Med withdrawal or real depression?

[thinkthoughts]

I don't know if I can distinguish what is real emotion or withdrawal from Effexor, Lamictal, Remeron.  How long does this last. I have been taking St. John's Wort, B12, Valerian, and L Tyrosene to build up my own natural supply of serotonin, dopamine.  This crying thing is the pits. I'm so sick of medications. I want to have a baby without spina bifida or missing limbs and cardiac anamolies,  I've been on and off meds for years.  You take one and then you end up on three because they all cause secondary psych prob. I'm too young to live like a slave to pills. Anyone relate?

[bonnieann1]

Wow.. I just stumbled on this post, after 2 years.. I forgot all about it. But to update, I found out. Shortly after posting this that I had a diseases  called Hyperparathyroidism. I was deathly ill. I got off of the lamivtal completely after that, and did fine. I still take A small dose of paxil as Drs didn't thunk I  should put my body through any more teams at the time. I'm ling past stable, and am going down very slowly with the paxil again.  I'm down to 10, and have itching, anxiety, body aches and pains, hot and cold happy and sad, unreal feeling. Dizzy, tired etc. Just normal withdraw stuff. It's been 5 days since my last reduction, and am going to give myself at least 3weeks to ajust. Wish me luck. The anxiety has calmed a bit. When. I feel the hypochondria coming on, I just remind myself that my brain, and body will calm down soon. It's use to receiving more of the drug.  The itching, and pain remind  me that "I am not crazy", I am healing; such as when we have a broken bone.

[bonnieann1]

I have been having A simular problem. I have been withdrawing from lamictal for  2 months, and paxil for the last 6, and a half weeks. I took them, for a very long time! ( I was on lamictal for 9 years, and paxil for 18 years) .  I stopped taking them because I found out the paxil was giving me seizures for year. The dr never told me paxil can cause seizures she just sent me to a neurologist who put me on lamictal.

Anyway, I don't even recognize some of the feeling that arrive.  They are scary because I don't feel like myself, and I feel out of control. THe worst feeling come at night when I can't stay asleep. It's like my brain can't decipher what is happening, and it makes me feel like I am going crazy.  I also get that out of control feeling when I am having other withdrawal symptoms, such as pain in my legs, or or itching. It is very scary to feel out of control. My withdrawal has caused a lot of trouble with my sleep. It;s like when is this ever going to end! They say most people are in withdrawal for between 4- to 6 weeks. But it is not unheard, of for it to go 8 weeks. Mine is very drawn out because I was tired of suffering with seizures, and tapered down too quick, plus I was on the meds a very long time.

I think it is great that you are getting off, of all the pills! It is a very rough road, but it doesn't last forever. Getting pregnant and having a healthy baby is worth the suffer. You can do it. You just have to keep to it, and get as much emotional support as possible. Trust me I know how it feels, to feel like an emotional wreck! I went thru the crying and anger faze too.  Hang in there!  How long did you take all  those meds?

[Paxiled]

How long withdrawal lasts depends on the person, on how long you were on the medication, how well it was working and was metabolized, and how safely you stopped taking it.  Some people's brains adapt better than others'.  One way to tell if something is due to withdrawal or something else is, if you never had it before and it happens for the first time after stopping a med, the most likely explanation is withdrawal.  It also can be counterproductive to start some herbal remedies until withdrawal is complete.  And you also need to realize that these drugs don't increase serotonin and neither do most natural remedies.  Drugs that affect serotonin alter the way the brain uses it, it doesn't increase the amount any.  You should also know that nobody knows exactly how St. John's Wort works, but if it affects serotonin, and it probably does in part, it doesn't increase the amount of it.  Tyrosine plays a part, but tryptophan is the amino acid most involved in serotonin production in the body.  B12 isn't involved, B6 is.  Valerian probably affects GABA, not serotonin or dopamine.  When you're withdrawing, you don't want to increase the availability of serotonin -- withdrawal is caused by the brain trying to work again by itself to use serotonin and break it down naturally, and receptors that were not needed because the drugs were targeting only certain receptors begin to reawaken, which is thought to cause a lot of the problems of withdrawal.  So you have to be careful.  Hopefully, you have been.