7 replies to this topic

[gizmobrain]

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with lessening or eliminating this common side-effect of discontinuing SSRI's (and SNRI's).

If you are curious about the topic, check out this article: http://pb.rcpsych.org/content/29/6/219

My mom discontinued Cymbalta, and went through 2 months of it. Now my grandmother is doing the same thing. Neither properly titrated down their dose before discontinuing.

[nupi]

One well-established approach is to cross-over to Flouxetine and titrate that down (which is easier because of its long halfway).

(However, no personal experience, getting off Effexor was, against all reports, absolutely no issue for me a decade ago)

[Raza]

If they're the same brain zaps you get the days after overdoing MDMA (another potent serotonergic), I recommend fish oil and uridine.

[gizmobrain]

One well-established approach is to cross-over to Flouxetine and titrate that down (which is easier because of its long halfway).

(However, no personal experience, getting off Effexor was, against all reports, absolutely no issue for me a decade ago)

Unfortunately, this is not an option as she quit cold turkey a couple weeks ago and has no intentions of starting back up.

If they're the same brain zaps you get the days after overdoing MDMA (another potent serotonergic), I recommend fish oil and uridine.

It's quite possibly the same thing. I have her on 1 gram of fish oil and 100mg of Triacyteluridine daily. This is only her 3rd day, so perhaps it's too soon to tell.

Edited by zrbarnes, 17 September 2012 - 06:21 PM.

[What'sAllThisThen]

I bought a small book off amazon when I was going off Effexor about getting off anti-depressants and avoiding withdrawals. I had zaps for less than a week and only a few really bad days and I didn't do much titrating down, though I would have done more so had I known what I was in for. I can't say if it helped or if I just lucked out (only on about 6+ months). I just checked my book shelf, it's The Road Bock: How to get off drugs safely. I don't remember the details, but I see there's a slip in there with ordering info for Organic Barley Juice Powder, Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil, Apothe-Cherry Extract, and Vitamin E.

I know I didn't order from them, but I probably did all four. I know I did the cherry, as I would mix it in yogurt, pretty good actually.

Edit: And of course, these might not be for zaps specifically, probably just cleansing and reestablishing the body after these drugs.

Edited by What'sAllThisThen, 18 September 2012 - 02:27 AM.

[hippocampus]

inositol may help, since it's a 5ht-2a agonist if I recall correctly. I've read some report of some guy who had anorgasmia after discontinuation of an SSRI and it completely reversed his condition. Anyway, it's good against depression, anxiety and OCD and it's relatively cheap.

[Logic]

http://www.longecity...post__p__535199

The company discovered that its drug was as good if not better than allthe antidepressive drugs on the market. The commercial antidepressants were showing hippocampal volume increases of about 5% or below, whereas Neuralstem's new drug was able to increase hippocampal volume up to 20%. By most other measures, Neuralstem's drugexcelled in decreasing depression symptoms.
Neuralstem was encouraged by these results so it decided to do a human study. This was the first human study with this class of drugs, so the FDA needed a strong safety trial first. Neuralstem conducted a placebo-controlled Phase Ia trial with 41 healthy volunteers to prove to the FDA that its small molecule drug was safe.
After that trial, the data was so good in terms of safety that the FDA gave Neuralstem the go-ahead for a Phase Ib trial so it could start dosing actual major-depressive disorder patients.
No Side Effects
Perhaps the most important information that came from that Phase Ia trial was the fact that there were absolutely no side effects. For example, one of the most popular antidepressants, Prozac lists common side effects which include nausea, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and anxiety. Some of these side effects are worse than the actual depression, so many patients just quit using the drugs.

[kurdishfella]

they should go away once your brain adjusts to the drug