SSRI Withdrawal

Hello all,

I've just stopped an SSRI (cipralex). I might have done it too fast. I wasn't diagnosed as bipolar when prescriped. I feel better mentally as i don't mind the mood swings but my thought process is compeltely dead and i have dystonia. Ideally i would luike to be without meds and functional. The bipolarity doesn't bother me - I've had some amazing experiecnes so far, and i would like to live with my condition. But we are considering a hospitalization so i am in a stabkle place for a bit and we can talk with doctors to see what to do. What do you guys thinlk? Any help is appreciated

Thanks a billion,
leo

Hi, Leo, and welcome to PC!

As a nurse, I would tell you to taper your antidepressant only with your doctor's knowledge, and to do it exactly as he tells you. As a patient....SSRI withdrawal SUCKS and you don't ever want to do so if you can avoid it, at least not without support.

Last summer I was having a great deal of trouble with mania so my psychiatrist asked me to attempt tapering my small daily dose of Celexa to every other day for a week, then every 2 days for a week, and then stop it altogether. I didn't even make it to week two before I hollered.......I was losing my mind!! I was hostile, irritable, and still manic as hell, and during my more lucid periods I feared my family would throw me out of the house.

Finally, I called my pdoc, said "I give up!" and was put back on my 10 mg dose. I was not, and never will be allowed to increase that dose because he does NOT like to prescribe SSRIs to his bipolar patients, and he knows the 'normal' dose will flip me right back into full-blown mania again. If I need help with depression he increases my Lamictal instead.

Now, about meds: Everyone has his/her reasons for accepting or not accepting medications, but be assured that the right med(s) will not change your personality or make you less than you are. Part of what makes us bipolar are the extremes in emotions and even the way we interpret the world; we tend to see the vivid colors of life and smell its intoxicating aromas with more intensity and appreciation.

If you're on the right stuff, that doesn't change! I'm on four different psych meds myself, and I haven't lost a bit of my enjoyment of beautiful music, art, and nature. In fact, I believe I enjoy these things even more because my mind isn't always racing onward to the next thought, the next thing to do, the next adventure.

Your mileage may vary, of course, and only you can make this decision. Just don't go off your SSRI without help, OK?

my pdoc asked me to reduce dose by half next week, and again half that is one fourth original next week...

ssri are simply horrible for bipolar patients, i never really considered suicide except during ssri withdrawal, stay safe leo

thanks all,

I've been off it a few motnhs actually, and then we took zoloft but it made it a million times worse. I'm off that now. what do I do now? thanks for the support. It's not the bipolarity that bothers me at the moment, just the inability to physically or mentally function.

ugggh why did my pdoc not try to take me off mine, then?

Hello, Leo, since your psychiatrist has ideas about your going into the hospital for treatment, he must have some reasons to think that your medications may need to be changes and that you might need some additional counseling. I'd follow his advice carefully, although you've been given some expert advice already on the forum from those who know how the SSRIs affected their well-being.

I'm surprised really to hear you say that bipolar illness never bothered you with its
ups and downs. It even makes me wonder if you might not have something else
going on, too, because some of the major symptoms of bipolar illness are the discomforts
we sustain because of the feeling tone that is part of the illness.

It's really best for you to be in the hospital and get it all properly diagnosed, treated,
and discussed so that you come out of the stay there with a good perspective on what you need to to do remain stable. That's the most important thing.

Hope you feel much better after the visit there. And please listen to the folks here
who advise you about slowly removing medications with doctors' approval only. They
been there and know what it can be like.

Take care of yourself.

ssri itself is not enough, that is why pdoc prescribe cocktail of meds. as long as you are taking other meds with ssri, it is ok i think. but then i am not doc so...