@Sminismoni,

Can a psychiatrist make a sick leave for withdrawal? What are the criteria? If so, for how many months it can be established? Thank you. 🙏

6 hours ago, Chippy said:

 

Glad you’re aware and will be vigilant when visiting them. Let us know what is said. 
 

 

Yes, @Chippy, I'll tell you. Thank you. 

26 minutes ago, poulette38 said:

Can a psychiatrist make a sick leave for withdrawal? What are the criteria? If so, for how many months it can be established? Thank you. 🙏

It depends on the laws of your country. In Australia where I qualified, a psychiatrist can sign you off on sick leave. In rhe UK only an NHS GP can do a sick note. 

 

If you are asking whether a psychiatrist can confirm the diagnosis, and this diagnosis be used for sick leave (regardless of who writes the sick certificate), my answer is technically yes. But is it likely? Not at all. I had been a psychiatrist for 15 years before this happened to me and I had no idea it could happen. NONE of my colleagues know about this when I've told them about it. And the longer it goes on, the more they think you are a delusional idiot with a functional neurological disorder, or unprocessed childhood trauma who needs more meds and therapy.

 

As to whether an employer accepts or believes it as a syndrome warranting long term sick leave is a whole separate issue. Sorry to be so pessimistic.

 

We are in the dark ages here, the canaries in the coal mine, screaming of a danger that no one can see. The workers who installed asbestos knew that their work caused cancer, the radium girls did too, but because there was money and an establishment at play, it took a long time before the acknowledgement came. 

It's terrible to read this. Thx a lot for your answer. 

How can I ask him that, in your opinion? I'm not an employee, so there's no problem to benefit from it. He just needs to understand what withdrawal is, and how much it can complicate a job... and therefore that the sick leave is fully justified... The general practitioner doesn't understand; only the psychiatrist can do anything...

Edited March 4Mar 4 by poulette38

I would focus on symptoms and functional impairment, rather than trying to convince him or her that this is a withdrawal related syndrome. Mention that it started when you tried stopping medication and that you believe this is related but I wouldn't go further. Focus on physical and neurological symptoms heavily, so that it is clear this isn't just a "relapse" of mental illness. If you are offered medication, say that you believe medication caused this and decline. Ask the psychiatrist if they have read The Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines, and if not, recommend that they look it up. Then ask for sick leave approval based on your SYMPTOMS not the diagnosis. If they want you to go and have further tests e.g. MRI head, agree, but say up front that you believe the results will be normal because your symptoms are caused by neurotransmitter dysfunction, not a structural defect or illness.

Ok... 

They don't know what withdrawal symptoms are ; but we also don’t have to show them that we know more than they do? All of this is perfectly ridiculous, really. I hate to pretend. But thank you for letting me know that this is the best thing to do with these oddballs. 

I'll do my best. 

Hi everyone!

 

Well, I am giving you news about the appointment with the psychiatrist, as agreed. Without much surprise, I am back in despair with the feeling that no one understands me in this medication hell that lasts infinitely... 

To the question 'what do you know about wd from an AD?' Answer: everything is going well. As long as the drug is eliminated from the body, there is nothing left. 

A response from a general practitioner, seriously! 😡

 

What’s strange is that he tells me ''I’m not necessarily for medication'' (there was a big book 'big pharma' on the shelf)
Inconsistency. 

 

I told him that another colleague talked about prolonged withdrawal syndrome 

Answer: take several opinions 

 

Did not want to give me sick leave: I insisted on the symptoms that I had

Answer: the physical and neurological symptoms are due to the return of the anxio-depressive state. 
I wanted to cry.

I tried a "and the brain zap in the brain, is it also due to depression, maybe?!"

Did not offer me additional exams.

 

Guys, I am desperate.

 

I have the quadruple penalty: a treatment not established by a psychiatrist but an emergency structure without a diagnosis being carried out (not adapted to my state); intense adverse reactions during the treatment; a hyper severe WD, and now the solitude to cope with it. 

 

Other details given: "your nervous system has not been damaged. All your neurons are there". 

 

I just don't want to leave my house for the eternity. I just want to be left alone, hoping for a miracle to find my life back. 

 

Your reactions, please? 🙏

 

Edited March 14Mar 14 by poulette38

@poulette38 I am sorry to hear about this experience. Sadly it is common. Do you need a formal diagnosis or medical sign off for sick leave?

 

I am thinking of you. We here all understand this frustration with the medical system.

Thx @Sminismoni 🥹

 

No, it’s not so complicated for a sick leave in my country. But it’s to the goodwill of the doctor. To top it all off, he even told me to go back to work.

 

Has anyone managed to get one done? I don’t understand, how are doing financially precarious people who have to stop? Do they all sleep outside? 

 

5 hours ago, poulette38 said:

Other details given: "your nervous system has not been damaged. All your neurons are there". 

Is he right?

Edited March 14Mar 14 by poulette38

On 3/14/2026 at 6:30 PM, poulette38 said:

Is he right?

What do you think about this, @Sminismoni? 🤔

@Sminismoni Not very reassuring lol 

Hello everyone,

Updated at 5 months. Well, I’m going to have a big rant once and for all, it itched me, lol. 2026 will be definitely a year without me... I have to prepare myself for it :'( death into life, and i was life into death before... it's insane...

Giving news of mysef is a difficult exercise for me you know ; but I have to do it. I never complain about difficulties in general. So far I have gone through all the trials of life without ever complaining about it. But the difference is that I had all my head, a very full and emotionnal head, and a perfectly healthy body, thanks to God. My mom often told me in the past that I was brave, or things like 'what kind of woman'. But as you know, I’m crossing a very arid desert.

Anyway. I don’t even remember what I wrote in my introduction. But I feel so out of step with what I’m feeling and what I’ve been prescribed these drugs for. Situational anxiety, a simple stress reaction to a particular context (which could have been easily changed, if only I had felt supported for it), misplaced trust in doctors -despite my requests about the toxicity of these drugs-, and look at me now... Some time ago, I felt like I had never existed on Earth (no past, no present, no future). I still feel very alienated 😢, but I’ve still seen a slight improvement lately: I always have a horrible vision in 4K, which makes me feel like in a video game every day, where every gesture, even every word seems to me to be realized 'chemically'; and where you have to repeat this stupid game every day to survive. But I feel like, gradually, I’m coming back into my body. My God, I have had an existence on this Earth before this... I am very sad to think that my youth is being stolen from me, especially for such a STUPID situation, which could have been handled in another way than with fake medicines. They ONLY brought me problems, no relief at all. They just tipped my life into an horror I couldn’t even imagine in a dream. I was just too tired at this moment to face a bully at work. :(

I write this message with a terrible headache. I always get regular chills and sometimes an unusual feeling of cold. The psychiatrist this winter told me 'it’s normal, we’re in winter; it’s cold.' Now it’s hot, and I still have them. I would like so much to regain my strong appetite as before, and the desire, the joy to do things. Every gesture of the day is a gesture of survival, not of life.

I was able to return at work at full time; I was so afraid of that idea. I was so afraid of having crying spells in front of patients. I held out all day, then when I got home in the evening to my apartment, crying spells resurface 😔. But I visited my family and I was still afraid of arriving with my suitcase crying, like a few months ago, and they would tell me ''so don’t you say hello to us anymore? '' or ''leave her alone, she’s not doing well... ''

Well, I’m starting to feel a little connection with others again. I can speak a little more now :( -I’m rather talkative as a normal person, and I have good elocution-

I spent whole months almost without speaking... 😢

Oh gosh, I love so much my family and others, it is so cruel 😭... I am such an affectionate person, it’s so traumatic 😔 gave my family members a kiss on the cheek this time (even though I admit I still don’t feel a deep love for them like before), and in the evening, I watched a series on TV with my uncle, we could even laugh together.

I am deeply sad to see people laughing and smiling around me, just having a normal life. Not jealous because I’ve never been in my life. But extremely sad, wounded. Do you have any tips for managing this sadness, guys? My only comfort of the day is my evening prayer...

I have been developing my deep bond with Christ since the beginning of this foolish ordeal; for lack of not being understood by anyone else. I don’t know what He wants for my life, but I trust Him. I develop the practice of prayer, I deepen many topics by reading books and watching religious videos. And I realize that wd or not wd, I should have indulged in it much earlier. On days of deep despair, I imagine that the Lord holds my hand, wherever I go -as He had ever done-. Every morning I put on a bracelet with a mother-of-pearl cross, it allows me to face the day without feeling alone. I sincerely think that the devil decided to enter my life before all this happened because I gave reason to accusing voices (of real persons, not imaginated) that were really not suited to my situation. I remember and I replay it before taking the first dose of Lexapro, hesitating for a long time; without laughing, the devil and the angel were talking about my shoulders. When I think that I wanted to put these medicines in the trash, by going to empty my bins, precisely... why all this happened anyway...

Because I didn’t know how to make the right decisions for myself, now I find myself 'without me' for an indefinite period. I later found out that I have had an "adjustment disorder", I had anxiety but I was 100% functional, I worked every day, woke up at 7 in the morning -even on saturday- without any difficulties to work ; and travelled ; and listened to my music with pleasure, and it was a long way from being a typical depressive episode. The psychiatrist said that for the diagnosis : "ADs 'may' be useful, but they are not necessarily the primary solution at all." It was an emergency doctor who prescribed them, he didn't know anything about it... Anyway, with all this story (and sorry if it sounds silly), I see that we have a mental health, and that we need to take care of it. Yes, I had never thought about it until now, quite simply because I have always been in perfect mental health. My family told me that I don’t need a psychologist or a psychiatrist, and that I’ve never needed one. Of course I know it; I’ve been carrying the house by myself forever, and I was happy. In short, I see that the only remedy they have for poor people who really present severe depressive episodes (sometimes with suicidal thoughts) is to keep them in a 'drugged' state. What a revolution, really...! 🤦‍♀️ Besides, these drugs can worsen their suicidal thoughts. Not to mention the withdrawal to endure at the 'end'. But yes, these fake medicines definitely save lives in a radical way, there’s no telling... (When they don’t steal it from poor, innocent people without any mental illness, sometimes very young ; who have never had suicidal thoughs in their lives, except after taking AD)... It’s really a disgrace. So unfair. 😔

I will have a lot to say on this subject, but today it is not the subject. Let’s keep our heads intact, without chemicals; for goodness' sake, the others will think for you otherwise!!! Let’s tell them who we are, dawn! And we know, better than them! That’s it for the rant, lol.

I’m asserting myself a little too late, I would have liked these thoughts -which I already had- to come out before being on medication, but never mind. I was drugged without my knowledge, my life was stolen from me. I asked the first prescriber if these medications were dangerous, and his answer was: 'No, a friend took a few days for mood disorders.' So I had thought about taking them only a few days to 'lift' the mood too. (I wasn’t sad everyday at all but quite moody and anxious). Except that what I didn’t know was that the AD that he gave me is about twice as powerful as all the other ones, and also with greater availability in liquid form (the form I took, cause I'm unable to swallow tablets)... And after my terrible adverse reaction, I thought I would never take AD again ; but a general practitioner, who was visiting my family, said that I needed to try another one, and that some of his patients had tried 9 DIFFERENT ONES before finding a suitable one (omg poor old patients, another crazy guy...). And I believed that, since he is a retired doctor now... in fact I was just being weaned from the Lexapro stop and didn't know it... I would have never had to take back anything... I didn’t get ANY benefit. None. All damage. I wasn’t at all upset anymore after the first intake of Lexapro 10mg liquid. I should have stopped there so much...

I had an appointment with the dentist recently. I was afraid, not for the pain (because she has to 'redo' a colleague’s poorly done work -it rests on a crown- yes i really don't have chance with doctors, lol-), but that she would notice that I had VERY IMPORTANT bruxism all December, and maybe even in January, I don’t remember. I had a bruxime day and night. I told myself that if it didn’t disappear, I would have to buy a night gutter, I was afraid of breaking my teeth... It was accompanied by horrible pain, burning, and cracking every day of the temporomandibular joint. Finally, it has completely faded since then. I had talked to the psychiatrist about it and he told me, laughing, 'You really can’t stand ADs. Bruxism is a very rare side effect.' Thank you.

She immediately noticed the bruxism; I was too ashamed to tell her that stopping AD + anxiolytics was the cause. So I will soon be undergoing dental care with anesthesia and I wanted to know if some of you have been able to get it without any problem? I am very afraid of whether the anesthetic product will not further damage the nervous system? Please reassure me?

I took a cure of pure royal jelly for a month, and I think it made me feel good. I recommend it to you (no contraindication for this during withdrawal, as far as I know). So that won’t work on any of your mental or physical symptoms, don't dream. But it’s good for your health in general, it will strengthen your immunity. And now I’m starting a detoxification of the body with birch and dandelion sap. I also start magnesium bisglycinate, in low doses every day.

Every day, I feel like a wild animal in a cage, that we’re moving from one place to another. I really hope this asshole psychiatrist is right: 'no neurons were affected, they are all there'... 😡

When I discovered this site a few months ago, I won’t hide from you that my first reaction was a violent shock. I thought I was going to pass out. I was reading 'drugs', I was reading 'years of convalescence', I was reading 'false information about the chemical imbalance in serotonin', 'ADs completely remodel your brain' (while I thought that these medications were just there to temporarily overcome a deficit, not to modify anything!!!), I was reading ''withdrawal"... Only terribly violent things; like the effects felt when taking them...

@mstimc60 , as you are cured, do you feel tired, hungry, thirsty like before? 🤔

I also have muscle spasms. I was wondering if someone also had strange sensations on their skin: as if the clothes 'slide' over them at times? I know it's very strange 😔 In addition to being completely insensitive...

I still notice an advantage to what we’re going through, at work: never tired, never upset, I can’t even stress anymore (it doesn’t matter to me 😂 i don't care about anything; just doing my job correctly), no more mental load at all, lol which means no more feelings at all too, it's awful...

I don’t think I have the "windows and waves" healing pattern that some people talk about. For me, every day is difficult; there is no normal day.

Lately I’ve been wondering if the neuro-emotions have definitely gone... it’s been 2 days since I didn't have crying spells, it’s strange... I’m probably talking too early.

In the last few weeks, I had crying spells in the morning and fits of crazy laught in the evening. What a mess... Fortunately, I was living alone, people would have thought I was crazy... When will this bullshit end, huh?

Here you go for me. That’s all for now.

PS: Sorry if there are mistakes in my English...

 

You are doing so well @poulette38 at managing this and having a positive attitude ❤️❤️

Thanks @Sophia you are doing great too!

May we be cured definitively this year and not in 3 or 4 years... 🙏

49 minutes ago, poulette38 said:

May we be cured definitively this year and not in 3 or 4 years... 🙏

Gosh that would be great! Being cured before I turn 30 🥹🥹🥹

glad to hear from you, keep up the positivity, even if life is tough, it can be filled with fulfillment and peacefulness (speaking from a guy with a lack of energy and im 99% of the time house bound basically)

5 minutes ago, Sophia said:

Oh là là, ce serait génial ! Être guéri avant mes 30 ans 🥹 🥹 🥹

Did you see on the scientific article you published? These damn HTP-1 receptors can restabilize after 8 months for the lucky ones. Yes, it can take 2 years on average based on the article but I also saw testimonies of healing after a year for 2 short-term users. We need to hold on to these testimonies. Maybe it will take longer, but maybe not! Let’s hope we will have some luck! 😞 we're young we haven't time to loose anymore. 😤

1 minute ago, poulette38 said:

I also saw testimonies of healing after a year for 2 short-term users.

Was it on surviving antidepressants? If you find them, please share it with me ☺️❤️

These are the two I told you about in mp: "Siderale" (she took escitalopram ; age 25-30) and "Schrodingeralive" (he took fluoxetine for months by memory ; age 47) on SA 😃

24 minutes ago, Lighty said:

glad to hear from you, keep up the positivity, even if life is tough, it can be filled with fulfillment and peacefulness (speaking from a guy with a lack of energy and im 99% of the time house bound basically)

Hello @Lighty !

It gives you an impression of positivity, really? Oh, ok. That's good.

You are right. We relativize a lot of things in this situation. We learn to cultivate wisdom.

All my wishes for your healing as well.

Edited May 6May 6 by poulette38

27 minutes ago, poulette38 said:

Hello @Lighty !

It gives you an impression of positivity, really? Oh, ok. That's good.

You are right. We put things into perspective in this situation. We learn to cultivate wisdom.

All my wishes for your healing as well.

yeah, basically you need to become more spiritual, start practicing meditation, focus on being the observer of your thoughts and emotions, just becuase you have symptoms and thoughts and feelings, doesn't mean you have to believe in them, if they become severe you surrender to them and not resist them.

life is full of highs and lows, if you stop believing the nonsense mind chatter and highs and lows, you stop attaching to everything (whether its what people care, feelings, symptoms, thoughts), at the end you been through a million highs and lows in life, this is just one of those lows, you will be fine and thrive if you choose to take it to a good place.

I have posted 2 topics on coping methods, plus the 2 acceptance topics are helpful, feel free to read.

@poulette38 Thanks for the update! It is good you have told everyone how you are doing, I know they will be pleased to read this. Don't forget to keep updaing me too, I enjoy your messages, they are often very funny, I like in particular how you talk about the 'fake doctors', it makes me laugh!

I would be careful with the dentist work. If you need it, then you should of course have it, but I get the impression, maybe what you are having is not necessary, I wasn't sure, and perhaps you are just afraid to say to your dentist about your cns injury? Either way be careful. Lic posted this which might be interesting to look at. https://antidepressantrecovery.org/topic/267-anesthesia-sedation-surgery-ads/#comment-7657

Some are ok with dental work, I have seen some have problems after, we have no way of knowing, so if you don't need it, I would cancel, but if you do then of course you should do it.

You are doing so well, only 5 months off, you have gained an amazing attitude to your journey, as well as lots of knowedge too. Your posts have been so supportive to other members, thank you for them. Healing is coming for you, I can see it in your update. More to come.

Chippy xxx

6 hours ago, Chippy said:

@poulette38 Thanks for the update! It is good you have told everyone how you are doing, I know they will be pleased to read this. Don't forget to keep updaing me too, I enjoy your messages, they are often very funny, I like in particular how you talk about the 'fake doctors', it makes me laugh!

I would be careful with the dentist work. If you need it, then you should of course have it, but I get the impression, maybe what you are having is not necessary, I wasn't sure, and perhaps you are just afraid to say to your dentist about your cns injury? Either way be careful. Lic posted this which might be interesting to look at. https://antidepressantrecovery.org/topic/267-anesthesia-sedation-surgery-ads/#comment-7657

Some are ok with dental work, I have seen some have problems after, we have no way of knowing, so if you don't need it, I would cancel, but if you do then of course you should do it.

You are doing so well, only 5 months off, you have gained an amazing attitude to your journey, as well as lots of knowedge too. Your posts have been so supportive to other members, thank you for them. Healing is coming for you, I can see it in your update. More to come.

Chippy xxx

Thank you very much, @Chippy

Yes, I will never forget the joke about the 'fake doctors', really ! 😝. In fact, I’m starting to understand that medicine is a constant approximation, and even worse for psychiatry. The doctor only has a rough estimate of our situation, based on what he understands, but he is never in our place. So it is better to consult them only in cases of extreme urgency, and constantly question what he prescribes / says based on US only. Because if we get sick because of their prescriptions, they won’t be there to support us; it will never be their fault.

It’s always a pleasure to talk with you, thank you.

I just canceled my dental appointments.

I was right to ask because according to the psychiatrist "it was no problem to do it."

According to the link you sent me, the studies focus on patients taking psychiatric medication, not those who are in withdrawal. But since it’s not urgent according to the dentist (I’ve been like that for years with this latent infection), I prefer to postpone the treatment. I don’t have cavities or toothaches.

This forum is a real oasis in the desert. What a grace for us that it exists. 🥹 You are doing an amazing job. Thanks again to all the moderators and participants. Always a pleasure to communicate with all of us.

I think that even in a panic attack, I won’t go to see doctors anymore. It’s a natural manifestation of the body, due to psychological conflict. We’re able to handle this alone, actually. Just put our trust in the right place: in our body / mind and intuition, which we have always known; and not in a doctor, whom we do not know and who does not know us either.

A panick attack is really uncomfortable, but apart from giving pills that make the situation worse or referring them to a totally useless shrink (I’m only talking about my experience), they are helpless. So really, it’s better to find the solutions alone.

I thought that if we all manage to get better one of these days... how much it means that we have NEVER needed this "medicine"! To what extent... whatever our initial situation was... I don’t know everyone’s story, but I think we agree to say that the Hell we’re currently going through is a billion times worse than what we took medicine for...

16 minutes ago, poulette38 said:

I think that even in a panic attack, I won’t go to see doctors anymore. It’s a natural manifestation of the body, due to psychological conflict. We’re able to handle this alone, actually. Just put our trust in the right place: in our body / mind and intuition, which we have always known; and not in a doctor, whom we do not know and who does not know us either.

A panick attack is really uncomfortable, but apart from giving pills that make the situation worse or referring them to a totally useless shrink (I’m only talking about my experience), they are helpless. So really, it’s better to find the solutions alone.

I thought that if we all manage to get better one of these days... how much it means that we have NEVER needed this "medicine"! To what extent... whatever our initial situation was... I don’t know everyone’s story, but I think we agree to say that the Hell we’re currently going through is a billion times worse than what we took medicine for...

So true! Before I took Paxil, my anxiety was episodic and situational. After I started, I just became numb and the background anxiety never really improved. And when I started tapering, it became constant and much worse than before. Had I just went to see a qualified therapist to begin with, I could have avoided a lot of grief. But as I tell others, the past is in the past, and the experience has made me more resilient and more empathetic. We must find the good even in darkest times...