Advice Please
Posted , 9 users are following.
As some of you know, I recently moved from 30mg to 25mg to see if I could ease side effects. I was on 25mg for three weeks and felt a little better, but nothing substantial. I reintroduced CBD oil and it seemed that combo was working pretty well, but I really wanted to stop cutting pills so I reduced down to 20mg a week ago. The first few days on 20mg and CBD were great. I was even able to give up my morning Xanax. I was still anxious but it was manageable. But, the last three days, my intrusive thoughts have come back, which makes the anxiety worse. Ugh! When I was on 20mg before we increased to 30mg, I had days with no anxiety or intrusive thoughts, so I thought 20mg would be fine. SO, do I need to go back to 25mg and stay there longer, or is it possible I can still stabilize on the reduction? Those of you who reduced seemed to have success without regression, so I feel frustrated not knowing what to do.
0 likes, 83 replies
katecogs laura45992
Posted
Gah - first post is being moderated as no doubt because I mentioned the 'name' of the oil. Here goes again:
Hi Laura
You have to remember that as you recover the anxiety and other symptoms don’t just go and never come back, but they’ll come and go as you recover. You take the anxiety with you, with it lessening in intensity until it finally stops.
Intrusive thoughts are a side effect of anxiety, not the other way round.
Each increase or reduction on meds can cause anxiety to fluctuate and with that, along comes the intrusive thoughts too. You need to give each change in dose a long, long time - changes won’t happen in a few days. The dose needs to be able to settle.
Whatever dose you take you will not escape anxiety or its side effects - walking alongside them instead of trying to escape them is the way forward. They will diminish in time.
Personally I’d stay on the 20mg for a few months and just go with the flow. I recovered on 20mg, though thats not to say that dose is perfect for you, but you won’t know what dose is best if you don’t allow time on each one.
Adding in the '??' oil isn’t good to mix with the meds as it can raise levels of some medications in your blood. Also the FDS doesn’t regulate the purity and safety of this so you won’t know if the product you buy has active ingredients as listed on the label.
The meds work slow - so slow you’ll hardly notice anything happening. Just don’t chase recovery - let it come to you.
laura45992 katecogs
Posted
Thanks. I do need to be better about not chasing recovery. Its so hard not to bc I was never as miserable before the meds as I have been on them. So I guess there is a part of me blaming them for all of this....which makes it hard to trust the process. From what Ive read and been told, the oil will not interact with the meds as long as you space them out two hours apart. The oil I have has been third party tested, so I assumed it was safe. Many people (and dr) said it was ok but who can really know!
lois95799 laura45992
Posted
my phychiatrist is not a fan of cit.combine with the oil.there are interactions wether space apart or not.and that drugged feeling .i had that for roughly 8months.on a consistent dose.
lois95799 laura45992
Posted
my phychiatrist is not a fan of celexa mixed with the o-l wether space or not there are interactions .and that drugged feeling you are talking about .i had for 8months.best regards
toria_07298 laura45992
Posted
i never had anxiety until withdrawal! youve reduced too fast and possibly getting withdrawals from benzos, from all ive read everyone who is sensitive to meds (like bad withdrawal) the oil works for a few weeks then goes bad x
toria_07298
Posted
also some people who only get normal withdrawal can handle 5mg drops others cant, its a massive and unsafe drop x
laura45992 lois95799
Posted
But you had advised on my other post that that dose might be too high based on my side effects. Its so hard to know what is the right thing to do. I wish it were more simple!
toria_07298 lois95799
Posted
im not a fan of it either and yes i had that feeling too x
laura45992 toria_07298
Posted
Toria, so are you saying I should maybe go back to 25 and stay there longer? Or just let the withdrawl run its course and stick with 20?
lois95799 laura45992
Posted
if you had some ok days i stick with the 20.are you having physical symptoms or just intrusive thoughts.because when i reduce i was having severe physical symptoms .
toria_07298 laura45992
Posted
if it is too high you still have to reduce slowly x
laura45992 lois95799
Posted
Before I reduced I was extremely fatigued, bruising badly, mouth sores, nauseated, higher anxiety, shaky, and stronger heart palpitations. However, my intrusive thoughts were less severe than they have been the last couple of days.
toria_07298 laura45992
Posted
every dose change is a risk, i would try and hold x
katecogs laura45992
Posted
I know hard it is - we all want to be well now and to endure another week, let alone another minute of suffering, is beyond thinking sometimes.
Looking at your timescale on the meds, all in you’ve taken them for 20 weeks? This is a fairly short time with all the dose changes. It can be 3 months beore you even notice the smallest of change, and thats probably being on one dose - sometimes it can take many weeks, even months for a dose to settle.
Waiting is the hardest thing ever - and often other meds are added in to help in the early weeks. SSRI’s are psychiatric drugs and may interact with the oil, and of course the combination isn’t without risk because simply, nobody knows. The oil can interact through the inhibition of the metabolism.
But I completely understand that need for a bit of relief and it works well for some. Trouble is if you’re having issues then look towards that.
lois95799 laura45992
Posted
are you still feeling all those side effects you have describe??!
toria_07298 laura45992
Posted
wow laura snap x
laura45992 lois95799
Posted
Lois, no. Just the anxiety.
Toria, Im confused about the snap comment. I think the comments are getting mixed up. haha!
toria_07298 laura45992
Posted
haha your stmptoms, i hate the ulcers grrrrrr x
toria_07298
Posted
symptoms, im typing fast as have a bath running x
lois95799 laura45992
Posted
ok so then you are making progress.you are moving forward .at least you have some relief.hang on the 20milli.put your big girl panties on.lol
laura45992 lois95799
Posted
Lois...haha...yes, I need to suck it up, for sure! I am fairly confident 30 was too high. When I was on 20 initially, anxiety and intrusive thoughts went away, at least temporarily.
Kate, yes, about 20 weeks total. March 7 was my first pill.
toria_07298 laura45992
Posted
stick to a dose laura until stable then if you want off do it slowly x
katecogs laura45992
Posted
Personally I'd stay on one dose and just keep going now. It will turn out ok in the end. Whatever reason you started the meds for is irrelevant now, as you're now here, and coming off them now is again just playing with them.
Just know that for now its going to be a rough ride and there's nowt you can do about that now except for head down and keep going.
Once the meds start to work you'll feel different, and all thoughts and feelings will go away, whatever you might think at the moment.
laura45992 katecogs
Posted
I pray that youre right, Kate! Thank you! I just want my life back. I want to be a present mom to my kids (age 10 and 13) again and enjoy all my blessings. I have such a good life around me and I want to be a part of it again.
katecogs laura45992
Posted
You will - it'll creep up slowly.
x