Bad reaction to antidepressants

[Chippy10]

Diagnosed recently ,worst thing is anxiety. Was prescribed Sertraline but after only two tablets had terrible bladder and rectum pain so had to stop.I can't take Mirtazipine as they made me lose control of right side of body. Would really like a CBD with small amount of THC. I am in the Uk and know this is not possible. Any help please as really low at the moment.

[Godiv]

I’m so sorry you ‘re feeling low, Chippy. I too have baaad anxiety. I was diagnosed with Parkinsons about a year ago. I’ve been taking Zoloft for quite a while and have had no problems with it, but each person is different.

Anxiety is a pain. Parkinson’s seems to make it so much worse or causes it. But with that said, there are many anti-depressants on the market now. Please don’t be discouraged: you’ll find one that works for you. It’s just that the process of finding the right one can be a bummer. But once you find a good one, things will be so much easier. You could also try these options on their own or in addition to a med: hypnosis (it’s cool!), a meditation app, or an herbal remedy. Acupuncture can help too. Of course none of these options are as fast as an anti-depressant or an anti-anxiety med. Nothing beats Xanax, but that’s not a long-term solution.

If you can work with a good Dr. knowledgeable about these things, they can also do a little bit of bloodwork on you to test things like vitamin B levels and maybe your thyroid function too.

I know naught about medical marijuana , but I’m sure someone on the forum does. But I certainly understand your desire for it. Believe me I’ve thought of it before too. I’ve tried plain CBD oil and it actually does help a little bit. Not very dramatically though, but it’s something.

Anyway, please know that you’re not alone in Anxiety World. And I apologize if you’ve already considered all of this. I should’ve checked before I created this mini novel for you.😀 Ask a question and you get a magnum opus.

I hope you feel better soon. As powerful as anxiety is, it’s just a cascade of chemicals. I always think of it as our adrenal glands working overtime even though we didn’t ask them to. 😟

[Balarama]

Sorry you had the adverse reaction. My wife has PD and after about three years developed severe anxiety. Zoloft (Setraline) has helped her a great deal.We also use CBD and other cannabinoids (CBG and THCV are good for tremors).

Of course, we are in a State that allows medical MJ for Parkinsons.

I would definitly try CBD as there is a lot of research showing efficacy for stress and anxiety. One thing to note is that it may take a few weeks to fully work, in my experience.

Whatever you do - avoid Benzodiazapines for anxiety. Long term, they are highly addictive, you develop tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms begin. We know this from experience!

Generally SSRIs are much safer. Perhaps your doctor can find an alternative to Setraline.

Best of luck.

[Chippy10 in reply to Balarama]

Thank you so much for your help ,I didn't mention I have long standing nerve problems Tested for MS various other things but no devinative answer.I think this is why I had this terrible burning in the lower region.I have obtained some CBD but not helping at the moment.Taking lots of painkillers to take the edge off .I will get there I am sure and I thank you so much for your reply as I don't have a lot of support.Enjoy your Xmas.

[MarionP]

Neurologist prescribe and manage clonazepam. Antidepressants might help, but also might not the thing right now, they can have too many odd actions that could cause many months of torturous various "make it worse" playing around, discovery, and titrating, and then will be questionable...except for zoloft, which is worth a trial, but there is also the great anxiety and rest placeholder, and IS safe and effective, clonazepam.

Clonazepam is very safe even chronically in low to moderate doses and starting with a field comfortable and accustomed to their use AS MANAGMENT, means a neurologist...UNLESS you have a co-occuring severe mental illness, which I imagine you would be aware of, in which case you start with a psychiatrist, and while waiting ask for help from a family or general practitioner, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or if you are in a lucky state, a prescribing psychologist, via clonazepam for the time being and for immediate relief.

Avoid xanax, and probably other benzos except clonazepam, xanax it is problematically strong and has more potential for destructive side effects over the long run, (I suspect the need you have will be indeed for the long run), xanax particularly of the benzodiazepines...so whoever said xanax, take that with a large shovelful of salt...chances for habituation and dependency or volatile reactions longterm is much higher with xanax, because in what I suspect will be an ongoing need for you, I'd say that probably true for all of the benzos, EXCEPT for clonazepam, which with clonazepam you will find helpful and safe for extended use at lower doses (up to 0.5 mg per...though your neurologist may suggest higher, the best is to start at 0.25 to 0.5 mg increments per dose and then titrate better, whether up or down, later. For significant acute anxiety, up to 1 mg clonazepam is still safe but the issue at the 1mg level can be a bit of drowsiness and lag and is better used for acute MH conditions like schizophrenia and chronic extreme "driven" anxiety, but today here about PD that is not likely as indicated for you so it's neurology today, not psychiatry, unless there is a whole lot going on with you in the severe chronic mental illness arena that you have not shared.

As far as what Balarama says, about avoiding all benzos, that sounds like the wholesale kneejerk emotion of a novice, not someone who knows the limits of their experience so as to minimize the chances of bestowing harm on someone who naively does not yet know who to trust and how much. That comment was far off base and can't therefore be a result of professional experience or knowledge and may be more of risk to be somewhat harmful or frustrating, for that lack of accumulated acumen and experience. So I would caution you that it sounds rather uninformed so I suggest not trusting that source (actually you should take everyone with a grain of salt and test out the ideas with people who are supposed to be professionally knowledgeable) and find out for yourself by insisting that you substitute professional consultation with a neurologist.

Antidepressants are very complex chemicals, but zoloft is a great starter if you are going to start with an antidepressant. The experience of one is not at all like the safety and completeness of the experience of many, especially moderated through a professional. It sounds like you are in some pretty strong acute stress with no change in sight, so I would weigh what you see with some of these folks carefully, the prospects for trade-offs that might make you feel much worse or distressed is higher when your source's sample size is 1, vs people who have encountered or even been trained to manage and treat many more than 1. Any one in an anonymous website better have some sort of authoritative bio to present or show how they will make it better if their advice backfires. Unwarranted overconfidence in the untrained, especially when it is someone else who is taking the risks, is very common. Beware people who, knowing nothing about you and no training in the field, sound so quickly confident. If they are right, great, nice guess...if they are wrong, you are badly f***ed. Personal restraint and self-criticism is part of professional training for practitioners who do it for a living, moreso with specialists, generalists just have too much to do to accumulate specialty knowledge, they may be dead on, but the chances go down with the number of things you spread yourself between. A good standard of experience is just like every other field, the chances your practitioner has real master goes up once they have passed the 10,000 hour mark...no lay person is going to compare and worse, no lay person is going to be able to supervise himself so as to know his limitations and stay on the safe side of them when advising others. Critical ethics thing you get in professional training but may have no idea of if you have not. Professionals also have to buy liability insurance, and their cost is commensurate with their skill level and care at safety as well as symptom relief and disease management. If they screw up, their liability costs skyrocket so they have major skin in the game to get it right, and do so sooner, so to speak. Amateurs don't.

Again, zoloft seems a good idea, but it could take a while to take effect or even find out that it is appropriate at all if you don't also have significant depression...if it is a good match to you it will help soon, but if not, then antidepressants take time and trial to get the doses right, deal with side effects or adverse effects possibilities and interference with other things you may be taking or co-occurring conditions or personal unique intolerance, meanwhile you are suffering...but with clonazepam, you have little to zero of that prospect by starting off with clonazepam and it is a good starter while you and your professional get to cases, and therefore the prospect of quick relief with safety is a good one with clonazepam.

There is then always time to explore something better to your liking over the time it might take, including the possibility of pairing a clonazepam with an antidepressant, but either way with cooperative and humane management with a specialist, and for that unless you already have chronic depression or other affective disorders, the best starting place is a neurologist. If someone looks like they are over-invested in being right toward a new person who is just getting into this disease, their ego gets in the way, let them just get over it, grownups will do that just fine. Anyone else will be too fragile to be trusted with serious advice that carries downside risk.

[Chippy10 in reply to MarionP]

Thankyou for that very detailed post and the information provided. Its a great shame about Zoloft but the extreme pain was too much. I will on Monday speak to my Neurologist and mention Clonazepam and take it from there. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer me, as I do to everyone who has done.

[MarionP in reply to Chippy10]

Sorry I updated, you might want to re-read. Better clarity now.

[Godiv in reply to MarionP]

You know, I should’ve been more careful about mentioning Xanax. I myself had trouble with clonazepam and had to go through a long process of weaning off. But this was during the period of time when doctors pushed clonazepam and Xanax, then realized they were addictive and some doctors some doctors wanted patients off of them. But I am sorry; I should be more careful when talking about Xanax. I am the one who confuse things about Xanax or appeared to be advocating for it I apologize.

[MarionP in reply to Godiv]

That's graceful of you, thanks for saying.

[Godiv in reply to MarionP]

You are so welcome and I’m glad you called me on it.

[Godiv in reply to MarionP]

Wow, the last part of my post about Xanax is a little garbled. I’m glad you were able to interpret it. Proofreading is important!

[Godiv]

Chippy, I’m sorry if I sounded like you should go on Xanax. I was writing at 2 AM. I was concerned because no one had responded to your post and I wanted to reach out to you. But if I confused things know that I am definitely not a doctor or very knowledgeable about these things. I can only tell you about my experience I and hope that that is helpful to you in some way.

But everyone reacts differently to various medications so you’ll find something that works for you and good luck with the clonazepam if you choose that. It really does help with anxiety; I think I probably was just put on too high of a dose.

[GymBag]

I am in Canada, where it turns out a huge number of people have been using this stuff to treat pain and depression for a long time.

I use a CBD cream that contains an equal amount of THC on my back and knees. I really doubted it would work but every time that I took a pain pill it hurt my stomach so I had to try it.

A miracle, the pain is greatly diminished and the world is a much nicer place with out as much stress. I do not notice any other effect.

It is my understanding that the big manufacturers here in Canada will ship this stuff anywhere. Let me know by chat if you need any contact info.

[Chippy10 in reply to GymBag]

Thankyou so much for your help ,really kind of you to take the time. As I am in the Uk I would appreciate some contact details of where I can get these products. Also can I ask which one you use. Forever grateful.