3. Seroplex, SSRI's, Electric Shocks & Dreams from The Dark Side

Now that I had found an explanation for what was causing my symptoms, I returned to my G.P for his advice. I know it can't be easy for family doctors these days, what with the instant availability of on-line information to the masses which once was the preserve of the enlightened few, but it is a fact that General Practitioners are just that - general Jacks of all trades, and they can't possibly be specialists in everything. 

I can well understand how annoying it must be, when having studied for 9 years and earned the right to call oneself "Doctor" to have patients arrive at the surgery and inform you not only of what they think is wrong with them, but also how they think it should be treated based upon what they have read on the Internet. It is also fair to say that a lot of patients do actually know a lot more about their condition than their family doctor or nurse, and fortunately for them the information they need to make decisions about their treatment is widely and easily available. They no longer have to depend solely upon their Doctors academic ability or interest to keep up to date with the latest research and to give them all the facts. 

Firstly let me acknowledge that the decision to stop taking Seroplex was taken by me alone and without the consultation of my G.P. Once I had explained my symptoms to my Doctor and that I had read on several "blogs" that they were possibly related to my having stopped my antidepressants, I could almost hear him wishing he had a button which could activate an imaginary trapdoor beneath my chair, and I give him credit for remaining professional throughout. What I don't give him credit for is his complete absence of knowledge of the debilitating and unpleasant symptoms associated with the discontinuation of a treatment which he had prescribed, and his virtual dismissal of their existence altogether. He kindly gave me a prescription for one months supply of Seroplex and advised me that I shouldn't believe everything I read on the blogs. My sense of abandonment and anger were so great that I was unable to ask if I perhaps shouldn't believe everything I feel either. 

I have since discovered, by researching medical journals and speaking with pharmacists, psychiatrists and other users of antidepressants that SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome is a well documented and acknowledged problem. It occurs between one day and one week of reducing or completely discontinuing an SSRI and it seems isn't uncommon for G.P's to have little or no understanding of the management of patients taking antidepressants. 


The patient information leaflet which comes with every box of SSRI's also acknowledges the possibility of "intolerable" reactions upon discontinuation of the treatment and advises  gradual weaning under careful surveillance over a period of several months. Unfortunately due to the nature of their illness, the majority of patients who require this treatment aren't capable of reading such information, or care very little for it at the time to make informed decisions about whether to take it or not and therefore rely heavily upon their medical professionals to support and  educate them. 


Having accepted that I was going to have to deal with this on my own, I set about trying to find out how to avoid recurrence of these symptoms once my current prescription ran out. An afternoon searching the Internet revealed to my horror that SSRI Discontinuation is such a common and poorly managed problem, that there are actually people out there who are cashing in on it by selling antidepressant weaning plans. There are even books written by Doctors of all people about how to safely quit taking them. I find this so shocking that I am lost for words, and it is for this reason I feel compelled to help by sharing and publishing my own experience of coming off them. It wasn't easy and took me around a year to come off them completely, but I'm off them now and have been for 15 months.


In my next posting I will upload a copy of the weaning plan I worked out and followed myself, along with notes and things I noticed along the way, FREE of CHARGE and absolutely NO STRINGS ATTACHED. You Can Find it Here




This is not an academic paper, therefore I haven't cited any references to support my statements. It is simply a personal account of my experience of starting antipressants in October 2008 to finally coming off them for good in February 2011.