21andMedicated Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 (edited) Hello all, I had a very traumatic childhood in which I was abused physically, verbally, and emotionally by my father. After graduating high school, I moved out of state in an attempt to save myself from being a victim any longer. About 6 months after I had moved out, I was at my breaking point. I had been going to my college's counseling center for 4 months, but only found myself feeling worse and worse. Here I am, 2.5 years later, and am on prozac, vyvanse, seroquel, and hydroxine. I want to begin tapering off of these meds, as I already know that my body has been damaged by them. In fact, the prozac has caused me to have scary thoughts, and in response today my doctor wanted to increase the prozac from 40 to 60 mg, reduce the seroquel, and start me on trazodone. I hate the way I feel on these medications and want to get of them, as they have made me into someone I am not. I feel very absent minded, now struggle immensely with schoolwork where I used to be in all advanced classes with a 4.0, and am unable to work as I have previously reached my breaking point when trying to work and go to school full time. I am engaged to a wonderful man who supports me in every way possible, and is ready to take on this journey with me to get off of these horrible medications so that we can live out our lives together. I am concerned about what may happen when I taper off, such as becoming unable to do my schoolwork at all (which has happened before and I had to take a year off of school), but do not want these medications to do more harm to my body than they already have. Edited July 17, 2017 by ChessieCat Added paragraphs Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus mammaP Posted July 18, 2017 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted July 18, 2017 Hi 21, welcome to SA. Congratulations on making the best decision you will ever make, it isn't easy to defy doctors and say no to the drugs they prescribe. This will be a long road for you with so many drugs but you will get to the end of that road one day and feel better than you imagined possible. I am so very sorry to read of the trauma in your childhood, too often we are medicated to deal with the effects of trauma instead of being taught how to work through it. I hope that you have found, or can find a really good counsellor you can relate to who can help you to deal with the emotions without resorting to more drugs. You do have to be careful in choosing a counsellor, some can make you feel even worse by making you relive the trauma. I went through this and it made me a hundred times worse, along with a cocktail of drugs. Then I tried CBT and it was really good for me. My counsellor was great, and we talked about the here and now, nit the past, and how to move on. Now to your drugs. Vyvanse is a stimulant, and prozac is activating, so 2 'accellerators' and 2 'brakes'. Your doctor wants to reduce one of the 'brakes', increase the 'accellerator' while adding yet another drug which causes agitation. If it were me I would leave the seroquel as it is and start to REDUCE the prozac because that is the one you feel is causing the most problems. I wouldn't touch trazodone! I put all the drugs that your doctor would have you take, including the trazodone, into the interactions checker and this is the report. It is shocking that doctors don't do this when prescribing drugs to patients! Don't panic when you read it, we can help you to reduce the drug load and get your brain back. https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1303-0,2228-0,1115-648,1979-1274,1475-2533 Now I will get you links to some topics that will help you to understand tapering and the need to take it slowly, together we will see you with a new brain that is functioning to full capacity . Taking multiple drugs http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2207-taking-multiple-psych-drugs-which-drug-to-taper-first/ As it seems Prozac is the one causing most problems for you Tapering prozac http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/759-tips-for-tapering-off-prozac-fluoxetine/ Why taper 10% It seems so slow but it is the safest way to taper without suffering withdrawal. Often people feel better as the dose lowers. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/759-tips-for-tapering-off-prozac-fluoxetine/ Finally it will help us if you fill in your signature with thr drugs you are taking, approximate start dates and current doses. You can find instructions here... http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/12364-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/ **I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge. Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem) 1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat 2002 effexor. Tapered March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads. Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013 Restarted taper Nov 2013 OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015 Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014 Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg July 2017 30mg. May 15 2018 25mg Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33 Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible Link to comment
nz11 Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 How are you doing these days 21andM We'd love to hear from you. We haven't heard from you since last year. Thought for the day: Lets stand up, and let’s speak out , together. G Olsen We have until the 14th. Feb 2018. URGENT REQUEST Please consider submitting for the petition on Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal currently awaiting its third consideration at the Scottish Parliament. You don't even have to be from Scotland. By clicking on the link below you can read some of the previous submissions but be warned many of them are quite harrowing. http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01651 Please tell them about your problems taking and withdrawing from antidepressants and/or benzos. Send by email to petitions@parliament.scot and quote PE01651 in the subject heading. Keep to a maximum of 3 sides of A4 and you can't name for legal reasons any doctor you have consulted. Tell them if you wish to remain anonymous. We need the numbers to help convince the committee members we are not isolated cases. You have until mid February. Thank you Recovering paxil addict None of the published articles shed light on what ssri's ... actually do or what their hazards might be. Healy 2013. This is so true, with anything you get on these drugs, dependance, tapering, withdrawal symptoms, side effects, just silent. And if there is something mentioned then their is a serious disconnect between what is said and reality! "Every time I read of a multi-person shooting, I always presume that person had just started a SSRI or had just stopped." Dr Mosher. Me too! Over two decades later, the number of antidepressant prescriptions a year is slightly more than the number of people in the Western world. Most (nine out of 10) prescriptions are for patients who faced difficulties on stopping, equating to about a tenth of the population. These patients are often advised to continue treatment because their difficulties indicate they need ongoing treatment, just as a person with diabetes needs insulin. Healy 2015 I believe the ssri era will soon stand as one of the most shameful in the history of medicine. Healy 2015 Let people help people ... in a natural, kind, non-addictive (and non-big pharma) way. J Broadley 2017 Link to comment
21andMedicated Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 Given that Seroquel is known to be more sedating at lower doses, how does one deal with the increased drowsiness and fatigue caused by tapering off this medicine? I'm currently stable at 98 mg (started at 100 mg) after starting the taper exactly 2 weeks ago, but already notice the increased sedative effect just from the 2% decrease. Thank you! Link to comment
21andMedicated Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 Hi, Thank you so much for reaching out. I've been MIA for quite some time as it's been a struggle inducing big problems. Long story short, I ended up starting on trazodone last August when I was at my witts end. I coped for some time until recently when I worked up the strength and mental prepared myself for the tapering process. Last year I was so concerned about finishing college in a set amount of time, but I've come to realize that my health is way more important than college right now. If it takes me an extra year to graduate, so be it. I am working with my GP, who is an osteopath, to start tapering off of meds. I was hospitalized 2 weeks ago for a bad med reaction, and during my hospital stay the psychiatrist there tried to put me on not 1, not 2, but 4 NEW MEDS which I refused. I'm tapering off Seroquel and trazodone right now with a 2% decrease. I've been stable for 2 weeks, but am going to wait another 2 weeks before making another reduction. The last 4 days I've felt absolutely fantastic. It's been really nice, but at the same time I'm dreading the end of this good mood. Thanks again for asking! Link to comment
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now