Jump to content

birdie: Want to be free from Anafranil!


birdie76

Recommended Posts

Posted

Hi,

 

I am currently on 50 mg of Anafranil per day, tapered down from 200 mg. I have gained so much weight and have developed diabetes. I need to get off of this med. I take the capsules and not sure how to go about tapering down with them. Any advice appreciated.

10/01/2014 - tapered from 200 mg Anafranil to 50 mg

 

currently taking - Anafranil 50 mg, Trazadone 50 mg, & Neurontin 300 mg

  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

Hi birdie and welcome!

 

Lots of us have packed on pounds while on psych drugs. Is the weight gain and diabetes your primary concern?  Is Anafranil the only drug you want to taper to 0?

 

What was your taper schedule like coming down from 200 mg? What symptoms if any did you have?

 

It's probably a good idea for you to check for interactions between your medications. You can do that at this link: Drugs.co Drug Interaction Checker  Please post those results in this thread. It will help the moderators make useful suggestions for you.

 

A good place to start to get ideas about how to taper is this thread: Why Taper by 10% of my dosage?   The first few reductions you'd make using the 10% taper are: from 50 to 45, 45 to 40.5, 40.5 to 36.45 mg. Surviving Antidepressant's harm reduction approach recommends that you take it slowly, cutting the dose and holding for 3-4 weeks to allow withdrawal symptoms to appear and to give your brain and rest of the central nervous system a chance to adjust.

 

Another helpful and instructive read is the 3 KISs:  Keep it Simple, Keep it slow, Keep it stable

 

I tried to find a thread with tips specifically for Anafranil (clomipramine) but wasn't successful. I just noticed that another member started tapering off Anafranil in January 2016, Alia02's thread

 

Sorry you're here and glad you've posted.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Posted

Thanks! Yes, currently wanting to come off of Anafranil but may add others. How do you taper down using capsules?

10/01/2014 - tapered from 200 mg Anafranil to 50 mg

 

currently taking - Anafranil 50 mg, Trazadone 50 mg, & Neurontin 300 mg

  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

birdie,

You open the capsule and divide the contents; if you're lucky you can create a liquid solution or a suspension.  With Cymbalta and Effexor there are tiny little beads.  Some capsules contain powder. 

 

Ask a pharmacist to find out what's inside yours.  Another good thing to ask him/her is whether there's a liquid formulation or whether one can be made.  Liquid formulations make it easier to taper the 10% especially at the end when the changes are fractions of 1 mg.

 

How to make a liquid from tablets or capsules

 

If it's beads, read Counting beads.  If you've got powder in the capsules and can't make a liquid, you're left with weighing: Using a digital scale to measure doses

 

Interactions:

While looking for information on anafranil, I came across this information about trazodone & anafranil:

major interaction between traz & anaf

 

all three drugs: neurontin has moderate interaction effects with each of the other two

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

Posted
Hello Birdie76.

 

Glad to see here, where we have same interests and some kind of emotional or psychic problems. I'm relatively new here, I'm trying to prepare myself for withdrawal but humbly, I can tell you something.

 

First of all have to go very, very slowly. I think you know that. Do not run, do not rush.

 

If you already has 200 mg of Anafranil and this in 50mg already a great victory, despite having gained weight, but this, Inside the two evils (getting stuck to Anafranil) is still the worst.I think I could do as I was taught here, as this taking 50 mg per day, divide this dose into two doses of 25 mg (which is what I'm taking a day, currently Anafranil).

 

Each dose, half of dragée. The dragée is bad cut, but you can get a cutter pills and try to cut it equally. If you do not get equal pedações, take, day the largest and, at night, at bedtime the maior.Procure make a report of what you feel during the day as this will help you a lot. If you do not have the form of the diary and the list of symptoms, tell me, that I point out to him, but have here in SA. It was where I acquired.

 

Start with courage. The symptoms that go appearing, go away later. You just have to resist them with courage, knowing they will get out of this. I'm in Anafranil for over 30 years and I'm leaving. Any doubts more, ask me, I will answer if  Iknow . Do not be discouraged, go ahead. I'm doing the same wd to you and then we will help ourselves and help others. Hope for you. I hope I have helped you a little bit.I only know a little and bad English. Do your Anafranil is SR?

1.  1972 : Primeiro paniccrisis aguda de terror mental; Nenhum medicamento psicoativo por 14 anos.

2.  1986 : Anafranil (Clomipramine) 25 mg, 2 vezes ao dia (50 mg) e Valium (diazepam) 10mg (sem prescrição Doutor), 15/15 ou 20/20 dias sem regularidade.

3.  1996 : Percepção de confusão mental, leve tontura (ou desequilíbrio), medo de perder a cognição, diminuição da memória.

4.  2004  Tentativa de metade da dose, sem qualquer método knowhownorspecific.

5.  2012 : a retirada gradual, sem qualquer método específico nem control.Valium rígida e Anafranil por 6 meses. Eu estava feliz e normal. Após 6 meses, com alta tensão e com praticamente os mesmos sintomas: ataques menor de pânico, ansiedade, negativos e suicidethoughts, medo de executar tarefas profissionais, taquicardia, necessidades fisiológicas. Novo sintoma: agonia nas pernas nervespathand nenhum movimento nos membros inferiores.

6. 2012 : Reinício da Anafranil, 25 mg duas vezes por dia e Valium, 1 tabletwhen muito nervoso. Aliviada, mas com sintomas raros.

7. 2015  (julho) : me deparei com o SA, mas sem compreensão e começou a retirada: zumbido e outra noisessuch como faíscas como sons ofpeeled fios elétricos que tocam-se mais pânico crise quando vi minha mãe de 97 anos com alucinações Seroquel. Eu tinha mildpanic. Recuperação em dois meses, tomar remédios de homeopatia. Eu continuei tomando Anafranil, 25 mg uma vez por dia e 10 mg de Valium quando realmente necessário.

8. 2016 (Fevereiro) : Tomando remédios de homeopatia  Anafranil, 25mg  uma vez por dia e Valium, 5mg duas vezes por dia.

9. 2016 19 de maio : 12,5 mg duas vezes por dia ao acordar e ir para a cama, junto com Valium, 2,5 mg duas vezes por dia ao acordar e ir para a cama. 

10. 2016 Junho 20 th (ontem): crises de pânico leve, muito choro e medo de ter pânico 'autêntico', assim como há 30 anos. Tomei o Resgate Flor Bach chamado amigos, a cada 2 horas.Agora, Junho de 2016, eu estou me preparando para ir através da retirada seguindo o método que eu aprendi na SA.

 

 

  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

Hello birdie76, 

 

Welcome to SA!  scallywag has done a lovely job of getting you started.  Congratulations on tapering down to 50 mg Anafranil.  Though we don't have a Tips for Tapering Anafranil topic, I looked it up and Anafranil is soluble in water, so you could make a liquid if you chose. I don't have much to add to what scallywag has provided.  

 

Could you tell us when you take each of your meds?  Which med did you start with, and why was each other one added?  This helps us to understand your drug profile and how reducing one may affect you.  If Anafranil is sedating for you and helps with sleep, for instance, reducing it may lead to insomnia if not tapered slowly.

 

SG

Started ADs back around 1995 after bad break-up, starting with Prozac.  Switched to Wellbutrin, and then to Effexor in 2002
Effexor XR 2002-2014 up to 225 mg at one point, down to 37.5 mg towards end but back up to 75 mg in 2014; now realize I had W/D as I dropped down, memory very poor about history.  Extreme emotions, poor concentration as I stepped back down, didn't connect the dots!
Summer 2014 reduced to 0 very quickly, was sick of anhedonia/sexual dysfunction due to meds, depression never controlled if not worse. Didn't recognize WD since symptoms built slowly (thought I had ADD! and menopausal on top of it), starting with severe sweats, very bad cog-fog and memory issues, culminating in weight loss, severe anxiety and depression, panic, severe apathy and insomnia by eight months off.  Saw p-doc who put me on Remeron, increased from 7.5 mg/day to 37.5 mg by May 22, 2015; still doing very badly though able to sleep.

June 1. 2015 Reinstated Effexor XR 37.5 mg, Remeron dropped to 30 mg PM. Immediate relief of symptoms, like nothing had ever happened!  Joined SA and began on advice of friend who recognized it was WD all along! Began tapering in July 2015.

Been tapering both meds ever since, focusing on one more than the other or doing no more than 5% of each per month.

12 mg Effexor and 5.8 mg Remeron (mirtazapine SolTabs to make a solution with OraPlus) as of 5/4/2017 

Update 3/14/18: 2.9 mg Remeron and 6 mg Effexor; 6/10/18:  2.6 mg Remeron and 4.9 mg Effexor

 

My intro: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/9313-squirrellygirl-effexor-withdrawal-etc/page-2#entry196679

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use Privacy Policy