Hi there!
This is going to be a long post so please bear with me! I had postnatal depression after the birth of my son in 2007...undiagnosed for 11 months, I was started on Citalopram which was fab. I recovered on that and then decided to stop it, I had no withdrawals and stopped it with no problems.

Move forward - December 2010 and the birth of my 2nd son, 8 hours of post birth agitation, crying, depression, hysteria...all started within an hour of birth - must've been my hormones! I was seen by the mental health midwife team and because of my history of PND previously was started on Sertraline 50mg (the only AD they recommended for a breastfeeding mother!).

I started it 3 days later as there was a delay in getting the tablets despite the fact that with one dose of diazepam, 4 hours of sleep and within 24 hours of giving birth I felt much better...I got through the next few days absolutely fine. It was a week after starting Sertraline I suddenly woke up with the worst sweating and anxiety and panic EVER!

I did consider stopping them but after a visit to the G.P. - in fact I saw my Dr every day for a week...he convinced me it was depression and anxiety and to carry on with the meds. Within 10 days of starting them I was admitted to a psychiatric mother and baby unit for 'management' My sertraline was increased even though the symptoms had started to get better...again exactly a week after the increase in dose all the symptoms came back worse resulting in a further increase until I was on the maximum 200mg.

After about 3 weeks I was still suffering the anxiety symptoms although the symptoms were mostly physical not psychological. Plus hearing, and eye sight disturbances, dizzyness, nausea, slowed heart rate, low blood pressure. Eventually these things got easier but I was still weepy and 'depressed'. So they decided to 'kick start' the AD with an antipsychotic - Risperidone, 1mg.
I started with tiredness and after a few weeks muscle aches - I was given procyclidine which I took (and still do to help with the leg stiffness).

Got out of hospital after 3 months better but not right. Mood swings...mood up and down..super happy one week, depressed the next, lack of energy and motivation, unable to function normally.
August 2012 - suicide attempt. I saw my psychiatrist and it was decided to change my AD to mirtazipine...weaned down the sertraline as instructed over 3 weeks then stopped. Started the mirt. at the same time as weaning the sertraline.

Result..sudden increase in physical symptoms of anxiety and sweating...got really bad about a week after stopping sertraline for about 3 days then went back to the level it was at when it started. I decided maybe it was the effect of the mirt. so under advice of my psychiatrist weaned off the mirt. Had 2 weeks of horrendous withdrawals then the anxiety went back to the level it had been at before I weaned the mirt. So no we were thinking had the sertraline been masking side effects of risperidone and when I changed to mirt. they surfaced???

Decided to wean the rispiradone as I had started with muscle tremors, sweating, nausea all in the mornings starting about 6am til 10 or 11 am, always at the same time and never at any other point in the day...I did it quite quickly, a few days after dropping the dose by a tiny amount I would get increase in anxiety symptoms then it would go back to what it had been and so I would then drop the dose again after about a week of it being at the 'normal'level. Im now off the risperidone for about 25 days and the tremors are no better neither is the anxiety. My muscles are stiff and painful somedays. I never had any of this before meds.

I had a couple of good days with hardly any tremors or anxiety day 11 and 12 after stopping the risperidone so I thought I was starting to recover from the withdrawal.

Thanks for reading, any advice or alternative therapy advice would be appreciated. I know I am suffering and maybe have stopped the risperidone +/ the other meds a little too quickly but I don't want to go back on it at all as the other effects I was getting combined with what Im getting now would be too much to tolerate.

If I had known about tapering before stopping these meds I would have done it a lot slower but what is done is done I suppose.

I'm hoping this will end soon and any knowledge from people who have gone through it would be helpful :)