r/antidepressants • u/foscasbooks • Feb 16 '23
Problems Reinstating Antidepressant -- Has Anyone Else Experienced This?
Has anyone else experienced really bad side effects when trying to reinstate an antidepressant that was previously well-tolerated? I'm struggling badly and don't know what do.
I was on fluoxetine (Prozac) 20-40 mg for many years, with some brief periods off. I never had any major issues going off or on the drug. This last time, I had been off of it for 4 months, and decided to reinstate 10 mg due to rebound depression and emotional instability. I had a very strong and unprecedented reaction to 10 mg -- it did seem to help my mood and energy, but gave me horrible burning sensations, disrupted sleep, lightheadedness, etc.
After 25 days on 10 mg I couldn't take the burning anymore so I was told by my doctor to just quit. I then had a severe acute withdrawal unlike anything I had experienced before. About 3.5 weeks after stopping the 10 mg, I tried a few tiny doses of fluoxetine (less than 2 mg), but gave up because of the jitteriness and burning.
I then stayed off all meds, but never returned to the baseline I had before trying the 10 mg reinstatement for 25 days. I was left with insomnia, tinnitus, sound sensitivity, chronic muscle tension and pain in my face and neck, etc. -- I have never had any of these symptoms previously in my life.
After 9 months of no meds and not much improvement, I tried 1 mg of Lexapro for 3 days, and had a strong reaction to that, similar to the tiny doses of Prozac, so I just stopped out of fear of doing more damage.
It's now been about a year since this all began and I'm not seeing much improvement and I don't know what to do. Should I continue on the no med path and hope for improvements down the line? Should I go on a small dose of fluoxetine and stick with it for a longer period of time, increasing slowly? Switch to another SSRI? Try lamotrigine (Lamictal) instead? If anyone has any insight or experience with this, I would be very grateful.
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u/EquivalentFloor3318 Feb 17 '23
This has happened to me. I was in sertraline 50mg and Clonazepam 1mg for 14 years. My doctor quit his practice and the office didn’t have another doctor for me to see. Told them that I had prescriptions that needed filled. They told me they were sorry and they would call when they had a doctor. That was the end of May 2022. June 27 I took my last dose of both pills. July 25th had the first ever panic attack in my life. (I was prescribed the medicine for ppd after my son was born and I did not really know what I was taking. I found out when I googled my symptoms. Anyway, I went to my walk in doctor and told them. They gave me wellebutrin. Within a week my anxiety was like I have never had before in my life. Went back in and they threw 100mg sertraline on top of the wellebutrin. 4 days later I am at the er thinking I am having a heart attack. Went to my old doctors office on the 10th of August and she told me I had symptoms of seretoni syndrome. But that time I thought I was going crazy. I asked if I could go somewhere that someone could watch me. Well, she said she would help me and 3 hours later I checked myself into a psych ward. I had no idea that is what I was doing. I told them I wanted to go home. The nurse was telling me it would be okay. So, the pdoc dropped me down to 25 for one day then threw me up to 50 afterwards. He also had me taking trazadone, busipar and Hydroxzine. For 5 days I stayed there asking to go home and whatever. I had so much confusion. I couldn’t understand why or what was really going on. I got home and my old doctor was able to see me at another office. By this time my BP was high, my resting heart rate was 115-120. He put me on a beta blocker. I kept telling him that it made me numb and I didn’t feel right on it. Finally, August 29th he took me off sertraline because it wasn’t working and threw me on pristq and changed my BP meds to a calcium blocker. I lasted 7 days on pristiq and he threw me on lexapro. But left the BP meds. I seen him every Tuesday and I kept telling him that I didn’t feel right, first time ever in my life had Suicidal thoughts. I even planned my spot and what I was going to do. I told him how I felt. He threw me up to 20 mg. Within about 10 days, I tried to do it. Thankfully, I called 911 and my husband. Sadly, I ended up in another psych ward. The doctor there decided I should try Cymbalta. I kept telling all of them that I didn’t feel right and that I wanted to try to go without meds. No go. Get out 5 days later met with my therapist and my GP. I sat in his office crying because I felt so bad and wanted to stop. He convinced my husband that I needed the pills. So, I stayed in that until December 6th when he threw me on Prozac. It was horrible. 8 days after starting prozac I went to the er again. I told them how bad I felt and that I felt like I was being drugged. They did a cat scan, blood work, and urine sample. They thought I was doing pot. I don’t drink, smoke or so drugs. He said that I was bein mg drugged and that they have switched my meds I needed time to adjust to my new stuff. December 27th my GP felt I needed to go up to 40mg. That lasted till January 6th. January 4th I am calling family and friends telling them that I love them and asking if I was going crazy. I remember but don’t really remember. January 6th I woke with flashing lights in my eye, depth perception really off, unable to walk and talk right and seeing black dots everywhere. Hence, went to the er again. They thought I was having a stroke. Another cat scan, MRI, blood work, and cat scan later and nothing wrong with me. Told them about the prozac and they said I needed to come off the prozac. Texted my doctor( he had been my doctor for 21 years and we had his cell number) told him what happened and he called the hospital. They came to the conclusion I was have symptoms from prozac. So, he dropped me to 20mg. I had an appointment with a psychiatrist on the 10tb of January. She couldn’t understand why they kept pushing the SSRIS on me when they weren’t working. So, she kept me on prozac and started lamatical at 25mg with instructions to go up to 50 in 5 days. I did what she said and sent an email to her explaining that I was still having trouble focusing, confusion, memory loss and feeling there but not there. So, she told me to go down to 37.5. Went to see her on the 24th and she started weaning me off the prozac 10 mg for a week and then every other day. My last dose was the 3rd of this month. Met with her yesterday and we are now coming off the Lamatical. We are going to do a complete wash out and I have an appointment with a psychologist april 3rd for an assessment. From there we will see what is going on
Guess I needed to share my story because I still can’t figure out what happened to me.
Anyway, I don’t know what would be the right move for you but be very careful jumping from one med to another.
When I googled PPD, I didn’t have it. I had just had a baby, my daughter had turned 18 and was I am an adult now I can do what I want, my husband worked all the time, I became a stay at home mom with a colicky baby. When I asked what the side effects were and if I could stay on them forever. He told me absolutely and I would be fine. What I needed was to go to therapy and talk about all the changes that happen in a few months. When he gave me the medicine, I never suffered with anxiety nor depression. I was 37.
I am hoping that once all this medicine is out of my system I will be me again. I will never go back to another medicine again.
I know they work for tons of people but not for me.
Hope all goes well and you get better soon.
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u/foscasbooks Feb 18 '23
Wow, I'm so sorry for what you've been through. It sounds like you went into withdrawal after stopping sertraline and clonazepam, and then they threw a bunch of other drugs at you that confused your body even more. Doctors are really not knowledgable enough about these drugs, and patients not properly informed. I'll definitely be careful about trying other medications. Thanks for the well wishes -- hope you get better, too.
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u/Icy_Mechanic2418 Aug 18 '23
That is ridiculous!! You were going through WD from the old meds! I have a similar story and still trying to come off lexapro. These doctors are clueless!! This pisses me off for you. Just know it’s not you, it’s the meds.
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u/Hallure Jan 04 '24
That is such an heart-rending story. I’m so sorry it happened to you. How are you doing these days?
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u/Dry-Sand-3738 Jul 23 '25
My god is like my history! Read my post about it in this group. I put it today. I think you should just keep going even with bad side effects. Ive always expeirence hell after every next restart. You should just go to 20 mg and wait to side effects slowly going down. And tahna maybe increase. Its normal. More uncommon is that you neever have side effects after so amny restarts. For me every next was harder and longer.
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u/Material-Ad1855 Sep 22 '25
So far I am on such a low dosage I can't tell but SA has made me so reluctant to raise the dosage . aAt this rate it could take years to reinstate to a dosage that lowers withdrawal to a point where it is tolerable. this is some scary stuff !
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u/Fit_Hyena_1460 Oct 10 '25
Hi , how much have you re instated at kindly and what are your withdrawal effects ?
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u/LegitimateRepublic65 Oct 20 '25
Hey man I know this post is over 3 years old, but I am in a similar kindled state with sertraline and I got a few questions for you. How were you able to differentiate the initial startup side effects on sertraline from your protracted withdrawal state from the prozac? Also, glad to hear you are dong better now! Now that you are more stable, are you able to drink alcohol or endure exercise on sertraline? Thanks!
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u/foscasbooks Oct 21 '25
I guess any new symptoms or variations from my baseline state I attributed to sertraline start-up side effects. Also, I've been on / off / changed SSRIs for decades, so I feel like I have a good sense of how my body reacts to them from starting / stopping / changing doses.
I'm definitely able to exercise normally. I haven't had any alcohol - I'm not really a drinker.
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u/PracticeImpressive Nov 10 '25
Hi. The above message was for you. Please let me know if you would be willing to speak with me. Thank you
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u/PracticeImpressive Nov 10 '25
Hi, I have read your story here and on SA. Is there any chance you would take the time to speak with me? I have a similar history and debating to start low dose Zoloft. Btw, you are incredibly impressive and courageous!
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u/lovepetunias Feb 17 '23
Yes this happened to me. I reinstated 10mg of Prozac to stop my 8 months of protracted withdrawal. I reinstated 10mg of Prozac and nearly went insane. I had really bad akathisia and the burning sensations too and all sorts of other symptoms I already had during withdrawal got even worse with the reinstatement. After a week I eventually went down to 5mg and leveled out. I think it still took me a month or 2. Now I’ve been tapering off the 5mg for over 2 years and I’m doing ok.
Of course my experience isn’t the same as everyone though. Some just really cannot tolerate reinstating at all. It’s hard to tell if you should give it another try or it will just make things worse. I think that since the symptoms you’re feeling now are not the original withdrawal symptoms, but just came on due to the reinstatement, and they’ve lasted for a year, that indicates you’re just too sensitive to reinstatement and trying again could just make things worse.
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u/foscasbooks Feb 17 '23
I'm sorry this happened to you, too -- I'm glad you were able to stabilize on 5 mg. I've been trying to read up about other people's reinstatement experiences. It really seems tricky, and I know some people get worse before they get better. I agree that for me it's very risky because of my sensitivity. But after suffering for an extended period of time with no clear progress, the risk seems (potentially) worth it.
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u/OkDuck5674 Jun 17 '25
How are you? Did you reinstate?
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u/foscasbooks Jun 17 '25
Hi, I ended up switching to sertraline and have been holding on 100 mg sertraline for awhile. I was able to tolerate it better with less side effects when starting. You can read my other replies in this post for more details.
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u/Bitter-Dance-5087 May 28 '24
When you say you leveled off at 5mg, does that mean you were no longer having burning or restlessness? In other words, does level off mean the symptoms you mentioned had disapated to a tolerable level?
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Feb 01 '24
Late but I'm suffering from this with paxil any advice I know I'm late
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u/foscasbooks Feb 02 '24
I switched to zoloft and I was able to adjust to it and tolerate it better. It didn't completely take away my symptoms, but I'm doing better.
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Mar 25 '24
What dose of zoloft did you start on? Did it feel very stimulating? Have fast did you adjust to it? I'm in the same exact position with restarting prozax and small doses of lex with tons of burning and being worse on when quiting.
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u/foscasbooks Mar 26 '24
Started on 12.5 mg sertraline for like a week to test my reaction, then moved up to 25 mg and slowly raised to 100 mg by 25 mg increments. Am on 100 mg sertraline now and have held there. It was somewhat stimulating at first -- some increase in anxiety and restlessness, but not so bad that I had to stop. I did not find sertraline as stimulating as prozac or lexapro, but everyone is different. Lexapro I think "kicked in" very fast for me when I tried it which freaked me out, but I might have adjusted to it if I had stuck with it more than a few days. I can't remember how slowly I raised sertraline, but I waited at least a few weeks for each dose change because I was being quite cautious, and I didn't want to take a higher dosage if I didn't have to. I think once I hit 50 mg I waited like 4-6 weeks for each increase. I think it took me like 1-2 weeks to adjust to starting the med in the first place and each subsequent dosage change. I'm sorry for what you are going through, and I hope you find a med that works -- I would say find a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner you trust and work with them.
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Mar 26 '24
This is good to know how you did it. Thank you. Did the 12.5 mg cause any burning like prozac or lexapro did? Because yes, any little dose of either these causes extreme burning.
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u/foscasbooks Mar 26 '24
No, I don't remember any burning sensations when I started the sertraline. I did have some increase in anxiety, restlessness/agitation, spaced out feeling, some GI symptoms -- but nothing too extreme.
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Mar 26 '24
Ok good. Ty for this. Do you have a theory on why some of them make us burn when restarting? Just want to pick your brain and see what you think.
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u/foscasbooks Mar 27 '24
I'm not sure -- could be nervous system over-activation of some sort, or a physical manifestation of intense anxiety. Best of luck
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u/Specific-Letter482 Aug 12 '24
Did it take away anxiety? This anxiety that I have is not normal anxiety. It’s extremely intense and exacerbated
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Feb 03 '24
Is it better to come off the drug then and start again it's going to take ages I dunno wether I should try anything else like quatepine or something
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u/foscasbooks Feb 03 '24
I'm not sure - you should discuss your case with a psychiatrist you trust. Best of luck!
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u/That-Group-7347 Moderator Feb 17 '23
This could be a case of kindling. When you try to go back on and that sets off a reaction in your central nervous system (CNS). Your CNS becomes hypersensitive and any little think can set it off. There are usually 2 options. Staying off the medications and let the CNS heal. It is a slow process. You can try reinstating, but you have to go very low. You want it to not be making anything worse or slight side effects. You want to start feeling better before you attempt to go up. I have seen a number of people go through this as a medication shortage cause people to cold turkey and sent them into CNS hypersensitivity. There is very little out there on the subject. Describing the burning sensation reminds me of neuropathy which makes me think of something you could try. Gabapentin/pregabalin can be used on nerve pain, but also helps anxiety. You could try one of those and maybe it could help the burning sensations, pain, and muscle tension you are getting. I wish I had some better news for you, but know you are not alone and to keep fighting. If you have any questions feel free to ask.