1 minute ago, Bernadette said:

@overthepill , this is wonderful to here you are getting 8 to 10hours of sleep, your body needs it and is an excellent sign things are improving. Nice to know the muscle tension has lightened up to give you some relief. Your doing a great job my friend letting symptoms come and go an don't over analyze. Sending prayers and thoughts to a window. How is the weather by you, good I hope. Hugs for now xxxx Bernadette

I live in Miami, FL and it's summer so it's an absolute scorcher here, and heat has always been a trigger for my anxiety so I tend to stay inside during the summer months. I haven't been outside in months due to this whole ordeal, being outside overwhelms my eyes hopefully that symptom subsides soon because I'm tired of being a prisoner of my own home 😞.

9 minutes ago, overthepill said:

I live in Miami, FL and it's summer so it's an absolute scorcher here, and heat has always been a trigger for my anxiety so I tend to stay inside during the summer months. I haven't been outside in months due to this whole ordeal, being outside overwhelms my eyes hopefully that symptom subsides soon because I'm tired of being a prisoner of my own home 😞.

Ooh my goodness, I guess it's hot where you live. Here in Wisconsin we have all the season springs, summer, fall, winter. Right now its 75, with a cool breeze. Fall is my favorite, when it gets September, the leaves start changing colors and especially great for camp fires. Hope things start cooling down for you so you can enjoy your evening.

We live on the Westside of Los Angeles verry close to LAX (we walk to the airport when we fly). Its been in the low 80's here but there is a very nice breeze that comes off Santa Monica Bay in the afternoon. Our house is almost 80 years old and doesn't have AC, but we rarely miss it. Like you, @overthepill, I can't stand hot weather. And forget about humidity!

9 minutes ago, Bernadette said:

Ooh my goodness, I guess it's hot where you live. Here in Wisconsin we have all the season springs, summer, fall, winter. Right now its 75, with a cool breeze. Fall is my favorite, when it gets September, the leaves start changing colors and especially great for camp fires. Hope things start cooling down for you so you can enjoy your evening.

That sounds nice, I've been considering moving somewhere with seasons when I'm better. I was looking at Charleston, SC. I just want some variety of weather not just hot and hotter lol

5 minutes ago, mstimc60 said:

We live on the Westside of Los Angeles verry close to LAX (we walk to the airport when we fly). Its been in the low 80's here but there is a very nice breeze that comes off Santa Monica Bay in the afternoon. Our house is almost 80 years old and doesn't have AC, but we rarely miss it. Like you, @overthepill, I can't stand hot weather. And forget about humidity!

That sounds nice, LA is a great city, I love the mexican food out there. Yea AC is a must here lol, I keep the house at 69 all day 🤣 the humidity here is brutal as well.

1 minute ago, overthepill said:

I love the mexican food out there.

We have a great place two blocks from us. Clean enough to be safe but shabby enough to be authentic!

2 minutes ago, mstimc60 said:

We have a great place two blocks from us. Clean enough to be safe but shabby enough to be authentic!

That's the perfect balance 🤣 I'm currently on a low histamine diet so I can't eat any of that stuff but hopefully I'll be able to indulge soon. I was reading that the low histamine helps calm the nervous system initially, is there any merit in that?

55 minutes ago, overthepill said:

That sounds nice, I've been considering moving somewhere with seasons when I'm better. I was looking at Charleston, SC. I just want some variety of weather not just hot and hotter lol

I agree, hot and hotter are not my style. 🤣🤣

. I was reading that the low histamine helps calm the nervous system initially, is there any merit in that?

Good question. That’s not my area of expertise but I’m sure another mentor can chime in.

10 minutes ago, mstimc60 said:

. I was reading that the low histamine helps calm the nervous system initially, is there any merit in that?

Good question. That’s not my area of expertise but I’m sure another mentor can chime in.

Not my area of expertise either @mstimc60 , definitely agree to leave this to another mentor, or moderator.

Can you believe I went to the hospital when I first got off the medication because of my symptoms and the Psych at the hospital had me baker acted and I spent 2 days in a psych ward -_- what a jackass! That makes me so angry how SSRI withdrawal is treated by doctors, it has made me not trust any of them.

9 hours ago, overthepill said:

I was reading that the low histamine helps calm the nervous system initially, is there any merit in that?

In WD our histimine levels can be all out of wack. This can cause all sorts of issues, effect our sleep, cause reactions to things and so on.

The theory is we have a histimine 'bucket' that we can tolerate filling to the brim, once that bucket gets full a normal persons system can manage these levels automatically when they get too high. In wd we can't for reasons I don't understand, so having a low histimine diet is not about having no histimine is more about managing intake of high histimine foods (maybe eating them earlier in the day) to keep from over filling the 'bucket' which some have found can reduce symptoms. There is no rule book to this. It is a very personal thing. Perhaps if you are interested have a look at what foods you eat that are higher in histimine and slowly try reducing/eliminating them from your diet and see if it helps at all.

I have tried this myself and didn't notice any improvements in sleep etc which is what I was hoping for. Others have had better results.

One thing I would say, is I think for many it is better to focus on a balanced diet to aid healing rather than restricting intake of good quality foods. Many high histimine foods are actually really good for you too. So a balance to found there.

17 hours ago, overthepill said:

Thank you for the warm welcome, I hope you are doing well as well.

thank you kindly!

11 hours ago, Chippy said:

In WD our histimine levels can be all out of wack. This can cause all sorts of issues, effect our sleep, cause reactions to things and so on.

The theory is we have a histimine 'bucket' that we can tolerate filling to the brim, once that bucket gets full a normal persons system can manage these levels automatically when they get too high. In we can't for reasons I don't understand, so having a low histimine diet is not about having no histimine is more about managing intake of high histimine foods (maybe eating them earlier in the day) to keep from over filling the 'bucket' which some have found can reduce symptoms. There is no rule book to this. It is a very personal thing. Perhaps if you are interested have a look at what foods you eat are higher in histimine and slowly try reducing/eliminating them from your diet and see if it helps at all.

I have tried this myself and didn't notice any improvements in sleep etc which is what I was hoping for. Others have had better results.

One thing I would say, is I think for many it is better to focus on a balanced diet to aid healing rather than restricting intake of good quality foods. Many high histimine foods are actually really good for you too. So a balance to found there.

Good information to know, I'm going to do the low histamine diet for a month then start introducing back in the healthier foods that contain histamine and see how i react. Do you think this is a good strategy?

11 hours ago, overthepill said:

Good information to know, I'm going to do the low histamine diet for a month then start introducing back in the healthier foods that contain histamine and see how i react. Do you think this is a good strategy?

Personally I would do this in reverse. I would start by identifying what foods you eat are higher in histimine, then reduce them slowly over time. If sleep is an issue for you, perphaps focus on consuming these foods earlier in the day. I believe the body like gradual and gentle.

12 hours ago, Chippy said:

Personally I would do this in reverse. I would start by identifying what foods you eat are higher in histimine, then reduce them slowly over time. If sleep is an issue for you, perphaps focus on consuming these foods earlier in the day. I believe the body like gradual and gentle.

Interestingly enough my sleep has been solid, I'm averaging 8 to 10 hours a night and last night my watch clocked 50 minutes of deep sleep for me which is very high for me. I had really bad insomnia the first few nights off the med but that quickly resolved.

Considering I am just over 3 weeks off the med is there a possibility that this will resolve in the usual 8 to 12 weeks or because of my adverse reaction am I locked in to a long term recovery? I've been wondering about this and being hopeful but I don't want to set myself up for disappointment.

There is no guarantee in the 8 to 12 week time frame, this is something set up by big farma when they did there study, it's a quesstimation to give Doctors something to go by, at least that's what my Doctor explained to me. But every person is different in the healing process, so it's just unknown how each and everyone of us will heal.

18 minutes ago, Bernadette said:

There is no guarantee in the 8 to 12 week time frame, this is something set up by big farma when they did there study, it's a quesstimation to give Doctors something to go by, at least that's what my Doctor explained to me. But every person is different in the healing process, so it's just unknown how each and everyone of us will heal.

I know healing time-frames are a very unique thing different for each person, I guess I'm just trying to remain hopeful that this resolves or at least becomes manageable in a matter of months as opposed to a longer timeframe. Right now I feel like I'm just surviving from one day to the next.

2 hours ago, overthepill said:

I know healing time-frames are a very unique thing different for each person, I guess I'm just trying to remain hopeful that this resolves or at least becomes manageable in a matter of months as opposed to a longer timeframe. Right now I feel like I'm just surviving from one day to the next.

Absolutely positively is very healthy during the healing process.

16 minutes ago, Bernadette said:

Absolutely positively is very healthy during the healing process.

Positivity is something that unfortunately I am short supply of these days. I try my best but these symptoms really beat me down, by the end of the day I am so exhausted of the constant symptoms 😞

@overthepill I am sorry things are tough for you, we all understand. One thing I think is best, is to let go of timescales, this can be very hard I know, however focusing on the day and not worrying too much about how long this will take will keep your nervous system calm and only aid in healing. Acceptance is key. You have got this.

12 hours ago, Chippy said:

@overthepill I am sorry things are tough for you, we all understand. One thing I think is best, is to let go of timescales, this can be very hard I know, however focusing on the day and not worrying too much about how long this will take will keep your nervous system calm and only aid in healing. Acceptance is key. You have got this.

Thank you for the encouragement Chippy I'm just having a hard time with the acceptance part. I have always been a problem solver and someone who likes to figure things out and find solutions and it's hard to have to accept that all I can do in this situation is wait until my brain heals.

@overthepill , how are you today, better I hope. Yes the waiting and healing process can be difficult but in the meantime think of it as one mer day toward healing and you don't have to relive it again, stay as positive as you can and distract as best you can and healing is surely happening every moment. I was where you are now but but the minutes turn to hours a nod hours into days and days into months,. As the time goes by remind yourself I'm better than yesterday and I'm doing better than last month. Healing is truly happening, just say I need let it be, I'm strong and will not let this WD defeat me, trust me your doing everything right and when you experience those windows hang on to them, because my fried Is what we all here have worked for. Hugs for now xxxx Bernadette

1 hour ago, overthepill said:

Thank you for the encouragement Chippy I'm just having a hard time with the acceptance part. I have always been a problem solver and someone who likes to figure things out and find solutions and it's hard to have to accept that all I can do in this situation is wait until my brain heals.

I'm the same, @overthepill . When I worked full time I was a manager and solved problems every day. Its frustrating when there seems to be no solution other than acceptance and patience; I tried to find all sorts of solutions until I realized it takes time, patience, and tons of self-love to get through this, but you will make it!