Antidepressants Withdrawal

Your depression and anxiety are not necessarily permanent, and the meds are not permanent either.

Your need for the meds are based on a situation. When that situation changes and things improve, you'll be able to work with your doctor to get off the antidepressants. Don't worry. If you follow your doctor's advice on stopping the meds, you'll be just fine. Just don't go stopping them cold turkey, okay?

There's a gradual reducing of dosage to getting off antidepressants and you won't have problems if you follow your Dr's instructions.
For many people depression/anxiety is a temporary thing, so taking medication for it does not go on forever.
Depression alters your brain chemistry - you can get caught in a chemical feedback where you just can't get out of a depressive loop.
The medication helps overcome the imbalance and once it is overcome you are NOT caught up in the loop and medication is no longer needed.
So antidepressants help your brain chemistry along toward normal function.

I was on Zoloft for 6 months when my son was 1 1/2.
I was so caught up in trying to be super Mom that I just could not stop, could not sleep, and I was wearing myself out.
Within a few weeks the medication helped the hair on the back of my neck to stop standing on end all the time and I could let go of trying to be perfect and just enjoy my son and life.
In 6 months time I was fine and had been for awhile and it was not a problem to stop taking the medicine.

Those drugs do not alter your brain making you dependent on them. Thing is though if you still have the stress in your life that caused you to need them then of course the depression and anxiety will return if you stop taking them.

They do not cure what is causing the depression it only helps you cope with it.

Depression can happen for many reasons. It can come through a loss, a situation such as yours where the environment the person lives in is one that drains them mentally, and then there is the biological kind.

The biological kind of depression is where the brain has a chemical imbalance. If your brain has this deficit then depression is something that you've probably felt most of your life. Taking a medication to correct the chemical imbalance is a life long thing in this case. If the chemicals in the brain are wrong meds are needed to fix this. Therapy and counseling don't fix it because it's biological.

If your situation has made you depressed or a life event such as the death of a loved one then using an antidepressant is often short term, which might mean a couple of years or it might mean 6 months to help you through the counseling and therapy so you can feel better about life and work on things that are buried pretty deep in your heart.

The nightmares are probably repressed feelings coming out for the first time since you are feeling better and more capable. Your brain is releasing these feelings and images because it couldn't deal with them before.

Talk to the therapist about them so they can perhaps give you something to help you sleep better. Although another med might not be what is needed.

D.:

I'm sorry you had a crappy marriage! How GREAT that you got out!!

While Xanax is addictive, your doctor should wean you off of it slowly and over time.

Drugs - like antidepressants - alter the chemistry in your brain. Xanax is a Benzodiazepine and is used for a wide variety of disorders or problems - depression, seizures, alcohol withdrawal, and more. Benzo's work on controlling the chemical or receptors in your brain that makes you "excitable" - this could be anxiety.

DO NOT QUIT taking them. Talk with your doctor about weaning yourself off of them but DO NOT just quit taking them. I would hope that with your anxiety and other issues that you are having - you are talking to a therapist or psychologist - to help you compartmentalize and deal with the situations...you CAN do this!!

You will feel like yourself again. It may take months, it may take years, but it will happen. It sounds like you have had so much fear and anxiety in your life - can I encourage you to try and take a break from fear? To be proud that you got out of an abusive relationship? It is so hard to do, and YOU DID IT! So celebrate yourself and try to accept that you need psychoactive drugs to help you right now and do your best to stop worrying that they will shape your life. You are strong, you will be okay. And it is alright to take the drugs. No, they won't make you happy all the time or even any of the time. They take the edge off, which is what you need right now. Getting off them is another bridge in the distant future and you will cross that one too. Have faith in yourself. You deserve it.

Even though you are on a very low dose of sertraline, make sure you see your doctor before you decide to go off of it as you can have some very serious side effectsif you stop it all at once. You need to taper off it and your physician can tell you how to do it. It should in no way alter your brain chemistry in a permanent way. It sounds like your depression and anxiety are situational (can also be called a reaction or adjustment disorder with dep/anxiety) and once you deal with the situation or it passes you will be feelin better on your own. Therapy or counseling, especially cognitive behavioral therapy might help and your insurance will most likely pay for at least six sessions. You can learn tools and strategies to use when you are feeling anxious or depressed. If you we're in an abusive relationship you may also want to see if you have symptoms of PTSD in which case the therapy would most definitely be recommended. Good luck an try to stay positive.

You should never take yourself off of medication without supervision from your doctor! If you feel better and want to stop taking them, talk to your doctor about going off of them. He'll give you direction about HOW to stop them. Also, if you're experience side effects like nightmares and loss of appetite, you should have already talked to the doctor about trying a DIFFERENT medication.

Seriously though, this isn't the place for advice on managing medication. Talk to your doctor, NOW.

HTH
T.

I am so sorry about all you are going through.

Let me start with if the meds you are on are giving you nightmares and loss of appetite then you probably need a different medication. The loss of appetite may not be a huge issue because you can deal with that but the nightmares can be a huge issue expecially if it is interupting your sleep regularly. PLEASE talk to your doctor about that ASAP!!!!

Also You may not always need the antidepressants. You could possibly just need them until life stops smacking you around and then you might go back to being able to deal with things without medical help.

In 2007 I had a miscarriage, my dog died, my daughter (6 years old) was having major problems in school, my brother almost died and spent 1 1/4 years having surgeries, physical therapy and other stuff. and then on Christmas day our horse of 27 years died. By January 2008 I was a wreck. I had panic attacks and other issues. I went on meds. I was on them almost a year and after some counseling and dealing with some of the grief and issues I was able to go off the meds and have never been back to them.

You need to get some counseling, see your doctor regularly (the one that prescribed the meds) and be very honest about things that are going on with you. You also need a network of family and / or friends that can help you out and come over or you can go there or call or just talk to that can be loving and supportive. you can and will get through this but right now you need some help. The meds are not a cure all, they won't make you "Oh so happy to be getting a divorce and it is nothing but sunshine and smiles." The meds are there to help you cope with all the happenings reasonable and effectively without feeling miserable all the time. If you ever feel suicidal CALL 911 IMMEDIATLY. Do not wait!!!! Get to the hospital or with someone that can hhelp you right away.

You can do this!!! God Bless!!!