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[Chi chi]

Hi everyone,
I've been on escitalopram for years and Lamotrigine for approx 1, I've got to the point where I'm wondering if they're actually doing more harm than good and would love to be off them! I feel like they might be causing lots of side effects but am so scared and worried to try and stop 

Has anyone managed to come off them once they started HRT and how was it?

Thanks 

[SueRoe]

I came off citalopram 6 months before starting HRT. I can't speak for your specific antidepressants but I would emphasise that if you do decide to come off them you do it VERY slowly with the help of your GP. Please see your GP before you do anything. Good luck - the fact that you're thinking of coming off them is a good sign but you need medical guidance to do it.

[Chi chi]

Hi Freda, thanks for replying, yes I would do it VERY slowly! I know my GP will prob advise me not to, he has a specific "interest" in mental health which is prob why he wasn't too interested in testing for hormones etc!  I just feel now like I don't really trust him and he doesn't take me seriously 

I'm not exactly on top of the world since starting HRT ( was for a short time ) and thinking what's the point of being on AD's but worried in case things get worse 
Just not sure what to do

[Dandelion]

Hi everyone,
I've been on escitalopram for years and Lamotrigine for approx 1, I've got to the point where I'm wondering if they're actually doing more harm than good and would love to be off them! I feel like they might be causing lots of side effects but am so scared and worried to try and stop 

Has anyone managed to come off them once they started HRT and how was it?

Thanks 

I weaned down my AD to half my dose.
I was on a high dose of trazodone.
My current dose is better because it still helps my depression but does not numb me out and I am more self aware.
I just reduced by a small amount a week over a  period of time.
I don't intend to come off it at this stage but I thought I would post to show you what I have done.
The only effects I got were good ones, i.e. the heavy numb feeling gradually faded and I feel less sluggish.

[Chi chi]

Did u feel any worse (mentally/emotionally) while you were reducing? At the moment I just feel quite dizzy and spaced out which is causing me anxiety  I don't like the thought of being dependant on them forever and it's difficult to tell sometimes if it's them that's causing half my symptoms 

[bramble]

There is an organisation called CITAp (check their website). Council for Information on tranquillizers, anti-depressants and painkillers. You may find it useful. They publish tables for weaning off various drugs. It is done very slowly.
Bramble

[Chi chi]

Ah thank you Brambles, I'll have a look 

[tiger74]

Hi Estelle,

Can't comment on anti-depressants but just an observation that what does come across is that you don't trust or value the opinion of your GP.  Would you consider seeing a different GP in that practice (if it's a group practice) or moving to a different practice?  We all have a choice but I appreciate that's not always straightforward depending on the locality.

Best of luck. 

[CLKD]

I weaned off an AD in 2002.  It took 9 weeks of careful support from my GP.  GPs have access to smaller tablets of some medicine than is usually available.

If you don't 'trust' your GP  ........... if a patient presents with symptoms but really wants help with another condition/s, unless they are honest the GP will treat the symptoms presented 

[Chi chi]

I've always been totally honest with my GP
I've been on AD's almost all my adult life since having my 1st daughter 20 years ago, I now know how I felt back then was nothing compared to how I've felt since and probably could have managed without them?
I had a breakdown nearly 3 years ago and in the months prior to it I kept telling him I don't feel right, something's not right! I had given up smoking and expected to feel better but I felt worse!
They had taken me off the combined pill and I had a mirena for a year (I couldn't bear it any longer than that ) then I was put on cerazette.
Then my life crumbled! I couldn't function, couldn't eat or sleep and I was crying constantly, I was terrified I was going loopy. I didn't understand what was happening to me but just wanted it to be over!
I was given different AD's to try, sent to see a psychiatrist and that was it. Since then "everything is in my mind" and its all blamed on anxiety??
Maybe it is I don't know? Strange how non of the AD's or anxiety meds ever seem to improve things?
I've had to literally beg for him to do tests to see if there's an underlying cause. My Vit D was very low but he didn't think it warranted treating so I wasn't! My folate was zero and again he was reluctant to treat but did eventually.
I've been back and forwards countless times only to be told "it's all in your head Estelle"!!
Me and hubby decided to go private and found out my oestrogen and testosterone are low and I am oestioporatic in one of my hips!
Maybe? If my GP had taken me more seriously this would of been picked up a lot earlier and just might of saved me a lot of suffering??

[SueRoe]

Estelle, I found that the fuzzy head and lethargy that I'd had for years, whether on ADs or not, didn't go until I started HRT. Once the HRT had kicked in the anxiety and inability to make decisions or think clearly improved enormously (though the anxiety has crept back intermittently) but we're all different and this might not be the case for you. I agree with the other members that if you're not happy with the opinions of your GP you might be best seeing another one before you make any decisions about coming off your ADs. It's a slow process of weaning yourself off and finding out how you are without them and you need to feel that your GP is on your side before you start the process. It sounds a bit hippy-dippy I know but I often think we should do what feels like the right thing even if logic is telling us something else.

[donnacrichton]

I had exactly same experience as Estelle. This makes me really angry as I ended up with a breakdown too coming off Seroxat but took 17 months to fund out I was menopausal and seroxat had been controlling it. I would make sure you have a gp you trust. I would hate to think anyone else could go through it. I was tikd everything was in my head and began to believe it was true. Good luck in what ever you decide but please make it very slow.

[CLKD]

Did you have post natal depression?  If so it would have been appropriate for you to have been supported by a Psychiatrist, a Psychiatric out-reach worker and your GP. More recently your GP could have sent you to a Gynea or menopause clinic - GPs sometimes forget that they are GPs and Hospitals are there for problems they are unable to sort!

Depression can be managed but like any chronic illness, can be difficult to maintain the status quo.  I had side effects during withdrawal.  It took 2 days each week for me to begin to feel different, took 9 weeks of lowing the dosage before I was OK - I then began another AD which has, so far, suited me although there are days when I feel woozy.  I take a betablocka too - 2-day has been one of really heavy head, my head feels tired, my body not keeping up …….. but this is not common for me and is far better than the depression I suffered.

Anxiety can be disabling.  People who have never suffered won't realise how debilitating it can be.  It is the physicality which floors me ……..