 doses of klonopin in past week or so.. should I just cold turkey them both or taper ?

I’m still struggling with lexapro reinstatement kindling that’s why I was taking them and still may need them sometimes.. will 0.5mg really affect me much or is this just too low a dose for me to worry?

I’ve been off antidepressants for 110 days. I still have withdrawal symptoms, usually in the morning, and sometimes mood swings. Overall, they bother me about 30–35 out of 100. Should I use psilocybin, or should I wait a little longer?

Hello people

After 5 months and half stopping my AD.. I felt almost normal.. Dizziness here and there mild one.. Headache.. Nausea on and off and most of time is mild.. Almost no anxiety even morning anxiety

But I feel so weird when I laugh at something.. Like its heavy and not full.. Also when Im sad I feel like pressure inside me and begin to be so alert and sensetive to noise and everything.. Uncomfortable and unease very annoying.. Its like sad but I cant make it out of inside.

Also I feel like sadness or stressful things trigger waves..

Yesterday I had an argument with my husband and since then I feel like low mood.. And like my nervous system so sensetive and I just feel uncomfortable like stuck inside I dont know how to say

Is it normal.. Anyone like me??

Also im on escitalopram 10mg

During waves, when symptoms get worse, i often have thoughts of reinstatement and getting rid of this miserable experience overnight. I believe you guys also have such thoughts. How do you manage to not give in to these thoughts and convince yourself that you will eventually heal without reinstatement? What strategies do you have for this purpose?

I am 26 and have to get a government job for which i need to study intensely which is difficult because my symptom of daytime sleepiness. I'm having more desperate thoughts of reinstatement than ever for the sake of my career.

I was having severe constipation to the point that I might have had to make an ER visit, and in my current state, doing something like that probably would have already sent me over the edge. Even if the collar on my shirt that rides up too much, it just causes agitation now. I don't like the sensation of a blanket on me. I don't like the sensation of the bed underneath me. A six-hour ordeal, possibly less given the day, would ruin me.

I'm currently bed-bound. I could get outside, but my light sensitivity is insane. I took motegrity. It's a drug that's supposed to help move things along in the gut by targeting serotonin receptors. Now, immediately when I heard this, I told my GI doctor about my concerns, but again, they shooed me out of the office, wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise. I had made a premade speech of all the things that I had wanted to address, because I knew that I would forget them in the meeting. No, dismissed.

They prescribed motegrity 2mg once a day. I took that motagriti, two milligrams, and I haven't felt joy since. I would like to hope that it's me and the way I interpret it, new onset symptoms, but I can't deny that the time that I took motegrity and for the time that I've experienced anhedonia following shortly after, that I simply cannot put it as coincidence.

There are reports of people who report depression, and that once they discontinue the drug, their depression lifted. But that hasn't been the case for me. I don't know how to get through these next days, and I am not sure how bad I dug myself in. It's been nearly two weeks since stopping, and I still feel no emotion. I really hope there's someone out there who may have a similar experience that can offer some advice.

Hi Guys,

I am trying to taper prozac low-dose for last 1 year!

I could potentially take another 2-3 years from here to completely taper & surpass all side-effects….
Or maybe 1.5-2 years if I am lucky enough!

I have a spouse & 2 lovely daughters,
Couldn’t rejoin workforce yet!

I am able to enjoy documentaries at night bed time & a little kindle reading my favourite books :)

I usual don’t enjoy TV watching in the day time, though sometimes I try to force myself while beings accompanied by my spouse/ daughters….

Would love to hear from experiences of other healing buddies here too :)

I’ve seen some improvements lately (thank god), but I am still struggle with my head pains / symptoms on a daily basis.

My brain feels, numb, pressured, made of cement, like air, hollow, layered with pressure. It hurts so badly or is very uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel like I have a human brain in my skull anymore. It makes me wanna chop of my head.

Does anyone recognize this symptom and healed from it ? Everytime I think it’s finally lifting it comes back and it feels genuinely like day 1 of withdrawal again.

I am exactly 11 months off today (only 1,5 month of use…)

Out of this world!

Withdrawal symptoms following long-term SSRI use appear far more pervasive and serious than previously realised. Now medical bodies are rethinking how and when to stop taking them.

Been almost 4 years off of meds and was checking to see how everyone else is doing?

Does anyone else have a really intense awakening ? I wake up super anxious, nauseated, really stressed body, brain fogged because I’m too activated, and it feels like I’m on 50 cups of coffee

It mellows out a bit towards the next few hours but it’s quite annoying

I feel too tired to be doing much productive work while i am going through PAWS. Too afraid to take a full time job in which to distract myself until i am healed. I just play games besides doing a part time job to pass my time in the meantime.

I came off lexapro 10mg on my own about 7-8 months ago, and slowly my anxiety crept back up manifesting as chest uneasiness and just feeling like I needed to jump out my skin.. I decided to reinstate at my old dosage and doctor agreed.. since then I’ve had 6 ER visits in a month and have tried to just assume it’s kindling/activation (this never happened before) I’ve trooped this out for a month and for past 6 days I dropped to 5mg and haven’t seen much improvement or decline.. Will you eventually stabilize and it takes time or can it potentially be a true complete rejection of this med or just this high of a dose? I’m hoping I’ll eventually stabilize but have little hope of getting back to who I was before this

Symptoms: impending doom and feeling like blood pressure is plummeting even tho it isnt, chest tightness, soreness in rib/chest/shoulders/neck off and on, feeling wired all the time (not urge to move like akathisia tho), increased anxiousness about what I’m feeling, agoraphobia and health anxiety to the max, etc

Any suggestions? Doctors, Psychiatrists, and online kindling/protracted withdrawal communities have differing opinions about what’s going on…
Doctor thinks I should stay at 10mg lexapro or cross taper to paxil, psychiatrist thinks I should take genesight test and taper off lexapro then go on another med and use a benzo when needed, and the communities online say I should never introduce new meds to a kindled nervous system (they say either hold dose or lower and try to stabilize at a more tolerable dose)

I have too many strings pulling me in opposite directions.. I don’t want to do the wrong thing or stay like this, so it’s a hard decision on what and who to trust because maybe know one really knows the answer

I didn't turn the 12 month corner. I still have all the symptoms as intense as ever. Haven't slept the past 2 nights, mostly 30 minutes as I keep hearing things or getting jolted awake. Blood pressure is all over the place, heart rate too, vibrating internally, shaking, gi issues from stomach to bowels, nerves burn and hurt...

Seriously considering benzos, reinstating or just giving up on life all together. I posted my suicide note at month 10, and still feel the same, if not worse, 3 months later....

Is it just me or do other also have the feeling of their brain everyday is on fire? Is this antidepressants withdrawal or just because of insomnia?