September 20Sep 20 On 9/18/2026 at 10:19 AM, Emsy said:I’m aware my own mental health is starting to slide now from the loneliness and isolation of all this so this is adding to my stress and fear.Trying to find a withdrawal aware therapist in the UK is so hard though and the few I’ve found are well out of my price bracket.I don't think there is any issues having some therapy in WD. What I would say is it is hard to say what you are feeling is your mental health suffering when your nervous system is so destablised, also I have heard many say they dont have access to their system for therapy to be useful.Main thing is to work on your coping skills like acceptance. Anything you can do to not lean into the chaos the better. Keep that second fear at bay and accept that things are hard atm, but most of if not all of that is the injury and not your reaction to it. On 9/18/2026 at 10:19 AM, Emsy said:The cynic in me wonders if this is why the GP wants me off asap!I think this often when I hear about GPs suggesting such things. Like they get cold feet and feel more comfortable if the patient is off and some time passed so they can wipe their hands of it. I’m not a medical professional and cannot offer medical advice. I only offer my thoughts as support. Please speak to your health practitioner about your care. This is a peer site where we support each other on our taper/recovery journeys. If you are from the UK please make sure you fill in a 'Yellow Card' report for the MHRA. It is you doing your bit to help make a difference.Please take the time to do it today 🙂 https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.ukFor US members details here.
September 20Sep 20 7 hours ago, Chippy said:I don't think there is any issues having some therapy in WD. What I would say is it is hard to say what you are feeling is your mental health suffering when your nervous system is so destablised, also I have heard many say they dont have access to their system for therapy to be useful.Main thing is to work on your coping skills like acceptance. Anything you can do to not lean into the chaos the better. Keep that second fear at bay and accept that things are hard atm, but most of if not all of that is the injury and not your reaction to it.I think this often when I hear about GPs suggesting such things. Like they get cold feet and feel more comfortable if the patient is off and some time passed so they can wipe their hands of it.Just chiming in about therapy. I didn’t think I would be able to participate in therapy, but I lucked out with a therapist who can provide services virtually and who realized I can’t do traditional therapy or trauma therapy. so far we’re just working on some dialectical behavior therapy techniques - which is a way of holding pain and something pleasant at the same time…letting 2 things exist together. She said it was originally created for emotional pain, but she realizes that a lot of mine is physical so we’re just trying to see what we can do together.We are pretty much feeling our way through this together in a therapy session I think. She doesn’t have much experience working with someone in my situation, but she’s very understanding and caring and trying to understand. For US members: Please report med to FDA Med Watch2017 (May) - Ativan .5 mg (3 x Daily) 2018 (Feb) - Mirtazapine 7.5 mg 2018 (May) - Ativan to Valium - Switch - Can’t Remember how long it took -tapered to 3 mg of Valium2024 (May) - Valium Tolerance2024 (2 Nov) - Completed taper off Valium 2024 (2 Nov) - Mirtazapine increased to 15 mg2025 (Feb) - Ativan 0.25 mg (3 x Daily) - Became Paradoxical - Started weaning got to 0.11mg2025 (Mar) - Ativan 0mg - CT In detox2025 (April) Started Depakote 1500mg - In detox2025 (April) - Depakote 500mg (2 x Daily) once home2025 (Aug) - Completed taper off Depakote2025 (Aug) - Akathisia surges throughout the day with calming in between2025 (Sept) - Gabapentin (Micro Dose) - Was calming at first and then became paradoxical so stop2025 (Oct) - Depakote - RI – (Two days of small dose) Became scared and stopped with WD & aka2025 (Oct) - Seroquel 50 mg XR – 1 Week - more and more activating and increased aka2025 (Oct) - Psychiatrist told me to stop it. But I took a few days of a smaller dose of IR then stopped - Not activating2025 (Nov) - Hydroxyzine 2.5mg - it was paradoxical so stopped2025 (1 Dec) - Mirtazapine 22.5mg - (2 Days) Was incredibly overstimulating started reducing to previous2025 (3 Dec) - Mirtazapine 18.75mg2025 (10 Dec) - Mirtazapine 16.87mg2025 (22 Dec) - Mirtazapine 15mg2026 (23Jan) - Mirtazapine 14.7mg2026 (23 Jan) - Mirtazapine 1mg Panic dose2026 (24 Jan) - Mirtazapine 15mg2026 (25 Feb) – Mirtazapine 14.7mg (-2%)2026 (18 Mar) - propranolol 2.5 mg one time2026 (21 Mar)- Mirtazapine- 15 mg accidentally in sleepy state2026 (22 Mar) - Mirtazapine 14.79 mg (more accurate scales) 2026 (29 April) Mirtazapine 14.7 mg/.1020 g (on suggestion of Horowitz) immediate intense symptoms2026 (30 April) Mirtazapine 14.79 mg (.1026 g)2026 (23 May) propranolol 2.5 mg one time2026 (01 June) Mirtazapine 14.79 mgdose was 5 hours late2026 (22 July) Mirtazapine 14.76 mgIntense electric activation, muscle tightness, autonomic surges, terror followed2026 (23 July) Mirtazapine 14.79 mg return2026 (Oct 5) attempted moving 2 mg of dose 45 minutes earlierSevere activation followed
September 28Sep 28 Just checking on you @Emsy 💗 For US members: Please report med to FDA Med Watch2017 (May) - Ativan .5 mg (3 x Daily) 2018 (Feb) - Mirtazapine 7.5 mg 2018 (May) - Ativan to Valium - Switch - Can’t Remember how long it took -tapered to 3 mg of Valium2024 (May) - Valium Tolerance2024 (2 Nov) - Completed taper off Valium 2024 (2 Nov) - Mirtazapine increased to 15 mg2025 (Feb) - Ativan 0.25 mg (3 x Daily) - Became Paradoxical - Started weaning got to 0.11mg2025 (Mar) - Ativan 0mg - CT In detox2025 (April) Started Depakote 1500mg - In detox2025 (April) - Depakote 500mg (2 x Daily) once home2025 (Aug) - Completed taper off Depakote2025 (Aug) - Akathisia surges throughout the day with calming in between2025 (Sept) - Gabapentin (Micro Dose) - Was calming at first and then became paradoxical so stop2025 (Oct) - Depakote - RI – (Two days of small dose) Became scared and stopped with WD & aka2025 (Oct) - Seroquel 50 mg XR – 1 Week - more and more activating and increased aka2025 (Oct) - Psychiatrist told me to stop it. But I took a few days of a smaller dose of IR then stopped - Not activating2025 (Nov) - Hydroxyzine 2.5mg - it was paradoxical so stopped2025 (1 Dec) - Mirtazapine 22.5mg - (2 Days) Was incredibly overstimulating started reducing to previous2025 (3 Dec) - Mirtazapine 18.75mg2025 (10 Dec) - Mirtazapine 16.87mg2025 (22 Dec) - Mirtazapine 15mg2026 (23Jan) - Mirtazapine 14.7mg2026 (23 Jan) - Mirtazapine 1mg Panic dose2026 (24 Jan) - Mirtazapine 15mg2026 (25 Feb) – Mirtazapine 14.7mg (-2%)2026 (18 Mar) - propranolol 2.5 mg one time2026 (21 Mar)- Mirtazapine- 15 mg accidentally in sleepy state2026 (22 Mar) - Mirtazapine 14.79 mg (more accurate scales) 2026 (29 April) Mirtazapine 14.7 mg/.1020 g (on suggestion of Horowitz) immediate intense symptoms2026 (30 April) Mirtazapine 14.79 mg (.1026 g)2026 (23 May) propranolol 2.5 mg one time2026 (01 June) Mirtazapine 14.79 mgdose was 5 hours late2026 (22 July) Mirtazapine 14.76 mgIntense electric activation, muscle tightness, autonomic surges, terror followed2026 (23 July) Mirtazapine 14.79 mg return2026 (Oct 5) attempted moving 2 mg of dose 45 minutes earlierSevere activation followed
September 30Sep 30 Author Hi @Finni love, bless you for checking in on me. I’m staying off the forum mostly as it’s too triggering for my severe anxiety at the moment.Still not stabilising, still starting to think the 1.2mg is keeping my nervous system trapped somehow and stabilisation won’t come.I’m just holding and waiting for better days as so many of us are.Think of you often and how incredibly tough things are for you. Hold onto hope xx 3 weeks Paxil around 2002 I think can’t really remember. CT no issues except for a few head zaps.1 day Citalopram Dec 201710/07/25 - Mirtazapine 7.5mg19/07 - 15mg, 01/08 7.5mg, 15/08 dissolving orodispersible tablets for easier measuring 6mg, 22/08 5mg, 04/09 4mg, 18/09 3mg, 02/10 2.5mg, 16/10 2mg, 30/10 1.5mg, 13/11 1.2mg taper paused due to WD symptoms, had a window 17th March continuous improvement until early June when I went back into a moderate but manageable wave after overdoing things until early July when taking omeprazole for gastritis pushed me into another bad wave. Still waiting to stabilise before proceeding with taper.Supplements - 100mg magnesium glycinate daily.Other meds - Omeprazole 20mg a day when gastritis flares - realised after taking this for 8 days end of June ‘26 I was experiencing some WD symptoms again and researched to find PPIs block the liver enzymes used to metabolise a lot of antidepressants artificially raising blood levels. Stopped omeprazole and 2 weeks later back into a bad wave as my body has reacted as if I’ve updosed and then dropped again.Post menopausal GP has prescribed HRT but have not started as don’t want to confuse my system while tapering.
September 30Sep 30 2 hours ago, Emsy said:I’m just holding and waiting for better days as so many of us are.Sending love and strength your way @Emsy 💜 I’m not a medical professional and cannot offer medical advice. I am new to this journey and my thoughts are based only on my personal experience with psychiatric drugs. This is a peer site where we support each other on our taper/recovery journeys. Current regimen:Cymbalta - 90 mg/daySeroquel - 12.5 mg/day*holding to stabilize as of Apr 2026 History:Seroquel - up to 50 mg as needed for sleep (generally 6.25-12.5 mg a few times a week, though sometimes more) - 2009 (ish) to presentCymbalta - 60 mg/day, periodically down to 30 mg/day - May 2014 to May 2025Clonazepam - up to 1 mg/day as needed - March to May 2025, quick taper offZoloft - 150 mg/day - May 2025 to Aug 2025 (quick cross-taper from Cymbalta)Pristiq - 50 mg/day from Aug 2025 to mid-Oct 2025 (quick cross-taper from Zoloft); 100 mg/day from Oct 2025 to Dec 2025; back down to 50 mg/day from Dec 2025 to Jan 2026Lyrica - 200 mg/day - Nov 2025 to Jan 2026 (quick taper off from mid-Jan to early Feb 2026 due to severe depressive symptoms)Cymbalta - 60 mg/day - Jan - March 2026; up to 90 mg/day from March to present
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