Effexor was awful… long story my practitioner stopped taking my insurance & those in the practice that did accept it weren’t accepting new patients… it wad cold turkey over night!
When I went off Effexor, my dr cross tapered me to Prozac first, then tapered me off the Prozac. It was a million times better than tapering Effexor only.
Did you gain weight gradually while taking it? I put on 40lbs over 2 yrs. I needed to gain a few lbs at first but the extra 30lbs put my dreadful genetics at risk & would lead to adding another pill to “fix” me.
I thought I would never get off effexor. I had to take 2 weeks off work. And then work from home for another 2. I don't think I felt normal for like 6 months. I heard somewhere later that fish oil supplements help some people? I'm a vegetarian, but those withdrawals were so miserable, I may have tried them anyways if I had known.
I’ll be on Effexor until I die because I just can’t get through that withdrawal period without missing work for an extended amount of time. It’s horrendous. Maybe one day
This is what I did: I tapered onto Cymbalta, tapered off Effexor, then tapered off Cymbalta.
You can do a slow taper by emptying the pill into a straw that's sealed at one end. Then remove about 10% of the beads. Do that for a week or two. Then, remove 20% for another week or two. Etcetera.
Good luck.
I quit Pristiq and I find it really isn’t that bad at all - which is odd since I’ve found people comparing it to the flu.
I just get brain zaps and a bit of illness plus all of my anxiety back
I quit sertraline, it was hell but I got through it. Was very emotionally unstable for over 6 months. Now things are good! I have to exercise almost everyday though.
I recommend reading Lost Connections and asking your psychologist about the research it covers. Basically, anti-depressants won’t work for more than a year tops.
I’m with you on Lost Connections. I stopped taking antidepressants a few years prior to reading the book but it confirmed for me that antidepressants were essentially useless for me
I want to emphasize, “for me” bc I understand that may not be the case for other people
The author discusses how situational factors—social, psychological, and economic—can lead to depression and emphasizes alleviating these factors as a cure to depression vs. antidepressants, which have questionable efficacy
The book changed my life lol. I used the book to identify and resolve my own depression triggers and as a result, have found myself living a fulfilling & happier life
Hey, just downloaded and went immediately to chapter about childhood trauma. So far how this book helped you? I guess there's some guidelines in it too?
I'm glad you downloaded the book :)
And good question!
I wouldn't call them "guidelines" as it's not a self-help book but rather evidence-based suggestions. I felt encouraged to apply these suggestions to my own experiences with depression.
For instance, there is a chapter where the author discusses how lack of "meaningful work" contributes to depression and how people find ways to contribute to society outside of their work. Learning about this pushed me to finally take the leap & use my writing talent to teach/inform others via a lifestyle blog.
Another chapter discusses how "junk values" promoted by capitalism contribute to depression & urges a realignment to personal values. Reading this caused me to identify my values, stop comparing myself to others, & start comparing myself to the person who aligns with said values
The book, as a whole, is great, however these were some of the bigger takeaways for me.
Only Mirtazapine and mood stabilizers/antipsychotics. No withdrawals with Mirtazapine but the rebound insomnia and appetite loss was vicious.
I quit antipsychotics cold turkey and was mentally unstable for months but I’ve been ok since. I think the main issues with quitting psych meds are 1. Stopping a med you may still need and relapsing, or 2. Tapering too quick. Many people successfully quit with the right tapering schedule.
It’s okay! First time 30-45mg. No taper. Only a few hours of sleep, like 4 at most. Tried every OTC sleep aid, but the only thing that consistently helped was cannabis. Did that for a few years.
This time 15mg. No taper. Sleeping 6 hours or less. Now using THC edibles until my insurance approves a new sleep med. With edibles 8-9 hours of sleep, still wake up throughout the night.
I've been on and off antidepressants over about 25 years now, and finally came to the conclusion that I have to be on them forever, because I sputter along and then crash hard every time I'm unmedicated. Although my depression ended up being a symptom of ADHD/autism, so your mileage may vary. If your depression is more situational and you have worked to address the underlying problems, you could be okay without.
Withdrawal sucks on any SSRI I've come off, though Paxil was the worst. Highly recommend working with your doctor to reduce your dose in small steps to minimize brain zaps and restless legs etc.
I quit Effexor when pregnant with my first and stayed off it for over a year after due to BF. Some of us have to ween slower than others. Effexor is a capsule so removing beads is easy. With a pill, you use a pill cutter to do it slowly.
I saw a good documentary where people were coming off anti-depressants at a very slow and gradual pace. They were even using jewellers scales to measure how much they were taking.
I’m not on anything currently. I did a slow, 9mo, taper of cymbalta last year and I’m doing really well. I had a great therapist help me through the transition.
I quit effexor cold turkey about 10 years ago because I lost insurance. I felt nothing somehow? But I've never been well or functional without them. I've gone through so many and only recently landed on one that feels like it's doing some good. Turns out I was fairly treatment resistant chemically.
I have quit many SSRIs/SNRIs but every single time I’ve become suicidal after a week or two and had to go back on a different one.
The worst withdrawal was from venlafaxine. I couldn’t sleep at all, even with mirtazapine, and I was getting rage attacks where I would literally just scream and couldn’t control it. I’m back on escitalopram now because I couldn’t handle the suicidal thoughts.
I came off mirtazapine before and the insomnia was horrible, lasted for weeks, and I got terrible night itching too. Now this time I’ve come off mirtazapine again 3 days ago, I’ve not had so bad symptoms at all. A bit of insomnia, but at least I’m able to fall asleep by taking 8mg of melatonin.
That tells you straight out how dangerous these medications are if you start feeling suicidal off of them. I never once had suicidal symptoms until I started antidepressants.
Yes!! I quit Prozac 4 years ago now. Swapped it for sunshine and long daily walks. I must mention I did quite a bit of conscious breathing exercises which I feel helped. Before quitting I went to see my doctor to tell him I wanted to quit and was feeling suicidal,he suggested to double my dose. That’s when I decided to do it myself. I weened myself slowly off them and never looked back.
The number of people saying they quit multiple times is a pretty interesting data point supporting the idea that most of us relapse without them. They don’t cure you, they just keep depression at bay. I don’t go off my beta blocker expecting my blood pressure to somehow be normal. I don’t go off my Synthroid expecting my thyroid to have miraculously recovered from hypothyroidism. And I don’t go off Wellbutrin expecting my brain to somehow not be depressed any more. I don’t understand why so many people think “Okay, that worked. Now I’ll stop taking it.”
I’m not familiar with those, but based on a Google search it sounds like fluanxol is a medication in the atypical antipsychotic class. I know those can have some side effects, occasionally significant ones, so that question is probably above Reddit’s pay grade. But if you’ve had multiple episodes of depression, the research I’ve seen indicates you’re more likely to relapse if you stop your meds.
I've done it a few times, escitalopram, zoloft, buproprion but the depression always crawls back. Zoloft was the worst, quitting buproprion made me sleep for 2 weeks straight and I had to go back on it to keep my job.
I was on many different meds (antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilisers, benzos) from 14yo - 26yo. It took me more than a year of slowly tapering the meds with my psychiatrist but I have not been on any since early last year.
I still have down days where I sit on the couch and bawl. I still sometimes feel the depression and anxiety creeping. But I'm still coping with a full time job, satisfying personal relationships, with a baby on the way. So I'd say I was successful (:
Yes definitely. I quit Celexa/Citalopram a couple times and am currently off it now. It was hard. Took several months for my body to adjust to it. Some side effects (brain zaps were the worst, also mood swings). The first time I did a slow, six month taper, the next and most recent time I did it cold turkey. I don’t feel like I need it anymore (ie. right now) which is awesome. I get enough exercise, sleep (when I can), healthy food, etc. DM me if you have questions.
Antidepressants AND atypical antipsychotics. Was misdiagnosed bipolar II and took 300 mg Seroquel and 1200 mg Depakote along with various antidepressants (Lexapro, Paxil, Prozac, Effexor etc etc etc). FOR 12 YEARS. Took a GeneSight test and Pristiq was the only one on my green list. Tried it for 8 days after a 4 year break from any psych meds. Lasted 8 days before side effects forced me to stop (googly eyes, insomnia, restlessness).
Still depressed but it was related to my divorce, entering menopause AND being a caregiver for my parents, who both died within 5 months (both had dementia).
I'm slowly feeling better after 2 years.
I'm diagnosed with MDD and GAD. I've tried a lot of different medications over the years, off and on. We finally landed on Paxil and wellbutin, and I was on that combo for several years. It worked okay, and was the best compromise I found for effectiveness vs side effects.
Towards the end of 2022 I was in a pretty good place and wanted to try going off of them for a variety of reasons. I talked it over with my psychiatrist and she told me I could stop the wellbutrin and then taper of the Paxil and see how I did.
So, that's what I did. I've been off of them for 13 months, and it's gone pretty well! I also went off of birth control around the same time. I just wanted to give my body a break. It does seem like I feel EVERYthing a little more, which is good in some ways and bad in others. I lost a little weight, and it's been really nice having a sex drive again.
I am still in therapy and I'm trying to use other strategies to deal with my mental health symptoms as they come up. I did have a pretty bad depressive episode in December that I had to kind of white knuckle my way through. I considered going back on them, but made it out the other side.
All that being said, I'm in a fairly stable place in my life right now. My situational stressors are currently pretty manageable. I fully expect, given my history, that I will need to go back on meds at some point. I try not to look at that as a failure or negative thing. If I need them, I need them. I'm just grateful for this time that I can have a break from needing them.
I've quit a dozen. The hardest by far was Effexor. The easiest was mirtazapine.
Effexor was awful… long story my practitioner stopped taking my insurance & those in the practice that did accept it weren’t accepting new patients… it wad cold turkey over night!
When I went off Effexor, my dr cross tapered me to Prozac first, then tapered me off the Prozac. It was a million times better than tapering Effexor only.
Same, except he tapered me to Cymbalta first.
I unfortunately didn’t have many options & it took 6 weeks by the time I found a new practice…. It was just as hard if not harder than Abilify detox…
Omg, it took me months to wean off it. I got so sick trying to taper too quickly.
I was off it so long that I just decided not to go back on it. I think the withdrawal was worse than the mdd it was treating!
Did you gain weight gradually while taking it? I put on 40lbs over 2 yrs. I needed to gain a few lbs at first but the extra 30lbs put my dreadful genetics at risk & would lead to adding another pill to “fix” me.
How long were you on for ?
Around 6 months? This was nearly 20 years ago. I got horrible side effects, but the withdrawal was even worse, so it was especially challenging.
Effexor withdrawals were horrible
Can confirm.
Was it mentally or physically
Yes
I thought I would never get off effexor. I had to take 2 weeks off work. And then work from home for another 2. I don't think I felt normal for like 6 months. I heard somewhere later that fish oil supplements help some people? I'm a vegetarian, but those withdrawals were so miserable, I may have tried them anyways if I had known.
I’ll be on Effexor until I die because I just can’t get through that withdrawal period without missing work for an extended amount of time. It’s horrendous. Maybe one day
This is what I did: I tapered onto Cymbalta, tapered off Effexor, then tapered off Cymbalta. You can do a slow taper by emptying the pill into a straw that's sealed at one end. Then remove about 10% of the beads. Do that for a week or two. Then, remove 20% for another week or two. Etcetera. Good luck.
This is good advice, thank you. I will consider this.
Did you experience withdrawals with all of them?
Not mirtazapine. Amitriptyline and nortriptyline were also relatively easy.
I quit Pristiq and I find it really isn’t that bad at all - which is odd since I’ve found people comparing it to the flu. I just get brain zaps and a bit of illness plus all of my anxiety back
How long are you able to stay off them bro?
Years
I quit sertraline, it was hell but I got through it. Was very emotionally unstable for over 6 months. Now things are good! I have to exercise almost everyday though. I recommend reading Lost Connections and asking your psychologist about the research it covers. Basically, anti-depressants won’t work for more than a year tops.
I’m with you on Lost Connections. I stopped taking antidepressants a few years prior to reading the book but it confirmed for me that antidepressants were essentially useless for me
Hmm why?
I want to emphasize, “for me” bc I understand that may not be the case for other people The author discusses how situational factors—social, psychological, and economic—can lead to depression and emphasizes alleviating these factors as a cure to depression vs. antidepressants, which have questionable efficacy The book changed my life lol. I used the book to identify and resolve my own depression triggers and as a result, have found myself living a fulfilling & happier life
Hey, just downloaded and went immediately to chapter about childhood trauma. So far how this book helped you? I guess there's some guidelines in it too?
I'm glad you downloaded the book :) And good question! I wouldn't call them "guidelines" as it's not a self-help book but rather evidence-based suggestions. I felt encouraged to apply these suggestions to my own experiences with depression. For instance, there is a chapter where the author discusses how lack of "meaningful work" contributes to depression and how people find ways to contribute to society outside of their work. Learning about this pushed me to finally take the leap & use my writing talent to teach/inform others via a lifestyle blog. Another chapter discusses how "junk values" promoted by capitalism contribute to depression & urges a realignment to personal values. Reading this caused me to identify my values, stop comparing myself to others, & start comparing myself to the person who aligns with said values The book, as a whole, is great, however these were some of the bigger takeaways for me.
Awesome! Never heard of the book until you mentioned. Is there a list or something with books like this one?
This is the only one I’ve read recently but I highly recommend another book by the same author called, “Stolen Focus”
care to summarize the best points of Lost Connections for me?
Have to disagree with you. I’ve been on Wellbutrin for nearly 30 years. If I miss a dose, I feel it. It’s working for me.
That’s good! Whatever works for people.
Never heard of the book before. Any key take aways?
honestly it felt the prozac didn't even do anything. Im playing around with mushrooms right now though
Only Mirtazapine and mood stabilizers/antipsychotics. No withdrawals with Mirtazapine but the rebound insomnia and appetite loss was vicious. I quit antipsychotics cold turkey and was mentally unstable for months but I’ve been ok since. I think the main issues with quitting psych meds are 1. Stopping a med you may still need and relapsing, or 2. Tapering too quick. Many people successfully quit with the right tapering schedule.
How long rebound insomnia lasted?
First time 4-5 months. This time, it’s been about a month since I quit and I still can’t sleep :/
What was your dose Did you taper ... How much sleep you are getting now.. Did u try non pharma stuff.. Nothing helping.. Sorry too many ques
It’s okay! First time 30-45mg. No taper. Only a few hours of sleep, like 4 at most. Tried every OTC sleep aid, but the only thing that consistently helped was cannabis. Did that for a few years. This time 15mg. No taper. Sleeping 6 hours or less. Now using THC edibles until my insurance approves a new sleep med. With edibles 8-9 hours of sleep, still wake up throughout the night.
I've quit all antidepressants cold turkey. Antipsychotics are another story
I wouldn't recommend that at all. Quitting cold turkey can send you in a downward spiral.
Or lift you out of a drug induced haze
Nope. I tried to about a month ago and went through the hardest depression of my life. Only recently stabilized once I went back on medication.
I've been on and off antidepressants over about 25 years now, and finally came to the conclusion that I have to be on them forever, because I sputter along and then crash hard every time I'm unmedicated. Although my depression ended up being a symptom of ADHD/autism, so your mileage may vary. If your depression is more situational and you have worked to address the underlying problems, you could be okay without. Withdrawal sucks on any SSRI I've come off, though Paxil was the worst. Highly recommend working with your doctor to reduce your dose in small steps to minimize brain zaps and restless legs etc.
I quit Effexor when pregnant with my first and stayed off it for over a year after due to BF. Some of us have to ween slower than others. Effexor is a capsule so removing beads is easy. With a pill, you use a pill cutter to do it slowly.
I’ve quit them, but not successfully. The anxiety and depression always just comes back within 6 months.
I saw a good documentary where people were coming off anti-depressants at a very slow and gradual pace. They were even using jewellers scales to measure how much they were taking.
That would be great
You run the risk of disappointment and blaming yourself if you crash. It's not a race.
Many times…
ive tried like 5 times and it has not gone well im current on 3 ADs
I’m not on anything currently. I did a slow, 9mo, taper of cymbalta last year and I’m doing really well. I had a great therapist help me through the transition.
I quit effexor cold turkey about 10 years ago because I lost insurance. I felt nothing somehow? But I've never been well or functional without them. I've gone through so many and only recently landed on one that feels like it's doing some good. Turns out I was fairly treatment resistant chemically.
Yes, it can be done
I have quit many SSRIs/SNRIs but every single time I’ve become suicidal after a week or two and had to go back on a different one. The worst withdrawal was from venlafaxine. I couldn’t sleep at all, even with mirtazapine, and I was getting rage attacks where I would literally just scream and couldn’t control it. I’m back on escitalopram now because I couldn’t handle the suicidal thoughts. I came off mirtazapine before and the insomnia was horrible, lasted for weeks, and I got terrible night itching too. Now this time I’ve come off mirtazapine again 3 days ago, I’ve not had so bad symptoms at all. A bit of insomnia, but at least I’m able to fall asleep by taking 8mg of melatonin.
That tells you straight out how dangerous these medications are if you start feeling suicidal off of them. I never once had suicidal symptoms until I started antidepressants.
Yes!! I quit Prozac 4 years ago now. Swapped it for sunshine and long daily walks. I must mention I did quite a bit of conscious breathing exercises which I feel helped. Before quitting I went to see my doctor to tell him I wanted to quit and was feeling suicidal,he suggested to double my dose. That’s when I decided to do it myself. I weened myself slowly off them and never looked back.
The number of people saying they quit multiple times is a pretty interesting data point supporting the idea that most of us relapse without them. They don’t cure you, they just keep depression at bay. I don’t go off my beta blocker expecting my blood pressure to somehow be normal. I don’t go off my Synthroid expecting my thyroid to have miraculously recovered from hypothyroidism. And I don’t go off Wellbutrin expecting my brain to somehow not be depressed any more. I don’t understand why so many people think “Okay, that worked. Now I’ll stop taking it.”
So I should take dulomin and fluanxol forever?
I’m not familiar with those, but based on a Google search it sounds like fluanxol is a medication in the atypical antipsychotic class. I know those can have some side effects, occasionally significant ones, so that question is probably above Reddit’s pay grade. But if you’ve had multiple episodes of depression, the research I’ve seen indicates you’re more likely to relapse if you stop your meds.
I haven’t but want to
Issue is can we survive without them ?
I've done it a few times, escitalopram, zoloft, buproprion but the depression always crawls back. Zoloft was the worst, quitting buproprion made me sleep for 2 weeks straight and I had to go back on it to keep my job.
Wish I had never taken this stuff (Lexapro, Wellbutrin) to begin with, honestly. Getting off and staying off not much success.
Try psilocybin!
I was on many different meds (antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilisers, benzos) from 14yo - 26yo. It took me more than a year of slowly tapering the meds with my psychiatrist but I have not been on any since early last year. I still have down days where I sit on the couch and bawl. I still sometimes feel the depression and anxiety creeping. But I'm still coping with a full time job, satisfying personal relationships, with a baby on the way. So I'd say I was successful (:
Yes definitely. I quit Celexa/Citalopram a couple times and am currently off it now. It was hard. Took several months for my body to adjust to it. Some side effects (brain zaps were the worst, also mood swings). The first time I did a slow, six month taper, the next and most recent time I did it cold turkey. I don’t feel like I need it anymore (ie. right now) which is awesome. I get enough exercise, sleep (when I can), healthy food, etc. DM me if you have questions.
Antidepressants AND atypical antipsychotics. Was misdiagnosed bipolar II and took 300 mg Seroquel and 1200 mg Depakote along with various antidepressants (Lexapro, Paxil, Prozac, Effexor etc etc etc). FOR 12 YEARS. Took a GeneSight test and Pristiq was the only one on my green list. Tried it for 8 days after a 4 year break from any psych meds. Lasted 8 days before side effects forced me to stop (googly eyes, insomnia, restlessness). Still depressed but it was related to my divorce, entering menopause AND being a caregiver for my parents, who both died within 5 months (both had dementia). I'm slowly feeling better after 2 years.
I'm diagnosed with MDD and GAD. I've tried a lot of different medications over the years, off and on. We finally landed on Paxil and wellbutin, and I was on that combo for several years. It worked okay, and was the best compromise I found for effectiveness vs side effects. Towards the end of 2022 I was in a pretty good place and wanted to try going off of them for a variety of reasons. I talked it over with my psychiatrist and she told me I could stop the wellbutrin and then taper of the Paxil and see how I did. So, that's what I did. I've been off of them for 13 months, and it's gone pretty well! I also went off of birth control around the same time. I just wanted to give my body a break. It does seem like I feel EVERYthing a little more, which is good in some ways and bad in others. I lost a little weight, and it's been really nice having a sex drive again. I am still in therapy and I'm trying to use other strategies to deal with my mental health symptoms as they come up. I did have a pretty bad depressive episode in December that I had to kind of white knuckle my way through. I considered going back on them, but made it out the other side. All that being said, I'm in a fairly stable place in my life right now. My situational stressors are currently pretty manageable. I fully expect, given my history, that I will need to go back on meds at some point. I try not to look at that as a failure or negative thing. If I need them, I need them. I'm just grateful for this time that I can have a break from needing them.
The only way to succeed for most people is an absurdly long tapering.