Thread by @Altostrata

UK woman tapering paroxetine: "After 18 years of stupor—of emotionless head fog, of sleeping 14 hours a day, of apathy—I’m succeeding in getting off the #antidepressant Seroxat." /1

linkedin.com/pulse/learning…

After reducing to 7mg paroxetine: "I spent the first half of 2019 in continual, breathless, agitated terror.
....
I couldn’t sit still, and my constant squirming made my partner cry. I suspect I had something I’ve since found out is called #akathisia." linkedin.com/pulse/learning…

"Within days of that first panic attack in January [2109], I decided to stop tapering the Seroxat and stay on the same 7mg dose. I got in touch with my GP to tell her what had happened.

I was referred to the local mental health crisis team." /3 linkedin.com/pulse/learning…

"On one visit, I was so distraught and agitated while describing what was happening—as I had to every time with each different health professional I met—the nurse asked me if I’d been seeing or hearing things she wouldn’t be able to see or hear". linkedin.com/pulse/learning… /4

"Like most of the health professionals I encountered, she refused to consider the obvious & logical cause of my problems.

For any well person, this would have been mildly frustrating. For me...I had to sit on my hands and tangle my jerking legs into a still, locked position." /5

(This was 2019 in UK. Information about the risk of #antidepressant withdrawal syndrome is inside every packet of SSRIs. Reinstatement of drug is advised. FDA put a warning about withdrawal on Paxil or Seroxat in December, 2001. This #psychiatric nurse still didn't know it.) /6

"I had appointments with 4 different #psychiatrists....that’s how many times I was assigned to a new one due to staff shortages and bureaucracy.

(Again, this was in 2019. The warning about withdrawal syndrome was put on Paxil or Seroxat in December, 2001) /7

"All 4 of the #psychiatrists dismissed my symptoms as imagined, or at most a relapse of the original ‘depression’ that prompted me to start Seroxat all those years ago. And they did so even though my symptoms were nothing like my pre-Seroxat self." /8

"to 1 #psychiatrist, I mentioned the government's newly-revised NICE guidelines about antidepressant withdrawal—which now talk about the severe effects of stopping antidepressants—she said she hadn’t heard of them & that “you can’t trust everything you read on the internet”." /9

"Each #psychiatrist recommended a different cocktail of sedatives. One wanted me to stop the Seroxat immediately and take diazepam for 3 months. When I said diazepam is in a class of drugs that is proven to be addictive, I was told I’d be fine." /10

(Please note, again, that all SSRI package inserts recommend reinstatement of the drug when withdrawal symptoms appear. This has been on the Paxil or Seroxat insert since December, 2001. It's in all the UK NHS advice. None of these #psychiatrists were aware of this.) /11

"I know how medication can make things bearable, or in my case, can make things feel different. And feeling different is often enough.
....
I took a 10-minute questionnaire at a weepy moment in my early 20s, was prescribed Seroxat, & I am paying the price ...18 years later." /12

"And the girl who had a perfectly healthy reaction in a doctor’s surgery, after escaping from living with a violent man, moving home twice and changing jobs as many times?

All she needed was someone to talk to. And more than that, someone who would listen to her." /13

"And I'm not sure if I ever really had depression."

This beautiful short piece captures the experience of millions of ordinary people struggling to come off #psychiatric drugs after years of possibly unnecessary treatment.

linkedin.com/pulse/learning… /14