delayed withdrawal?
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hi,
I've been on XR @ 225mg for about 10 years. I was on 150mg another 7 years before that. I gradually went down from 225 to 150 over the past 6 weeks. I had some mild withdrawal symptoms but nothing too bad. I've been staying at 150mg for about the past 10 days and I woke up today feeling awful -- body aches, headache, thoughts racing, extreme fatigue. Is this possibly from withdrawal even though I've held steady for several days and didn't have anything major over the 6 gradual weeks? Thanks!
0 likes, 2 replies
Purpledobermann Guest
Posted
Maybe, maybe not. Have you had some life challenges these days or any cold/flu etc?
You can't really withdraw 'gradually' from 225 to 150 over 6 weeks. You should have dropped 37.5 (or 75 whatever you are more comfortable with) and stuck on that one dose for at least a few weeks. You are protracting withdrawal by making more frequent incremental drops from what i gather.
Ideally, brave the wave (unless your symptoms continue to escalate) and hold 150 (which is a fair therapeutic dose) for at least 3 months counted from the point where all your adjustment disturbances pass. Give your brain a chance to regroup and rebalance fully before the next cut. Make clean drops and space them well apart. The steadier and slower your taper, the easier it will be on your system. No cuts during times of heightened stress, major life changes and illness. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
Guest Purpledobermann
Posted
Thanks for responding!
To be specific, here's what I did, per my doc's advice:
week 1 -- alternated days of 225mg and 187.5mg
week 2 -- 187.5
week 3 -- alternated days of 187.5 and 150
week 4 -- 150
I gather from your response that you wouldn't have advised this. Anyway, here I am
Regarding life challenges, etc, I had been putting this off for over a year, waiting for a relatively stress-free period. The problem is that stressful circumstances tend to occur without planning, so it's impossible for me to confidently say that the next x months will be smooth. Having said that, nothing in particular is going on right now (last year was especially rough for a variety of reasons). I did feel like I had the beginnings of the flu when I posted, but that didn't materialize.
Today is actually a little better, so perhaps I was fighting off a virus or something. The main symptom I've had pretty consistently is a heightened anxiety, which I more or less expected.
Thanks again, I will post again as I progress.