Hi there! 16 years of antidepressants and other medication...

[stan]

hello Sterre,

glad you are off, but be careful, if you feel very bad, do not hesitate to come back on a dose as Claudius said, because it can be hell suffering,

[sterre]

Thanks for your concerns Stan and Claudius,

I still feel very bad, but I dont want to go back on another tapering shedule. I have tapered so slowly and carefully, I have enough of the meds, I dont want to take them any longer.

I will see how long this will continue, maybe I f I am lucky it will dissapear within a couple of days, hopefully.

I t is ridiculuos that I suffer WD symptoms with this intensity after taking a dosage of 3 mg for two weeks....I did not expect this.

[stan]

i had to reinstate maybe 4 mg, then 2 at the end, it was too hell, and finally successes (in tapering)

[sterre]

If the WD symptoms stay severe I will consider to start a slower tapering shedule.

Thanks for your input Stan!

How did you manage to taper of that slowly? Did you use the proces to dilute the meds? And when you came of of the 2 mg there where no WD symptoms?

[stan]

i had liquid celexa(=seropram=citalopram) because the doc switched me on after i made a failure of 1,5 month taper 12 years paxil(deroxat=seroxat)
i tapered 11 months with the help of a syringue 1.0 ml and the dose was 0,04 ml each time;
so my last dose was 0,04 ml=1,28 mg celexa
my taper was a kind of copy as manual Ashton, to quick

after the 0 ml days were strange but manageable, some problems appear a few days after, then weeks after more problems and months after akathisia worse and many problems in all body, shortness of breath, diaphragm, pains, depression, agoraphobia etc...
apparently for some people as i it is worse as months follow
but i see people who do not suffer as much as i, many have not all the stuff muscles, breathing, and problems to stand or walk

[sterre]

I am so sorry to read you are still suffering WD symptoms Stan!

I hope I wont get it.

I tapered of in a little more than 12 months. For the medication I took there is no liquid form available and I looked at the "do it yourself"instruction movie where you can dillute your meds to do an even smaller tapering, but it looks like I have to buy half a pharmacy, and become a chemical analist ;-) to do that.

The more I read about the meds, the more I want them out of my body and brains.a.s.a.p.!
I am going to sit this ride out, and luckely for today I feel better than I did yesterday. I know that It can switch any minute of the day, but for now I am feeling well again.

[Claudius]

The more I read about the meds, the more I want them out of my body and brains.a.s.a.p.!

Sterre I do not need to tell you that this is the biggest culprit. Everybody wants them "out of their system" but you know it does not work that way. The faster you get them "out of your system", the harder, longer lasting and less bearable the WD symptoms will be.
So I think that you should consider tapering off the last tiny dose, which is apparently not so tiny for your body. Difficulties measuring the dose can never be an argument to not taper off, as I told you I am a chemist and can help you if you want. If you want to ride out your "mini-cold-turkey" I really hope you escape the hell I and many others had to endure.

[Cosette123]

Sterre I do not need to tell you that this is the biggest culprit. Everybody wants them "out of their system" but you know it does not work that way. The faster you get them "out of your system", the harder, longer lasting and less bearable the WD symptoms will be.
So I think that you should consider tapering off the last tiny dose, which is apparently not so tiny for your body. Difficulties measuring the dose can never be an argument to not taper off, as I told you I am a chemist and can help you if you want. If you want to ride out your "mini-cold-turkey" I really hope you escape the hell I and many others had to endure.

I was too convinced that when the meds will be "out of system" I will be free and I will no longer suffer. After 7 years on Paxil I quitted cold turkey in one week! It was a huge mistake...

[Claudius]

Yes many us made that mistake, I made it not once but maybe 5-6 times and each time had to get back to the drug and still did not get the message... although I would immedaitely have understood it if my doctor had explained about the w/d syndrome... but the a$$h0le did not know about it...
I would really burn my last penny if I could rewind the time and taper properly in early 2005, my first attempt to quit. How would things have gone in that case??? One moment of awareness, one moment of taking a patient seriously, one sentence of my doctor could have been the difference and could have spared me for numerous horrific CT attempts and finally an almost deadly protracted withdrawal...
I can only warn others not to go c/t, not even from a low dose. Taper down until a microscopic dose is what I will always advice!

[sterre]

I want to thank you for your caring concern, I apriciate it very much!

My last dose of tapering was 3 mg, for 8 days, then I switched to zero.

The problem I encounter with tapering the 3 mg untill I am to 1 mg or less, is that it prolongs my WD symptoms.
It seems like every time I stabalise myself on a lower dose, it takes me weeks/ months to find a balance before I was able to taper off any further.

It looks like once my body is adjusted to the lower dose, it will react like it is a full blown dose, making the tapering a constant proces filled with WD symptoms.

So if I give my body enough time to adjust to a lower dose, the WD symptoms get more severe when I taper, because my body reacts like it is a high ( full blown ) dose.
So even if I would taper the 3 mg down more slowly and would be on 1 mg, I will experience WD symptoms. I think it is inevitable for me to not suffer WD symptoms, everytime I do a tapering.

This last year has been so hard because I suffered WD symptoms for so long, and I dont want to put myself trough that again. Therefor I decided to ride this one out. At this moment it is a calm periode in my life, there or not much external stressors, and I think it is the right time to let go of the final dose, wich I did.

If I suffer WD symptoms now, I understand where it is coming from, and therefor I feel much more secure and able to cope with the WD symptoms.

I had mildly to severe WD symptoms yesterday, but today I allready feel a bit better. I will see how it goes from here.

I just want to get of of them and be done with the headaches, metallic feeling and taste, the dizzy spels, and the foggy de-realisation. I have had enough of them for more than a year. I felt sick for most of the time in the last year, I dont want that anymore.