Rent-A-Friend –
"Medium / Average" Sample
from "Nancy"
"The addictive nature" of SSRI drugs
Hey Holly. It's Nancy. I was placed on Paxil in August 98 when my husband was diagnosed with
cancer. I could not function and somebody had to. He was post op and could not drive, etc.
I actually got it from my Ob-gyn. (I don't have a primary doctor.) His nurse phoned it in.
That was before so much was known about it's addictive nature.
I tried to no avail several times to wean off of it. I found out that Paxil has a very short
half life and therefore, no matter how long you try to wean, you reach a point where you just
don't have enough in you. I was seeing a counselor at the time who finally weaned me off Paxil
at the same time he slowly started me on Celexa. We were aware of the class action suit against
Smith-Kline for withholding it's addictive nature (Paxil). He told me that when I was ready
weaning off Celexa would be much easier.
Well, you guessed it. I started trying mid January and holy cow. The same side effects... the
buzzing head, dizziness, crying spells, and such anger! I went for two weeks getting worse
every day. I finally had to take some. Company was coming for an extended visit, so I had to
get a grip. I was fine their whole visit, taking half a tablet about every 4 days. But I can't
seem to get off of that dosage. Every time I get close, the anger comes back at any and
everything. And the crying spells. It usually takes a lot to make me cry now... hardened by
widowhood I guess. But when those levels start coming down, it's really bad.
What in the world can I do? I know I could just keep taking it. But it drives me crazy just
knowing that my brain is so addicted to this stuff. And I'm scared. I'm really scared of
attempting it again. The things I can say.... things that just aren't me.
Thank you for listening. I'd appreciate anything you can offer.
Nancy
Holly's Response
You're not describing addiction...
Hiya Nancy,
I'm not sure how to explain this without sounding like I'm in cahoots with the drug companies,
and I'm definitely not. I guess you'll just need to take my word for it. Here's a bit of useful
history and biology.
In the earlier days of chemical dependency treatment, all clients were taken off their
prescriptions cold turkey upon entering detox or rehab. If they became psychotic or suicidal,
they were transferred to a mental health unit, being "too sick" for rehab. (Oh well...
Thankfully even professionals learn...) A few years later, detox units began to administer
Benzodiazapines (like Valium) to ease severely alcoholic patients through their withdrawals,
thus preventing possible death. As more time progressed, some dual diagnosis rehabs began to
do psychiatric assessments with new patients to determine if they were properly medicated for
their conditions, or if unmedicated people needed some extra assistance to their brain
chemistry. Very frequently, this is for depression and/or anxiety. And, excessive, irrational
anger is also frequently related to a Seratonin imbalance (see
my article on SSRIs -- How They Work).
In my professional and personal opinion, Smith Kline getting sued about people's symptoms
returning is on the same level as people suing McDonalds because they got burned when they
spilled hot coffee on themselves. Or the newer suit of saying they gained weight from eating
lots of fattening food, and it's the fault of the fast food joint's corporate headquarters
for not putting a disclaimer on the wrapper warning that fattening food make you fat when you
eat too much.
Nancy, when your husband was diagnosed terminal, you were probably enraged, crying, dizzy
from the stress and emotional drain, and your head was buzzing from all of it... and this
likely went from bad to worse, until you started the prescription, and found a support system.
WidowNet is an absolutely fabulous place to get peer support, but it does not substitute for
a trained professional who can guide you through some of the other stuff. Are you still seeing
a therapist? It didn't sound like it from your email. Anyway, now you are systematically
stopping the therapeutic dosage of a powerful chemical agent, and your brain is reverting to
its state of chaos. This is a signal that you still need the chemical crutch in order to walk
and talk, a.k.a. function normally.
Holly
