Hi, ima make this as to the point as possible. I’ve been medicated for 10 years. From ages 10 to 19. I got off my meds lithium, seroquel, trileptal, very quickly within 3 months after being on high doses for years. I got off due to terrible numbing side effects, and I believed my diagnosis was no longer valid(which was bipolar). Anyways I successful got off it was hard the first months but then it got better. I’m not like these people who have continuous windows and waves, I personally have a couple windows and waves then I linearly heal. Anyways I was always supplemented. Magnesium helped me so much but made me groggy and slow so I got off. Then I got worse mood wise and sleep wise when only taking vitamin d3, but was very fast at work and no longer groggy. Well I was slowly getting better, feeling better then I did when medicated, then I got a concussion. But even then my memory and balance came back after 7 days with sound sensitivity just lingering and even that was getting better. I then stupidly was experimenting with supplements. These supplements were different types of magnesium’s most do the time, l theanine, etc. I would go on and off those which caused mood problems. I then tried safroon and after that I had a cognitive shutdown, and when on them I had sound sensitivity. I then got off all supplements. The sound sensitivity was then gone, but i had a minor cognitive shutdown and my sleep and stress was bad. Weeks later I got on safroon again thinkin it would help since I thought maybe I didn’t give it a good shot, and I went on vitamin d3 etc it went very poorly. Sound sentivity back restless cognitive shutdown even worse. It felt like maybe I could adapt but I tried too many supplements at once. I got off all supplements again and now permanently. Restlessness from safroon is still there, work stamina sucks, sound sentivity there a little bit, it’s been months. I also had the same windows and waves then linear healing. I did keto it made things worse I guess cause I couldn’t sustain it. I need this cogntivr fog away it’s been 6 months off supplements and 16 months off all meds and I’m worse then I was when 6 months off meds.

I’m very worried I someone delayed or setback my structural healing of my brain. I wanna move on in my life and I was doing not amazing but good enough before this supplement crash. I also tried keto which did okay but the diet was disgusting so I quit after 3 weeks. I had a little crash after that.

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

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

I’ve been medicated for 10 years. From ages 10 to 19.

I am so very sorry to read. These drugs are awful imo but giving them to childern is terrible.

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

got off my meds lithium, seroquel, trileptal, very quickly within 3 months after being on high doses for years.

We suggest a slow taper of no more than 10% of your previous dose or a hyperbolic taper on here. Coming off these drugs quickly can cause lots of issues, especially after many years of use. Tapering Information

 

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

I got off due to terrible numbing side effects, and I believed my diagnosis was no longer valid(which was bipolar).

These symptoms I believe are the main mechanism by which they work. I agree, these diagnosis are just labels offered to patients to explain symptoms imo, with the only treatment available, drugs. I'll never understand this.

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

Anyways I successful got off it was hard the first months but then it got better. I’m not like these people who have continuous windows and waves, I personally have a couple windows and waves then I linearly heal.

This is good! Can you update your signature please with dates of when you started and stopped each drug?

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

Anyways I was always supplemented. Magnesium helped me so much but made me groggy and slow so I got off. Then I got worse mood wise and sleep wise when only taking vitamin d3, but was very fast at work and no longer groggy.

We only suggest a couple of supplements and Magnesium is one of them, however many don't react well to them so generally we suggest getting everything you need from food. Medications, Supplements and Other Substances in Withdrawal

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

Well I was slowly getting better, feeling better then I did when medicated, then I got a concussion. But even then my memory and balance came back after 7 days with sound sensitivity just lingering and even that was getting better.

It is possible a knock to the head may have aggravated things for you, anything is possible with the nervous system I have learned.

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

I then stupidly was experimenting with supplements. These supplements were different types of magnesium’s most do the time, l theanine, etc. I would go on and off those which caused mood problems. I then tried safroon and after that I had a cognitive shutdown, and when on them I had sound sensitivity. I then got off all supplements.

It is so common to try different things at first, I did the same. Don't blame yourself, you were just trying to help.

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

The sound sensitivity was then gone, but i had a minor cognitive shutdown and my sleep and stress was bad. Weeks later I got on safroon again thinkin it would help since I thought maybe I didn’t give it a good shot, and I went on vitamin d3 etc it went very poorly. Sound sentivity back restless cognitive shutdown even worse. It felt like maybe I could adapt but I tried too many supplements at once. I got off all supplements again and now permanently.

I am sorry to hear this. Yes I think stopping them is for the best by the sounds of things.

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

Restlessness from safroon is still there, work stamina sucks, sound sentivity there a little bit, it’s been months. I also had the same windows and waves then linear healing. I did keto it made things worse I guess cause I couldn’t sustain it. I need this cogntivr fog away it’s been 6 months off supplements and 16 months off all meds and I’m worse then I was when 6 months off meds.

So it sounds like things are improving since stopping the supplements even though things are tough for you?

Some swear by Keto, my imo is it's best to have a clean whole foods diet. If someone was to try Keto my advice would be to only do it under supervison of an expert in it. I think this is likley where it goes wrong for most.

I would try to reset the clock to when you stopped the supplements and Keto, and focus on healing from here. The body is very good at recovering from things if left to it and not interfered with. This process can often take some time and be non linear, as you have mentioned here, we do however see everyone improves over time and I believe we all heal eventually given the correct enviroment.

5 hours ago, Trikern said:

I’m very worried I someone delayed or setback my structural healing of my brain. I wanna move on in my life and I was doing not amazing but good enough before this supplement crash. I also tried keto which did okay but the diet was disgusting so I quit after 3 weeks. I had a little crash after that.

Don't worry about what has happened in the past or what might happen in the future, mindset is very important in WD. That is where I would spend your time now. We are here to help you with that.

Acceptance is key - Why does acceptance feel impossible?

Sleep in WD

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.

Welcome to the forum.

9 hours ago, Trikern said:

I need this cogntivr fog away it’s been 6 months off supplements and 16 months off all meds and I’m worse then I was when 6 months off meds.

This is unfortunately not that uncommon, regardless of supplements etc. However, most then do go on to improve in time.

I agree with @Chippy, the best thing you can do is likely to just focus on clean, healthy living and looking after yourself and give it time. No more interference from supplements and "trying" things.

Thank you for y’all’s responses! I updated my tapering history the best I can since it’s a long history where I didn’t even know what meds I was really on and giving every change I did would take forever. I actually did at one point got off all meds with the help of a doctor at age 15, but then got back on. I had other times during that year where I wasn’t feeling good and they temporarily had me on like 8 medications and then just had me on 1. But those were years ago and very temporary.

The main thing that really upsets me is the fact I was doing good in a lot of ways. Maybe I didn’t feel the best but even when 7 months off meds I felt okay. I just can’t believe like rather me taking a supplement caused more of a prolonged wave and sensitivity it feels like then when getting off medication. Supplements do have a very strong psych med like affect on me now idk. I’m also 16 months off meds now and I’m unsure if that progress is restarted from scratch like the actual rewiring of my brain or once this wave passes I’ll actually feel the benefits of being 16 months off meds or whenever this passes. I would think the only thing that can reverse psych med healing is getting back on or taking another strong drug.

I know what yall are saying about acceptance, it’s very difficult for me, especially when I don’t really understand what happened to me. Was it the concussion? I don’t think so because my memory and balance came back within 7 days I felt it but I did have sound sensitivity lingering which then got way worse when I went on and off supplements which is weird almost like the supplements brought back the concussion that was healed. Was it the going on and off magnesium etc? Or was it purely that safroon which is a supplement was too close to how psych meds act.

when I first got off meds magnesium saved me it was like a miracle besides the fact it made me groggy and slow. I felt better then I did when medicated 3 months after being off all meds. But I’m pretty sure the same thing that helped me back then won’t now. I’m trying to get on with my life and with my career but it feels like I can’t. I’ve never had this type of cognitive shutdown before where I literally can’t access my brain.

Things were slowly getting better, then I did keto and got off and it got worse again. The weird part is most people on here I notice heals from windows and waves pattern for a while. I actually have a few small windows then waves then a huge weeks long window then a wave, then I slowly heal no more windows or waves( or no real pattern I can notice.) but this windows and waves pattern then linear healing I’ve only had twice in my life, when fully coming off psych meds and when coming off supplements like saffron and I don’t get it.

I also wonder if my brain got permanently damaged from the concussion? I don’t think so due to how things healed but my anxiety which is now better was completely shot. And the supplements made everything overlap. When I first got off the supplements I had terrible sleep floatyness restlessness just like someone who got a concussion. I still am restless sleep is better and anxiety but still no good 6 months later.

Hey @Trikern welcome to the forum! I totally understand trying to figure out what happened to you and why you’re feeling so bad right now. But the frustrating truth is that you will probably never be able to point to one singular cause, so if you’re able to I think it’s best to just keep moving forward instead of dwelling on the past (easier said than done, I know!).

Withdrawal is well known to have lots of unpredictable ups and downs, along with changing symptoms, which can involve certain symptoms disappearing and new ones developing. We can feel like we’re healing in a consistent pattern only to be thrown back into a wave that feels completely different from past waves (this actually happened to me recently). The important thing is to not lose hope, because you will heal.

As Chippy said, stay away from other meds and supplements, keep yourself as healthy as possible, and give your body time and patience. Things will get better 😊.

Edited August 8Aug 8 by SarahMc

Thank you for your response it’s been very refreshing hearing from people who have been through or are going through the same thing. Gonna try to move on best I can and do what I can. I recently started going to this really nice gym, eating healthier, and I purchased blackout curtains with a red light night light for reading before bed hoping these things help. Really hope I can be good enough to start my career in plumbing soon.

2 hours ago, Trikern said:

I recently started going to this really nice gym, eating healthier, and I purchased blackout curtains with a red light night light for reading before bed hoping these things help. Really hope I can be good enough to start my career in plumbing soon.

That all sounds great! Really positive steps. Just try not to be too impatient or impose artificial timelines on your healing. Your body’s been through a lot and it makes sense that it might need some time to get back to stability. But you’ll get there.

How do you know if your sensitive the histamines or not? If you don’t have physical symptoms when eating high histamine foods like sneezing, itchiness and redness does that mean you don’t or can your nervous system purely be sensitive to it?

What do yall think about cold plunging, running etc for helping with mood and assisting with healing your brain? Are these viable tools or likely to overstimulate you?

Edited August 10Aug 10 by Trikern

15 hours ago, Trikern said:

What do yall think about cold plunging, running etc for helping with mood and assisting with healing your brain? Are these viable tools or likely to overstimulate you?

Hi @Trikern we have seen cold plunges and exposure to cold water swimming trigger and make people worse, @Its-me-Rosie has had some experience of this.

15 hours ago, Trikern said:

How do you know if your sensitive the histamines or not? If you don’t have physical symptoms when eating high histamine foods like sneezing, itchiness and redness does that mean you don’t or can your nervous system purely be sensitive to it?

This is a personal thing. High histimine can effect sleep too, if you think you are having issues then I would suggest reducing exposure to these foods slowly and see if it helps anything. Over all I think a balanced diet is best, low histimine does not mean no histimine, just a case of finding your sweet spot. If sleep is an issue eat those foods earlier in the day, this may help, I didn't find reducing histimine intake helped at all, others it has.

With all exercise and vigorous/highly stimulating activities, we'd recommend starting gently and building it up slowly.

Some people are too physically ill to do any of this at all. If you are not, then that's good but it's important not to go overboard too quickly and learn the hard way that you're mildly intolerant to pushing yourself too hard.

Some people can go for runs and whatnot, just don't go from 0 to a big run right away. Try a short, gentle jog and give it a day or two to see how you've reacted, and then if that was ok build up from there, for example.

@Trikern , as @Chippy and @Luke have said take it slow at first and see how your system handles it and then increase later. As far as over doing things, when you feel better be careful on this on. I had a window for about a half day, so of course I was trying to do all the things I once used to do, boy ooh boy did I pay for it. It took me about 2 weeks to get out of that. List to your body and be gentle with it, itll let you know when you can go farther. Hugs for now xxxx Bernadette

Thank you for yalls responses. I will take all this into account. It’s very hard not to search for something that will fix all this, especially in the past there were things that did fix it pretty good. My question is what exactly are you supposed to do? The recommendations that I hear is no eating junk food don’t do too much and live a non stressful life but what if I need/want to move on with my life and need to work full time in my career and work towards moving out of my parents house and I can’t afford to just live life perfectly?

and I know that yall aren’t recommending or that it’s even possible to live life perfectly but what if I need to and I’m pressured to due to life circumstances move on and make a living in a field that can be stressful and taxing and there’s no just taking everything very slow?

I know yall had mentioned there’s people on here that are very sick, I wouldn’t say I am, I what I would say not optimal, meaning very heavy Brain fog, prone to mistakes, sleep is shaky, and I’m very sensitive but I can still function and I work my job as a bus boy right now and I’m able to at this point do alright even though my physical stamina gets burnt out very fast and I do get overwhelmed.

I’m currently and haven’t taking a single med for 16 months, no supplements for about 6 months and 1 and a half months since I tried keto and I don’t have any caffeine or stimulants including chocolate . I eat healthy but sometimes I do binge on candy McDonald’s pizza because it does make me happy does that mean I won’t heal?

The only thing I have taken recently is an anti inflammatory for a bone spur on my foot which actually did give me a weird reaction

3 hours ago, Trikern said:

Thank you for yalls responses. I will take all this into account. It’s very hard not to search for something that will fix all this, especially in the past there were things that did fix it pretty good. My question is what exactly are you supposed to do? The recommendations that I hear is no eating junk food don’t do too much and live a non stressful life but what if I need/want to move on with my life and need to work full time in my career and work towards moving out of my parents house and I can’t afford to just live life perfectly?

Unfortunately the overwhelming evidence from the community is that there is no quick fix for an injured nervous system. The only fix is time, patience, and healthy living to the extent possible. I wish we could give everyone on here an easier answer, but there is none. We all have to accept our reality and learn to live within our limitations until we heal.

3 hours ago, Trikern said:

I know yall had mentioned there’s people on here that are very sick, I wouldn’t say I am, I what I would say not optimal, meaning very heavy Brain fog, prone to mistakes, sleep is shaky, and I’m very sensitive but I can still function and I work my job as a bus boy right now and I’m able to at this point do alright even though my physical stamina gets burnt out very fast and I do get overwhelmed.

It's great that you can still function to this extent -- as you know, many on here can't.

3 hours ago, Trikern said:

I’m currently and haven’t taking a single med for 16 months, no supplements for about 6 months and 1 and a half months since I tried keto and I don’t have any caffeine or stimulants including chocolate . I eat healthy but sometimes I do binge on candy McDonald’s pizza because it does make me happy does that mean I won’t heal?

No, this doesn't mean that you won't heal. Many people still heal while not living a perfectly healthy lifestyle. We recommend eating as healthy as possible because we believe it promotes healing, but that doesn't mean you can't heal if you occasionally indulge in some less healthy habits.

3 hours ago, Trikern said:

The only thing I have taken recently is an anti inflammatory for a bone spur on my foot which actually did give me a weird reaction

We do generally recommend staying away from OTC meds to the extent possible because of potential adverse reactions.