So I have been slowly cutting back on the meds for depression and anxiety for a few weeks now. Was doing well until today I woke up in a total panic and thought I dying. My stomach is in knots and I am real disoriented. Mentally I feel pretty good but I have no appetite and every little sound bugs me to no end. I'm real jumpy and I ache all over. Extreme paranoia, etc. Anyone else experience this kind of reaction? I guess it is a toss up between feeling like a zombie or feeling like I'm going to explode/implode all the time. Any advice?

What exactly have you been taking and are you being followed closely by a doc while tapering yourself off the meds? Some anti-depressants can be really dangerous to stop taking without a doc telling you exactly how to back down off them. I'm wondering if you couldn't ask for something very mild for anxiety that you can take as needed instead of on a daily basis. Vistaril is a great med for this and it isn't a narcotic at all so it doesn't cause any dependency and only makes you mildly tired. It's actually just an anti-histamine.

I know when I first got pregnant with Ryan, I had to go off almost all my meds all at once to protect him and I damn near ended up in the hospital after the first week because my mind completely rebelled. I didn't sleep almost my entire pregnancy and I was crying and raging half the time, the other half I could barely get out of bed. It was a wild ride but I started back on my meds the night he was born...lol.

I hope the Vistaril is something you can take and I hope it helps you out. That paranoia is worse than depression and rage combined isn't it? I was pushing furniture in front of doors sometimes so I know what you're dealing with. Hang in there, it'll get better.

I went off Vistaril several months ago but have been on Celexa for a year and a half. Was taking 40mg a day for a while. The depression is much better but the panic is coming back on me now. Celexa worked real well for me after a while but the detached feeling, tiredness, weight gain, lack of sexual feelings (yeah, like I'm using it anyway right?) just got to be too much. I think maybe going back on the Vistaril while reducing the Celexa might help. I'll talk to my doc. Just needed reassurance that I'm not losing it. Thanks BAmy

It doesn't help that my neighbors are setting fireworks off 24/7. I'm jumping like a cat every few seconds. I'm on my way over there now. This is not going to be pretty.

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Was doing well until today I woke up in a total panic and thought I dying. My stomach is in knots and I am real disoriented. Mentally I feel pretty good but I have no appetite and every little sound bugs me to no end. I'm real jumpy and I ache all over. Extreme paranoia, etc. Anyone else experience this kind of reaction? I guess it is a toss up between feeling like a zombie or feeling like I'm going to explode/implode all the time. Any advice?

Welcome to my world the past decade!

The irritability for me means I am experiencing too much stress. I need to identify what it is and resolve it before it becomes a panic. Most times it means I need a vacation and relax.

Seriously, it does get better. You will come to a point where you can feel an onset and know that the panic is not real. There's also the emergency med Klonopin if it becomes incredibly unbearable that you cannot function.

My suggestion. Take a log of each time it happens, guess what was the trigger, and how long the duration is. You may see a pattern and can direct your anxiety. Mine used to last less than 5 minutes. When I was at work... I would just tell everyone I was feeling sick or I had a headache.

Anyway, I don't get the full blown panic attacks anymore, just the anxiety.

Hope things work out for you.

Git em dude!!!!

You wouldn't believe some of the crazy things that went through my mind when I wasn't medicated. I used to have what are called visualizations. I would see myself doing crazy things and would get paranoid that I'd actually do them. Now this stuff was waaaaaay out there like everytime I was in a car with somebody, I'd have to lock the door because I could see myself jumping from it. Not something I'd do, but the paranoia wouldn't allow me to dismiss it. They get worse than that but that's just an example of what a little irrational fear can do to you. Believe me, it has nothing to do with losing touch with reality, it's simply your brain working over-time with survival instincts.

Have you discussed the possibility of some sort of chemical imbalance with your doc? If there is a slight imbalance then anti-depressants and "downers" of any sort are exactly what you don't need. Mood stablizers are far more effective. I'm hyper-sensitive to them for some reason and have to take a pharmacy of medications to get the same effect but it's worth looking into.

I did the same thing about a year ago. I'd been on Zoloft, on the same dosage of Zoloft, for so long that it just no longer helped my depression. I asked my doctor if we could change it up, maybe find something that would work so he switched me to Cymbalta. I couldn't sleep for more than 10 minutes a night for a week. I was a zombie, so I asked him to switch it to something else and he put me on Wellbutrin XL.

Now.. I've heard Wellbutrin is a good med if you can take it. Unfortunately, that's not true when you have epilepsy. Not only did it not let me sleep, it lowered my seizure threshold and made me suicidal. I went to my doctor and told him this and he sent me in for a psych eval, whether I wanted to go or not. (Apparently if you mention that word, the ball is no longer in your court where the health professionals are concerned. Here, they're required by law to have you escorted to the closest mental health facility for an eval.)

When I was evaluated, which took all of 15 minutes, the doctor asked me about my "other existing conditions" and when I told him I had epilepsy he said, "And you're on WHAT??? And you're still ALIVE???"

Needless to say, the Wellbutrin was history. I went onto a low dose of Effexor and felt good until I weaned myself off. Now I don't take anything, which I sometimes question if that's the best thing or not, but I just wanted to feel "normal" for a change and not drugged.

Don't know if that helps or not, but just so you know, you're not alone. It's rough coming off of the meds, but take one day at a time. There are going to be some days where you just NEED an anti-depressant, but those days will get farther and farther between until you're finished.