dds: tapered zoloft, now tapering abilify

[dds]

Hello,

 

I have been on and off on medication since 2003, tried everything (Remeron, Seroquel, Zoloft, Abilify, XANAX ) :-) In the 2003 actually I was just chronically tired, worked too much, didn't had vacation for years, and my MD probably misunderstood my mental state and he gave me some small dose od AD ( I don't remember which medicine was that actually). But he didn't advised me about 'cold turkey' method which was direct way to hell for me. So things went better and after few months, I've quit  the medicine (I was OK, right? ;-) ) And then hell began. Went again to medications - quita again  'cold turkey' and finished year 2006 with hospitalization for 3 weeks (major depression and panic attacks). Since 2006 I was on cocktail of Zoloft and Abilify  (5 mg) which worked perfect for me.  I have disciplined myself, took every day my medication, no more stupid 'cold turkey' decisions! ;-)  I have gradually tapered my Zoloft dosage  (10 % every month) and I stopped with it 9 months ago. Since februar 2016 I started tapering Abilify (same strategy - 10 % less every month of dose, more of less ;-)). Now I am on 0.2 Ml dosage of Abilify.

 

Best regards,

 

dds

 

PS.

 

Word of advice from my personal experience: To be on sure side, never, never quit antidepressant drugs 'cold turkey' it will make your life miserable. I repeat: Never do that! Quit with "10 % less every month" rule!   Always talk with doctor about decision of quiting medicine..

 

[Petunia]

Welcome dds,

Thank you for joining and telling us about your successful tapering experiences. I'm sorry you had a difficult time before you learned how to do it properly, but it sounds like you're on the right track now.

 

What dose of Zoloft did you taper from? Did you experience any withdrawal symptoms as the dose got lower or after you stopped?

 

What  dose of Abilify were you were on? How are you feeling at the moment?

 

It would be great if you would put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature. Doing this helps people understand your context, it appears below each of your posts. Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

[bubble]

Welcome from me to dds.

 

I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. Your cases actually shows what we often see here: how psychiatric drugs turn people into severely disabled psychiatric patients

 

I'm happy to you learnt about the 10 % rule. But looking at the spped of your tapering I wonder if you are reducing by 10 % of your current dose (and not your initial dose). That's very important to avoid withdrawal symptoms you suffered from before.

 

In case you haven't checked this  thread: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/

 

In a nutshell, the 10% taper method recommends a 10% dosage reduction every 3-4 weeks, with the 10% calculated on the last dosage. The amount of decrease is proportionate to the dosage and keeps getting smaller.

 

​Best,

Bubble

[dds]

Hi Petunia,

 

Thank you for kind words. I forgot which dose of Zoloft was prescribed to me, I have appointment with my  MD 01.06 I will ask him for that. Withdrawal symptoms went only after I tottaly quit Zoloft. First,  it was like weak quite irritating electrical hits in brain (really difficult to describe exactly  - I am not native English)  very irritating and sometimes scary for me. Then after that went away,  I had very bad mood for couple of weeks , but fortunately this went away too. I started with Abilify 5 Mg in 2006 and I was since that year continued with same dosage until februar 2016. Only problem I have now is that I feel somehow dizzy sometimes.

 

 

 

Welcome dds,

Thank you for joining and telling us about your successful tapering experiences. I'm sorry you had a difficult time before you learned how to do it properly, but it sounds like you're on the right track now.

 

What dose of Zoloft did you taper from? Did you experience any withdrawal symptoms as the dose got lower or after you stopped?

 

What  dose of Abilify were you were on? How are you feeling at the moment?

 

It would be great if you would put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature. Doing this helps people understand your context, it appears below each of your posts. Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

[dds]

Hi Bubble!

 

Thank you for your observation of my tapering schedule.  Short term memory is very bad with anti psychotic drugs like Abilify, so I think you are right. I think I made terrible mistake with my tapering schedule. Hopefully I can save day and increase dosage (after talk with my MD 01.06 ) and then start after some time tapering again . My initial dose of Abilify in the beginning of february  was  5 ML.  So if we take 10 % from 5 Ml ):

 

 

End of February  ----->   4.5 Ml

End of March  --->  4.0 Ml

End of April  ---->  3.5 Ml

End of Maj  --->  3.0 Ml

End of June ---> 2.5 Ml

End of July   -->  2.0 Ml

End of August ---> 1.5 Ml

End of  September --> 1.0 Ml

End of October ----> 0.5 Ml

End  of November ----> 0.25  Ml

End of  December ----> 0.1 Ml

 

Too pedagogic I know, but is this schedule correct?

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome from me to dds.

 

I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. Your cases actually shows what we often see here: how psychiatric drugs turn people into severely disabled psychiatric patients

 

I'm happy to you learnt about the 10 % rule. But looking at the spped of your tapering I wonder if you are reducing by 10 % of your current dose (and not your initial dose). That's very important to avoid withdrawal symptoms you suffered from before.

 

In case you haven't checked this  thread: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/

 

In a nutshell, the 10% taper method recommends a 10% dosage reduction every 3-4 weeks, with the 10% calculated on the last dosage. The amount of decrease is proportionate to the dosage and keeps getting smaller.

 

​Best,

Bubble

[nz11]

Hi dds you just need to fine tune it a little more great effort though the key word in bubble's post is "calculated on the last dosage"

Essentially multiply the previous months dose by 0.9 to get the new months dose. The drops get smaller each time.

Your feb one is right but then the march one will need to be 4.1 (Rounded up (4.5 x 0.9) etc)

Here's the thing you will have to wait till the end of the 4 weeks before doing the next drop if and only if stable. So be open to the possibility of longer than 4 week holds.

Some are even going slower than the 10% taper rate.

 

So glad you found sa.

[dds]

Thank you for clarification NZ11. Do you think I should propose to my MD increasing of my daily dose? I felt dizzy since march at least 1x during day. I see that I had steep dive in tapering of my Abilify dose :-/  "Cold Turkey" method  took probably best part of last 13 years of my life...

 

Thanks.

[AliG]

Hello dds. Welcome . I'm sorry you've been through so much , but I think you have done so well and I'm glad you found your way here.  You will receive a lot of support, encouragement and information.  

Would you mind adding your drug history signature. It helps to see what your situation is at a glance.

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature

Ali

[dds]

Hello again :-)

 

 

I was on 0.2 ml dose after last post, and somehow I had strange stability problems once or twice during day, and my MD insisted that my Abilify dose is so low that "You can drop Abilify right now without any consequences" - but being smarter with advice from very helpful and experienced members hanging on this forum I insisted during discussion with him that I should increase dose back to 0.3 ml to see if these strange "stability" problems dissapear and thank god, they left me maybe 3-4 days after I increased dose to 0.3 ml . Now three months are passed with 0.3 ml without any problems, and now I want to continue tappering of my medicine, should I do that?

 

Thanks.

[scallywag]

When to make the next dose reduction is always up to you. If you're feeling well and your symptoms have stabilized, you could reduce your dose.  You might want to try a smaller cut than 10%, if you can measure that. A 10% cut would be 0.03 ml to take you to 0.27 ml.

[dds]

Started today with 0.27 ml, let's see how it goes :-)

[dds]

Hi,

 

Everything fine now, I want to continue tappering off, can somebody measure next 10 % for me of 0.27 ml..had problem to find correct dosage

 

Thanks in advance.

[scallywag]

As requested:

 

10% of 0.27 ml = 0.027 ml

0.27 - 0.027 = 0.243 ml

[dds]

Precisely Thanks a lot. Have great day

[dds]

Just to be sure for next leg of "tappering off"  journey ;-)  10 % of 0.243 is = 0.0243, then 0.243 - 0.0243 is 0.2187 ml.  So roughly  my next dose is 0.22 ml?  Thanks  :-)

[scallywag]

dds, your calculations are correct.

For quick dose reduction calculations, you may like the spreadsheet link in my signature. There are 3 tabs:
"standard," "microdose," and "assess_prev_cuts"

At your current dose, use the "microdose" tab.

[dds]

Thanks a lot. Have great day :-)

[dds]

Hi,

 

I was on 0.22Ml abilify, and I had burglary where my belongings where stolen and Abilify medicine was stolen too. I am in country where Abilify is not prescribed, and there was no way I will be back soon.

I stopped taking abilify couple of days before burglary and I think last dose of Abilify I took it was 28 days ago. I do not have any withdrawal sympthoms, what should I do?

[scallywag]

dds: What a rotten thing to have happen. I bet the thieves trashed the liquid Abilify once they learned it has little street value. It's unfortunate because it was very valuable to you.
 
Have a look at this symptoms list, there are several different download formats in the first post:
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list
 

Are you having any of those listed?

You've done a gradual taper to 0.22 ml. If you haven't had any symptoms since the theft, you may be okay with this forced cold-turkey. Keep monitoring your symptoms and let us know how you are doing.

 

It might be worth investigating a back-up plan: whether

• your doctor in your home country prescribe for you
  -- and --
• a friend or family member can pick up the prescription and send it to you.

[Lakelander82]

How long were you on Sertraline dds and at what dosage if you can remember?

[dds]

Tkank you for your kind words. I appreciate your advice :-)   Maybe I will be okay, I do not have any strange withdrawal symptoms, my doctor argumented some time ago that 0.22Ml dosis of Abilify  is so low, so it won't make any difference to stop after some time without additional tapering.  It's strange feeling, I am quite fine, I remember when I stopped with Zoloft after week and two I got strange "zapping" feeling in my head, and my mood was pretty bad for two weeks, and then everything dissapeared. And year later, I am not depressed anymore. :-) If we consider that Abilify stays in body up for 34 days, if withdrawals problems are in store for me, they will start  to appear now..

But let's be positive, everything will be fine :-)

 

 

 

dds: What a rotten thing to have happen. I bet the thieves trashed the liquid Abilify once they learned it has little street value. It's unfortunate because it was very valuable to you.
 
Have a look at this symptoms list, there are several different download formats in the first post:
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list
 

Are you having any of those listed?

You've done a gradual taper to 0.22 ml. If you haven't had any symptoms since the theft, you may be okay with this forced cold-turkey. Keep monitoring your symptoms and let us know how you are doing.

 

It might be worth investigating a back-up plan: whether

• your doctor in your home country prescribe for you
  -- and --
• a friend or family member can pick up the prescription and send it to you.

 

[dds]

How long were you on Sertraline dds and at what dosage if you can remember?

 

I was around 10 years on Sertraline, but dosage, alas  I cannot help you.  In my case combination Sertaline + Abilify was great memory killer :-/

[dds]

One additional Dummie question: If dosage of Abilify is low, it will sooner disappear from my body, or this depends on body methabolism?

[scallywag]

At low doses your body may be able to metabolize it more quickly. Usually studies on half-life are based on a "therapeutic dose."