Thanks be to God-coming off an antidepressant

It was a Tuesday when I completely finished taking the half dosage of Celexa my doctor was weaning me from, which meant I was DONE with my anxiety meds! I was so excited.  It felt like such an accomplishment to overcome anxiety and not need to lean on medication anymore. (**Disclaimer below)Three days had passed with little side effects or withdrawal symptoms.  I felt wonderful!!! Then day four…the withdrawal symptoms started.  I began to feel VERY dizzy.  By dizzy... I mean my eyes had LOTS of trouble refocusing when I changed my viewing angle.  It took a second or two to re-adjust. Any quick movements made it so much worse.  There were several days during this where I did not feel safe to drive long distances.  It took lots of focus and concentration to keep the dizziness from overwhelming me. With the severe dizziness I had nausea and tension headaches in the back of my head and neck.  I also had sweats…my neck and head would get VERY hot to the touch.  Along with all these symptoms, I had "rebound" anxiety.  I know what you’re thinking…"What the heck? That sounds awful”.  It’s not fun, BUT it will end and I will overcome it.  Also, what you need to know is that it’s completely normal!!!

Because I didn’t know what to expect, I honestly let those symptoms overtake me and the depression would sink in.  I would have thoughts running through my mind like “you're doomed to be on this medicine for life”, “everyone thinks you’re crazy and nobody believes you're dizzy”, “you're such a wimp”, “can’t you just go back on the medication, it would be SO much easier than this”, “you're husband doesn’t believe you”,  “you just want attention”, “it’s going to get worse before it gets better”, “you are going to have this for months”, “YOU WILL NEVER GET BETTER”.  AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You just want to scream!!!!!!! You want to crawl up in a hole and forget about the world!!! That would be easier right??? Wrong!!!! That’s what the enemy wants you to do!!! I did wise up…but I’m admitting that I struggled with it. It WAS a battle…a battle between GOOD and EVIL!!! But, the good news is…the battle is already WON!!!!! Jesus won it for us on the cross!

You see the enemy IS real!!! He comes to “steal and destroy” from us.  He tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness when Jesus was at his very weakest (Luke 4:1-3 read it...it’s powerful) He strikes when we are WEAK, DOWN and already BROKEN!!! Let me clear something up…some of you may think “Christy you are full of crap, you were having physical withdrawal symptoms from the medication”. Yes I was and that was not from the devil, but the evil thoughts, THEY WERE FOR SURE. What did the enemy do to Eve in the garden? Put thoughts in her mind about why it was OK to eat the forbidden apple. You see the enemy attacks your mind!!! It’s the easiest way to reach you and it’s even easier when you are DOWN. You have heard the saying “kick em while they’re down”…that’s the point.  You must overcome that…be a fighter! Don’t allow the enemy to LIE to you like that and DON'T let him "kick you while you're down"! Don't let yourself get beat up by the enemy feeding posion into your mind like I did. In fact, I learned something so powerful today, our pastor from Element Church, Erik Lawson, said something brilliant..."when you beat yourself up, your basically saying that the beating Jesus took at the cross was not enough".  That hit home for me! 

So how do you overcome this? Well, I’m not done with these symptoms and challenges yet!  But, I’m standing on God’s promises, “I’m more than a conquerer” and “he will restore my health and heal my wounds”! Amen!!!




**Disclaimer- I am ALL for medication when used properly…my anxiety over a year ago was TOO FAR gone and I’m 100% certain the medication was instrumental in my recovery!  If you are suffering with anxiety, please know it’s serious and you must get a handle on it.