Abrupt withdrawal of SSRIs

Hi, I am new to PsychForums. I was diagnosed with OCD at the age of 16. I was compulsive checker. At the time of diagnosis, I used to spent all my waking hours with an ever persistent feeling that something is missing. I used to spent all the time checking to see if anything was indeed missing. For almost two years I took Chlomipramine. And over the course of next many years, I tried out Fluoxetine, Sertraline, Fluoxamine etc. I was also taking Thioridazine for a long time. For some reasons, I abruptly stopped all medications after about 8 years without a doctor's supervision. Then I ended with some very horrible side effects. For almost 4 years after this abrupt discontinuation, I was having a lot of thinking difficulties such as difficulty to comprehend speech, very slowed thinking etc. I used find it very difficult to talk to people and understand speech. I used to forget things very easily too. Sometimes the world around me seemed too unreal. This period in my life was very tough as I found it very difficult to cope with the pressures of life and job. Quite frankly, now when I look back at everything, my decision to abruptly discontinue my medications without a doctor's supervision seemed to be one of the worst decisions in my life.

Does anybody have similar experience of abrupt withdrawal of SSRIs? I am unable to find any literature online about abrupt withdrawal of SSRIs. Though I could find some about tapered withdrawal of SSRIs, I only want to know about abrupt withdrawal. The reason I want to read about it more is because my withdrawals symptoms lasted for a long time, almost 4 to 5 years.

If anybody is aware of some reading material online about this, please let me know.

I suppose after so long you might not be able to really blame any discontinuing of meds as the cause of your symptoms. Perhaps you were really experiencing what the real you was like. Perhaps it was like a relapse of some primary condition. It might be that you have a type of depression or reduced functioning as you have gotten older.
Taking the meds might be a good idea if you are feeling bad. I know my son takes them all the time Off them he just feels hideous in a couple of days. He just cant get past that downer feeling so he stays on them. OK by me, I say.
Most withdrawal symptoms occur within a few hours depending on the half life of the tabs. The syndrome usually only lasts a few days. The cases that get reported as bizarre events are usually caused by some psychotic or quite distressing events soon after stopping.
You might be able to google Pub Med and place your browser terms in the clinical question window. Good luck. Marg

Just a quickie, as I have to log off in a minute, but several years ago, I ceased medication quite abruptly. I became anxious and more 'ocd-y' very quickly, and for a while thought that it was just withdrawal symptoms, but eventually realised that it was just my unmedicated ocd returning to full strength, so after 8 months, I started taking medication again. Strangely, though, I couldn't return to fluoxetine, I think it was, so now I'm on sertraline.

Sorry for the short reply, I'll check in again later if I can.

Thanks for all the replies, As a child, i was very anxious and may be social phobic too. But what I experienced at 23 onwards (when i stopped meds) was completely different. I experienced such slowness in my thinking that there were momentary occasions where I could not remember even silly things such a friends' names. I was always disoriented and tired. My thinking was so slow sometimes I took minutes to understand other's jokes I could not carry out any meaningful converstaion with people. My thinking was always fuzzy as if there was always a fog in my brain. All these continued for several years. One doctor said i am experiencing depersonalisation, another said I could be a mild schizophrenic or something.

My son doesn't seem to be able to stop his meds. He is better on them. He goes into a depressive mood off his meds. Why don't you go back on meds?
I suppose your brain was used to a whole lot more neurotransmitter working and then if you stop then you don't have as much neurotransmitter coming to the synapses in your brain. Everything for you becomes slower. Brain fog is often thought to be depersonalization. Is it like your brain seems fried or stunned? Still you don't need to suffer like this when meds might be helpful.

margharris wrote: Why don't you go back on meds?

@margharris, thanks for your advice. By the way, I am now free of OCD and other issues. I am not on medication for a long time.

There is one technique that I developed that I think has helped me. The technique is to focus visual attention outward frequently. By constantly diverting my attention to the external world, I was able to distract my self from my OCD thoughts and other issues. Over time, all such thoughts faded out. I have been trying to talk to some researchers about taking this technique forward. May be you could let your son try the technique out. All that he has to remember to do is "look at things in the outside world". It can be done at a pace that seems comfortable. I will be glad to know if your son finds this helpful.

Regards,
Rohith