going off meds?

Question

I went off my antidepressant... i did it slowly but like everyday i get headahces and the brain zaps... i feel awful... i don't know what to do. how long will this last?

Answer 1

thats happened to me when i got off paxil...the withdrawls suck and could last a while, it all depends on your body.

Answer 2

Oh wow, I feel sorry for you. I have been through that. I took Zoloft for several years and weaned off it slowly. I am going to tell you the truth.... It took me a long time to get over it. Actually I am really still not completely over it yet. I came off the med in March and I still have occasional brain zaps even now. At first I thought I was dying or something. It was scary as hell. I felt all sick to my stomach and dizzy, had headaches, had ALOT of brain zaps too, like every few minutes. I had these weird feelings that was like my head would have warm waves going over it. Each day brough more symptoms of withdrawal. When I went to bed at night I would have brain zaps that would wake me up from a deep sleep. My husband said I jerked around and mumbled things in my sleep too. He actually had to sleep on the couch for a couple of weeks because I woke him up several times a night if he didn't. It was really a horrible experience for me. I never want to go through it again. I have had severe anxiety disorder for over 15 years. I will try my best NEVER to take any more SSRI's. Ask your doctor about giving you something mild to help ease the withdrawal effects. Xanax or Klonopin, etc. in a very small dosage will do wonders for you.

I dont know what med you are coming off of or how long you were on it, but I sincerely hope you have an easier time than I did. Good luck to you!

Answer 3

The sad thing is, the pharmaceutical companies are well aware of the side effects of going off their meds (the headaches). This is their way of keeping you on them to get more money.

I'm sure I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I promise you I'm not.

Pick up a book called "Natural Cures THEY Don't Want You To Know About" by Kevin Trudeau.

It will help you out with this problem among many others, and open your eyes to the pharmaceutical industry as well as the food industry. Extremely interesting, and I did extensive research on the topics to verify, and it's all true.

Answer 4

You have asked this question more than once. Why did you not accept the answers we gave before, what sort of answer are you looking for here? As I stated last time you are not mentally stable if you had a recent manic episode so I do not think the doctor will allow you to cut down your medication with a view to getting off them. In the event of an agreement, I would expect it to be so gradual it will take 2 years to get off them totally. Why don't you just go and ask the doctor, we can't second guess what they will say to you and you can't tell him he has to do this because people here said so!

Answer 5

Hi! its me again! again again!
ok email me!
:-)
wow, i went through this too.... Oh i love dramamine! it took me like, 6 tries to get off antidepressants, because of the nausea and headaches, what i finally did was suffer through like the last three weeks where i was not on the meds at all, and i took non drowsy dramamine and advil for the headaches. I went off it so slow too, like, six months..... and i still felt crappy at the end!
two years later i feel fine.....
Seriously, you should feel better within a month, but i still experienced days of feeling nausea and headaches, occasionally even after the first month off the drugs. I guess i just went through it. i wanted off the drugs sooooo badly that i was willign to do anything to be free. i think keeping that in mind really helped. and whats funny is now, two years later, i feel so much "real" happier than i ever did on antidepressants.

Answer 6

The general rule of thumb is, as long as it took your body to acclimate to the medication (usually 2-3 weeks), is as long as it might take for your body to detox. Hang in there. It WILL pass. When I went off Paxil many years ago, I couldn't drive for 2 weeks, and even walking across a room made me feel like a was stepping in and out of craters. It was surreal and scary. It passed. If you are still not feeling like you think you should be by the end of this week, call your doctor. In the meantime, don't put yourself in any dangerous situations (like driving). This is just a normal reaction to your body flushing itself of a medication.

Answer 7

Don't worry, what you have done is perfect. To remedy headaches, try some natural methods rather than pain killers. Consuming fish can help you in this direction. You may also take fish oil capsules as a supplement.

Answer 8

Which one are you on? If you are trying to get off of Effexor, many times you have to go to something else (like Celexa) for awhile and then get off of that.

Answer 9

Try to get some excercise, eat healthy good, more vegatables and fruits will be great. Go out to somewhere you may relax, and remain less tense at work.......good luck, hope you get better soon.