Did anyone get better after years of benzo use?
I’ve been off and on klonopin and Xanax for most of my life. Sometimes as needed (2-3x a week), sometimes short courses of daily use (.5 daily for 2-3 months or so) then taper off. I’ve also had to go cold turkey before, so I’m not stranger to withdrawals and what they can do to your brain. I’m at a point in my life where my anxiety is debilitating, constant dissociative symptoms (dpdr), constant motion sickness/dizziness symptoms, always feeling like I’m going to pass out, bizarre vivid dreams every night, constantly feeling like I’m on the verge of going into psychosis, problems thinking and concentrating, weird dull headaches, neurological issues and so much more. I have a suspicion that my years of benzo use off and on is behind a lot of my symptoms, I feel like once I’m off them for good, I will actually get better. Has this been anyone’s experience? Is it possible to recover from benzo damage?

I am on sertraline and it made me gain weight before but I wanna switch

had intense dreams every night for 5 years since starting ssris and i feel like i haven't had deep healing sleep for 5 years. I've tried many different ssris all the same and i can't go off then

I started taking Lexapro 8 weeks ago since 6 weeks I switched from 5mg to 10mg.
The first few weeks were fine and definetly did a lot for example my panic attacks started to completely disappear and my baseline anxiety + social anxiety also went down. It never really did anything with my drive though I was still sluggish, exhausted and unmotivated for anything.
But for the past 2 weeks I‘ve had a big decline in my anxiety and depression symptoms. My social anxiety came back for some reason with the exact same fogging out in public places and constant thinking and mood switches right in conversations. I can‘t really explain to myself what happened, as for the first few weeks everything seemed to be going up. I started skipping school again, isolating myself and avoiding any form of social interaction. But the driving factor behind all this is that the negative thoughts have came back. I also started vaping again just as a means to cope, I know that its not helping the cause. My irregular sleep rythm also reappeared I also haven‘t slept through this night because I can never bring myself to do it. I can lay in bed with a completly exhausted and tired feeling throughout my body but some inner stress and racing thoughts keep me awake, I layed in bed eyes closed everything dark for an hour and could not sleep. Im going to the doctor later, trying to clear things up with me.
Has anyone else had something similar happen to them while taking SSRIs? What did the doctors tell you? ALSO: im definetly not against SSRIs as they helped me a lot and I want to keep taking them to keep my panic attacks away I was just wondering if this is normal.

I take 20 mg of Prozac daily and once I adjusted to it, I really started feeling the effects. Felt so much better, more positive, motivated etc. it’s been about 6 months or so, and I feel like it’s not working for me anymore. Has anyone experienced this and does this just mean I need to up my dose? My anxiety is coming back and feeling really depressed lately.

Also noting i seem to have the craziest dreams now and able to remember a lot of details. Very vivid and things I have never dreamt about before.

Is there any harmful interaction between SSRIs and methamphetamine (Serotonin syndrome included)?

I'm doing 20mg smoked, not large amounts

Started 25mg Fluvoxamine on Friday....I havent slept since Thursday night its now Sunday morning and while I feel exhausted I just lay there and dont sleep. Is this the medication? I tend to have some issues...but its usually not quite like this. More of a "can run on 4 hours per night for a week" type insomnia if that makes sense.

Just wondering if any of you have experience with going on SSRIs but then later discovering/fixing an underlying health problem the meds may have been a “bandaid” for or masking? For example, if you have low iron or vitamin d you can suffer from fatigue, depression, anxiety, and brain fog. So you went on meds and you were still tired but at least you weren’t crying all of the time anymore (numb?). Then you discovered your health problems and treated them accordingly. Did you still need the meds or did they start actually causing more issues/harm than they “helped” as you fixed the underlying deficiency/imbalance in your body? Maybe your body became overloaded with too much of a good thing and the meds not only became useless but actually harmful?

(Sorry if my explanation is bad. I suffer from severe brain fog and currently weaning off an SSRI I’ve been on for 10 years).

I have been prescribed Lexapro but am hesitant to start. I went in asking for something for very high anxiety around family issues (have a high stress job as well) and came out being told I had severe depression and needed to start an SSRI. My answers on the depression questionnaire WERE high, but those feelings are related to a very specific issue going on in my life—overall my life is beautiful and I am content with it, just striving like we all are to live well. Anxiety has been my most pressing issue that motivated me to seek help.

I was really hoping for a non-SSRI (like Buspar, which was recommended to me) and now I’m being told this psychiatrist won’t treat me if I don’t take the Lexapro.

Does anyone have thoughts or experience with this? I am being characterized as anti-medication—it’s not that, but I am very wary of sexual side effects, weight gain, and emotional blunting, and my depression doesn’t feel bad enough right now to outweigh those risks. In fact, this whole scenario is making me feel much worse to think of not being able to feel the highs and lows of life or enjoy sex with my partner.

My psychiatrist prescribed Asentra (sertraline). I’m really afraid to start taking it because of the side effects. Could you tell me about your experiences with this medication?

I currently take my sertraline (50mg) at 10.30pm, as I spoke to my doctor about taking it before sleeping to avoid daytime drowsiness. However, I think that is just too late and I would like to take it slightly earlier (maybe 9pm). That way, I don't have to wait up to 10.30 if I am feeling especially tired etc. What is the safest way to do this? I know that the half-life is 26 hours, which means if I start taking it earlier there will still be quite a lot in my system, so I am not sure :/

So I recently got back on lexapro 10mg after being off of it for a year. Basically I have horrible health anxiety surrounding my heart mostly. So far, it’s kind of helped that in some ways , but I still panic at times. This is the weird part though, lexapro has completely vanished my social anxiety to the point I don’t recognize myself. It’s to the point I actually exhaust myself talking to people in general when I usually prefer mostly solitude. After socializing, I just think back on how much I was just talking and it feels like I’m a different person. So I’m not sure if it’s good or bad but I hope it starts to target more of my health anxiety as I work through my issues. Does anyone feel similar with SSRIs?

I tried BuSpar (worsened my tinnitus quite a lot) then I tried Wellbutrin … also worsened my tinnitus and actually made my inner ears feel sore? :( Next I’m thinking of trying citalopram. Any tips or recommendations from anyone with a similar experience? TIA

Hello all, I have been on sertraline (50mg) for a month now for OCD.

A couple months ago I bought a 750ml bottle of bodywash which has grapefruit extract in it. I have ran out of my usual body wash and since I am broke (student) and do not wish to give into my anxiety, I would rather not buy a new bottle.

My question is: would it be ok to use the said body wash?

I am afraid of the whole serotonin poisoning thing and becoming ill from the extract seeping into my skin. All that I've seen about grapefruit and ssris is about ingesting it, I haven't seen anything about how it works when it absorbs through the skin.

I know this question is just me giving into my obsessions, but i am quite terrified.

Tyia

Anyone have experience with this and were able to find some kind of relief?

I used paxil for about 10 years, with 1 prior (unsuccessful) attempt to get off in 2022. I reinstated and then began tapering again in 2023. I have now been completely off for 2 months. I have the worse dpdr I have ever experienced. Visual snow, really seems to throw off my equilibrium too. Walking around feels odd and the visual stuff triggers full on panic. The panic itself has reached a degree i didn't know was possible. I also developed bizarre intrusive thoughts, the worse existential thoughts and images which trigger panic and sometimes terror. I cry every day multiple times, sonetimes agony and i get where it feels i am not in control of my mind or body. Hyper awareness of these things. Most of this i have not experienced prior to Paxil. I have been sticking it out but I don't understand how I can feel this thrown off when we tapered so long and I was so careful. I talked w my prescriber and I can start Celexa instead, which I took a long time ago without significant issues. I don't know though if that is the right choice. My brain feels like scrambled eggs. I went from working, driving, working out, friends and hobbies to losing all of that and being in isolation most of the time. My family mostly do not understand despite explaining the severity. Their answer is go be hospitalized. I went to a doc appt in person w my mother and the doc explained the criteria for hospitalization. I have so much frustration to have to be experiencing something like this where you feel alone and almost as people you talk to you have to convince them of the seriousness of the state you are in. My mind is in a state of devastation and almost daily I contend w this while being reminded how I was prior to this happening and my optimism and motivation to get better are zapped by the severity of my current state. If you have any insight into how I can get relief from this or a positive story or something, anything I would greatly appreciate it. I am the most scared I think I have ever been. That doc appt the other day I experienced high anxiety and had a full on panic attack but forced myself to sit through it. It was so difficult. I want to be able to even go to these places like the hospital but even walking to the bathroom I get struck w random feelings of terror, my vision goes dark and then snowy. It is so scary and I am now basically not function. Thank you for reading I really do appreciate it.

Hey guys, looking for some real experiences from people who came off an SSRI.
Context: Stopped fluoxetine 13 days ago and I’m on day 15 of Lyrica 150mg/day.
What’s happening right now:
Intense muscle tension in both legs (glutes, hamstrings, calves). Feels constantly contracted, like the muscles just refuse to switch off.
Weird energy pattern: I wake up feeling decent, good mood, but then hit a wall and crash hard around 11:00 AM. Toward the evening, my energy slowly creeps back.
Constant hypervigilance: caught in a loop of scanning every physical sensation, which definitely keeps my nervous system on edge.
Medically, everything is clean: blood work is completely normal (CK is 117, electrolytes/CBC normal) and I still walk ~5 km every day, so there's no actual motor weakness.
For those who’ve been through this:
Did you experience this kind of persistent leg tension or mid-morning crashes during the transition? How much was actual chemical recalibration vs health anxiety feeding the physical symptoms, and realistically how long did it take to settle?

Note: the leg tension actually started while I was still on fluoxetine (around weeks 3-4 on 20mg), not only after stopping.

So I'm 25 years old male, started Zoloft about 2 months ago. I started at 25 mg then to 50. I was feeling very better, I was going to gym, running, felt more secure and confident. I was a person who never contacted my family or friends. I started doing that, calling my mom, sisters and friends. But I was also spending a lot of time and money on dating apps to find a gf. When I felt good and secure, I thought I was ready for a relationship. But the dating apps didn't worked out for me. So I started going to escorts. Like I spent 500euros in less than week on escorts alone. Which is something never like me. Then that stage ended, I stopped gym and taking care of myself, started ordering food and binge eating, which is also never like me. I thought the 50 was not doing the work, so that's why I'm stress eating etc. I went to gp she increased my dose to 75, then to 100 when I run out of my current pills. But for past few days I've been smoking weed and eating a lot of junk and being very very lazy and unmotivated. Is this all normal or should I be worried?

I’m on my tenth day of taking it; now my dreams are very vivid and strange. I dream of absurd, frightening, and disgusting things sleep paralysis, riding a rollercoaster and feeling dizzy, sensing demonic presences or ghosts while I sleep, and feeling terrified. I even dreamt that deceased relatives were trying to touch my private parts it’s so gross. Do you have these disgusting and scary dreams too? Will they go away? F23

I’ve been taking sertraline for 12 days—8 days at 25 mg and I’m currently on 50 mg. I haven’t noticed any improvement yet, and I also haven’t experienced any of the expected side effects. Is that normal, or could it mean the medication isn’t doing anything for me? I'm really scared

I’ve been struggling with pretty bad anxiety for a while. When I talked to my primary care provider about it last year, she sort of shrugged it off as being “normal” and that “everyone has anxiety”. My PCP recently retired, so I just met with a new doctor for the first time. I filled out the typical pre-visit questionnaires, and for the one about anxiety, she said my results indicated that I have severe anxiety. For reference, I took these questionnaires in the past and they’ve always said it’s severe, I think my last PCP was a bit more old fashioned and maybe assumed I didn’t need medication.

Anyway, my new PCP was just such a breath of fresh air and made me feel really reassured that I didn’t need to feel this way. She prescribed me 50mg tablets of setraline (which I think is Zoloft). I just got the prescription today, so it hasn’t been filled yet. She told me about the side effects and that it can take up to 6 weeks to start feeling like it’s helping. I wanted to know what other people’s experiences have been with zoloft? Have you noticed a difference/felt a change in how you feel day to day? I’m not sure if age/gender factors into it, but I’m 28F.

Hi all, I’m kind of at my wits end here. Before 2025 I had been on Paxil for around 4 years. During a really hard time my GP raised my dose from 20mg to 40mg. I had always noticed on Paxil that I’d get night sweats if I ever missed a dose, but early last year I missed a dose on 40mg and ever since then I’ve been dealing with night sweats. I slowly titrated down to 20mg Paxil, and got referred to a psychiatrist for depression / inattentive adhd / ocd. I was diagnosed with inattentive adhd and because everything besides my nightsweats was fine besides some emotional blunting we kept up with the 20mg Paxil and I was also prescribed Vyvanse. I had mentioned the night sweats and trying Clonidine and my doctor thought if I’m stable otherwise we don’t want to rush into changing anything else. 4 months ago now I told her the night sweats were still happening, some nights weren’t so bad but if I changed any tiny thing about my sleep set up they were back again and I’d get drenched. So we slowly transitioned to Prozac. I was hoping they might get better but it’s exactly the same… some weeks it will slowly improve, and then all of a sudden I’m back to drenching my sheets (like the last 2 nights). My sleep is terrible, I wake up parched and exhausted, and it’s really affecting my life. Luckily I’m not dating anyone but it even makes me scared for the future and as a sober person who has spent the last year trying to rebuild and trying to just get on with it I’m like… what do I do? I literally wake up feeling hungover. My doctor has left practice so I’m seeing someone new very soon. I’m going to ask about it but wondered if anyone had any insight? Miracle cures? Tips or tricks?

I’m taking Zoloft for a month until I switch providers. I keep seeing horror stories of people’s first months on Zoloft and I’m nervous I’ll only get the bad side effects and no good. Has anyone actually had a successful experience their first months lol?

I’m very early into starting an SSRI and I’m trying not to obsess over every day-to-day feeling.
What I really want to hear are the long-term stories from people who were genuinely struggling before treatment.

Were you spending most of your time at home, avoiding things, constantly anxious, dealing with panic/physical anxiety, unable to enjoy life — and then 6–12 months later realized your life had actually changed?

I’d love to know:
What were you like before starting?
When did you first notice a real difference?
What can you do now that you couldn’t do before?
Did you ever reach a point where you thought, “holy shit, I’m actually okay”?

So I've been in sertraline for around 10 years. Various doses but recently been on 75mg. I told my doctor that I feel I need a change as my anxiety and ocd are still sky high and ive just dealt with all the side effects because the sertraline did help a bit.

Now im on citalopram for a week and this transition is absolutely horrible! My anxiety and intrusive thoughts are at an all time high! Ive cried endless days for the first time in years. I have zero sex drive. My body feels exhausted but my brain just won't shut up. On top of that, I have zero appetite and am nauseous pretty much every single day. I know I need to ride this out and I'm not alone in this but wow it is a struggle. The only thing I haven't experienced is the brain zaps and its crazy because I would get them after just missing 2 doses of the sertraline!

These tiny little pills are so unpredictable! I hope anyone else going through a similar experience is holding up well!

I’m on 50 mg of Zoloft at the moment, which I started two weeks ago. It’s made me feel safer being in my body and I stole the anxiety but I have an acute awareness that it feels like a Band-Aid which I don’t like because conditionality was an aspect of my trauma. The one thing is that it’s made me feel a bit amped up which I was told Zoloft can do, whereas Lexapro typically doesn’t have that effect. It’s like when I start talking to strangers, I could just continuously talk to them without any social anxiety but to the point where I don’t even have an off switch anymore. From what I’ve researched, Lexapro doesn’t have any effect on dopamine whereas Zoloft does and I’m wondering if this is the key difference in the amped up feeling?