(no subject)
So. Have any of you been on SSRIs or more importantly, tried to come off of them?
How do you come off of these pills without the withdrawal symptoms?
I've been on Effexor for two years. We in the process of upping the dose at a therapist's recommendation, we went too high and I started sleeping, uncontrollably, 12-13 hours a day, which just wasn't cutting it. When we tried to pull me back by a 37.5mg capsule, I was unhappily and fairly rapidly acquainted with the withdrawal symptoms of going off an SSRI, which were just as bad (if not worse, because they weren't consistent) than the symptoms of too high a dose.
I talked with my GP, spent a few months fiddling with how to come off the dose and dealing with awkward withdrawl symptoms, before successfully getting off that pill, but it was a miserable process. When we decided to try lowering my dose by another 37.5mg capsule (with the eventual goal of coming off of the meds - I'm sick of the side effects and don't think I need the pills just to get out of bed before every step of my day anymore). Took a much more moderated approach this time and every three days, I've been skimming two more granules out of the capsule and off of my dose.
I'm still having withdrawal symptoms, although I'm staying functional on them. I need about ten hours of sleep though and on the days I don't get it and I try for a nap, my body sleeps until I makes up for lost time, and I'm always fatigued, even when I do get the sleep. I'm just about off of this latest capsule - give me another two weeks and I'm done - and I'll give it the weeks or months I'll need to level out. Once that's done, though, I want to keep coming off of the meds. But how do I do that without plunging myself back into this cycle of exhaustion and excessive sleep? Would doing it granule-by-granule something like five days at a time be a better, if excruciatingly slow, option?
This entry was also posted at http://cantarina.dreamwidth.org/161426.html. (comments:
)
How do you come off of these pills without the withdrawal symptoms?
I've been on Effexor for two years. We in the process of upping the dose at a therapist's recommendation, we went too high and I started sleeping, uncontrollably, 12-13 hours a day, which just wasn't cutting it. When we tried to pull me back by a 37.5mg capsule, I was unhappily and fairly rapidly acquainted with the withdrawal symptoms of going off an SSRI, which were just as bad (if not worse, because they weren't consistent) than the symptoms of too high a dose.
I talked with my GP, spent a few months fiddling with how to come off the dose and dealing with awkward withdrawl symptoms, before successfully getting off that pill, but it was a miserable process. When we decided to try lowering my dose by another 37.5mg capsule (with the eventual goal of coming off of the meds - I'm sick of the side effects and don't think I need the pills just to get out of bed before every step of my day anymore). Took a much more moderated approach this time and every three days, I've been skimming two more granules out of the capsule and off of my dose.
I'm still having withdrawal symptoms, although I'm staying functional on them. I need about ten hours of sleep though and on the days I don't get it and I try for a nap, my body sleeps until I makes up for lost time, and I'm always fatigued, even when I do get the sleep. I'm just about off of this latest capsule - give me another two weeks and I'm done - and I'll give it the weeks or months I'll need to level out. Once that's done, though, I want to keep coming off of the meds. But how do I do that without plunging myself back into this cycle of exhaustion and excessive sleep? Would doing it granule-by-granule something like five days at a time be a better, if excruciatingly slow, option?
This entry was also posted at http://cantarina.dreamwidth.org/161426.html. (comments:
)