k&ajsmom

Yes I believe it is Jk, Im really unfamiliar with this one. I know its a sodium channel blocking class of antiepileptic drugs. Other than that Im clue less. I guess I have some research to do but my heads swimming and Im not sure Id understand it anyways. The doc said his intintions were to control norepinephrine and some "other things" he suspected to be going haywire right now. However I am hesitant to trust this since I dont understand how this med correlates to that. Or maybe he just thinks Im crazy after all hahaha <nervous laughter> Thx for ur concern I am not feleing any better yet but am hanging in there. =))

So among the crisis I have had the last week with zoloft and everything my kids are scaring me to death. My son has been complaining of chest pain and his eyes going black. He is 9 and this terrifies me. He got sent home from school today with chest pain, so my fiance took him to the er immediatly. I was already at my doctors and not walking well so I didnt want him to wait for me. They did an ekg and xray which was clean. They refused labs, which infuriates me. but what can ya do?! Now my daughter ( who is 12) has complained several times of strong fast heartbeats out of nowhere, but ususally after exercise so I havent worried. Until yesterday...she was in class and said a really strong series of heartbeats started and took her breath away. Again, terrifies me.....no pain though so waiting on doctors appointments fro them I guess to see where to go from here. I dont talk specifically about what I feel to my kids, just that my hearts "acting up" or I feel yucky and have to lay down so I dont think they are mimicking me and dont think they would anyways. Although it just seems ironic all at once. I am needless to say scared to death for them and the fact that I am not well enough to be on tiop of this like I would like to be. anyone have children with cardiac symptoms...Im really scared that I have cursed them with this????????

thx guys, I just got home from the doctors. Today has been a nightmare. It started about 3 am with getting up to use the restroom and realizing I couldnt walk. I had strenght and feeling and no pain but it was like my sense of balance was gonna. I would take 3 steps and drift hard to the left or right and just topple over. Good times. crawled back to the couch and veritgo hit me but was able to sleep it off. It lingered when I woke up this am but not nearly as severe. So I go to the doctor and and tell him everything and mind u I had to sit in the hallway on my way back to the room till they brought me a chair...ugh and anyways he says I have had a reaction to serotonin...not exactly serotonin syndrome but similair. He said he thinks it caused some nerve damage and refuses any ssri because it would become premanent if it hasnt already. He also said some of what Im feeling is just my nervous system fighting it innappropriatly of course. He wants me to take Lamectil. I am not so sure about this desicion. Its a drug used for epilepsy and bi=polar disorder. He syas which he is not treatin me for but will calm my system and help me gain control of this. He also says rest and rest some more. Which is all I do anyways so no help there. I also dont think I can afford Lamectil, its pricey so Ive called him to see if there is another alternative. He also said no more xanax, which I have stoped already due to low bp, but says it just not a good fit for whats going on. Has anyone heard of Lamectil? Its sounds scary lol Ive never heard of a drug like this for POTS???? again please excuse my spelling and rambling, Im a little.....loopy right now

Thx Naomi, I totally agree, hindsights a wonderful teacher, just not a very timely one lol

ps. excuse my horrific spelling and grammer...my brain hurts lol

abby, I think I wanna take back the above opinion in regards to tachy as withdrawel. Ive done a lot of research today being that I cant get off my couch. Bp is crashing severely now...yay lol anyways, from a lot of non-potsyforums and medical studies it would appear both tachy and brady are fairly common side effects of discontinuation of various ssri's and snri's, some worse than others. Of course I still think ours is probaly still abit exageratted being that we have pots and related conditions. Ive read that replacing your ssri with prozac is a successful way to discontine, because prozac has less side effects and a much longer half life with a very low risk of withdrawel symptoms. Upon reading this I remembered 10 years ago being on 40 mgs of prozac and ot of ingnorence I went cold turkey, and had a few days of moodiness but that was it. I wish I had remembered this sooner, but really I wish my doctor had thought to try it instead of sending me off the deep end. Im gonna bring it up at my appointment tommorrow and see what he says.

ugh, day 6........just got a call from my pharmacist, she was just calling to se ehow I was ( gotta love her, she so sweet) anyways she says she gone cold turkey on zoloft before and Im looking at about another 2 weeks of this before I see relief. I am having major tachy today, even though initially I woke up with brady ( 50 bpm) as soon as I got moving it shot up and wont come down even laying down... I also have unstable bp. 84/78 one minute then 124/81 the next. I have never had bp this high ( even though it looks like a normal bp) my pulse at the time of the higher bp was 144....doing nothing. I was up all night having major allergy attacks. WOke up sneezing and wheezing every 20 minutes. Abby, It is why we post our experiences, so we can help eachother, who else knows what we r going through?! thank god we have eachothers experiences to compare to or I know I atleast, would feel so alone. I dont think a normal person would have tachy as a withdrawel symptom, I think its more on the lines of withdrawel aggravates our already super sensitive systems. For me, my pots liked the zoloft its the rest of my body that didnt, and I took the zoloft away so my pots is rioting as well as having normal withdrawel symptoms. I have no idea however once Im done withdrawing if the tachy will level out or if it will remain high. I suspect it will remain high unfortuantly...ugh Will keep ya posted, thx for the encouragement and support everyone.

Thank u guys for the support, to be honest its hard to even type my hands aren't cooperating...ugh so I hope its like some of you have said and it starts to ease off a little sooner rather than later. I would never have gone cold turkey if he didnt insist upon it. I think he was afraid of either serotonin syndrome of just the side effects I was getting that became severe. I started having uncontrollable twitching about two weeks ago that was getting steadily worse. Then immediatly started having bradycardia alternating with tachy (the tachys normal for me but not the brady) However I was getting relief from the tachy, nausea,syncope and pvc's finnally and am so bummed to be off the zoloft cause of that. As much as I never wanna deal with this again I think I wanna try a new ssri at a MUCH MUCH lower dose. Dont wanna give up just cause of one horrifically failed attempt. I go back to see him tuesday and he said he would figure out where to go from here but geeeeezz.....this is ridiculous. I will make sure he knows just how miserable this is as I assume he himself has not experienced a cold turkey withdrawel off this stuff, especially as a potsy. I have not gotten up except to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth since yesterday and my cardiac symptoms are just that much worse laying here. Thx for yoour experiences, it gives me some hope that some of you guys have dealt with this and Im gonna get through it. I new it wouldnt be fun but to be honest I had no clue it would be this bad. Sooo I will continue snuggling my giant bottle of gatorade and heating pad and wait for some light at the end of tunnel. It seems to be the nature of everything with this condition, hurry up and wait. It certainly is teaching me the definiton of patience.... <sighhhhhhhh> PS.....Is bradycardia something that is caused by withdrawel in any of your experiences???.....Im not sure if this is from the zoloft or a new "symptom" of pots since it started only 12 hours after my first missed dose

Today is day 5 off of 100 mgs of zoloft. I have never been so sick in my life, I would never ever suggest doing this and I wish I had pushed my doc to do this another way but he insisted strongly. I have severe tachy alternating brady with no relief in posture changes.Pvcs and hot and cold flashes, extreme tremors and unbearable gi issues. I ve been under 4 blankets with a heat pad on my head and then had to sit outside in the cold the next minute barefoot to cool off. My skin is clammy and temp is way low...ugh Let alone the outbursts of sobbing and despair ugh my poor family dealing with me today. Overall I feel like I have the flu on steroids. Has anyone gone through this???? How long does this last, Im afraid Im not gonna make it and have to go to the er, but really what could they do. Sorry to vent but Im literally scared to death right now. I wanna take a xanax and sleep but Im afraid with the bradycardia how thats gonna go....any words of encouragement would be forever appreciated. Thx =(

Hi green, Excellent question. Im sorry i dont have the answer but im hoping some more experienced potsy can give us both some advice here. I have been self employed for 4 yrs. And my doc put me out in october till january. However i will not be going back then as i have not improved at all. So i am considering ssi but i have no clue if this is a viable option. Sorry to hear ur struggling with this as well...good luck and take care

Just sitting here watching this awful news and feeling helpless. It literally is making me feel ill and brings me to tears thinking of those poor babies. I hope and pray none of u or ur families are effected. I know I hugged my babies a little longer when they got off the bus today. Just wanted to vent and send out love and energy to those effected.

Thank u for your response Rachel, I am blessed to have found u guys =)

Thx guys, Lyme disease, i need to look into this! I know my b vits are normal but vit d i havent thought of....need to check that out...=)

I started at 50 mgs and went up to 100mgs. 100 was great for some symptoms but side effects were too much for me. No side effects except hunger at 50 though...I think low and slow would have been better.

Jk, goodness ur a brave soul...calc finals on their own give me anxiety....lol i hope ur feeling better and positive energy sent ur way that u aced it! Hang in there, ur an inspiration to not let pots get in the way of ur goals....=)

Lost about 35 lbs when this hit me hardest....zoloft helped gain about 10 back but i stopped zoloft 2 days ago and my appetite is gone again...=(

Just made my appointment with Dr. Chemali......first available is in 6 months!!!!!!!!! geeessh this is gonna be rough..just thought Id mention this in case anyone else is looking into seeing him

well , the nurse called me back, she hasnt talked to the doctor yet, however she wanted to let me know my pottassium was normal at 4.1 (labs done tuesday) and everything else was "normal" haha story of my life. Now just waiting on the doctors educated guess lol

hmm, I dont see it on my G2 bottle either...maybe just in regular gatorade??

wow, thx for this. I drink g2 like a fish, maybe I need to look into this a bit more

ALP, Geesh I dont know how u deal with it...ugh I didnt sleep a wink and chugged my first glass of caffienated beverage in 4 months and to no avail like u, it did nothing. It did feel stuck last night and then suddenly this morning when I stood up it took off up to 145 and pvcs like crazy then as soon as I sit or lie down it just ..stops and goes back to the 50's and lower again. So Im getting like a 100 bpm increase upon standing...good grief lol Looneymom, My doctor encourages me to call but getting past one of his nurses is a task lol Ive called him again today hopefully he will get backwith me with some advice. Goodness, ur son is a a trooper and I cant imagine as a mom having my babies go through this, Ipray they dont inherit it. You must be one tough determined momma =)) Thx for the prayers, they are very appreciated and the same for you and your son. Dee, Ive been on it for 2 months and just increased my dose a week ago to 100 mgs. I had no help from it till the increase and I am so sad to be off it because it was really helping since I increased it, well except for these symptoms...lol The first thing I thought was "COLD TURKEY" oh nooooo...but he insisted that I dont take another one. I question this but He is seeing me next tuesday to discuss it further. However I did just call him and updated his nurse about the bradycardia and we shall see what he suggests now....I kinda hope he will let me take one in a way but what if I had too much in my system ugh I dont know...=( Foggy, I thought maybe nit was withdrawel but I started feeling bad before I think Ive even had time to withdrawel, which is scary to think of adding withdrawel on top of what ever is going on... Patiently (haha) waiting for the doc to call me back now Thank u guys for all the support..it was a rough night and Im so grateful to have u guys to turn to....{{{BIGhuggs}}

Its been 2 months since the hospital stay of 2 weeks and still havent recovered....They wouldnt let me walk for the whole stay and really messed me up, cant seem to bounce back. Of course everyone is different so just pace yourself and do what you can. I found I do better when I take the pressure off myself to "hurry up" and get well. =)

well....I was on zoloft up until today..lol I had great improvement from anxiety, tremors, nausea, pvcs, and occassionally it helped my heart rate improve. I recently developed twitching and some other things that Im not sure are related so my doc took me off of my zoloft today. Super bummed, its the only thing so far thats helped =(

Pumpkin, So sorry you had to waste your energy dealing with someone who could be so selfish. I know words dont heal wounds but time will and think of the energy you can invest into someone or something else that is truly positive instead of draining. I truly dont understand people like that and again so sorry you had to go through it...I recently lost a friend of 16 years so I know how it can hurt and she was apparently keep a log of favors and inconveinces Ive caused her over that time...funny how I would never think to keep track cause freindship should be unjudging and selfless...ughh hang in there =(( {{{huggssss}}}

I thought I was doing better the last week, however I developed twitching, which I mentioned in another post, so I called my doctor after listening to some advice and he said STOP the zoloft immediatly. So here it is only 12 hours after my missed dose and I started feeling worse than I did this morning. WOke up with terrible gi issues and horrid headache, and of course twitchy. After dinner I started feeling funny, checked my vitals. Bp was 84/68 (some what normal for me ) however my pulse was 57 sitting up. Laying down its dropping even lower. Here it is 6 hours later and it just keep getting lower....=( I have never had bradycardia issues except when sound asleep. Even when I stand its not coming out of the 60s or 70s. My heart is fluttery and I feel nauseated and exhausted. My theories are too much potassium, too much serotonin or, worst case, cause my anxiety is giving me suggestions, some kind of sinus node dysfunction. Has anyone dealt with these issues that can help me with there experiences? I hope Im just being dramatic, but I have never dealt with anything but tacchy, and I dont know what to do for brady...is this serious or should I just relax ( so scared to, I almost wanna make a pot of coffee and have an all nighter <dramatic sighhhhh> I know I need to call the doc in the am but I really dont wanna just run to er, they will think Im crazy. Help???!!! =*((