Dr David Healy

[Claudius]

Claudious, have you NEVER been on any other meds before paxil?

Actually not really. In 1998, I used Paxil for only a short time for social issues. On a holiday in India/Nepal, I got very sick, probably from the food (everybody in the group got sick) and I decided to quit the Paxil. And had no problems with that.
Back home, some issues came back and I was prescribeed Prozac (somehow I was pretty negative about Paxil though I do not remember the details. Looking backl, I think that I got some mild form of WD after being home from holiday.
I used Prozac for maybe 2 weeks, felt better and quit. No withdrawal from the Prozac.
4 years later, I got prescribed Paxil again for a combination of work and private issues and this time it was a deadly trap...

I would still be willing to see dr. Healy to get a official diagnose from a non-ignorant doc, but also hope that WD is over for me next year so it is not necessary anymore....

[Iggy131313]

Here is the full letter from Prff Healy that has gone to my GP and he sent me a copy


Dear Dr ********

I saw Caroline and her mother in Law ****** today in the clinic. She outlines a clinical picture in which she was taking the medication that she had been prescribed (citalopram/celexa) much more inconsistently than anyone had realised (this is where I would not bother to take them until I started getting head zaps, then I would take it again)

She outlined a breathing problem that she developed that led to the prescription of citalopram and described how she was able to overcome this. She also outlined the effects of diazepam and later citalopram on her.

She took me through in detail the on again/off agin history of her citlopram intake. She outlined the veiw that you outlined in your letter that someone who had got by passably well on an ssri in the first instance was unlikely to have problems when re-exposed to it.

I have got two quick comments. One is, whilst intuitively, it makes sense that someone who has been on an SSRI at one point in time later exposed to it should not have a completely different profile of symptoms the second time around. This however does seem to happen in some cases. It seems to happen more in women than men and whether it is linked to endocrine changes or not is unclear to me.

The other is whilst it is clear that Caroline has researched SSRI dependence and withdrawal and knows alot of the buzz words that are used on the internet fairly regularly about this condition but she does in fact have dependence and withdrawal. What is impossible to judge from my meeting with her is how much things at home with her partner and general circumstances are are interacting with this (crazy, not at all!!!) But despite these potential issues I believe behind it all the dependence and withdrawal is real

I have advised her on how to reduce the current dose further, I am fairly sure that she will have difficulties and will feel a good deal worse as goes, and this problem is not going to clear up quickly but it will clear up.

At the moment there are some things she is doing that are not helping. withdrawing and remaining physically inactive in order to ''sedate her cns'' This is the wrong thing to do and will probably make the problem worse. She needs to go out and exercise to some extent in order to try to combat the problems she is having. She should not overdo the exercise or indeed the socialising but she definitly needs to do something in these areas and to build her levels of activity up slowly over time even though she may have continuing difficulties from withdrawal.

[stan]

thanks for the letter copy, Iggy,

there are so little action done by professionals, that i think this is fantastic; i think that speak the true as Healy does, he surely has problems from; for me he belongs to the heroes in psychotropics, so we tried to give him place in our site;
http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info...avid_healy.php

[Sheila]

I think I missed this yesterday? Thanks for sharing it, Iggy. I'm so glad you got some validation.

[Luc]

Same here! Saw it only now. Oh yes, the validation is *the* most important thing there is. Now you know what is really going on. It will take the blame off of yourself, and you will be able to use this energy to cope with WD and you will keep healing, Iggy.

[Iggy131313]

I thought I would do an update, firstly I dont know if anyone read my post on PP about my Drs visit after seeing Healy...here it is...


So today I was back at the GP to get a sick note after Dr Healy had written to her saying that what I was going through is REAL etc etc.

She told me she thinks I should havea second opinion from a different pdoc....she then said so Dr Healy expects you to grin and bear this for as long as it takes which could take years? You need to see another pdoc and try some different meds.

I told her I was not going to take any more meds and that she KNOWS how bad the reaction has been to me taking citalopram again...

she then said she was going to contact the health visitor to get them to come round and check that I was able to care for my child!!!!! I told her I did NOT want that and that my husband is at home FULL TIME and perfectly able to look after our son and that my sister in law lives 5 doors down from me and the rest of my family are 100% supportive and there to help.

I feel like she is being defensive, she is the one to give me these drugs in the first place and she doesnt want to take the blame, she obviously STILL doesnt belive me, she was the one who insisted I see a pdoc, I chose Dr Healy and now she thinks I should see a different pdoc, can she not see how odd it is that I have NEVER EVER had any mental health issues, she has known me for 10 years and never had any cause to question my sanity, why can she not see that what Im saying is the truth.

Anyway I told her there was no point in seeing another pdoc because I am not willing to take any meds, nothing. She gave me my sick note and I left. grrrrrrrrr
_________________

unbelievable eh?

Anyway a progress report...and I have seen very small progress, I am now feeling sleepy at night instead of being up until 3 or 4am, I now can fall asleep at 11 or 12 and I sleep right through until 11am so Im getting a good 10 or 11 hours sleep per night, I welcome break from w/d, shame Im not around to feel it though! I have decided to comprimise with my taper...Dr Healy says 0.5mg every 4 weeks, others tell me its too fast so Im doing 0.25 every 3 weeks, Im now on 1.75mg and have been for 5 days...

Loads of symptoms have given me a break for the time being, no DP/DR, no numb limbs, no auditory hallucinations, no panic attacks or supercharged anxiety, what I have now is the CONSTANT feeling on inner unease and restlessness, I am still wishing every second of every day away, I watch the clock for the passing of time becasue Im so uncomfortable in my own skin...I blame myself for this too, even though I know logically that this is just another version of what I have been feeling for the past 6 months but its horrid.

I have racing thoughts, mainly around trying to convince myself to stop thinking about w/d and try to concentrate on others things but its really impossible.

I am having headaches where I wasnt having any before, and I am still jaw clenching, twitchy eyes and urine retention, but the physical symptoms are welcome as they remind me that the mental state is surely still w/d induced and not 'the new me' I couldnt live like this, every hour lasts a week.

Christmas was of course very upsetting but at least its over now, the sad thing is that I will only be a few months off this drug by next christmas so there is No hope that next year may be better, Ill be lucky if its the same as this, which was pretty much unbearable..

Im doing everything that I can to not be a victim, going to the shops, cooking, reading etc but always distracted by w/d and how I am feeling, and everything I do is only done because it helps pass the time in the hope that TIME will indeed help me.

So I keep on walking as Luc says

[Luc]

Second opinion... She just won't admit how wrong she was/is. Not even able to comprehend that what the drugs did to you simply needs time and not more toxin that caused it. She is in for a rude awakening in the coming time as the truth about ADs will be more and more obvious.

So good to hear that there's some improvement in recent time, Iggy. It will be going this direction from now on. You will heal 100%.

[Iggy131313]

the thing that drives me mad is that IT WAS A SECOND OPINION!! I had hers, ane then Dr Healys, what she wants me to do is keep asking until I find someone who agrees with HER! and I am so not going to do that!!

Sadly I think I will get worse Luc when the Drug is out of my system, but who knows maybe as I going quite slow now It wont, I have to cling onto hope. xx

[Luc]

What dose precisely are you at now?

[Luc]

the thing that drives me mad is that IT WAS A SECOND OPINION!! I had hers, ane then Dr Healys, what she wants me to do is keep asking until I find someone who agrees with HER! and I am so not going to do that!!

Dr Healy's opinion trumps the rest. It's there, in black and white - your suffering is the result of the drugs. Your body needs time now more than anything else. No need to ask for more "opinions". You do it right, Iggy.