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Psychiatric medications...who in our community has taken them and...
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<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 587337" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>I have been on more than a few, as has Wiz. Jess tried a couple during a really bad time and we didn't keep her on any of them for long because of side effects. I mean more than 2-3 days for the duration of medication for Jess. </p><p></p><p>I did super well on prozac except it made my stomach burn for up to three hours after a couple of years and no stomach medication was able to stop this, so I stopped taking it. </p><p></p><p>I was put on effexor and a few weeks later saw that doctor for the last time. I hated that because she was awesome. At the starting dose effexor was helpful. The dose was increased after three weeks and threw me into a living nightmare. I couldn't leave my home with-o shaking and crying. I was supposed to go help erect a playground at the school my kids attended for three years and I was a MAJOR force behind raising enough money for this playgound. I couldn't go. could NOT get out of the car and had no clue why. I just shook and cried and cried and panicked over I have absolutely no clue what. I called my doctor and her nurse told me to go check into a psychiatric hospital because it was OBVIOUS that all the medical issues including my migraines and the flu I had three weeks before were signs that I was psychotic and not safe to have living anywhere but a psychiatric hospital. She told me that if I wouldn't go to a psychiatric hospital I should find a way to do my kids a favor and kill myself. </p><p></p><p>I honestly thought I was hallucinating until I looked at my husband. I had the phone on speaker and had him listening because I didn't trust myself to rememer accurately if she gave me directions on tapering the medication or another medication to take. He was IRATE. The nurse did something nasty next. For over three months I would get a call the day before an appointment with the doctor saying my appointment had been cancelled. Twice I was not told this ahead of time, showed up, and there was NO sign of my appointment in the dr's schedule. That nurse was erasing my appts or cancelling them so I would not tell the doctor what happened. husband's appts got cancelled to. </p><p></p><p>Effexor did more than give me fears and panic over things that had NEVER bothered me before. It also made me feel bizarre things. If I was 30 min late for a dose, I knew it and it HURT. BADLY. It made me feel very strange electric shocks in my brain. It actually felt like a little electric shock a few times an hour. If I turned my head fast, it felt like my brain was still moving when I stopped. That was odd but kind of fun at first. Then it just got annoying. </p><p></p><p>The withdrawal was gut-wrenching. Wiz was on the same medication and didn't have all the side effect I did, but he did ahve problems with withdrawal and the electric shocky feeling. We came off it together. I apologized over and over because I had no clue it could make you feel that bad. He said it wasn't nearly as bad for him, which made me feel a little better. </p><p></p><p>I did learn how to cope with SSRI/SNRI withdrawal. Prozac has the longest half-life of any of this type of medication. Effexor had the shortest at the time I took it (no clue about newer medication half lives). The half life is how long it takes for half of the medication to be out of your system. A short half life means a lot more withdrawal symptoms because your body is used to having the medication and doesn't have a slow taper off of it. A long half life gives your body enough time to learn to cope with less of the medication so you don't have as many withdrawal problems. I took one prozac every 4-5 days for 2 weeks, then 1 per week, then 1 every ten days, and on down until I didn't need them. We did this with Wiz also.</p><p></p><p>The prozac gives enough of the medication for your body to adust so that the withdrawals are not hideous. I would do that with many ssri's if I took them again. I did go back on prozac a year or two later but stopped again because the stomach issues.</p><p></p><p>As for Wiz, he didn't do well at all off medications. We ended up with him at the psychiatric hospital for a couple of days and they put him on luvox, which is very close to prozac but much stronger. It is one of the medications that helped him turn his life around. Eventually. </p><p></p><p>I did find it odd and very upsetting that neither my doctor, the nurse, Wiz's psychiatrist, or even the psychiatric hospital staff would admit that some psychiatric medications had withdrawal issues. Not one of them gave any sign of believing ether Wiz or I. The literature about the medications is clear, and I don't believe for a second that we were the only patients suffering while on effexor or while stopping the medication. That is why I read all the info I could find on effexor withdrawal and on ssri/snri withdrawal and went with the prozac (thankfully I had several mos left over from when we stopped the prozac. </p><p></p><p>I have tried other medications for other things, but those are the only 2 that made a real difference one way or the other.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 587337, member: 1233"] I have been on more than a few, as has Wiz. Jess tried a couple during a really bad time and we didn't keep her on any of them for long because of side effects. I mean more than 2-3 days for the duration of medication for Jess. I did super well on prozac except it made my stomach burn for up to three hours after a couple of years and no stomach medication was able to stop this, so I stopped taking it. I was put on effexor and a few weeks later saw that doctor for the last time. I hated that because she was awesome. At the starting dose effexor was helpful. The dose was increased after three weeks and threw me into a living nightmare. I couldn't leave my home with-o shaking and crying. I was supposed to go help erect a playground at the school my kids attended for three years and I was a MAJOR force behind raising enough money for this playgound. I couldn't go. could NOT get out of the car and had no clue why. I just shook and cried and cried and panicked over I have absolutely no clue what. I called my doctor and her nurse told me to go check into a psychiatric hospital because it was OBVIOUS that all the medical issues including my migraines and the flu I had three weeks before were signs that I was psychotic and not safe to have living anywhere but a psychiatric hospital. She told me that if I wouldn't go to a psychiatric hospital I should find a way to do my kids a favor and kill myself. I honestly thought I was hallucinating until I looked at my husband. I had the phone on speaker and had him listening because I didn't trust myself to rememer accurately if she gave me directions on tapering the medication or another medication to take. He was IRATE. The nurse did something nasty next. For over three months I would get a call the day before an appointment with the doctor saying my appointment had been cancelled. Twice I was not told this ahead of time, showed up, and there was NO sign of my appointment in the dr's schedule. That nurse was erasing my appts or cancelling them so I would not tell the doctor what happened. husband's appts got cancelled to. Effexor did more than give me fears and panic over things that had NEVER bothered me before. It also made me feel bizarre things. If I was 30 min late for a dose, I knew it and it HURT. BADLY. It made me feel very strange electric shocks in my brain. It actually felt like a little electric shock a few times an hour. If I turned my head fast, it felt like my brain was still moving when I stopped. That was odd but kind of fun at first. Then it just got annoying. The withdrawal was gut-wrenching. Wiz was on the same medication and didn't have all the side effect I did, but he did ahve problems with withdrawal and the electric shocky feeling. We came off it together. I apologized over and over because I had no clue it could make you feel that bad. He said it wasn't nearly as bad for him, which made me feel a little better. I did learn how to cope with SSRI/SNRI withdrawal. Prozac has the longest half-life of any of this type of medication. Effexor had the shortest at the time I took it (no clue about newer medication half lives). The half life is how long it takes for half of the medication to be out of your system. A short half life means a lot more withdrawal symptoms because your body is used to having the medication and doesn't have a slow taper off of it. A long half life gives your body enough time to learn to cope with less of the medication so you don't have as many withdrawal problems. I took one prozac every 4-5 days for 2 weeks, then 1 per week, then 1 every ten days, and on down until I didn't need them. We did this with Wiz also. The prozac gives enough of the medication for your body to adust so that the withdrawals are not hideous. I would do that with many ssri's if I took them again. I did go back on prozac a year or two later but stopped again because the stomach issues. As for Wiz, he didn't do well at all off medications. We ended up with him at the psychiatric hospital for a couple of days and they put him on luvox, which is very close to prozac but much stronger. It is one of the medications that helped him turn his life around. Eventually. I did find it odd and very upsetting that neither my doctor, the nurse, Wiz's psychiatrist, or even the psychiatric hospital staff would admit that some psychiatric medications had withdrawal issues. Not one of them gave any sign of believing ether Wiz or I. The literature about the medications is clear, and I don't believe for a second that we were the only patients suffering while on effexor or while stopping the medication. That is why I read all the info I could find on effexor withdrawal and on ssri/snri withdrawal and went with the prozac (thankfully I had several mos left over from when we stopped the prozac. I have tried other medications for other things, but those are the only 2 that made a real difference one way or the other. [/QUOTE]
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