Hi there. I recently bought at book that someone recommended called "It May Be your Meds" or something like that. It's all about antidepressants, etc. and what they could be doing to your brain, etc.

What I found in there freaked me out. I finally stopped thumbing through it and am going to sell it!

Anyway, what scared me the most was not necessarily the withdrawal symptoms (or SYNDROME as they referred to it), but the fact that it said that your brain chemisty (e.g. seratonin output, etc.) may be permanently altered from the meds????? And that a person may never be able to stop them because your brain may never be able to generate and process the chemicals like it used to before meds before the panic/depression, etc. fully "exposed itself"????

Has anyone ever heard of this before? I am in the process of tapering off meds. I have been on Luvox for 3 years and before that Celexa for 2. I take the min. recommeded dose or lower for panic disorder and have been working on CBT to get to the root of my issues with success. I wanted to see how I'd cope without meds, knowing they are there if I need to go back.

Now I am wondering if I'll EVER be able to!!!!

Help!!

I have been on and off antidepressants several times and am still OK, these meds are very useful for many

prozac is probably the safest as its been in use a long time all round the world and has been thoroughly studied

IMO its not completely known how antidepressant meds work, but this also applies to many other prescription meds

You gotta weigh the pros and the cons with anything including medication. I personally feel that feeling the way I did before I went on effexor was much more harmful to my health and emotional well being than I think effexor could ever be. That's my justification.

Jeff

Hi Annie,
I too, have thought a lot about this theory of the meds permanently altering one's brain chemistry. I have heard that there is no test that really measures seratonin so doctors just put us on these things assuming we have low levels. Well, who really knows if our brains can just bounce back to what we had before. I personally was on zoloft for two years for depression. I weaned off for a full 10 months and was off completely for 4 months and bam I got the most terrible, extreme panic attacks. It was like my body was in fight or flight response 24/7. I have never experienced anxiety before. I don't mean to scare you, because plenty of people come off these drugs and are able to function without them. I have now started on lexapro and don't know if that will take care of the anxiety I now struggle with--it has altered my life profoundly.

I wish you the most luck in getting off your drugs. Again, many people do. Take care.

Hi Annie,
I too, have thought a lot about this theory of the meds permanently altering one's brain chemistry. I have heard that there is no test that really measures seratonin so doctors just put us on these things assuming we have low levels. Well, who really knows if our brains can just bounce back to what we had before. I personally was on zoloft for two years for depression. I weaned off for a full 10 months and was off completely for 4 months and bam I got the most terrible, extreme panic attacks. It was like my body was in fight or flight response 24/7. I have never experienced anxiety before. I don't mean to scare you, because plenty of people come off these drugs and are able to function without them. I have now started on lexapro and don't know if that will take care of the anxiety I now struggle with--it has altered my life profoundly.

I wish you the most luck in getting off your drugs. Again, many people do. Take care.



Let me just say that Lexapro did WONDERS for my anxiety after the first week. I had to stop cold turkey after 6 weeks. :(

Josh, why did you have to stop after six weeks?

I've been on it for about six weeks and find that my anxiety is coming back big time. I'm slowly going up from 5 mgs to 7 or 10 and see if that helps. Of course, I feeling some side effects :(

Hi Annie,
I too, have thought a lot about this theory of the meds permanently altering one's brain chemistry. I have heard that there is no test that really measures seratonin so doctors just put us on these things assuming we have low levels. Well, who really knows if our brains can just bounce back to what we had before. I personally was on zoloft for two years for depression. I weaned off for a full 10 months and was off completely for 4 months and bam I got the most terrible, extreme panic attacks. It was like my body was in fight or flight response 24/7. I have never experienced anxiety before. I don't mean to scare you, because plenty of people come off these drugs and are able to function without them. I have now started on lexapro and don't know if that will take care of the anxiety I now struggle with--it has altered my life profoundly.

I wish you the most luck in getting off your drugs. Again, many people do. Take care.


I am under the impression that SSRI meds like prozac and zoloft are stored in the cells of the body or brain and when all of the stored SSRi is used up we then experience the worst withdrawal, i.e. 4 months after stopping. Is it possible that after the fourth month all of the drug was then out of your system and that you then had to deal with withdrawal ???? So, I don't think that the brain is altered, it's just a delayed withdrawal symptom.