Hello Everyone!

I am new on this forum, just trying to find my way around. I was previously a member of SA and received quite a lot of help from there over a number of years. I would like to include a link for my thread there at SA but not really sure how to do it. I’m not very savvy navigating these sites. I’ll do the best I can.

I have a long history taking psych drugs, dating back to the 1990’s. I’ve been on and off numerous medications, most recently successfully tapering off of Seroquel and Klonopin around 2013, and then continuing to taper Celexa and Wellbutrin slowly over several years. That taper was unexpectedly interrupted last October when I found myself in a medical crisis and long-term hospitalization. My dose of Celexa was 5 mg and the Wellbutrin was approximately 26 mg.

At the time, everyone including my doctor felt I was fine off the drugs, that there would not be any problem having stopped them so suddenly. I should have known better with all my past experience, but honestly, I was not thinking very clearly about these things, just trying to survive the crisis of the moment. Anyway, long story short, about six months later I began to experience, intense, anxiety, and depression. No one including me, made the connection between that occurance and my sudden discontinuation six months prior. I started a low dose of Zoloft, 12.5 mg, and once again should’ve known better. It’s been downhill ever since. After about two weeks, I knew that the Zoloft was all wrong and attempted a too fast taper following my doctor’s advice. Then I really had problems.

I am currently at 9.8 mg of Zoloft and am having what seem to be intense withdrawal symptoms. Intense anxiety/agitation, dizziness, brain fog, can’t think straight, feeling detached and disconnected kind of like I’m in the twilight zone. Really incapacitated some days. Symptoms come and go in a kind of windows and waves pattern. I don’t know if what I’m experiencing is protracted withdrawal from having discontinued the Celexa and Wellbutrin so abruptly, or if this is more of an acute withdrawal situation from having begun tapering the Zoloft.

I’ve lost my bearings, and am not sure if I should continue tapering (1% reductions every 5-6 days) or if I should be holding for a while and just trying to give my body a chance to stabilize.Hoping someone here might be able to offer some guidance or insight.

Thanks so much!

My thread on SA; https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/17615-auntiebea-tapering-celexa-and-wellbutrin/#comment-346377.

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 withdrawal 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

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

2 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

I am new on this forum, just trying to find my way around. I was previously a member of SA and received quite a lot of help from there over a number of years. I would like to include a link for my thread there at SA but not really sure how to do it. I’m not very savvy navigating these sites. I’ll do the best I can.

Happy to have you over from SA. I believe you were AuntieBea on SA too, is that right? I found your thread here: https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/17615-auntiebea-tapering-celexa-and-wellbutrin/#comment-346377. I'll ask @Chippy to put the link in your signature so folks have easy access to it moving forward.

2 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

At the time, everyone including my doctor felt I was fine off the drugs, that there would not be any problem having stopped them so suddenly. I should have known better with all my past experience, but honestly, I was not thinking very clearly about these things, just trying to survive the crisis of the moment. Anyway, long story short, about six months later I began to experience, intense, anxiety, and depression. No one including me, made the connection between that occurance and my sudden discontinuation six months prior.

I'm so sorry your doctor took you off the drugs, especially at a time when you were so vulnerable. As I'm sure you know now, the anxiety and depression that you began to experience six months later was very likely delayed withdrawal. It's not uncommon for folks to cold turkey psych drugs and have several months without symptoms before protracted withdrawal sets in.

2 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

I started a low dose of Zoloft, 12.5 mg, and once again should’ve known better. It’s been downhill ever since.

Sounds like you've been having an adverse reaction to the Zoloft, likely because your nervous system is hypersensitized from your previous cold turkey.

2 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

After about two weeks, I knew that the Zoloft was all wrong and attempted a too fast taper following my doctor’s advice. Then I really had problems.

I am currently at 9.8 mg of Zoloft and am having what seem to be intense withdrawal symptoms. Intense anxiety/agitation, dizziness, brain fog, can’t think straight, feeling detached and disconnected kind of like I’m in the twilight zone. Really incapacitated some days. Symptoms come and go in a kind of windows and waves pattern. I don’t know if what I’m experiencing is protracted withdrawal from having discontinued the Celexa and Wellbutrin so abruptly, or if this is more of an acute withdrawal situation from having begun tapering the Zoloft.

I'm sorry the taper has been hard even though you were only on the Zoloft for two weeks. Generally we would say that if you haven't been on the drug for long and you're reacting badly to it you should come off pretty quickly. But from what you're saying the symptoms have worsened significantly since you started your taper.

Can you rate your symptoms out of 10 (10 being severe) both before you started your taper (while you were on the full 12.5 mg) and after you reached 9.8 mg? This will help us figure out whether it might be better to hold for a bit, or at least slow the taper down, or if it's more important to try to get off the Zoloft at a quicker pace.

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.

@SarahMc Thank you so much Sarah for responding to my post. Your assessment of my situation feels absolutely correct. It’s what my gut feeling has been, but I haven’t been able to find validation for that anywhere else. The medical crisis I experienced was traumatic in itself and involved many drug exposures along the way, and many people feel that this in itself may have contributed to this flareup of symptoms. Also, most people can’t wrap their heads around the possibility that as many as six months later, protracted withdrawal could begin. But from the research that I have done it seems to me that it’s entirely possible and you have confirmed that.

My nervous system is highly reactive. It’s been that way for years because of my long history of multiple medications and so many on and offs, including cold turkeys. And now more than ever.

It seems that there are two things going on then… protracted withdrawal from the abrupt discontinuation of Celexa and Wellbutrin and either acute withdrawal from the Zoloft taper or an adverse reaction to the Zoloft itself. That sounds like a challenge to me but I guess an eventual taper off the Zoloft and lots of and lots of time is probably the best strategy for approaching both of them. The question being when should I start the taper. So I will try to answer your questions. Believe it or not it’s hard to remember what I was experiencing then, before the taper at 12.5mg as compared to now at 9.8mg. I would say that things have gotten worse with the taper… maybe symptoms were at 6 or 7 before and now they are at 9 or 10. I do understand that it’s helpful to make this distinction in order to figure out next best steps. Hoping you can help with that.

Thank you for tracking down my thread on SA and adding the link to my thread here. Also, I realize my drug signature is not really done correctly. So I will correct that when I can. Meanwhile, thanks again for your thoughtful response to my situation. I am so grateful. It’s so easy to feel alone and overwhelmed with all of this.

Welcome to the forum.

Just to clarify, when you experience symptoms coming and going in a windows and waves pattern, what are the windows like?

Hey @AuntieBea welcome to the forum. I am sorry to read you are having a hard time. Could you update your signature to make your drug history clearer for us please? I have put the link to your Sa thread in your intro post for you :)

Unfortunately you were experiencing WD from stopping Wellbutrin and Celexa ubruptly from what I can see, adding in another antidepressant like Sertraline can't solve this and often makes things worse.

By the sounds of things reducing the dose has worsened things for you now that you have built up tolerance to Zoloft, I would like to see your updated signature to make sure I understand your timeline correctly but I don't think continuing with your taper with symptom severity as high as it is makes any sense at the moment. I think having a nice hold now and letting things get down to a baseline level that you can use to help guide and navigate you off the drug would be best.

Glad you found us and joined x

14 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

So I will try to answer your questions. Believe it or not it’s hard to remember what I was experiencing then, before the taper at 12.5mg as compared to now at 9.8mg. I would say that things have gotten worse with the taper… maybe symptoms were at 6 or 7 before and now they are at 9 or 10. I do understand that it’s helpful to make this distinction in order to figure out next best steps. Hoping you can help with that.

I understand that, this can all feel like such a frantic mess when these symptoms show up. But I appreciate you looking back and trying to recollect what things were like before starting your taper. Given how bad your symptoms are right now, I agree with Chippy that the best thing to do is pause your taper for a little while and let things simmer down a bit. Keep in touch with us on here and we can help guide you about when to restart. I'm sorry you're having such a rough time.

14 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Thank you for tracking down my thread on SA and adding the link to my thread here. Also, I realize my drug signature is not really done correctly. So I will correct that when I can. Meanwhile, thanks again for your thoughtful response to my situation. I am so grateful. It’s so easy to feel alone and overwhelmed with all of this.

No rush, just update your signature when you're feeling up to it. Happy to have you here, we all understand what you're going through and we're here to support you.

@Chippy Hello Chippy,

Thanks you so much for responding to my post.

I will update my signature ASAP… I knew it wasn’t done correctly when I posted it but wasn’t thinking very clearly, so it was the best I could do. Also, thanks for putting the link to my SA thread into my intro post.

I appreciate your suggestion that I hold my dose of Zoloft until I stabilize. It’s hard for me to imagine what stabilization would actually look like…I’m guessing it does not mean being entirely symptom free but rather with symptoms that are manageable and maybe somewhat consistent…? Anyway, I will be holding the dose for now at 9.8mg.

Yes, adding the Zoloft to the mix has made things so much worse. And I knew better, but still let myself be talked into it by my doctor. So an already bad situation was made worse. It wasn’t clear to me at the time that what I was experiencing was related to the earlier abrupt discontinuation.

Thanks again for your help and for making me feel welcome here!

@SarahMc Hello Sarah,

I appreciate hearing from both you and Chippy and for your suggestion that I hold my current dose for a while until I can stabilize a bit. Not exactly sure what stabilization looks like, but I’m guessing there is some degree of consistency and also manageability of the symptoms. I will stay in touch and hopefully you can guide me with this a bit. So, as of yesterday I am holding my Zoloft dose at 9.8 mg. I will stay in touch and let you know how things go.

Thanks for your support and for making me feel so welcome.

I do have a question about navigating the site here… is my intro post the place where I continue to communicate with anyone who might be in touch or respond to one of my posts? And then I’m guessing I can do the same as far as connecting with other members on the site? Just trying to find my way around…

hoping you can give me a few pointers.

Thanks again Sarah!

@Luke Hello Luke,

Thanks for welcoming me here and for your question.

I’ll describe my experience of windows as best I can. They usually take me by surprise in the sense that out of the blue I become aware that I don’t have that usual dizzy foggy woozy feeling going on in my head. That feeling that I’m disconnected and can’t think straight just sort of lifts and I say to myself, oh my gosh I actually feel sort of normal. Same with anxiety… it just sort of lifts or dissipates the same way a dense fog in the environment does.

It’s like this thing has me in its grip during a wave that makes it hard to think or even to function at all, it’s an experience of dissociation and disconnect that envelops me that then randomly will lift once in a while for a period of time. That’s what I experience as a window. It literally feels like someone has opened the window and fresh air and sunshine are streaming in. For a while. I also notice that during a window I’m able to lie down and actually rest. My body is not pulsing and throbbing and agitating the way it does during a wave. I don’t feel restless, but can actually feel some degree of rest and peace.

Hope this is understandable and answers your question in a helpful way.

All the best to you Luke!

2 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Not exactly sure what stabilization looks like, but I’m guessing there is some degree of consistency and also manageability of the symptoms. I will stay in touch and hopefully you can guide me with this a bit. So, as of yesterday I am holding my Zoloft dose at 9.8 mg. I will stay in touch and let you know how things go.

Thanks @AuntieBea. Usually we think of stability as a period of time when your symptoms are consistently between a 1-3/10 in severity. I'm not entirely sure if that will be possible for you since you reacted badly to the Zoloft to begin with, but at a minimum I think we'd like to see your symptoms go back down to the level you experienced when you first started the drug. Chippy has more experience than me with these things so he will be able to give you better guidance.

2 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

I do have a question about navigating the site here… is my intro post the place where I continue to communicate with anyone who might be in touch or respond to one of my posts? And then I’m guessing I can do the same as far as connecting with other members on the site? Just trying to find my way around…

hoping you can give me a few pointers.

Absolutely, your intro post is where you'll continue to update us on your own journey, and where you can communicate with anyone who has responded to your posts. If you want to reach out to other members, you can leave a comment on their thread or use the private messaging function. I hope that helps!

@SarahMc

Thank you so much. Yes, that’s helpful guidance for monitoring stabilization going forward. Also, seems like things are set up quite similarly to SA, so that is familiar for me.

I’m so grateful to have found this forum…just letting you know! I’ve been going around a little bit, reading different members stories and the responses from so many caring, loving people. I was bereft when I learned that SA had shut down… not sure how I even found you all here, but I am so so grateful!!

3 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

I’m so grateful to have found this forum…just letting you know! I’ve been going around a little bit, reading different members stories and the responses from so many caring, loving people. I was bereft when I learned that SA had shut down… not sure how I even found you all here, but I am so so grateful!!

I'm so glad you found us 💜. We have the wonderful @Chippy and @Luke to thank for setting up this space for us. Not sure where I'd be without it to be honest!

@AuntieBea, @SarahMc has already answered you about intro threads, but for clarity we do have a post about them in the section explaining this, that might be helpful for you:

New Member? - Read this first - Introductions & Ongoing Recoveries - The Antidepressant Harm and Recovery Forum

I would say that on the basis that you're having windows where symptoms are significantly less severe, it is worth holding where you are for a bit to see if you do stabilise, as @Chippy suggested.

As you alluded to, this might not look like being symptom free, but what we'd be hoping for is that over time the windows become clearer or longer, or potentially a new baseline that you settle to.

I'd say at least try holding for a little while, a couple of weeks, and then let's see what's going on then.

17 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Thanks you so much for responding to my post.

My pleasure

17 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

I will update my signature ASAP… I knew it wasn’t done correctly when I posted it but wasn’t thinking very clearly, so it was the best I could do. Also, thanks for putting the link to my SA thread into my intro post.

No rush just when you feel able

17 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

appreciate your suggestion that I hold my dose of Zoloft until I stabilize. It’s hard for me to imagine what stabilization would actually look like…I’m guessing it does not mean being entirely symptom free but rather with symptoms that are manageable and maybe somewhat consistent…? Anyway, I will be holding the dose for now at 9.8mg.

Ok, I think this is best, as Sarah has said, we suggest rating your symptoms out of 10, 10 being very bad and 1 mild, if you can be consistently 1-3/10 we would call that stable and your WD normal/basline.

17 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Yes, adding the Zoloft to the mix has made things so much worse. And I knew better, but still let myself be talked into it by my doctor. So an already bad situation was made worse. It wasn’t clear to me at the time that what I was experiencing was related to the earlier abrupt discontinuation.

I know, unfortunately once the cns is bruised are more vulnerable to these things. These drugs are never the answer tbh.

17 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Thanks again for your help and for making me feel welcome here!

My absolute pleasure, you are very welcome here. x

Hello @SarahMc @Chippy and @Luke

I am checking in with an update and hoping for some reassurance and guidance. I’ve been holding my dose of Zoloft at 9.8 mg as we discussed for about a week now. I’m guessing stabilization would take longer, but I seem to be going in the opposite direction.

For the last five days I’ve been in a dissociated, dizzy fog that does fortunately lighten up in the evening, only to start up again the next morning. I can’t think straight, can hardly think at all. I have previously experienced this, but it hasn’t ever gone on day after day. Symptoms have been intense in the past, but they have generally come and gone. This is just going on day after day. There’s a fair amount of anxiety/agitation and other symptoms going on as well, but the dissociation is the thing that making it hard for me to cope. Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 I would say the symptoms are about 8-9/10.

I have been dealing with withdrawal a long time over the years tapering various medications but don’t remember anything this destabilizing. Is this typical for protracted withdrawal? And would you still recommend that I continue holding? The way things are going. It doesn’t feel to me like I am working towards stabilization at all.

I want so much to be able to participate on this forum and get to know people a bit. I’ve done quite a lot of reading of other people’s stories, but I can hardly concentrate at the moment to be in touch with anyone. I am also overwhelmed by so much suffering and so much love and caring that is shared here. I just wish I could participate more and give something back. At the moment it’s just all I can do to write this one short post.

Thanks so much for any guidance you may have for me!

It can get quite difficult to unpick what is what, unfortunately.

On one hand, you might be experiencing withdrawal symptoms from past reductions, equally, you could be reacting adversely to the dose you're taking now. It is promising that you feel better in the evenings, at least.

It can be very challenging to balance not inducing withdrawal symptoms, but also trying to reduce the dose of a drug that you're reacting adversely to. I'll defer to the others who have a bit more experience with tapering than I do. That said, I'd suggest giving some thought which of the two you feel is the bigger factor- you may not be sure yourself and that's ok.

53 minutes ago, AuntieBea said:

I want so much to be able to participate on this forum and get to know people a bit. I’ve done quite a lot of reading of other people’s stories, but I can hardly concentrate at the moment to be in touch with anyone. I am also overwhelmed by so much suffering and so much love and caring that is shared here. I just wish I could participate more and give something back. At the moment it’s just all I can do to write this one short post.

Thanks so much for any guidance you may have for me!

There's absolutely no need to worry about this for now. First, you need to take care of yourself and be in a better, more stable condition.

There's no pressure to give back or help others at all until you feel able to.

Thanks for getting back to me @Luke

I understand that this could be difficult to sort out. In addition to wondering if this is a response to reductions or an adverse reaction to the drug itself, I also wonder to what extent my abrupt discontinuation of Celexa and Wellbutrin last fall is a factor. The symptoms initially started prior to introducing Zoloft at all. That just made everything worse.

So I continue to consider that protracted withdrawal might be part of the picture and that perhaps that is where the worst of these symptoms is coming from. If that’s the case, maybe it doesn’t much matter if I continue reducing or not. The protracted withdrawal symptoms may just need to continue to run their course.

I just don’t know enough. Which is why I’m reaching out for help I guess.

8 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Thanks for getting back to me @Luke

I understand that this could be difficult to sort out. In addition to wondering if this is a response to reductions or an adverse reaction to the drug itself, I also wonder to what extent my abrupt discontinuation of Celexa and Wellbutrin last fall is a factor. The symptoms initially started prior to introducing Zoloft at all. That just made everything worse.

So I continue to consider that protracted withdrawal might be part of the picture and that perhaps that is where the worst of these symptoms is coming from. If that’s the case, maybe it doesn’t much matter if I continue reducing or not. The protracted withdrawal symptoms may just need to continue to run their course.

I just don’t know enough. Which is why I’m reaching out for help I guess.

Hey @AuntieBea I am sorry things are so rough for you.

So....

"Current

Oct 2025: Abruptly stopped 5mg Celexa & approx 26mg Wellbutrin

July 2026: Start 12.5mg Zoloft

Aug 2026: Start tapering Zoloft to 10mg

Aug 27, 2026: Holding Zoloft at 9.8mg"

You stopped Celexa and Wellbutrin CT 1 year ago nearly?

and now you are just taking Zoloft since July?

Sorry for the questions I am just trying to understand a bit better.

I am guessing you felt pretty rough from oct, and starting zoloft in July was an attempt to help this?

So essentially you are in WD from Celexa and Wellbutrin if that is the case.

When you started Zoloft did things worsen?

As you tapered did things continue to worsen? Did you feel the worsening was due to the taper or due to starting zoloft in general or just perhaps a worsening of your WD from the other drugs? It could be all of it as Luke has said, it is hard to unpick the difference between the two.

I do wonder if you might be better off trying to 'switch' to Celexa perhaps a low dose, it could be the zoloft is helping the WD a bit as it is an ssri, it might be making this worse though. RI the OG drug may help you even a year out.

Hard to know exactly the right move here. I am a bit concerned about your staying on Zoloft if you felt it worsened you. You've not been on it long, it would make sense to get off it and at least let your body recover from the withdrawal in peace. Switching to Celexa might help the WD and as they are both SSris might be better than just tapering off Zoloft, is my thoughts....

Sorry this is so tough, we all get it.

Hello @Chippy Thanks for being in touch with me.

6 hours ago, Chippy said:

You stopped Celexa and Wellbutrin CT 1 year ago nearly?

and now you are just taking Zoloft since July?

Sorry for the questions I am just trying to understand a bit better.

I am guessing you felt pretty rough from oct, and starting zoloft in July was an attempt to help this?

So essentially you are in WD from Celexa and Wellbutrin if that is the case.

When you started Zoloft did things worsen?

Yes, I stopped the Celexa and Wellbutrin CT on Oct 17, last fall.

I seemed to be OK, without any noticeable symptoms until April, 5-6 months later. I was recovering from a major medical crisis during this whole time but there were no withdrawal symptoms going on at all.

In April I began to experience intense anxiety/agitation and depression but did not make the connection that this might be delayed onset withdrawal from the Celexa/Wellbutrin CT. My doctor did not make the connection either.

In July I agreed to give Zoloft a try in order to relieve these symptoms.

There were immediate adverse reactions to the Zoloft, most notably insomnia. I was suddenly going night after night without sleeping at all. Not surprisingly the anxiety increased terribly, and I realized pretty quickly that the Zoloft was a bad idea. But my attempts to drop the dose down seemed to result in more symptoms. That’s when I realized I was in a bad situation.

So yes, in retrospect after doing lots of research I believe I am in WD from the previous CT and that the addition of Zoloft has just complicated everything. In your experience would you say it’s possible to start a protracted withdrawal as long as 5-6 months after discontinuation? There seem to be mixed opinions on this, but it’s what makes the most sense to me.

7 hours ago, Chippy said:

As you tapered did things continue to worsen? Did you feel the worsening was due to the taper or due to starting zoloft in general or just perhaps a worsening of your WD from the other drugs? It could be all of it as Luke has said, it is hard to unpick the difference between the two.

Yes, symptoms seemed to worsen as I attempted to taper. Then again, they have worsened even more during this time I have been holding. My gut feeling is that the addition of a new drug and my attempts at tapering have just worsened the existing withdrawal from the CT, but that the CT withdrawal is the primary driver of all the symptoms

That’s just my gut feeling. It’s very hard to sort out which is of course why I’m reaching out for some help.

7 hours ago, Chippy said:

I do wonder if you might be better off trying to 'switch' to Celexa perhaps a low dose, it could be the zoloft is helping the WD a bit as it is an ssri, it might be making this worse though. RI the OG drug may help you even a year out.

Hard to know exactly the right move here. I am a bit concerned about your staying on Zoloft if you felt it worsened you. You've not been on it long, it would make sense to get off it and at least let your body recover from the withdrawal in peace. Switching to Celexa might help the WD and as they are both SSris might be better than just tapering off Zoloft, is my thoughts....

Sorry this is so tough, we all get it.

I don’t know what RI and OG mean. But I do feel extremely nervous about adding anything in at this point, the Celexa for instance. I was taking 5mg as of Oct 17 so wonder what a low dose would be? And what about the Wellbutrin?

I do think it makes sense to get off the Zoloft and just let my body simply recover from the withdrawal as you suggested. But how quickly would I dare to taper? I don’t know. I am just overwhelmed by all this.

Thank you Chippy for your support in helping me sort this out!

15 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Yes, I stopped the Celexa and Wellbutrin CT on Oct 17, last fall.

I seemed to be OK, without any noticeable symptoms until April, 5-6 months later. I was recovering from a major medical crisis during this whole time but there were no withdrawal symptoms going on at all.

Thank you for confirming, it can be hard to keep track with so many members.

15 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

n April I began to experience intense anxiety/agitation and depression but did not make the connection that this might be delayed onset withdrawal from the Celexa/Wellbutrin CT. My doctor did not make the connection either.

In July I agreed to give Zoloft a try in order to relieve these symptoms.

There were immediate adverse reactions to the Zoloft, most notably insomnia. I was suddenly going night after night without sleeping at all. Not surprisingly the anxiety increased terribly, and I realized pretty quickly that the Zoloft was a bad idea. But my attempts to drop the dose down seemed to result in more symptoms. That’s when I realized I was in a bad situation.

Yes this is common WD can be delayed for sure by many months and this can be very confusing. You said above you were recovering from a major mental crisis for that delay period, I find it hard to seperate the two for you tbh. CTing those drugs would have been very hard for your nervous system, additional stress or life events would be very hard to handle during this time for sure. This can make WD seem real, like it's 'you', I suspect what you were going through here was WD related.

Yeah it's clear adding Zoloft ontop of an already sensitive nervous system has not been good for you.

16 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Yes, symptoms seemed to worsen as I attempted to taper. Then again, they have worsened even more during this time I have been holding. My gut feeling is that the addition of a new drug and my attempts at tapering have just worsened the existing withdrawal from the CT, but that the CT withdrawal is the primary driver of all the symptoms

That’s just my gut feeling. It’s very hard to sort out which is of course why I’m reaching out for some help.

This is what I was worried about, maybe you'll stablise but it sounds like the drug is not welcome in your system, but sounds like tapering is a challenge for you too.

We don't know why this happens, we can guess. Zoloft may be helping your WD to some extent, propping you up, it's an SSRI so is Zoloft, so you have kinda 'switched' drugs (Just very delayed), unfortunately switching almost always doesn't work, it's never suggested on here, doctors like to try it. I think it's a silly idea imo.

16 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

I don’t know what RI and OG mean.

Sorry RI is Reinstatement OG is original.

16 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

But I do feel extremely nervous about adding anything in at this point, the Celexa for instance. I was taking 5mg as of Oct 17 so wonder what a low dose would be? And what about the Wellbutrin?

Well my suggestion would be to 'switch' rather than add in, I know I just said we don't do switches here, but this is more to reverse the switch back to the drug you are Withdrawing from. Low dose well perhaps 0.5mg as you were only on 5mg at the end there.

Wellbutrin, you could look to RI a little of that too, I wouldn't suggest it right now, one drug at a time, you can't know whats what otherwise. Also to be honest your nervous system has been through so much, whatever you do time is the real healer here. We are just making suggestions that you might want to think about based on observations that have been made. We can't know how anyone will react to anything, the nervous system is so precious and fragile especially once it has been through all this.

I have seen a couple of people switch back to the OG drug and CT effectively the rogue drug if you like, and it work out for them. I have been surprised tbh, but my thinking is getting rid of the drug that is adding to the mess and using a small amount of the drug that your body is adapted to and so missing hence the WD, is having a net positive result in those cases. It is a roll of the dice. Both those people from memory ended up on higher doses than I would like I think. Maybe more like 'therapeutic' levels, and neither folk were on Celexa, it was Zoloft and Paxil Im thinking of.

16 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

I do think it makes sense to get off the Zoloft and just let my body simply recover from the withdrawal as you suggested. But how quickly would I dare to taper? I don’t know. I am just overwhelmed by all this.

You could of course try to slowly work your way down, we have a few people, one person in particular who is doing this now, they are getting there dose wise but it's not nice for them I know that much. They are on Prozac, a switch from Zoloft which they never stablised on.

So hopefully you can see my reasoning for making this suggestion. I can't say it will be a good idea. Ive just seen it work before and maybe it can help you.

Making big changes is scary and I can understand you not wanting to do it for sure.

If you would rather just taper from Zoloft we can chat about that too, see what we can do about getting the dose lower, it's mainly just gonna be a slow careful creep down, hoping that as the dose reduces you body appreciates the lower levels and doesn't give you too much of a hard for the drops.

16 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Thank you Chippy for your support in helping me sort this out!

Pleasure, that is what we are here for.

@Chippy So grateful for your help.

4 hours ago, Chippy said:

Yes this is common WD can be delayed for sure by many months and this can be very confusing. You said above you were recovering from a major mental crisis for that delay period, I find it hard to seperate the two for you tbh. CTing those drugs would have been very hard for your nervous system, additional stress or life events would be very hard to handle during this time for sure. This can make WD seem real, like it's 'you', I suspect what you were going through here was WD related.

Very confusing, yes. Not really surprising that I missed it earlier.

Just for clarity, and maybe it doesn’t matter, but the health crisis last fall was an aortic dissection, not a mental crisis. There were many drug exposures throughout that process but they were not psyche drugs. Many people suspect, that the trauma of that event is a factor in what I am experiencing now. I’m guessing that’s what you are alluding to when you said “I find it hard to separate the two.”

When I spoke to my doctor yesterday about the possibility that this was a protracted withdrawal situation, she assured me that the doses of Celexa and Wellbutrin were so minuscule when I discontinued them that it couldn’t possibly be a factor. Ugh, her guidance is what has helped get me into this pickle I’m afraid….

9 hours ago, Chippy said:

Well my suggestion would be to 'switch' rather than add in, I know I just said we don't do switches here, but this is more to reverse the switch back to the drug you are Withdrawing from. Low dose well perhaps 0.5mg as you were only on 5mg at the end there.

OK so if I decide to switch over to the Celexa I would literally just stop the Zoloft and substitute .5mg Celexa? Ugh, this makes me nervous, but I will consider. It’s hard for me to imagine that .5mg of Celexa would compensate for 9.8mg of Zoloft. But maybe I am not thinking about it in the right way. It seems like it’s literally a CT off the Zoloft. I would eventually have to get my doctor on board with this because I need a source for the Celexa. I do have a little that I could start with.

9 hours ago, Chippy said:

Wellbutrin, you could look to RI a little of that too, I wouldn't suggest it right now, one drug at a time, you can't know whats what otherwise. Also to be honest your nervous system has been through so much, whatever you do time is the real healer here. We are just making suggestions that you might want to think about based on observations that have been made. We can't know how anyone will react to anything, the nervous system is so precious and fragile especially once it has been through all this.

I have seen a couple of people switch back to the OG drug and CT effectively the rogue drug if you like, and it work out for them. I have been surprised tbh, but my thinking is getting rid of the drug that is adding to the mess and using a small amount of the drug that your body is adapted to and so missing hence the WD, is having a net positive result in those cases. It is a roll of the dice. Both those people from memory ended up on higher doses than I would like I think. Maybe more like 'therapeutic' levels, and neither folk were on Celexa, it was Zoloft and Paxil Im thinking of.

Understood. And I do get that there’s just no way of knowing what might happen.

I will consider all this. I do get that ultimately time is the real healer. I’ve just done so many stupid things already I think I have cold feet.

9 hours ago, Chippy said:

You could of course try to slowly work your way down, we have a few people, one person in particular who is doing this now, they are getting there dose wise but it's not nice for them I know that much. They are on Prozac, a switch from Zoloft which they never stablised on.

So hopefully you can see my reasoning for making this suggestion. I can't say it will be a good idea. Ive just seen it work before and maybe it can help you.

Making big changes is scary and I can understand you not wanting to do it for sure.

Switching back to the Celexa and Wellbutrin and stopping the Zoloft sounds real scary. But slowly tapering down the Zoloft could be treacherous as well. So I will just have to settle on what I want to do. I do see your reasoning though.

13 hours ago, Chippy said:

If you would rather just taper from Zoloft we can chat about that too, see what we can do about getting the dose lower, it's mainly just gonna be a slow careful creep down, hoping that as the dose reduces you body appreciates the lower levels and doesn't give you too much of a hard for the drops.

OK, I will keep you posted on what I decide to do.

Thanks so much!

10 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Very confusing, yes. Not really surprising that I missed it earlier.

Just for clarity, and maybe it doesn’t matter, but the health crisis last fall was an aortic dissection, not a mental crisis. There were many drug exposures throughout that process but they were not psyche drugs. Many people suspect, that the trauma of that event is a factor in what I am experiencing now. I’m guessing that’s what you are alluding to when you said “I find it hard to separate the two.”

When I spoke to my doctor yesterday about the possibility that this was a protracted withdrawal situation, she assured me that the doses of Celexa and Wellbutrin were so minuscule when I discontinued them that it couldn’t possibly be a factor. Ugh, her guidance is what has helped get me into this pickle I’m afraid….

Got you, ok sorry I thought you meant mental health crisis.

Ok well even non pysch drugs can have an effect on an already senstive nervous system. It may have been you would have been ok if you had not taken these other drugs, we don't know that of course however I would be very suspicious of this.

Yes doctors are clueless most the time. Wild isn't it.

10 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

OK so if I decide to switch over to the Celexa I would literally just stop the Zoloft and substitute .5mg Celexa? Ugh, this makes me nervous, but I will consider. It’s hard for me to imagine that .5mg of Celexa would compensate for 9.8mg of Zoloft. But maybe I am not thinking about it in the right way. It seems like it’s literally a CT off the Zoloft. I would eventually have to get my doctor on board with this because I need a source for the Celexa. I do have a little that I could start with.

Essentially yes. I think trying a bit more than 0.5mg is a good idea tbh and then updosing as needed. 4-5mg of celexa is roughly equivalent to 9.8mg of Zoloft receptor occupancy wise. So you could just switch from one to the other perhaps. Alternativley you might want to try a lower dose and then updose over a few days to try to dial it in a bit. As I said, we can't know how that would go, we are only able to make these suggestions for you to consider.

10 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

Understood. And I do get that there’s just no way of knowing what might happen.

I will consider all this. I do get that ultimately time is the real healer. I’ve just done so many stupid things already I think I have cold feet.

Good. Yes time is the healer. I do think in your situation there is cause to consider this. Zoloft may be making this worse for you. Maybe. Again we don't know that, you might stablise yet.....

I can understand your fear.

10 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

But slowly tapering down the Zoloft could be treacherous as well. So I will just have to settle on what I want to do. I do see your reasoning though.

This is the problem, I think it could be,

10 hours ago, AuntieBea said:

OK, I will keep you posted on what I decide to do.

Thanks so much!

It is my pleasure, I wish we had magic wands, I would lend you one xxx