Hello all,

Around the year 2000 I was put on Luvox, and was on 50mg until 2019 when I suddenly felt very strange, had burning nerves and extreme anxiety. For years I had been binge-drinking once a week to self-medicate for my failures in life, and possibly kindled myself although I didn't know it at the time. I was sent to a crisis-centre and put on 3mg Ativan per day and my Luvox was raised from 50 to 75mg which was very difficult (made me worse).

The benzodiazepine was discontinued in a psych-ward by a detox in 2021. The withdrawals were horrible and I started to feel a little better by the start of 2025.

I began reducing my Luvox 75mg over the course of 7 months to 43mg, averaging a 7-8% per month reduction.

At 43mg I crashed and updosed to 50mg. The withdrawals from Luvox dissapeared within a day and I was very relieved. But a day later something else took its place: an activating and burning sensation in my brain and body. Like a constant wired, electric feeling running through me.

I got scared, decreased to 47mg (1 nov 2025) but later updosed to 48.5 (11 nov 2025) and 50mg (3 feb 2026) again (because that's one whole 50mg pill because I had to travel and don't dare to cross borders with shaven pills in my luggage).

The small updoses resulted in a significant increase in activation, and weeks of horrendous cortisol-waves which made me jump up-and-down in my room from pure despair and horror.

I am holding my 50mg dose but this activating feeling is with me every day although the cortisol-waves have lessened. Especially in the morning I'm very wired with pins and needles on my arms and legs and lots of electric activating sensations. They stay with me during the day to lessen somewhat in the evening. Often I feel poisoned.

My question is: am I kindled and does my body reject Luvox after all the dose-changes, benzo-detox and earlier binge-drinking?

Can holding 50mg longer still help? Or should I start reducing at a very low pace?

I need a change because this activation becomes increasingly difficult to bear. Especially after the years of torture from my benzo-detox in 2021.

I'm desperate for advice and some guidance. I'm afraid of doctors. I was Chris1970 at survivingantidepressants.org. and still suffering every day. Thank you.

Edited July 22Jul 22 by Lighty

Welcome to the forum!

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawl syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 
I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

At 43mg I crashed and updosed to 50mg. The withdrawals from Luvox dissapeared within a day and I was very relieved. But a day later something else took its place: an activating and burning sensation in my brain and body. Like a constant wired, electric feeling running through me.

I got scared, decreased to 47mg (1 nov 2025) but later updosed to 48.5 (11 nov 2025) and 50mg (3 feb 2026) again (because that's one whole 50mg pill because I had to travel and don't dare to cross borders with shaven pills in my luggage).

The small updoses resulted in a significant increase in activation, and weeks of horrendous cortisol-waves which made me jump up-and-down in my room from pure despair and horror.

yeah that sure is a bad experience, you didn't updose too much and you got such tough activation.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

am I kindled and does my body reject Luvox after all the dose-changes, benzo-detox and earlier binge-drinking?

You may have kindled a bit around the crash and updose, I think you may need to reduce your dose a bit back down, I wouldn't be carelessly saying you are now completely rejecting the drug, we will have to see with time and potential further steps.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

Can holding 50mg longer still help? Or should I start reducing at a very low pace?

I think it's a bit complicated in your case, assuming it is an adverse reaction from the up dose, and you held out for a bit without any improvement, you may decide to try to reduce your drug further to see if it helps with the activation, but it may also introduce withdrawal symptoms, if you decide to taper further you should probably go in small steps, to see how your nervous system reacts, and that it doesn't make things too worse.

It should be your decision on what you should do, if you believe you need to try reducing and the updose caused that agitation, go for it.

Tapering Information

Have you ever tried Omega 3 supplementation to see if it helps you out a little bit with the activation ?

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

 

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

Edited July 22Jul 22 by Lighty

Hi @Peeta welcome to the forum.

It sounds like to you hit tolerance in 2019 to the SSRi, when this happens the best thing to do is to reduce the dose, unfortunately doctors don't realise this instead they try to treat the activation with a benzo and worsening it with increasing the dose of the ssri.

-Until your crash at 43mg did you feel generally a benefit from reducing the dose?

-Do you notice an increase activation at this current time when you take your dose or close to it?

On 7/22/2026 at 5:28 PM, Peeta said:

My question is: am I kindled and does my body reject Luvox after all the dose-changes, benzo-detox and earlier binge-drinking?

Moving doses around as you have will have caused further upset to your system for sure. There is no doubt your nervous system has been through a lot. But it can heal itself. Now it is important to keep your intake nice and clean, keep the stress low and trust your body.

Please be very mindful about your dosing from here on out. No more jumping doses around.

It may be wise to continue to taper at some point soon to try to reduce the effect of the reaction to the drug but I would be interested to know the answer to my two questions above before making any suggestions here.

I am glad you found us. All is not lost you can recover from this. Many have before you and you will too.

Hello Lighty and Chippy, thanks for your reply to my post!

In 2019 just before my crisis I had several brand-changes of Luvox. I reacted poorly to them, they gave me symptoms for several weeks each. Like withdrawal-effects.

When on 75mg and about 3 years after my benzo-detox somehow I stabilized. I had inner rest again. Although with side-effects from the Luvox. That's why I started reducing. But I would return to that in a heartbeat considering how I am now.

Also after my benzo-detox and on 75mg Luvox I tapered Mirtazapine which was not easy but far more doable. I had "normal" withdrawals like intense dizzyness and reinstated after going to 0mg. I then tapered more slowly to 0mg again and got off. All this without the activation I am feeling now.

Chippy to answer your questions:

-While reducing my Luvox from 75mg to 43mg I noticed an improvement of side-effects that I had:

*My eyesight got better

*I felt less disconnected from my surroundings

*My sexuality improved

*My constipation improved

But on the other hand I got cumulatively worse the more I reduced concerning the electical and wired feelings. Like walking slowly into a forest fire. This is far worse than the side-effects of Luvox ever were at 75mg. I thougt they were withdrawals and would go away but they don't.

-No I do not feel a significant increase in activation when taking my dose. I split my dose evenly over the day in a morning- and eveningdose (2 x 25mg). The wired feeling is always there, worse in the mornings and getting less in the evenings.

About the supplements: recently I took a vitamin C supplement 80mg with 10mg Zinc in it. It made my symptoms worse. I also cannot take Magnesium I have tried several variations (oxide, citrate, glycinate).

I do eat fish and have tried Omega3 pills with oil in them. I believe I am fine with those although they taste awful.

What would be the best way forward?

Thanks again!

Edited Friday at 01:49 PM4 days by Peeta

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

In 2019 just before my crisis I had several brand-changes of Luvox. I reacted poorly to them, they gave me symptoms for several weeks each. Like withdrawal-effects.

Sounds like the switched were what caused or added to how you were back then. Perhaps tolerance was not such a factor here then.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

Chippy to answer your questions:

-While reducing my Luvox from 75mg to 43mg I noticed an improvement of side-effects that I had:

*My eyesight got better

*I felt less disconnected from my surroundings

*My sexuality improved

*My constipation improved

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

When on 75mg and about 3 years after my benzo-detox somehow I stabilized. I had inner rest again. Although with side-effects from the Luvox. That's why I started reducing. But I would return to that in a heartbeat considering how I am now.

It’s great holding at this time stabilised you. Essentially it does sound like you were having some side effects from the drug and reducing helped this.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

But on the other hand I got cumulatively worse the more I reduced concerning the electical and wired feelings. Like walking slowly into a forest fire. This is far worse than the side-effects of Luvox ever were at 75mg. I thougt they were withdrawals and would go away but they don't

This is a common issue when tapering to reduce a reaction to the drug, your not immune to wd. The thing to remember is the more strain you put on your system the harder it will find it to bounce back.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

-No I do not feel a significant increase in activation when taking my dose. I split my dose evenly over the day in a morning- and eveningdose (2 x 25mg). The wired feeling is always there, worse in the mornings and getting less in the evenings.

Ok. Good to know you are not reacting to the dose itself. Good move on the split dose.

It’s common to feel better as the day passes.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

About the supplements: recently I took a vitamin C supplement 80mg with 10mg Zinc in it. It made my symptoms worse. I also cannot take Magnesium I have tried several variations (oxide, citrate, glycinate).

People often react to supplements. I’d not take anymore personally.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

I do eat fish and have tried Omega3 pills with oil in them. I believe I am fine with those although they taste awful.

Stick to the fish. Much better to get things naturally.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

What would be the best way forward?

I think you need to hold your dose for a while and get things more stable. Keep a symptoms diary and when you see things get more regularly down to 1-3/10 you could consider reducing further. You’ll want to do this very cautiously so check in here before committing to making any further reductions would be my advice.

Hi Chippy,

Thanks for your reply! I'm holding for months now and seem to be getting worse. I'm having a hard time holding on. I don't see things getting any better and anxiety and inner restlessness are taking me over. Ofcourse I want to hold longer but I have to be able to bear the symptoms as well.

A bit more information: when in 2019 I had this crash I first went to my GP. She wanted me to raise my Luvox dose. So the next morning I took 50mg instead of my usual 25mg morning-dose. It was terrible because it felt like acid was running through my veins. I could not bear it and went back to my old dose the next day. I felt bad but the acid feeling was gone.

Later I was sent to a psychiatric crisis-centre. There I was forced again to raise my Luvox dose from 50mg to 100mg. It was impossible for me, such feelings of activation and panic. My wife said I looked and acted like being on drugs.

It was tried several times to increase to 100mg but I could go no higher than 75mg which in itself was hell on earth. Even 87.5mg gave me constant chemical anxiety.

Doctors found it strange because for Luvox 100mg is quite a normal dose and they all thought I was acting up. But I wasn't.

But I did stabilize on that 75mg a few years after my benzo-detox. I don't know how but I did.

As for the start of Luvox in 2000: my then psychiatrist wanted me to start at 25mg, then 50mg, and then up to 75mg and 100mg. Even then I could not do it. I stayed on 50mg, as high as I could go.

I hear of other people having no issues with decreasing or increasing their SSRI-dose. Why is this happening to me?

I got gaslighted a lot by doctors, like they have never seen a patiënt like me, like I am making things up, like I am unwilling to coöperate. I am afraid of them.

In my life I tried several other SSRI's and SNRI's and all of them made me worse and had to stop them after trying 6 weeks or more.

Luvox was the only one I tolerated in a lower dose of 50mg so I settled for that.

I'm ruminating all the time about what is going on with me. Is it tolerance (tachyphylaxis)? Is it kindling? Is it because of benzo PAWS?

I'm sorry for this overload of information but I'm desperate and looking for a way out.

Thanks again Peeta.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

I got gaslighted a lot by doctors, like they have never seen a patiënt like me, like I am making things up, like I am unwilling to coöperate. I am afraid of them.

In my life I tried several other SSRI's and SNRI's and all of them made me worse and had to stop them after trying 6 weeks or more.

yeah it's very common, i also in dec2024- jan2025 didn't tolerate ssri's and snri's anymore, probably due to my lexapro rapid taper in 2020 (that was mostly wd free), they just can't think outside the box, they just prescribe drugs and assume they work exactly the same way, everytime, they don't understand they can make you worse, act paradoxically, or any other consequence, they are just ignorant and arrogant.

Tho it all doesn't matter anymore that past, right now we need to deal with the present, we shouldn't occupy ourselves with non existing pasts (besides for information and experience so we know to take better actions).

You will find the way to get out and feel better, you will do what you need to do and know to decide which course of action is best for you.

@Peeta I think people can get quite caught up with 'I tried this dose' or 'I tried that dose'. You may be ok at 50mg at one stage in your life and not later, as shifting doses and adding in other drugs causes more harm to your nervous system and makes it more sensitive. This is what has happened to you. Kindling. Once this has happened there is no longer the perfect dose. WD is a real thing, the brain missing the drug, so as long as you have enough drug in your system to answer the brains need for it, that is all you can do dose wise. The brain needs time to stablise. Sometimes this can be many months even 12-18 months, it is a leap of faith to sit and do nothing and feel you are going nowhere. There are just not many options left. If you are off your drug, RI often helps a lot, but if you are already taking the drug there is not much you can do. Just sit and wait it out. Make sure you are doing everything that you can with your intake. Staying hydrated, low stress, good healthy diet, not putting other things into your system like alcohol and so on. Live like a saint! Then commit to trusting your body to stablise things for you.

You might consider taking an appointment with Dr Mark Horowitz? He may ease your mind and confirm you are doing the right thing. Perhaps it would help? Send me a Pm if you want his booking link.

Hello Lighty and Chippy, thanks for your replies! Yesterday was a particular tough day for me with lots of pain and fear. I had eaten beef with roquefort-sauce (fermented blue cheese) in a restaurant and the next morning my head was exploding with nerve-pain and fear. I didn't know it has a lot of natural glutamate in it.

I'm thinking along with you that I'm kindled and thus holding this dose is the best option. It may take a long time as you mentioned but its good to know what is going on and what action to take.

But sometimes when symptoms are bad I feel the need to change something in my SSRI-dose trying to force a change. I have to resist that.

I will try to hold as long as it takes and live like a saint as you say 😅. Thanks for the option to contact Dr Mark Horowitz, I take that in consideration.

Peeta.

1 hour ago, Peeta said:

Hello Lighty and Chippy, thanks for your replies! Yesterday was a particular tough day for me with lots of pain and fear. I had eaten beef with roquefort-sauce (fermented blue cheese) in a restaurant and the next morning my head was exploding with nerve-pain and fear. I didn't know it has a lot of natural glutamate in it.

I'm thinking along with you that I'm kindled and thus holding this dose is the best option. It may take a long time as you mentioned but its good to know what is going on and what action to take.

But sometimes when symptoms are bad I feel the need to change something in my SSRI-dose trying to force a change. I have to resist that.

I will try to hold as long as it takes and live like a saint as you say 😅. Thanks for the option to contact Dr Mark Horowitz, I take that in consideration.

Peeta.

Thinking of you!

I’m in a similar state

11 hours ago, Peeta said:

But sometimes when symptoms are bad I feel the need to change something in my SSRI-dose trying to force a change. I have to resist that.

I know it is counter intuitive to just do nothing, but really by doing nothing you are making a choice and doing the right thing. Your body needs plenty of time without changes to let this settle and heal. You'll get there, one day at a time.

18 hours ago, Finni said:

Thinking of you!

I’m in a similar state

Thanks Finni, I have read your story

and see the similarities. I know the trouble you're in and wish you strength!

8 hours ago, Chippy said:

Your body needs plenty of time without changes to let this settle and heal. You'll get there, one day at a time.

Thanks Chippy. Nice to know I can turn to this forum for support and advice. I'll need it in the coming months.

I didn’t used to be this activated by mirtazapine. The lower I have gone on my dose the worse I have become.

It’s such a balancing act.