“I Stopped My Antidepressants Suddenly” #careful
Stopping antidepressants suddenly can lead to withdrawal symptoms, known as antidepressant discontinuation syndrome, which can be severe and, in some cases, persist for months or even years. Antidepressants, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), alter brain chemistry by regulating neurotransmitters like serotonin. When these medications are abruptly discontinued, the brain struggles to adapt, leading to a range of physical and psychological withdrawal effects.
Common withdrawal symptoms include dizziness, nausea, headaches, brain zaps (electric shock-like sensations in the brain), mood swings, anxiety, insomnia, and flu-like symptoms. In some individuals, more severe effects such as panic attacks, cognitive impairment, emotional numbness, and even suicidal thoughts can occur. For those who experience protracted withdrawal or post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS), symptoms can persist for months or even years, sometimes resembling a return of depression or anxiety but actually stemming from lingering neurochemical imbalances caused by withdrawal.
#psychiatry #brain #mentalhealth
42 Comments
For Professionals who create content: no more gatekeeping!
Want to learn how successful creators make their videos? That’s exactly what you’ll find out in my FREE live 3 Secrets Webinar.
Spaces are limited so go to the link below to sign up:
https://sermedmezher.com/3-secrets-webinar
I was on different meds for 10yrs after my dad died plus a huge stressor at the same time. After 10 yrs I stopped them and I never felt more normal. I promised myself I will never touch another one again and I haven’t in over 20 yrs and I swear they altered my mind.
My brain zaps feel more like my whole brain just surged. My vision changes for a split second in a way I can't really describe too….
Maybe I'm not having brain zaps but something else 🤷♂️
Anyone else on team Effexor
They put kids on this. And they say to trust doctors
I wouldn't figure out that if you stop taking antidepressants you could develop depression…
a medicinal lobotomy. these medications don’t work any better than placebo and the side effects include things i will be banned for saying. 🥹
What about stopping opioids prescribed?!! I feel weak ..
The best situation is NOT TO GET TALKED INTO TAKING THEM. Fast, Elimination Diet, exercise and sunlight. Get your Nutrient levels checked, unless you are Homolicidal. IMO, These thIngs are SLOW Poison.
I can always tell if I’ve forgotten my meds because the brain zaps are awful.
Yeah. It's called adult the fk up about life and figure it out. Covering things up doesn't get rid of it. Take these too long and you'll become a Democrat. No one wants that.
Or just don't take them cuz it fries your brain and is a scam.
You know this is got a lot of research on national center of biological informatics ncbi and for years I've told my doctors when I take certain medicines especially things that are psych related that I wanted to avoid withdrawal they even said oh you know you need to take it longer when I first started taking it so I can work on your system and that is not true most people receive effects immediately and most of the medicines that I've taken work for me great like like Wellbutrin and now they're trying to say that's addictive and abusable medication it's crazy doctors lie lie lie lie lie and you have these beautiful doctors like Mezher you actually care and looked into things like this and know the truth and I just want to thank you
There is no such thing as addictive there is abnormal dependents and then there is normal dependence when you utilize dependents management you can normally avoid these issues
My doctor prescribed my escitalopram two weeks ago, and i will not touch them. Ive told her repeatedly i don't have a good time on SSRIs yet she told me i need them, no i dont. I won't take them as everyone i lnow on antidepressants hasn't benefitted from them. In the bin, its my menopause causing me issues but she said its depression. Its not.
God i got flashbacks to a time when a doctor unexpectedly refused to fill my prescription (because he wanted to switch me to a new one and probably thought there were still meds on the prescription) and i had the worst time, i cried to the nurse on the phone just because i was so scared of the withdrawal and had to call around for three days before i got them again and ugghh i am so happy i don't remember most of it because it was horrible
Was just about to write that I feel electric shocks thru out my brain when I forget them more than 2 days. Already second day without them I feel this feeling of doom. I will never stop taking sertraline… Can't function without it. Get super cynical and anxious.
The brain zaps are horrible when you dont know where they came from
I only had brain zaps when I was taking SSRI's. I guess I'm lucky that I didn't get any problems when I quit taking them. I didn't taper off. I just quit. I didn't know that could cause damage at the time.
I stopped taking them years ago. Was making me drowsy and tired all the time so I suddenly stopped. Felt much better after people convinced me it was just in my head and depression is a natural response to stuff in society which you don’t like. Staying in that mindset of I’m always depressed made me even more depressed
what the fuck, i was prescribed ssri after having panic attacks after a close family member died and i've been on them for like a year or so and was never ever told i was being given something that is basically addicting and has withdrawal symptoms WORSE than HEROIN BELIEVE ME I KNOW! Brain zaps that can be permanent??? wtf, someone is going to get sued, I'm not saying ill sue a doctor but holy shit man.. Also since I've been on them I've hand a handful of dreams where I actually die and if you've been on them you know how intensely vivid dreams are – and that never happened before i was on them. I'm starting tapering like today.
Not taking my Effexor allows me to experience the full range of emotions. The medication numbs all emotion, including happiness.
That is exactly why you refuse antidepressants and get a good therapist that helps you without "medication". Antidepressants do nothing but suppress you need to face your stuff or you won't fix anything.
I went cold turkey because they literally did nothing for me. I took them for 2 years and still felt depressed, I also had therapy during that time. The most I got from taking those pills were horrible sweats. I was dizzy for a few weeks when I came off, then went back to feeling the same as I did when I was on them.
Omg the brain zaps are terrible! 😭
wait…. i get those brain zaps but ive never been on antidepressants??
I also lost my meds once. It was day 4 that I finally got them back. I'm pretty sure by day 5 I would've been hospitalized. I couldn't even sit up on my own anymore.
It is my opinion that these drugs help you in the short term but long term they have terrible side affects and if you try to come off them you will be suicidal for a very long time. They are designed to turn you into a lifelong customer of the pharmaceutical companies. I only know this because a close family member was prescribed peroxatine aged 12 and she is now 45 and I have seen what it has done to her.
I got off the maximum dose of Effexor 10 months ago, after being on it for 7 years. I tapered off at first but I really wanted to get off of it that I stopped cold turkey after about a month of tapering off of it. The anxiety attacks were so scary, it felt like I didn’t know which reality to be in. Meaning, I would have thoughts that brought me back to different time settings and couldn’t be sure which thoughts belonged to the present. A doctor told me to take one of my antidepressants to help with it. Essentially switching back to tapering off of it instead of white knuckling it. And yes I experienced brain zaps and flu like symptoms. Effexor is one of the worst withdrawals of antidepressants.
What about the smell of burning while you're on it
not taking ur anti depressants is absolutely an emergency and we should have access to get the drug on hand in an emergency dose…speaking from experience here…
I wish it was just feeling sad not having all set of neurological issues that basically make you temporary disabled
I took effexor for a while and I tapered off of it. Very very slowly and still when I was finally off the medication I had withdrawal so badly that I felt like I was going to fucking die. I was in a stockroom at work on the ground puking shaking cold sweat like I didn't even feel like that when I fucking had to get my appendix taken out. I can't even explain how shitty it was
Brain zaps for me where like a vibration that went from my head , down one side of my body.
Yeah, you have no idea what you are talking about and how severe this can be…
I know it sounds bad, but I think we're keeping people alive that nature was trying to cull from the population.
And if you have brain zaps yet you take absolutely no medication whatsoever?
I stopped Lexapro cold turkey and never got the zaps, though I could only ever tolerate the lowest dose in the first place, so maybe that's why. Now I'm wondering if the years of mental/mood/addiction struggle afterwards may have had something to do with quitting the meds the way I did.
My sister gets the zaps if she misses doses of Lexapro, but she's on a much higher dose than I ever was when I was taking it. She takes it for depression, I was taking it off-label for OCD, but only when my OCD was more intolerable than the Lexapro side effects- a pick your poison or lesser of two evils situation for me.
Good lord, why are people taking drugs. They are called DRUGS. Not good
So it's the exact same predatory pharmaceutical strategy as everything else: cause your problem, sell you the cure, that perpetuates your problem. You fucking monsters
I went cold turkey off of only 5mg of escitalipram (by doctors orders) and even then I had the brain zaps and other withdrawal problems for a week. It's brutal. The zaps are the worst. It almost feels like your body has been flash banged for a second.
This is why you see "drug seekers" in hospitals. Withdrawal is absolutely hell I'm sorry there's nothing worse,no worse feelings physically,emotionally and mentally you just wanna die. 9/10 if your going to the hospital your not there to get high you just want to stop Withdrawaling and you just wanna feel normal again