Does anyone here have any experience with this? My 30 year old stepson just stopped taking Zoloft after being on it for several (3-4+?) years under a doctor’s care. He was also taking prescribed Soboxone at the same time. He went to a facility for four days to come off of that. He left there AMA because he hated the place and felt good. (His goal is to get off of everything for at least a little while. He has tried self-medicating with various things and, as to be expected, that didn’t work out) A couple of days later he went downhill and has been staying with us for about a week. He has been, basically, a bed-ridden zombie. He has almost all of the symptoms of the syndrome but doesn’t seem to be getting any better. From what I’ve read the symptoms normally pass pretty quickly. So far, for him, they are not. His is seeing his psychiatrist today so maybe there will be some good news. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
I am not seeking medical advice, just looking for the experiences of others.
I experienced eye zaps and dissociation for a couple weeks after stopping citalopram, and I’d only been taking it for about a month. Trying to cold turkey off a med like that is a really bad idea. However, given the chance to do it again, I’m not sure I’d do anything differently. The inability to orgasm was far worse than my depression, and thankfully I regained that fairly quickly after stopping the drug.
I went through it multiple times, including once after having taken Zoloft for a comparable length of time. The first few days were definitely the worst, followed by a very gradual subsiding of symptoms that lasted for several weeks. It took at least a month or two for the “brain zaps” to diminish significantly, and at least three or four months before they stopped completely.
It was very uncomfortable, but I was never a “bed-ridden zombie” (although a few days in bed certainly would’ve been welcome, at the beginning).
Mileage varies, however, and his situation could well be complicated by also quitting Suboxone (which I assume was prescribed due to opiate abuse).
Mike, I was given Zoloft in 1997 when my youngest 2 kids were 2 and 3 years of age. I used to be able to calculate math in my head like a calculator, but after a couple months on Zoloft, I lost that ability and it never came back.
Also, when I stopped it, I had this incapacitating feeling, like my head felt swollen in the inside and I was in a fog. I had to keep still or I felt nauseated and dizzy. I had stopped the medication cold-turkey, so about 4 days into the withdrawals, I took 1 pill – the horrible withdrawals went away and never came back.
In hindsight, I wasn’t that depressed…just a young mother with a lot on her plate, but I had an OB-GYN who said that SSRIs need to be put in the nation’s water supply. Whatever. I’m still angry about the loss in cognitive function. It seems people who really need meds are underprescribed and those of us who could do without them are overprescribed. I am NOT a fan of the medical practices we have here in the U.S.
Also, as Rachellelogram mentioned, quitting cold turkey causes much more severe symptoms than tapering off. When I finally quit SSRIs altogether, I tapered from Celexa over a period of two months and while it still wasn’t fun, it was a lot easier to take than stopping cold had been.
If he gave up suboxone at the same time then cold turkey from that takes weeks to months - generally people say it’s worst about a week to a fortnight in. Plus it’s an anti-depressant as well, at least for the people who end up on it.
So a lot of that could be mixed in as well as giving up the anti depressants. Any reason he’s giving up both at the same time?
I am not familiar with Soboxone, but a quick internet search tells me its for opiate addiction. My guess is that the med problems your step-son is experiencing is due from the Suboxone withdrawals and his having addictive behaviors that caused him to need the Suboxone in the first place. Is it possible for a former opiate addict to ever be free of all drugs? I thought addictions were to be managed and cannot be cured? He may need to stop the Zoloft but continue the Suboxone.
That sounds more like Suboxone withdrawal, not AD withdrawal. Narcotics withdrawals can cause severe depressive symptoms (mentally and physically) for months (sometimes longer). Sounds like he needed a more monitored (and much slower) taper from all of that. His body is probably in shock and trying to make up for all of the “feel good neurotransmitters” that it doesn’t supply on it’s own anymore.
Every time I forget my Celexa I get cranky and my wife notices. But the one time I tried going off it completely and replacing it with Effexor, I had severe bouts of depression and experienced very unpleasant mood swings. Within two weeks I went back to the doctor to go back on the Celexa. T
I was trying to go off Celexa per my doctor’s instructions to ween off of it. I had been taking 10 mg for about 3 months. After about 2 days I felt the worst hopeless depression I’ve ever felt; far worse than the depression I started taking the medication for in the first place. I was consumed with thoughts of suicide even though everything had been great just a few days earlier. I started back on the Celexa and started Wellbutrin immediately and within a few days I was feeling ok.
I’ve stopped Paxil twice cold turkey and had mild symptoms, but nothing that prevented me from going to work and doing my usual stuff. I guess it’s different for everyone.
Does anyone hate how we have allowed pharmaceutical companies to manipulate language? Discontinuation syndrome? Oh you mean like withdrawal, the word that has been in use forever to describe symptoms experienced when stopping use of a drug?
My heroin dealer told me the symptoms I was experiencing were heroin discontinuation syndrome, and he had just the thing for that!
Thanks for the replies. Yes, the Suboxone was from opiate addiction - I think he was depressed and tinkered various “street bought” prescription opiates. Fortunately, no heroin although the legal stuff is almost as bad. He was on methadone for quite a while and took himself off that after tapering. I’m not really sure when he started the Suboxone but it was under doctors orders. He’s been on and off so many things I couldn’t keep track. He talks to his mother about these things, not me. He was in his mid-teens when she and I first got together and he’s never confided in me about this stuff. That’s O.K. with me. I know he feels embarrassed and mom was a psych nurse earlier in her career and is much more fluent on the topic than I.
I think he went cold turkey because he fed up with the constant “not feeling right” (and increasing doses on his own to the point he was running out and the script was weeks from being ready to be re-filled) and wanted to start from scratch. He even said that he feels like a guinea pig with all the meds he’s tried. It doesn’t help that it takes weeks before you know if something is working or not. The more I read about Suboxone the worse coming off it seems. I was thinking he might come of it but be on Zoloft or whatever forever but maybe its going to be the other way around. Depression and addictive personality do not a good combination make.
He never made to to the doc yesterday because he, literally, could not get out of bed and make the trip. He’s eating a bit more now so maybe that’s a good sign. While I’ve never seen someone go through heroin withdrawal, this seems worse if only for the duration.
It never bothered me before I went on then off of benzos. Now I take my medicine religiously on time, to the point that I have an alarm clock to tell me to do it. If I don’t, I feel horrible for a few weeks to a month. Nothing compared to benzo withdrawal, but still sucky to deal with.
What sucks is that I’m not sure it’s retained it’s previous level of effectiveness, and would consider switching if not for this issue. I can’t even up the dose without feeling horrible for a long time.
There is a company called Point of Return that has lots of vitamin packages that help people come off of psychiatric medications. You can look them up online or I can give you the number. It’s best to come off medication slowly, under the supervision of a doctor.
I’m on Effexor XR, and missing even 1 dose results in severe headaches, anxiety, and horrid nightmares. I am on a high dose (300mg), but this drug is known to have a bad withdrawal syndrome in general. I’ve also been through the benzo nightmare (months and month of agony using a slow, supervised taper).
I did not have any side effects coming off of: Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin
