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How much of it is in our heads?

Posted , 4 users are following.

kalmkidd
kalmkidd

Creating this post for a POSITIVE VIEW, NOT A DEBATE. I have a degree is psychology and  I have been a active member of anxiety forums for over 15yrs. Been on almost every SSRI created. I wanna say there IS A BETTER WAY IF YOU JUST WORK HARD. I wanted to share a positive experience from coming off celexa.

 I was on 40mg for 6years. I dropped from 40 to 20mg last year as i been hitting the gym, eating healthy, and overall feeling better about life. 3 weeks ago I decided to stop completely again still hitting the gym daily, working, eating well, etc I stopped the 20mg cold turkey. the 3rd and 4th day after cold turkey I was slight confused and a bit loopy. however other than those 2 days feeling a bit odd i had ZERO withdrawl effect. no zaps, no nothing. im 3 weeks clean now and have had NO ISSUES. stay strong, stay BUSY, and the side effects will NOT beat you.

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • yommymommy79
    yommymommy79 kalmkidd

    Posted

    Hmm...tough topic...having been practically crippled with anxi7 twice in my life...which is obviously all in my head...im now on citalopram forbthe second time...and i do believe the drugs work...

    I am not one for sitting around waiting for things like this to happen to me...i am a very busy mum to 2 beautiful little boys, we have a very good life great friends and family...however for some reason...every now and then my brain my decides to act like a complete d*** head and thows me on my a**. Is that all in my head?? Not sure..

    I think 3 weeks is a short amount of time and evidence to base this post on...but in saying that well done to you and long may your success continue x x x

  • kalmkidd
    kalmkidd

    Posted

    what do you mean 3 weeks? I have been off and on meds for 15years im not at all saying im stable yet. that comes with hard work and practice. this is mainly for withdrawl purposes. as i came off 40mg what is consider the highest dose with ZERO withdrawl effects.
    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 kalmkidd

      Posted

      I sure hope that you will prove me wrong, but I'm sorry to say that protracted withdrawal from psych meds, especially after a fast taper or cold turkey, tends to not rear its ugly head until sometimes months later.   Anxiety and depression are withdrawal symptoms, but because they can occur months later, everyone thinks it is relapse.  However, there are people who were put on these drugs for issues other than anxiety/depression (pain, for instance) who end up having anxiety and depression from withdrawal.

      All I can say is that if this starts to happen to you, you can reinstate a very small amount, maybe just 2 mig, to alleviate suffering.  Spend time over at  the Surviving Antidepressants forum to see what I'm talking about.

      I wish you luck and hopefully you are one of the lucky ones.  And yes, hard work beyond drugs is a very good solution to anxiety and depression, but when in withdrawal, methods that work for authentic D&A often don't work.

      Since you have your degree in psychology, you might want to go over to that forum just to look around and see what life is like in the trenches :-)  Neuro emotions from withdrawal don't behave like their real life counterparts!

    • yommymommy79
      yommymommy79 kalmkidd

      Posted

      By 3 weeks i was referring to the time you have been off them...x x
  • katecogs
    katecogs kalmkidd

    Posted

    Personally I'd never recommend to anyone to go cold turkey.  You can be very seriously ill.  Some people on this site have done so and found out the hard way.  

    Ive come off these meds twice - first time I reduced by half each time over many months and had withdrawal effects.  The weirdest was brain zaps.

    This year I have again reduced my meds from 20mg down to 5mg by doing it at 5mg each time over many months.  I've had no withdrawal effects this time doing it this slow.

    I'm fit, healthy, and eat well - need to be as I'm a dance teacher - yet during the first time of reduction I had withdrawal despite my busy life and healthy regime.  Everyone is different and has different experiences starting the meds and stopping them.  What maybe ok for one person may make another seriously ill.

    An interesting post - really glad you're feeling well.

    K x

    • betsy0603
      betsy0603 katecogs

      Posted

      That is great, K!  I'm glad you got free of the meds successfully!  I'm glad when anyone can get free successfully!  I can't reiterate enough that people need to be really aware of the fact that WD can 1) be delayed.  You feel fine initially for weeks and even months, but then it wallops you! Unfortunately, every one thinks relapse because it is so delayed.  2) WD is not linear, being bad and then gradually getting better until you are done.  Instead, it happens in repeated waves and windows, feeling good, and then going down, then feeling good followed by going down.  For some, this can even happ

      en within a day!  

      Having awareness of this makes it so much less stressful on the person because then you are able to say "this is not me, it's withdrawal," and hang on until the next window.

      kalmkidd, I truly do wish you continued good health, not trying to denegrate your post.  Should you eventually get hit with withdrawal, at least you'll know that it is WD and not you!

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