Firstly - I am not a doctor, so take my comments with a grain of salt if you wish. I have been thru the SSRI bout with a number of drugs:
Celexa for a short period in 2002; Welbutrin from 2006 - 2009; Effexor for a very short period in 2009; Pristiq from 2009 - 2011 Cymbalta from July 2011 - January 2012;
Been clean since February 2012.
Like I said, I'm not a doctor, but, I've done massive amounts of research on these drugs.
What most people don't realize is these drugs are NOT supposed to be used for extremely long periods of time. There are exceptions to this, but, for people with no history of mental illness in their family and who otherwise have normal chemical screens, these drugs are supposed to be prescribed to help a patient get over/thru a depressive period WITH counseling/therapy. Then they should be weaned off of the drug slowly, due to it's half life (ex: Lexapro has a half life of 27-32 hours), to minimize side effects.
An important thing to note here to to not split time release tablets when weaning yourself off of a SSRI!!
Here's a good explanation of how to wean from an SSRI: [edited by dbmod link removed]
I did not follow this when I weaned myself off of Cymbalta - and I wish I had. Hardest three months of my life - Think I had more personalities from January to April 2012 than Sybil...
My W was on 10mg of Lexapro for over two years. Then her doc got the bright idea to double her dosage to 20mg (December of 2011). Within two weeks her attitude on everything was off the charts. Drinking, flirting, ignoring our children and her anger and hatred for me - all magnified beyond belief. She decided it was time to live for herself and herself alone.
She realized several months later that she was actually not feeling ANY emotion at all except anger - she simply doesn't care about anything. She knows she should get off of Lexpro - we have discussed it several times, but, I think she's afraid.
I can only speak for myself, but, I had to come to the conclusion that I needed to get off of these drugs on my own. No one else could have told me, or shown me data to convince me, and I'm seeing that with my W as well. She knows she should get off of the drug - she admits to not feeling any emotion accept anger, and she questions whether she actually feels it or not. However, for whatever reason, she is not ready.
Last edited by dbmod; 03/11/1302:34 AM. Reason: Outside links not allowed
