Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Personal Experiences => Topic started by: walking the dog on April 30, 2016, 10:32:57 AM
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Well two weeks now on 20 mg every other day and I take th very last one tomorrow. Irs been a very difficult two weeks I have felt very ill physically and mentally with withdrawal symptoms mixed n with hormones but yesterday and today the dizzy feeling has lifted a bit which is such a relief.
I start trazodone on Tuesday so lets,see how that goes, still no sign of getting a CPN and have been unable to find out how long I will wait
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Well done WTD.
I know it's a hard one to get off, or I will do when the time comes for me to get off it.
Good luck with the Trazadone too!
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Just took the last one so pleased to be off that drug. However , as I have had a good few days mood wise I'm thinking to myself do I need to start the trazodone ,do I need AD s ? I know when the black hole sucks me in id take them but when I'm feeling ok and have just come off one I'm really unsure about starting another. Any advice ladies
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Give it a rest for 5 days and see how you feel? Controlling a chronic depressive illness can be difficult. I have cyclical depression of about 22 months so have been advised to take low-dose for Life. Make sure that you keep hydrated, eat little and often and exercise. If you feel your mood dipping at all, start the drug - don't wait because it can take a few weeks to kick in! Working out what dosage will support the brain can be hard work initially but hey ho! ;)
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I agree with CLKD....give yourself a few days off but promise yourself if you notice a dip, then start your new meds.
Think I'll be bead counting my way out of these tablets when the time comes.
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I would take the route you find best to get off duloxetine and if that involves bead counting and you find its the best way then do it under proper guidance. I am so glad to be off it especially as it didn't help me but its been a hard painful time, I would hope there's another way but from my research there's not. Good luck when you decide the times right to stop xx
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When I spoke to the pharmacist, he said it was likely that my GP would switch me to something else with a longer half life, like Prozac!
Personally I would sooner bead count as I did that with Effexor.
Have you ever tried HRT?
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I have read about people taking Prozac to help come off it but my gp was reluctant to try I have had to have three days,with nothing before she wants me to start the trazodone tomorrow night. I'm still not sure whether I'm going to take t or not yet I can hear my gp in my ear telling me I should. The problem is I feel great at the minute but I know from experience it wont last and i will go down very quickly into the dark place , if I thought the trazodone would help prevent that id take it but I have had 4 previous ADs which have not worked so I dont hold much hope for this one.
Yes I'm on hrt Estradot 50 patch and 200 mg utrogestran for 14 days a month
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Well done to you - you've done brilliantly in coming off them.
To be honest, they have worked for me with the anxiety but I can feel it coming back a bit. So think I need to increase the dose to 30 mg but I do think they make me feel a bit flat too.
I've started oestrogel and Utrogestan and wondered if HRT alone can solve anxiety and depression if you give it plenty of time? Can't tell if I have depression or it's peri? Can't if there's a pattern or not because my cycle is so irregular/ absent!
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Keep off Prozac! It made me have intense rages :cuss: and I've never heard of it used as an intermediary.
I felt awful this morning Bcause I didn't take my half dose BB last night. I always forget how physically not taking even 20mg can be :-\ made worse as I knew we were out and about. Yesterday I was really looking forwards to going out but driving there I was unable to say anything much and feeling anxious prompted high anxiety about up-coming holiday plans :-[ + :sigh:. It seems that I never learn :-X
how R U this evening?
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Hope your feeling better now clkd? Anxiety is awful. I'm great at the moment but I follow. A pattern where I feel great then slump and spend days on the bed crying 😢 thankfully I have my two little dogs to keep me company
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Thank you - the anxiety has mainly gone. Even knowing that it was my own fault didn't help with the physical feelings >sigh<. I can't cry :-\ ……….. felt like it this morning but am not able to.
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Dont beat yourself up its easy done I'm always forgetting my middle of day dose of propranolol. Tomorrows a new day
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However; 2-morrow might be worse :-\
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How are you feeling today clkd after yesterday ?
Tonight I'm meant to start the trazodone but I'm very apprehensive about it I really dont know what to do for the best, totally confused anxious and scared all at the same time and of course I'm getting annoyed at myself for my inability to make a decision!
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Hi WTD & CLKD
Hope you are both okay.
Just a thought WTD, if you've successfully come off duloxetine then you can do anything!
Do you take Trazadone at a certain time of day? Why not see how you feel on a day to day basis? Say assess each day at 8 pm maybe, and then maybe you'll be able to tell if your mood is going down.
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Thank you that's a lovely thing for you to say.
I'm meant to take it at bedtime as it helps with sleep , I could just see how I go without but then I think if I'm ill with depression it will take a few weeks to work and also why not take itbif it might help. On other hand I think I'm AD free and never had any success with them so do I really want to go through it all again , I'm going in circles, I got a bit upset with myself before over it which made me think I should take it, but I still cant decide. I also hate going against my gp s advice as she has been so fantastic trying to help me.my husband is completely against me taking anything apart from hrt .i just don't know what to do :-\
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Well hopefully CLKD will be along soon and she's very knowledgeable in these areas.
I do have days when I can't make a decision to save my life, why not wait till the morning, and with a clearer head, see how you feel.
You've done a massive thing by coming off those tablets, so don't be hard on yourself. :D
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I feel a lot better thank you. It was my own silly fault for not taking the BB at night. It's surprising how different I feel when I take my meds. properly.
WtD - your Husband needs to keep his Big Gob Shut! If you could go without what ever you need then you wouldn't be asking your GP for help.
I take 5mg AD at night and morning: I have to take it for Life. My depression is cyclical over 22 months. I see my GP when necessary but certainly every 12 months for review. I self medicate as necessary.
For me the mornings are worse - that's when I will feel anxious/unable to cope/worried …… by evening I'm a different person ::). I measure my anxiety on a 1-5 scale, 1 being low and 5 reaching for the anti-anxiety meds..
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Glad you feel better its so easy to forget to take pills.
Thank you for your good advice I am going to take the Trazodone tonight ,your words about asking my gp for help hit home, I will be running to her and she will ask why I didnt start it and tell me to take it so I may as,well take it now! If that makes sense.my husbands usually very supportive but he has never had depression so has no idea what uts like, now I have decided to start it he will be supportive.
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And when I think about it I wouldn't have been prescribed it if I didn't need it and it was the psychiatrist who told my gp to try me in it so its not as if I haven't had a lot of input. I have no idea why I wasn't thinking this rationally earlier ! Hormones /anxiety / depression
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Worry about side effects, thinking that we can go it alone without medication, worrying about what others might think ….
I DREADED side-effects even from pain relief ::). I wanted to find out what was causing my depression B4 taking medication; once I accepted that I required regular ADs, Himself and I had a Life again; I no longer tell anyone about what medication I take ::)
When I was starting on a new drug I would do so at weekends when I had less commitments and at night ……. so any side-effects didn't clash with having to get up with the alarm!
Good Luck!
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I've tried many antidepressants over the years citalopram, venlafaxine, duloxetine, mirtazipine & trazodone on 2 occasions.
Venlafaxine was the worse to come off followed by duloxetine. The easiest to start up on and wean off for me was Trazodone. If you can handle duloxetine trazodone will be a walk in the park for you. For the first couple of weeks you get a bit of a dry mouth and can be sluggish on a morning as it has something in to help you sleep.
Good luck and I hope the meds work for you xx
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Strange how we all benefit/not differently from the same medication. Wonder why :-\
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How are you all feeling today?
WTD - when you took Duloxetine, when did you take yours? I take mine in the morning. But thinking of increasing to 30 mg and was wondering whether to move it to evening times instead.
I've been on Venlafaxine before, so let's hope that the withdrawal from Duloxetine won't be too bad!
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I took it in the mornings and was on 90 mg at one point I was on venlafaxine but swapped from that straight to duloxetine so didn't feel any withdrawals, I was on sertraline originally and have had the most success with it but after a,year it stopped working.all I can do is try trazodone and as lisa789 has said its was to come off compared to duloxeine I'm hoping when the time comes I will be ok.
Mis71 mum do you feel duloxetine has,worked but is now not working so well ,is that why your considering upping dose?
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WTD - Yes i've been on it for 7 months now at 20mg and yes to start off with, it did help me. But now i'm thinking that it's stopped working.....or at least it's not as effective as it was. I thought the side effects were awful too, that's the reason that I don't want to increase unless really necessary. The brand I take is TEVA.
I was hoping that HRT may help but I'll need to take that for a good 3 months before I can see any changes. But the HRT has stopped me crying so far, been on it just over 2 weeks!
I have my life back...go to work, look after my children, sort the house out, but my day can be ruined by a random thought....just don't have the ability to shrug it off just yet.....and seem to spend time in my head analysing which I didn't do before. Not sure if that makes sense or you know what I mean by that.
When I was on venlafaxine, I was on 37.5 mg, then 50 mg and then I moved to the extended release. I think duloxetine make my foggy and numb in the afternoon, then teatime, I come round.
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It made me feel awful the whole Tim I was on it and it didn't help. If you feel the benefit of it maybe discuss upping dose with your gp? Glad the hrt has stopped your crying spells , all my hopes are pinned on trazodone in that respect but so far six years no AD or hrt has helped with my mood.
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Hi WTD
Was just wondering how long you were on venlafaxine and duloxetine for?
Also you method of withdrawal was it just taking it for every other day whilst on 20mg....how long did you did that for?
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Wasn't on venlafaxine long maybe six month it made me very irritable duloxetine about four years and did the 20mg every other day for two weeks then stopped altogether. The first ten days,were hellish but it was ok after that and I feel ok now but from experience I know my mood will plummett at some point, meant to be getting urgent referral to a cpn well that's a week ago now!