It's funny you mention this--my psychiatrist keeps making this distinction and it's driving me crazy. She says 'it's not something people are addicted to, because if it were, it would be sold on the street by dealers!' I'm not sure why this distinction is important for her, but I completely agree that unless a person has experienced the life-altering and soul-crushing effects of the withdrawal of this thing, it's difficult for them to understand.
I weaned off slowly after taking 150mg/day for 10+ years and have been at zero for 4 weeks. I no longer experience the brain zaps or constant nausea, which is great. Unfortunately I still feel completely unmotivated, lethargic, depressed and I have no appetite. I have ridiculous crying jags seemingly for no reason at all and every morning I wake up at dawn filled with anxiety and dread. I've started taking a bunch of vitamins (B-complex, Omega-3s, ginger, magnesium) and am trying to eat healthy foods and go on the occasional walk, but it's difficult to "practice self care" when one feels this way. It's also difficult to find a time to go on said walk that I'm not crying hysterically, and I don't want to frighten the local children :p The occasional bit of diazepam does seem to help with the morning anxiety. My doctor prescribed a 3-day course of prozac but that didn't seem to do much. Benadryl didn't help with my main issues which are depression and anxiety. I'm afraid to go on a different anti-depressant as a "bridge" and face having to do this all over again, but I don't know how much longer I can deal with feeling like this.
I know this sounds like an endless, complaining rant, and I apologize for that. I'm looking for a bit of guidance, I suppose. I know that everyone is different, but can anyone who's been through this tell me, after being on this medication for a few years and going off of it, once you were taking ZERO medication, how many weeks did it take for you to feel human again? I don't mind physical symptoms but I feel like I'm barely functioning and this medication's half-life is so short that I suppose I (naively) expected the emotional withdrawal to be over by now. I don't need to feel AMAZING, I just want to know when I *might* hope to be able to stop crying and be in any way productive again. I hope you are all staying strong and taking care of yourselves as best as you can!