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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Hopeforlife on April 30, 2004, at 10:23:53
I am looking for some information about exercise for former SSRI users. Ihave been off of Zoloft for almost two years. I took a very small dose (25 mg) for nearly 8 years with no adverse side effects and overall improvement in mood. During the time I was struggling with depression, I had an excellent counselor, who helped me address the underlying issues related to my depression. The medical advice I received at the time was that a low "maintenance dose" of a drug was needed to prevent major depression from returning. About 2 1/2 years ago, at a very stable point in my life, I decided to try life without the drug. After an initial attempt at quitting cold turkey (bad idea, I discovered!), I tapered off very gradually from 25 mg to nothing over the course of about 8 months. I experienced some relatively mild withdrawal symptoms (tingling, zaps, nausea, fever) each time I reduced the dose, but these always subsided in a few days. I thought the coast was clear. Well...
In January of this year, I began to exercise regularly (20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day). I have been very consistent with it and have experienced all the positive benefits of exercise, including improvement in mood. However, over the course of the past month the old familiar withdrawal symptoms have returned, increasing in intensity until now I am feeling almost as awful as I did when I tried quitting the drug cold turkey. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this kind of thing. Is this temporary, or am I going to have to give up exercise? Do you have to give the brain time to adjust to anything, even exercise, that alters its chemistry? This is certainly my hope. If that is the case, I will wait it out, knowing that it will get better. The other possibility is much more disturbing. With the exercise, it is possible that I am stimulating neurons that were permanently damaged by the Zoloft. I fear that we are just beginning to understand the true extent of the long-term damage caused by these drugs. I would appreciate any advice.
Posted by sjb on May 3, 2004, at 10:31:19
In reply to Exercise for former SSRI users??, posted by Hopeforlife on April 30, 2004, at 10:23:53
In my view, it's not the exercise that's your problem and if you weren't exercising, you might be feeling even worse right now.
In my experience, going off the meds doesn't get better with time, and in fact, things often get worse. Some lucky people can go off.
I agree that we don't know what these meds are doing and once we've taken them, especially for a long period of time, it may be that SOME of us need to stay on them, perhaps for life. My hypothosis is that long time AD use MAY permanently alter serotonin regulation. This is just a guess, I have NOT read any scientific research to confirm this and I may be totally WRONG. I hope I am, but it seems an awful lot of people are unable to go off meds once they start, especially if they've been on them for many years.
However, I stand by my view on exercise and urge you to keep a regular exercise routine regardless of whether you decide to stay off meds or not. I urge you to tell your PDoc what you've posted here and discuss with him/her the the possibility of going back on meds, perhaps a different one.
Good luck.
Posted by afatchic on June 11, 2004, at 1:41:55
In reply to Re: Exercise for former SSRI users??, posted by sjb on May 3, 2004, at 10:31:19
I share your concerns about permanent AD effects. I hope we're wrong.
> In my view, it's not the exercise that's your problem and if you weren't exercising, you might be feeling even worse right now.
>
> In my experience, going off the meds doesn't get better with time, and in fact, things often get worse. Some lucky people can go off.
>
> I agree that we don't know what these meds are doing and once we've taken them, especially for a long period of time, it may be that SOME of us need to stay on them, perhaps for life. My hypothosis is that long time AD use MAY permanently alter serotonin regulation. This is just a guess, I have NOT read any scientific research to confirm this and I may be totally WRONG. I hope I am, but it seems an awful lot of people are unable to go off meds once they start, especially if they've been on them for many years.
>
> However, I stand by my view on exercise and urge you to keep a regular exercise routine regardless of whether you decide to stay off meds or not. I urge you to tell your PDoc what you've posted here and discuss with him/her the the possibility of going back on meds, perhaps a different one.
> Good luck.
This is the end of the thread.
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