Thanks so much @Chippy and @LostinCanada 🙏

It truly is a wild position. My psychiatrist doesn't believe in withdrawal or kindling, so he doesn't treat me for it. But I can't work (at least not at my old job) and need my psychiatrist to tell my insurance company that I'm doing what I need to do to get better. And what I actually need to do to get better right now is to keep taking the exact same drugs at the exact same doses. So I essentially need to tell my psychiatrist that the drugs are working so that he'll keep prescribing them, but also that they're not working well enough that I'm able to go back to work because I'm definitely not well enough to go back (but not for the reasons he thinks). What a goddamn mess.

@LostinCanada the story about your friend being CT'd off Effexor and put on Prozac is so scary. I hope he's not doing too terribly. Almost makes me think that it's better for me to tell my psychiatrist I'll go up to 120 mg of Cymbalta now so that I can stockpile for a taper in case I get taken off...😱😳

@SarahMc the whole thing is terrible. I think you have to do whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe from further harm. Stockpiling is a good idea imo!

7 minutes ago, SarahMc said:

psychiatrist I'll go up to 120 mg of Cymbalta now so that I can stockpile for a taper in case I get taken off...😱😳

I agree...that is the silver lining.

Anxiety is a recognized reason for disability Insurance in Canada. That is the route my doctor took when he filled out the forms for PWD. He added that it was complicated by coming off SSRIs and that increasing the dose and changing meds made things worse. The psych tried to bridge me with prozac and I was vomiting constantly and had facial tics. Increasing the paxil resulted in increased anxiety and vomiting....so drugging me was not an option. Of course this was all before finding survivingantidepressants.org .

13 minutes ago, SarahMc said:

So I essentially need to tell my psychiatrist that the drugs are working so that he'll keep prescribing them, but also that they're not working well enough

Exactly...feed him what he wants to hear...make it sounds like things are getting better but very slowly....let him increase the med. As long as you are on a positive trajectory, he won't rip you off the drug. But just present with anxiety, forget mentioning kindling and withdrawal. Just stick with the symptoms and how they are slowly improving.

It's really sad that we have to do this. The egos of some of these doctors is sickening and when it comes to mental health, we can lose control if we don't pretend compliance. The mental health act in Canada takes away our rights if we aren't careful.

It's disgusting.

Edited May 7May 7 by LostinCanada

17 hours ago, LostinCanada said:

But just present with anxiety, forget mentioning kindling and withdrawal. Just stick with the symptoms and how they are slowly improving.

This is what I've been doing my last couple appointments, after spending a couple earlier appointments trying to discuss withdrawal and being completely condescended to and dismissed. It feels very strange to me going to a doctor and having to mask what's actually going on and instead play this silly little game just so I can stay on my meds, but I suppose that's where we are now...sigh.

17 hours ago, LostinCanada said:

The egos of some of these doctors is sickening

I agree 100% about doctors' egos. To me, the best doctors are the ones who have some intellectual humility. It makes me trust a doctor 10x more if they're upfront about the limits of their own knowledge and of medical knowledge generally. Unfortunately those doctors are few and far between!

18 hours ago, Luke said:

You might be able to convince your psychiatrist with research papers, guidelines from countries where withdrawal is more recognised and so on

@Luke are you able to share some of these research papers and guidelines, or even just point me in the right direction? I'm fairly certain my psychiatrist won't be convinced based on his EXTREMELY condescending reaction to my questions, but it would still be helpful to have them for my own knowledge and for potential future use. I think my gp might be open to it, for example.

1 hour ago, SarahMc said:

@Luke are you able to share some of these research papers and guidelines, or even just point me in the right direction? I'm fairly certain my psychiatrist won't be convinced based on his EXTREMELY condescending reaction to my questions, but it would still be helpful to have them for my own knowledge and for potential future use. I think my gp might be open to it, for example.

It is a bit disjointed, however as a starting point, guidelines in the UK mention withdrawal lasting for a long time:

This is from the official body representing and overseeing the training of psychiatrists in the UK:

Stopping antidepressants

"Other people can have more severe symptoms which last much longer (sometimes months or more than a year).

At the moment we cannot predict who will get the more serious withdrawal symptoms."

You might also want to look at the Maudsley Deprescribing guidelines.

However, I get the sense that you may be wasting effort and complicating things with your psychiatrist, and you may also want to consider not doing this in case they feel you're arguing and are non-compliant with treatment, given your situation.

Thanks @Luke! To be clear, I’m not planning to raise this anymore with my psychiatrist. But if I can figure out how to stop seeing him while remaining in compliance with my insurance, or if (fingers crossed) he retires soon given his age, I’ll keep this stuff in my back pocket for future medical providers.

@SarahMc There is a lot of specific information in this link that might help:

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/20161-how-do-you-talk-to-a-doctor-about-tapering-and-withdrawal/

Thank you @LostinCanada!!

Another tough week with constant intense fog and migraines most days. It’s hard to keep up the hope that I will stabilize on these meds but I think I need to keep going for a while yet given the wild changes my brain has been through in the past year. I did have a dirty window on Sunday where the fog partially lifted and I had more energy and interest in doing things.

I’m mostly spending my time trying to keep busy and distracted. I know I’m very lucky that my physical symptoms are relatively mild, so most days I can still do things like go to the gym, walk the dogs, garden, etc. Although the brain fog is always present, there are brief moments each day where I can almost forget it’s there.

Current symptoms:

• Brain fog/depression/anhedonia (lumping these three together because they come and go as a trio) - constant, but varying in strength

• Anxiety - daily, but comes and goes

• Nausea - daily, but comes and goes

• Headaches/migraines - most days, but often mild, only occasionally debilitating

Symptoms that have resolved, or at least significantly improved:

• Weird dry sensation in my throat

• Pounding heart

• Sleep disturbances

• Diarrhea (TMI? Apologies 😂)

Edited May 13May 13 by SarahMc

1 hour ago, SarahMc said:

Another tough week with constant intense fog and migraines most days. It’s hard to keep up the hope that I will stabilize on these meds but I think I need to keep going for a while yet given the wild changes my brain has been through in the past year. I did have a dirty window on Sunday where the fog partially lifted and I had more energy and interest in doing things.

I’m mostly spending my time trying to keep busy and distracted. I know I’m very lucky that my physical symptoms are relatively mild, so most days I can still do things like go to the gym, walk the dogs, garden, etc. Although the brain fog is always present, there are brief moments each day where I can almost forget it’s there.

Current symptoms:

• Brain fog/depression/anhedonia (lumping these three together because they come and go as a trio) - constant, but varying in strength

• Anxiety - daily, but comes and goes

• Nausea - daily, but comes and goes

• Headaches/migraines - most days, but often mild, only occasionally debilitating

Symptoms that have resolved, or at least significantly improved:

• Weird dry sensation in my throat

• Pounding heart

• Sleep disturbances

• Diarrhea (TMI? Apologies 😂)

It’s good things are improving in certain areas (nothing is tmi on here, well not nothing, but most things are fine! 🤣)

I’m sorry it’s still obviously very tough for you. You are doing the right thing. It can take some time for stability to be found. You’re doing great even if it might not feel like it!

Thanks @Chippy, you’re the best. Really appreciate all the work you do on here, this forum is really helping me get through the days lately 💜

12 hours ago, SarahMc said:

this forum is really helping me get through the days lately 💜

This is lovley to hear @SarahMc I hope it can continue to do so.

3 am out here on the Canadian east coast and I’ve been awake for the past hour and a half with a killer headache. Feels like someone is taking a jackhammer to my left temple. Anyone else not sleeping tonight? 😅

I'm sorry to hear that, I hope the next night is better.

2 hours ago, SarahMc said:

3 am out here on the Canadian east coast and I’ve been awake for the past hour and a half with a killer headache. Feels like someone is taking a jackhammer to my left temple. Anyone else not sleeping tonight? 😅

Sorry to read @SarahMc waves and windows! Sleep in WD is awful sometimes. I emphasise.

Just wanted to document here that I've had a lovely little dirty window the past few days (starting Saturday) 😊. I feel like I mostly post updates here when I'm having a particularly hard time, so I thought it might be helpful for anyone reading through these threads to see that better days do happen.

I've still been having all of my typical symptoms to a certain extent every day, but the past few days they've lessened in severity enough that they're kind of just background noise. And I've had more energy and been in a much more positive state of mind. So I've actually been able to enjoy the beautiful weather we're having here, and really feel positive feelings like contentment and gratitude. I was even able to get out to the coast to do some rock climbing for a few hours today ☀️🌊

Is this stabilization coming? Who knows. But I'll take it for now.

Glad you are doing better @SarahMc

Have you had a read of this link:

I love Sarah McLachlan btw.

Let's have a Canadiana moment...watching Due South and hearing Possession. ❤️

Thanks for that link @LostinCanada , that’s very helpful 💜

Possession takes me right back to my childhood, my mom used to listen to that album on repeat. I’m sure I can still sing along to the whole song. More of a Tragically Hip fan myself as far as 90s Canadian artists go, but Sarah McLachlan is still a true Canadian icon!

Edited May 18May 18 by SarahMc

10 hours ago, SarahMc said:

Just wanted to document here that I've had a lovely little dirty window the past few days (starting Saturday) 😊. I feel like I mostly post updates here when I'm having a particularly hard time, so I thought it might be helpful for anyone reading through these threads to see that better days do happen.

I've still been having all of my typical symptoms to a certain extent every day, but the past few days they've lessened in severity enough that they're kind of just background noise. And I've had more energy and been in a much more positive state of mind. So I've actually been able to enjoy the beautiful weather we're having here, and really feel positive feelings like contentment and gratitude. I was even able to get out to the coast to do some rock climbing for a few hours today ☀️🌊

Is this stabilization coming? Who knows. But I'll take it for now.

Thank @SarahMc for giving us this positive update. Great to hear. Stabilising is happen. 😃

On 5/18/2026 at 6:53 PM, SarahMc said:

Is this stabilization coming? Who knows. But I'll take it for now.

I hope so. It's a good sign, at least.

1 hour ago, Luke said:

I hope so. It's a good sign, at least.

Thanks Luke. Unfortunately I got worse again yesterday and had a tough day today so I don’t think I’m stabilizing just yet — but I’ll take any kind of good sign that comes my way.

10 hours ago, SarahMc said:

Thanks Luke. Unfortunately I got worse again yesterday and had a tough day today so I don’t think I’m stabilizing just yet — but I’ll take any kind of good sign that comes my way.

Hang in the Sarah, your getting there, ups and downs that is all, more healing happening. xxx

Can anyone tell me if it is normal to cycle through different symptoms while waiting to stabilize? I keep thinking different symptoms are resolved only to have them reappear a week or two later while another symptom (temporarily) disappears. It’s not brand new symptoms or anything, just the same symptoms disappearing and reappearing over and over. Like some kind of hellish merry-go-round 😅

I’ve now been waiting to stabilize for 6.5 weeks. I’ve had little (dirty) windows here and there, and I know I’ve put my nervous system through a ton over the past year so this is not going to be a quick process. But I’m desperate for any concrete sign of consistent forward progress.

@SarahMc this is very common indeed and very much part of the windows and waves pattern.

I know 6 weeks must seem a long time but honestly it’s not in the grand scheme of this journey. Definitely requires some patience, it may feel as though holding is not progress but really it is, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes!

Hey @SarahMc sorry to see about your headache today, I do hope it passes soon. I get a lot of head pressure issues and mines bad too today so I empathise. Just wanted to leave a little love on here for you. You’ve been helping so much on here since you joined the team. Thank you so very much. Xxx