Deprescribing Guidelines for antidepressants

If you can eliminate your antidepressant you really don’t suffers from depression or anxiety.
For those of us who do we take what works for life. It is no different than taking a statin or medicine to control high blood pressure.
Depression is nothing to be ashamed of but not doing something to help yourself is very foolish. Life is far too short.
Good luck to you.

Seems like my combo of Mirtazapine & Lexapro have given me tinnitus and some VERY DOWN feelings. Will see Dr. on Tues.

A very valid point!

Hello to all,
My name is Carolyn.
Im new here. Im not so sure if that statement is so true?
I mean I wish I knew where this came from before I so choose to speak on it. I will say with my own experience....
I was on anti-depressant drugs and I developed Steven Johnson Syndrome. Its an allergy that be caused by any number of drugs and it doesn't happen right away.
At any case. I had this reaction that well... it almost killed me. I don't ever want to experience it ever again. I have severe depression as well as anxiety. I had to go off my meds and under no circumstances will I ever choose to go on them again. So I suffer horribly some days. Not to mention when I was on those meds it just made me fell full of chemicals. I mean well I was. I just felt toxic. The saddest thing of all is yes the medication helped. My question is are these medications designed to be taken on a forever basis?

But for those of us who want to get off this drug but are finding it debilitating due to the side effects, this book gives some promise. It is written by a research fellow of psychiatry and a psychiatrist. It’s worth noting here that the book states that venlafaxine is considered the hardest of the antidepressants to come off due to the incredible withdrawal symptoms. I will personally be researching natural alternatives going forward such as St John’s Wort. I was in a particularly stressful place when I started them but my circumstances have now changed. If going forward I felt the need to take an antidepressant again, I would give this one a wide berth.

If you feel like St John’s Wort is not enough I would recommend Zoloft. It is one of the most widely prescribed SSRI’s on the market. Just don’t take it with St John’s Wort. Unfortunately like any supplement they are not regulated and you have no idea what is in the bottle.
I was taking 100mg of Zoloft for years and cut back to 50 mg with no side effects whatsoever.
You might want to try Wellbutrin with Zoloft. They are very complimentary. They call the two Welloft.
Good luck to you.

Yes if you have depression and anxiety you might have to take them the rest of your life.
I have never heard of Steven Johnson syndrome and my suggestion would be to find an antidepressant or antidepressants that work.
Once you do you will get your life back and also realize that depression and anxiety are real and they can be treated.
The alternative is to live life on a never ending roller coaster ride.
I hope you don’t take the roller coaster ride for life.
Help is out there. You just have to find it.
Good luck to you.

Thank you 🙏

I was put on Effexor without any discussion of the possible side effects or the difficulties that would result if I needed to quit. And I needed to quit because I experienced terrible side effects. In discussions and forums, I've learned that this is pretty normal with prescribers. They don't tell you. They just prescribe it and send you on your way. That's a huge failing that the medical profession needs to address.

I have heard Effexor come up many times in this site. There are so many better SSRI’s out there. Why they keep prescribing this drug is beyond me.
Try Zoloft. It has very few if any side effects.
Just make sure to take anything antidepressant if you suffer from depression.
Any medication has side effects. Some are far worse than any SSRI.
Good luck.