posted
I think I'm a hypochondriac. That'd be comforting. I've been having dizzy spells for the last week and a half, and the past few hours have been the worst. The tip of my tongue is numb and tingly (I know, how can something be numb and tingly at the same time? Clearly only a hypochondriac would come up with something so lame).
I went to a doctor on Wednesday. He thinks I'm having withdrawal symptoms from the Zoloft I stopped taking a couple of weeks ago (and if I told you how many times I've had to retype words in this post you would not believe me; I'm starting to laugh out loud every time I do it), and suggested that it could take 2-3 weeks for the symptoms to go away. Which would be fine, except that the dizziness is starting to come even if I just move my eyes without moving my head (or vice versa), and it's making my fingertips and lips tingle (and now my tongue, as I mentioned earlier).
Have you ever fainted? That's sort of a little bit of what this feels like. Like the blood is emptying out of my head and extremities. My left big toe fell asleep earlier for no decent reason. At least none that I know of, and I'm not really on speaking terms with my toe. (That was a joke; I'm not really as goofed out as I sound).
I know that there are people who pay obscene amounts of money for chemicals that make them feel something akin to the kinds of things I'm feeling right now. I assume they would have the same difficulty typing that I'm having. Which is good. There should be some sort of payoff. And it's nice to know that I'm getting this for free. But with all that, this is a bit frightening. The tingle in my lips and tongue aren't really coming and going so much now. They're pretty much just there. And when I turn my head, they just get worse. (I know: don't turn your head, right?)
The doctor said (see, I was on Zoloft for about 3 years, and while I didn't go cold turkey exactly, it was somewhat less than lukewarm turkey) that I could try taking a teensy amount of Zoloft for a little while, but it feels like I'd just be delaying this. I don't know; I've never really gone through (it is through, right? Not threw) withdrawal for anything before. Well, maybe Percocet once, though I don't know if it was really withdrawal or just pain.
Something tells me that I should have posted this on SR instead of here, but it was the first thing that came up. Seriously: it is a weird feeling. But I know that if I knew someone who had so many different health issues in such a shortish period of time, I'd definitely ponder hypochondria as an explanation, and it seems to me that simple fairness requires that I give that the same pondrance (if that's a word) in this case.
posted
Hmmm. I'd call your doctor if you're worried. I never had that when I went through withdrawl from medications I'd been on. But it could be part of it.
On the other hand, it could be something unrelated. Like how they say that teething doesn't cause fevers, you know? My daughter's nurse practitioner said that a lot of kids do get low-grade fevers when they teethe, but they'd rather have parents assume that it's not the teething so they don't miss something really serious because the kid happens to be teething at the same time.
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posted
Tingling sensations are quite common when you stop an antidepressant rather suddenly. I haven't actually met anyone with that symptom from zoloft, however. But I don't know that many patients on zoloft. I've seen it from several other antidepressants. It's often described as a shocklike sensation with movement.
As far as other suggestions, well, I don't really have any others I care to post since I don't know you and haven't seen you.
posted
SSRI's (like Zoloft) really oughtn't be be DC'd abruptly. By taking a half dose for, say, a week, then a half dose every other day, then stopping, you can taper down the dose without the unpleasant effects.
Why would you be reluctant to do that?
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posted
As someone who's gone through withdrawals for tranquilizers and SSRIs within the past year, I say go with what your doctor says. Take a low dose of the Zoloft for a little while. Do it gradually. I don't remember off the top of my head how long Zoloft stays in your system, but it's entirely possible that it took a while for the symptoms to manifest if you had a low level of the drug still in your system until now. A gradual decrease is way, way better.
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: SSRI's (like Zoloft) really oughtn't be be DC'd abruptly. By taking a half dose for, say, a week, then a half dose every other day, then stopping, you can taper down the dose without the unpleasant effects.
Why would you be reluctant to do that?
Well, I did cut down from 100 to 50. For about a week, or so. And it still seemed too much, so I just stopped. I'm so bloody tired of dumping chemicals into myself every morning.
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posted
Is there any point in my doing it now? I know that when I go off of caffiene, once the headache starts, it's too late, and all the caffiene in the world won't stop it.
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posted
My sister stopped Paxil cold turkey and had horrible, horrible withdrawal symptoms. She did start taking it in smaller doses, the symptoms stopped, and she taperd off slowly. Now she is off completely.
So listen to Tante Shvester. You'll still get where you want to go, and it won't be so scary!
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: Yeah, there is a point in doing it now, because the SSRI's have such a long life in your system. And you are symptomatic.
I thought Zoloft had a half-life of like a day. And the thing is, I woke up fine this morning, but by mid-day, I've already started having minor dizzinesses. Very minor. But each day starts out that way. So I'm a tad nervous.
quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: Feel better, honey.
And BTW, I dump lots and lots of chemicals into my body every day. Doesn't make me a bad person.
Yeah, I hear you, but I've been popping 5 pills a day (including a vitamin) for years now, and it's a pleasure to have gotten rid of three of those. I keep thinking, what if there's a nuclear holocaust or something? I wouldn't be able to refill my 'scripts anyway, right?
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: Everyone dumps lots and lots of chemicals into their system every day. At least, anyone who wants to stay alive does.
We call it food. And I'm not commenting on the additive-laden nature of most processed foodstuffs; water is a chemical.
quote:SSRI's (like Zoloft) really oughtn't be be DC'd abruptly. By taking a half dose for, say, a week, then a half dose every other day, then stopping, you can taper down the dose without the unpleasant effects.
*nodnodnodnodnodnodnodnod*
quote:I thought Zoloft had a half-life of like a day. And the thing is, I woke up fine this morning, but by mid-day, I've already started having minor dizzinesses. Very minor. But each day starts out that way. So I'm a tad nervous.
I'm not a medical professional, but that sounds like a pretty standard withdrawal symptom. Most SSRI meds are very addictive, psychologically if not necessarily physically.
Good for you for getting away from Dr. Feelgood, though.
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posted
I strongly disapprove of using the word "addictive" with antidepressants. It's not accurate. Some drugs aren't meant to be stopped suddenly. That includes some blood pressure pills. And yet, I never hear anyone claiming that blood pressure pills are addictive. If they aren't, then neither are antidepressants.
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posted
Yep - the symptoms you're describing are very standard for suddenly stopping an antidepressant. I took Paxil for anxiety, and weaning down was HELL. Everytime I moved my head I'd feel a buzz and get very dizzy. You need to wean yourself more slowly.
posted
I started taking Lexapro a couple of years ago for depression and have started and stopped a few times (for various reasons) since. Each time was "cold turkey" and came with a little dizziness and absolutely killer lingering headaches for a few days.
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posted
If the drug has unpleasant side effects when stopped, isn't that the definition of addiction? I do seem to recall that there are two kinds, namely physical and psychological; this is plainly the former. I've yet to see anyone accuse Lisa of being a weak-minded junkie who just can't stay off the stuff, which is psychological addiction.
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posted
I think some of them ARE addictive. I was on this stuff called Geodon (yes, I know it's not intended for OCD, but "normal" ocd treatments don't work well for me), and if I didn't take it, I didn't sleep. If I for some reason couldn't fill my prescription for a few days, I just wouldn't sleep for those few days. When I've been awake and extremely agitated for seventy-two hours and the only thing I've changed about my routine is that I'm no longer taking a drug, I consider that drug addictive.
Even better, when I expressed concern about this to my doctor and told him that it was scaring me and that I wanted to stop taking it, he said, "You need to keep taking it. Just make sure you pick up your prescriptions on time from now on." Oh yeah. Because there's NO WAY that a college student without prescription coverage wouldn't have like five hundred dollars lying around to pay for this ridiculously expensive drug unless she'd, I don't know, drank it away, or snorted it up her nose, or bought a new wardrobe. It's clearly an issue of me being irresponsible, not me just not having tons of money at my disposal and being severely freaked out by your weirdass pharmaceutical concoctions. /bitter.
quote:I strongly disapprove of using the word "addictive" with antidepressants. It's not accurate. Some drugs aren't meant to be stopped suddenly. That includes some blood pressure pills. And yet, I never hear anyone claiming that blood pressure pills are addictive. If they aren't, then neither are antidepressants.
Semantics. If you can't stop doing it without withdrawal symptoms, it's addictive. If a drug isn't meant to be stopped suddenly, it's because it has an addictive component to it.
At least, that's how I use the word. I don't understand enough about how blood pressure meds work to have an opinion on whether they're addictive or not.
And then I glanced up and saw that KoM already said what I was going to.
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quote:Originally posted by King of Men: If the drug has unpleasant side effects when stopped, isn't that the definition of addiction? I do seem to recall that there are two kinds, namely physical and psychological; this is plainly the former. I've yet to see anyone accuse Lisa of being a weak-minded junkie who just can't stay off the stuff, which is psychological addiction.
My only bad addictions are TV, webcomics, and Hatrack.
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posted
I can wean myself off of caffeine gradually and not get headaches (well, I'm off of caffeine right now, so that's not true, but I'm speaking generally), but if I stop fast, I get a debilitating one. As I understand it, that's because of a physically addictive property of caffeine. The same seems to be true of Zoloft.
But there are addictions and there are addictions. This isn't like a heroin addiction.
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