Want to get off meds but struggling

[PAROX2010]

Hi, fellow citalopramer.
It's curious you said your headaches are around your left eye/temple area. My pain episodes (headache/migraine and something else) have always had that element in them. .

Me too, and also tingling in the left cheek.

Well, actually I have had headaches since I was a teenager.
I had a lot of headaches while decreasing the paxil / seroxat. After taking my last dose I had a headache every day for 3 or 4 meses.Yo almost always took ibuprofen (sometimes paracetamol). I often woke up with headaches, and persisted throughout the day.
At present I have only occasional headache .. I think you have given good advice on how to reduce, especially listen to your body.

hugs

Tina

[shel]

Me too, and also tingling in the left cheek.

Well, actually I have had headaches since I was a teenager.
I had a lot of headaches while decreasing the paxil / seroxat. After taking my last dose I had a headache every day for 3 or 4 meses.Yo almost always took ibuprofen (sometimes paracetamol). I often woke up with headaches, and persisted throughout the day.
At present I have only occasional headache .. I think you have given good advice on how to reduce, especially listen to your body.

hugs

Tina

Interesting that you too had left-sided headache pain with your taper and afterwards, Tina. Thank you for sharing that - it does help to know that this is something others have dealt with. I haven't even started tapering yet and my head is hurting so badly. It really scares me to even think about what reducing will do but hopefully keeping the decreases really minimal will at least not make things worse. How are you feeling these days, Tina? I was originally put on ADs for stress too. I see that you also tapered a benzo. I will have to combat that after Celexa. That may be years down the road which scares me to stay on a benzo for so long but I don't really have a choice at the moment.

[Moui]

Parox that is interesting. I wonder what's going on with that left-sidedness. I've seen it mentioned in other threads and forums.. in the previous WD my left cheek was sometimes numb. I always thought it was because of some sort of muscle tension as I was subconsciously clenching my jaw often.

[Luc]

It really scares me to even think about what reducing will do but hopefully keeping the decreases really minimal will at least not make things worse.

I'm pretty sure that once you start the taper, you will start to really believe it is possible. The first step is very often the most difficult one, Michele.

[PAROX2010]

Interesting that you too had left-sided headache pain with your taper and afterwards, Tina. Thank you for sharing that - it does help to know that this is something others have dealt with. I haven't even started tapering yet and my head is hurting so badly. It really scares me to even think about what reducing will do but hopefully keeping the decreases really minimal will at least not make things worse. How are you feeling these days, Tina? I was originally put on ADs for stress too. I see that you also tapered a benzo. I will have to combat that after Celexa. That may be years down the road which scares me to stay on a benzo for so long but I don't really have a choice at the moment.

Yes, I am benzo free + Seroxat free, lol
I was alternating the decrease of benzo and Seroxat. Actually, I do not know if that is the best option. In the forums of benzo (benzobbudies) many people say it is better to give benzo, and then Seroxat. In Forums SSRIs (eg. PP) many people advised to leave the SSRI, and then Benzo. I did not follow any of the two routes, I went for "the middle way", lol. All options are risky, mine too, because WD symptoms may occur, and not knowing if it is a result of WD/benzo or wd/Seroxat.

Hugs,

[RubyTuesday]

In my humble opinion, everyone needs to read Peter Breggin's new book: Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal. It has really helped me get a handle on what is the w/d, what is the poisoning from the medication, and what to do about all of it. Here wishing you all of the best and letting you know that the brain is a self-healing organism.

[Iggy131313]

the new book is very annoying as he doesnt acknowledge protracted withdrawal at all, he talks about chronic brain impairment but his outlook is very bleak, and we KNOW people recover from this, when you say what to do about it all, could you start a thread with what you have found helpful from the book Ruby? its £50!!!!!

[Sheila]

Michele -- To me, the fact that you’re not stabilizing just means that your body is saying no to these meds, and you just have to slowly taper off. I’m sure you will be able to taper off. You just have to go slowly in small increments, and get some support during the process.

Maybe you can think of it this way – you’re going to have to go through some pain, but it will be doable, and you’ll have a lot of company, and the reward will be freedom from the tyranny these meds have over your life, and you will have a whole new life, better than anything you’ve experienced yet. And…you’re one of the guides for the pandemic that is coming. You’re going to be using this w/d experience in some vital way for the good of the whole.

Now, another idea I have – and this is speculative – is that you might try slowly going up on Omega-3 before you start tapering or while you start an ultra-slow taper. I hypothesize – but don’t know – that Omega-3 may be neuroprotective during the taper. There’s tons of evidence of it being neuroprotective in other neurological conditions.

Do you feel your headaches are caused by muscle tension, sinus congestion, or something else?

[shel]

Thanks so much for your supportive note and encouragement - I really need it right now as I am not feeling very confident about being able to do this. However, your note gave me some hope. I have been wanting to get off of these meds for such a long time and for exactly the reasons you described: I too think that my body is just done with ADs and I want to live a better life than the one I've been living on ADs. I have feel like if I can get to the other side of this, life will be fuller off of ADs (and eventually the Klonopin as i will still have to deal with that too - also why this all feels so impossible). I also have always wanted to use this experience and all I've learned to help others - not sure what that would look like but in some way. I have to think we are all going through this for a reason and I agree with you that a pandemic is coming (if it hasn't already).

Interestingly, I've been taking Omega 3's and my psychiatrist suggested taking more than I had been so I've upped it to to 3 capsules a day (not sure but think that is around 3000).

To answer your question about what is causing the headache - I think it just is the Celexa, or changes to something inside my brain from the Celexa as that is the only change I can attribute it to. It could be also something to do with how Celexa is messing with my hormones as I tend to get headaches/migraines related to my cycle. And my period has been going on now for 3weeks so something is definitely being messed with hormonally.

So any ideas on how my taper would look? I am thinking I have to see how it goes and adjust from there but was curious if you have any intuition on this? Maybe go down by 1 mg at a time in the beginning?

Thank you so much for being here and for encouraging me,
Michele

[Iggy131313]

In my opinion as you are on 35mg 1mg per month would be a great starting point

personally, If it were me I would go down by 1mg per month until you get to 30, then hold few 2 or 3 months and see where you are from there,

also with your omega 3, sheila will say the same, its not the fish oil content but the amount of active dha/epa, have a look at your capules and tell us how much is in each pill, also be sure to check as mine say 900 but thats in 3 pills so really its 300 per pill....let us know