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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by Walfredo on December 24, 2009, at 4:15:48
I was just writing to see if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon. I have all the major SSRI's and none had any positive effect for me (with the exception of Paxil till it pooped out) but I consistently experienced a positive effect when I would stop taking them (abruptly). A day or two days usually after stopping them, I would get a complete or near complete remission of depression symptoms that would last for a day or maybe two and then the depression returned. I am trying to make some sort of sense out of it and have never heard or read anything similar, and my doctor seems puzzled but I feel like it could be a major clue for me.
Anyone?
Posted by SLS on December 24, 2009, at 6:04:34
In reply to Feeling BETTER coming OFF of SSRI's???, posted by Walfredo on December 24, 2009, at 4:15:48
> I was just writing to see if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon. I have all the major SSRI's and none had any positive effect for me (with the exception of Paxil till it pooped out) but I consistently experienced a positive effect when I would stop taking them (abruptly). A day or two days usually after stopping them, I would get a complete or near complete remission of depression symptoms that would last for a day or maybe two and then the depression returned. I am trying to make some sort of sense out of it and have never heard or read anything similar, and my doctor seems puzzled but I feel like it could be a major clue for me.
I experience the same thing when I abruptly stop taking a tricyclic. I am sure that there is a clue to be found somewhere regarding the mechanisms involved. Since this phenomenon - known as rebound improvement - does not occur with me when discontinuing a SSRI, one might postulate that you and I have different psychobiologies. Unfortunately, I don't think there is enough understood about depressive illness to process such clues.
In your case, one might be tempted to suggest using a drug that operates in a manner opposite to that of SSRIs. That would be tianeptine (Stablon), a drug that speeds up serotonin reuptake rather than inhibiting it. I doubt that things are that simple, though. Tianeptine is an effective antidepressant.
- Scott
Posted by Helena24 on February 4, 2010, at 13:03:57
In reply to Feeling BETTER coming OFF of SSRI's???, posted by Walfredo on December 24, 2009, at 4:15:48
Oh YES!!!
I was experiencing this with paroxetine,zoloft,effexor and fluvoxamine (but not fluoxetin or tricyclics or some antipsychotics).
That was in my early 20' when I was trying to manage my anhedonia-atypical depression-add issues with this kind of drugs.
They made my symptoms worse and induced apathy,but when I abruptly stopped taking them(without my doctors order of course),there was a GREAT IMPROVEMENT in my mood,psychosomatic problems,focus and motivation,a kind of pleasent stimulation,maybe even euphoria AND a very deep and refreshing night-sleep with vivid dreams and ''sweating'' (i usually suffer from chronic insomnia).
I also felt the paxil withdrawal ''electric twitches'',wich were not that unpleasant!
This sadly lastet only for a few days,than I got ''back to normal''.
When I mentioned this to my doctors,they never took it serious and tried to explain it psychologically like ''you feel bad about taking meds and getting off them gives you the impression you are not neading them and therefore you feel better...and bla bla bla.)
My theory is that since serotonin kind of antagonizes dopamine,dopamine ''comes back like a big wave'' because it was supressed and causes improvement of "hypodopaminergic" symptoms.I felt "normal" for this few days and started to do it intentionally: takink high doses of ssri for 1-3 weeks (for loosing some weight as a ''side-effect'') and then stopping them abruptly to feel good for a few days-better than nothing I thought back than.
I even named this technique ''pharmacological bungee-jumping''.This whole thing gave me a clue to surch for pro-dopamine,anti-serotonin medications and I finally found Tianeptine wich improved my depression a lot,though it is addictive in high dosages (wich I use).
(This effect exists without a doubt and should be examined more closely).
Helena
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