7 hours ago, TonyA said:

Hi L I C

I am sorry to hear you are tlo dealing with this. I thought you were better.

Do you get anxiety in the mornings too.

I wake up and it is awful.

I hope you are feeling better soon. ❤️

Yes I get the cortisol spikes in the morning. From about 3 am onward. There have been times where it has faded. I have been under lots of stress and it is flaring again. 😩

Hi L I C

I am sorry to hear that.

How long do these go on for

Tony

32 minutes ago, TonyA said:

Hi L I C

I am sorry to hear that.

How long do these go on for

Tony

There is no definite answer....I have went weeks without only for them to come back. As you stabilize it should get better. When I am in a waves, they flare up for me.

I try to remind myself that my body is just reacting to too much adrenaline/cortisol. If you do a search about the morning cortisol rush, you can find some suggestions. Some benefit from vitamin C and gentle exercise.

Just a hint, if you want to address someone directly, you can tag them by using the @ sign. When you type in @ and then start typing a name, you will see member names and you can click on the one you want. 👍

Edited August 2Aug 2 by LostinCanada

Hi all

Do things get better with a long hold.

I feel like I’m loosing my mind. I have terrible brain fog dread and anxiety. I am so worried.

Is there anything I can do or is this it for ever.

Can anyone give me any advice.

Than you.

Tony

On 8/1/2026 at 9:16 AM, Chippy said:

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

 

Please make sure your signature is kept up to date with your drug history. This will allow members to see some basic information about your drug history and situation so that they may help you best. Information on how to do this is located in the FAQs section above, but here is a direct link: Update Signature

Once this is done, future posts made by you will have this signature turned on by default. For this reason please keep it clear but condensed as possible.

Please use the format outline here Preferred signature/drug history format

As above could you update your signature to include your complete history and as much information as you can on your taper with dates and doses etc....? Thanks :)

Can I ask why your doctor switched you? Did you suddenly start to have symptoms? This could be down to tolerance/poop out of the drug. Doctors often try to deal with this by changing drugs. This often worsens folk. In this situation it is seen that actually tapering can 'outrun' the tolerance and force the brain to 'catch up' and stablise.

Thats a lot of drugs to get given especially here in the UK. We are generally a little more cautious than the US. Are you having sleep issues, looking at the Seroquel and Mirt? Sleep in WD

 

We only suggest tapering in most cases, (Tolerance and severe ADR asides) whilst stable and at no more than 10% of your last dose. Tapering Information

I have seen quite a few people in this postion where they are switched to another drug/s from the orginal drug, that destablises them and then they try tapering off as they 'never feel stable'. Personally I think a really long hold would be best rather than pushing on with any further reductions. This can often need to be many months to find your WD Normal Baseline, which we would suggest to be a prolonged period of symptoms you can rate to be 1-3/10 in severity. (1 being mild, 10 being severe). From here you will have the platform needed to support a gradual taper off each drug rather than making things worse with further reductions. Hypersensitivity and kindling

Have a good read of our coping skills section, I believe these are fundamental in helping us cope with WD. Acceptance is the most imoportant of skills. Acceptance is key - Why does acceptance feel impossible?

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.

Hi @Chippy @LostinCanada

Hope you don’t mind me contacting you but I don’t know how to carry on the thread.

Again I am looking for advice and help as I feel awful and don’t know what to do. I have anxiety dread and fear.

I am going to do what you say and hold but will I see any improvement while I hold. It’s been about 8 weeks now holding on what I’m on.

I just feel so down and want to engage but my brain fog is awful and I don’t seem to be able to work my excutivyfunction. It’s like I’m brain dead. Can these tablets make you that way.

Will I get better.

I’m scared

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Tony

@

On 8/2/2026 at 8:40 AM, cherrysquid said:

Hi @TonyA a lot of us are dealing with this. You are far from alone ❤️

Anxiety is worse in the mornings because of natural cortisol spikes that help wake us up - to a sensitive nervous system its like throwing water onto a pan fire. It's very common.

Ways to help it is to not fight it and flow as much as you can. Think "oh there's my body over reacting while it heals."

Our bodies are always working towards healing. 💪

Hope you don’t mind me contacting you but I don’t know how to carry on the thread.

Again I am looking for advice and help as I feel awful and don’t know what to do. I have anxiety dread and fear.

I am going to do what you say and hold but will I see any improvement while I hold. It’s been about 8 weeks now holding on what I’m on.

I just feel so down and want to engage but my brain fog is awful and I don’t seem to be able to work my excutivyfunction. It’s like I’m brain dead. Can these tablets make you that way.

Will I get better.

I’m scared

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Tony

Currently

23 minutes ago, TonyA said:

@

Hope you don’t mind me contacting you but I don’t know how to carry on the thread.

Again I am looking for advice and help as I feel awful and don’t know what to do. I have anxiety dread and fear.

I am going to do what you say and hold but will I see any improvement while I hold. It’s been about 8 weeks now holding on what I’m on.

I just feel so down and want to engage but my brain fog is awful and I don’t seem to be able to work my excutivyfunction. It’s like I’m brain dead. Can these tablets make you that way.

Will I get better.

I’m scared

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Tony

Currently

You will get better. It takes time. Feeling like you're not going to get better is a symptom. Needing reassurance is a symptom. You're doing great. Distract yourself and flow with it; there's not a thing else you can do.

Keep holding, take it at the same time every day. No one knows how long it'll take, im afraid.

I know the unknown is scary but you have us here all supporting you. Deep breaths, let go, and accept

@cherrysquid

Thank you.

I have never been aftaid of anything in my life but now I feel fear like nothing I’ve experienced.

How do you know when a hold is working.

Tony

12 minutes ago, TonyA said:

@cherrysquid

Thank you.

I have never been aftaid of anything in my life but now I feel fear like nothing I’ve experienced.

How do you know when a hold is working.

Tony

I understand. WD is horrific.

You'll know because your overall trend will begin to rise.

@cherrysquid thanks again

I’ve been holding about 9 weeks now.

I hear what people say about holding for a long time but I thought I would be seeing better days by now.

Tony

36 minutes ago, TonyA said:

I’ve been holding about 9 weeks now.

I hear what people say about holding for a long time but I thought I would be seeing better days by now.

Your nervous system has been through a lot recently, so it’s normal (although no less horrible I know) to still be feeling really, really bad 9 weeks out. I went through something similar to you with a lot of different med changes, and I’ve been holding for four months and am not close to being stable. But I have had little windows and better days here and there. We will both get there, keep holding on.

@SarahMc

Thankyou for your reply it’s very nice of you to say we are in it together. I feel one I’m losing grip. It’s been going on for over 18 months. I really need some relief. Is there anything I can do to make it better.

Thank you

Tony❤️

29 minutes ago, SarahMc said:

Your nervous system has been through a lot recently, so it’s normal (although no less horrible I know) to still be feeling really, really bad 9 weeks out. I went through something similar to you with a lot of different med changes, and I’ve been holding for four months and am not close to being stable. But I have had little windows and better days here and there. We will both get there, keep holding on.

@SarahMc

Do we get any relief at all. Can you work. I’m really struggling with it. X

@TonyA the only thing you can do to make it better is to give it time, try to take care of yourself as best as possible, and practice coping skills like acceptance and distraction. It WILL get better, we just can’t tell you when.

I’m not currently working, I’ve been on medical leave for almost a year. I’m hoping to start a very slow transition back to work as I get more stable, but we’ll see. I know this is so hard, and I’m sorry 💜.

3 hours ago, TonyA said:

Hi @Chippy @LostinCanada

Hope you don’t mind me contacting you but I don’t know how to carry on the thread.

Again I am looking for advice and help as I feel awful and don’t know what to do. I have anxiety dread and fear.

I am going to do what you say and hold but will I see any improvement while I hold. It’s been about 8 weeks now holding on what I’m on.

I just feel so down and want to engage but my brain fog is awful and I don’t seem to be able to work my excutivyfunction. It’s like I’m brain dead. Can these tablets make you that way.

Will I get better.

I’m scared

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.

Tony

You are never a bother...I am on the west coast of Canada so I am about 8 hours behind you. ❤️

@Chippy mentioned it before and I did in a private message, that you may want to increase your dose....you tapered way too fast and adding a bit back can help settle some of the withdrawal.

How are you measuring your doses....do you have a scale? Accuracy is super important...you can't eyeball it.

The dose you are taking at 20 mg could be increased to 21 mg and if in 7 days you do not experience any relief, you can go to 22 mg

Because you say a definite worsening once dropping from 75,mg to 70 mg this may help.

Being stable and functional is more important than trying to rush the taper.

I know members who have benefited from a small updose and it helped them reach stability faster.

Your are also experiencing WD from the benzo

and the other SSRI you were taken off so it still won't be perfect. You will get through this. I understand the terror, it is the drug....this is not you. ❤️🙏

Edited August 4Aug 4 by LostinCanada

7 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

You are never a bother...I am on the west coast of Canada so I am about 8 hours behind you. ❤️

@Chippy mentioned it before and I did in a private message, that you may want to increase your dose....you tapered way too fast and adding a bit back can help settle some of the withdrawal.

How are you measuring your doses....do you have a scale? Accuracy is super important...you can't eyeball it.

The dose you are taking at 20 mg could be increased to 21 mg and if in 7 days you do not experience any relief, you can go to 22 mg

Because you say a definite worsening once dropping from 75,mg to 70 mg this may help.

Being stable and functional is more important than trying to rush the taper.

I know members who have benefited from a small updose and it helped them reach stability faster.

Your are also experiencing WD from the benzo

and the other SSRI you were taken off so it still won't be perfect. You will get through this. I understand the terror, it is the drug....this is not you. ❤️🙏

Thanks for coming back to me L I C

I don’t think I want to updose as it’s been 9 weeks but do you think it will work. I have really struggled through it all. Do you think it is still the withdrawal from the benzo and the ssri. I was on the escitralapam for 15 years and functioning quite normal. I had a bit of a flare up of anxiety and she gave me diazapam and said they (escitralapam) had stopped working before the stopped them in a week and gave me sertriline. She then took me off the diazapam in 5 weeks that I’d been taking for 6 months.

Do you think this all stems from that.

I feel like it’s never going to end I don’t know what to do.

Hope you are feeling better and thank you for giving me your time. X

17 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

You are never a bother...I am on the west coast of Canada so I am about 8 hours behind you. ❤️

@Chippy mentioned it before and I did in a private message, that you may want to increase your dose....you tapered way too fast and adding a bit back can help settle some of the withdrawal.

How are you measuring your doses....do you have a scale? Accuracy is super important...you can't eyeball it.

The dose you are taking at 20 mg could be increased to 21 mg and if in 7 days you do not experience any relief, you can go to 22 mg

Because you say a definite worsening once dropping from 75,mg to 70 mg this may help.

Being stable and functional is more important than trying to rush the taper.

I know members who have benefited from a small updose and it helped them reach stability faster.

Your are also experiencing WD from the benzo

and the other SSRI you were taken off so it still won't be perfect. You will get through this. I understand the terror, it is the drug....this is not you. ❤️🙏

My doses of quetiapine are 25 mg tablets x 2 and 20mg of liquid quetiapine spread out through the day.

1 minute ago, TonyA said:

Do you think it is still the withdrawal from the benzo and the ssri.

Yes, that was the beginning of the issues I believe. I would like to see a more detailed signature to help.

Even if escitalopram stopped working, your body was still dependent on it.

When you stopped escitalopram what happened? Did you ever feel stable on sertraline? Seeing the fact they kept adding drugs, it looks like you were experiencing WD from the escitalopram and Benzo. You need to give this time and really let things settle.

I wish it was easier....we are in this together....one day at a time. 💯

10 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

Yes, that was the beginning of the issues I believe. I would like to see a more detailed signature to help.

Even if escitalopram stopped working, your body was still dependent on it.

When you stopped escitalopram what happened? Did you ever feel stable on sertraline? Seeing the fact they kept adding drugs, it looks like you were experiencing WD from the escitalopram and Benzo. You need to give this time and really let things settle.

I wish it was easier....we are in this together....one day at a time. 💯

10 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

Yes, that was the beginning of the issues I believe. I would like to see a more detailed signature to help.

Even if escitalopram stopped working, your body was still dependent on it.

When you stopped escitalopram what happened? Did you ever feel stable on sertraline? Seeing the fact they kept adding drugs, it looks like you were experiencing WD from the escitalopram and Benzo. You need to give this time and really let things settle.

I wish it was easier....we are in this together....one day at a time. 💯

Hi L I C

I will definitely update.

I have never felt stable since I went to the doctors in Jan 25 when all this started. ❤️

18 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

Yes, that was the beginning of the issues I believe. I would like to see a more detailed signature to help.

Even if escitalopram stopped working, your body was still dependent on it.

When you stopped escitalopram what happened? Did you ever feel stable on sertraline? Seeing the fact they kept adding drugs, it looks like you were experiencing WD from the escitalopram and Benzo. You need to give this time and really let things settle.

I wish it was easier....we are in this together....one day at a time. 💯

I am feeling hopeless

I am sorry @TonyA. You and I have very similar stories in terms of a bunch of drug changes in a short time, including switching from a long-term SSRI (or in my case SNRI) to a different drug. I understand feeling hopeless, but please just keep passing the time and things will slowly but surely improve 💜.

7 minutes ago, TonyA said:

Hi L I C

I will definitely update.

I have never felt stable since I went to the doctors in Jan 25 when all this started. ❤️

I am so sorry...they really are clueless as to the problems they cause.

5 minutes ago, TonyA said:

I am feeling hopeless

It is easy to feel this way. One thing I appreciate from practicing CBT is looking for 3-5 glimmers/blessings every day. It is really important to change our focus as best we can. Glimmers can be simple such as I am thankful for the warmth of the sun or the cool of my fan, that I have food in fridge or running water, that my bed is soft or I am not in a war torn country.

It is also important to focus on what you are accomplishing despite this health setback. These are called good for me's.

Good for me: I went for a walk.

Good for me: I did laundry.

Good for me: I took a shower.

These might seem like simple things but we know how hard it is feeling like this.

You mentioned using liquid Seroquel...is this from the pharmacy.....what is the ratio of drug to ml. Did you just start the liquid when you dropped from 75 mg to 70 mg. Every change we make whether in manufacturer or the way the drug is delivered, can also destabilize us.

Again, time and patience is necessary. Try to find things that can help you distract....for me it is reading...I love my Kindle subscription but I also play calm games in my phone. Some like to do puzzles or watch nature YouTube's. Whatever can help you to distract is important.

5 minutes ago, SarahMc said:

I am sorry @TonyA. You and I have very similar stories in terms of a bunch of drug changes in a short time, including switching from a long-term SSRI (or in my case SNRI) to a different drug. I understand feeling hopeless, but please just keep passing the time and things will slowly but surely improve 💜.

@SarahMc I’m feeling that bad I don’t know how to pass time. I jiust want to feel a bit of normality.

I know I’m going on but I feel in such a bad place.

It’s been going on for so long now.

I thank you all on here ❤️

3 minutes ago, LostinCanada said:

I am so sorry...they really are clueless as to the problems they cause.

It is easy to feel this way. One thing I appreciate from practicing CBT is looking for 3-5 glimmers/blessings every day. It is really important to change our focus as best we can. Glimmers can be simple such as I am thankful for the warmth of the sun or the cool of my fan, that I have food in fridge or running water, that my bed is soft or I am not in a war torn country.

It is also important to focus on what you are accomplishing despite this health setback. These are called good for me's.

Good for me: I went for a walk.

Good for me: I did laundry.

Good for me: I took a shower.

These might seem like simple things but we know how hard it is feeling like this.

You mentioned using liquid Seroquel...is this from the pharmacy.....what is the ratio of drug to ml. Did you just start the liquid when you dropped from 75 mg to 70 mg. Every change we make whether in manufacturer or the way the drug is delivered, can also destabilize us.

Again, time and patience is necessary. Try to find things that can help you distract....for me it is reading...I love my Kindle subscription but I also play calm games in my phone. Some like to do puzzles or watch nature YouTube's. Whatever can help you to distract is important.

Yes the liquid is from the pharmacy quetiapine don’t go any lower than 25mg tablets. 20mg is 1 mil I take that at lunch time.

L I C thank you. Will I ever get better or have I gone mad ❤️

Just now, TonyA said:

. Will I ever get better or have I gone mad ❤️

You will get better.

I have been in a bad wave myself thinking this is permanent and that I am insane. It is the way these drugs trick us. Did you read this?

Check out the info on this site.

Unfortunately your experience isn't unique but those before us have healed and moved on...we will too.