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  • Administrator
Posted (edited)

This is a support site. When you registered on this site, you agreed to our Rules and guidelines. These are in place to foster a safe, healthy online community.

 

While other forum sites may permit some aggressive behaviors, we do not. Our members are already experiencing an unfortunate amount of stress.

We understand you may be angry, anxious, or dwelling on self-harm due to your own condition. We'll give you some latitude and pointers about your behavior in personal messages. But if you cross the line 4 times, you will be banned from the site.

Moderators may ask you to reword, or they may remove offending posts or topics.

The warning system
This site is equipped with a warning system for use by the moderators. (In your Profile area, you can see your warning points. Only you and the mods can see this.)

 

The mods may or may not give you a verbal warning first without a warning point. If you go ahead and do the thing you've been warned about, you'll get a warning point, up to 4 warning points.

If you get 4 warning points, you will be banned automatically.

What will get you warned
Here are a few things that may get you warnings:

- Arguing with a moderator or the administrator in a topic or in a PM. You may present your case reasonably; take care about your tone. Once you get a decision, accept it gracefully. Mistakes may be made, give us the benefit of the doubt, we're trying to keep the peace for the greater good. (It is never a good idea to get on the wrong side of an administrator or moderator.)

 

We also take a dim view of Internet lawyers who use "free speech" defense when warned by staff. On any Web site, you publish with the consent of the site owner. The site owner can withhold this consent for any reason. If you want to say whatever you wish, start your own site. Please do not waste your time and that of the staff by presenting this invalid argument.

- Attacking another member in a topic. Disagreements must be civil. No ad hominems -- per Wikipedia: "... an attempt to link the truth of a claim to a negative characteristic or belief of the person advocating it...." See more about Abusive ad hominem.

If you argue with or attack an administrator or moderator, or attack another member, your posts may be put on indefinite review. They will need approval by an admin or mod before they are published.

- Harassing or stalking another member.

- Recruiting your friends to gang up on a member. This is also known as a pile-on.
 
- Racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, or other hate speech.

 

- Graphic descriptions of sexual organs or functioning. This is offensive to some of our members and not appropriate for this site.
 
- Working against yourself or causing your own problems. Since 2011, we have seen many people come here with self-designed drug regimens or other practices that are in themselves problematic, such as taking supplements or high doses of benzodiazepines that are causing unpleasant symptoms. If you not willing to review or change those practices, we may not be able to help you.

 

- Asking for support for many self-generated emergencies. While we are sympathetic to people in distress, we're only a peer support site and we cannot do anything for people who are in the habit of self-harming in any way, be it via alcohol, risky or antisocial behavior, avoidable hospitalizations, irresponsible use of drugs, avoidable accidents, fights, or threats of suicide.
 
We have seen that going on and off additional psychiatric drugs can worsen adverse effects, including withdrawal symptoms. If you add drugs and have an adverse effect, you will need to discuss it with the prescribing doctor -- we won't be able to help you. (If you feel you need continued drug treatment, your needs may be better met on forums such as depressionforums.org  or patientslikeme.com.)
 
If you find you are somehow involved in frequent emergencies, please seek face-to-face counseling. As emergencies can be upsetting to other members of the community, if you frequently report emergencies that you might have avoided, you will be asked to leave -- your needs are beyond the capabilities of online peer support.

 

Also, discussions of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), other organizations of this nature, or encouraging others to suicide are not allowed on this site. This creates undue distress for our members and burnout for our volunteer staff. 
 
(Please read For those who are feeling desperate or suicidal )
 
(If your life is currently chaotic, this would be a very bad time to go off psychiatric drugs. Withdrawal symptoms may very well add to the complications in your life. Not being able to focus on careful tapering can be dangerous.)

 

- Overuse of tagging to get reassurance from the staff

Please be aware that the staff is all unpaid volunteers, who often have worries, jobs, families, and health issues of their own. While we do our best to help, none of them can fulfill the role of therapist or social worker. You cannot expect them to fulfill your emotional needs. 

 

If you want to go off psychiatric drugs, you must learn to manage habits of mind that might have led you to seek psychiatric treatment originally. These habits of mind may include: Irrational worrying, health anxiety, perseveration (repeating the same thing over and over again), rumination, inability to make decisions, needing constant reassurance, chronic pessimism, chronic hostility, finding fault with everything.

 

These habits of mind might have caused you a great deal of distress in your life, as well as causing distress to your family, friends, and employers, who may have urged you to seek psychiatric treatment. While we are sympathetic to the pain these problems have caused you, there is no way around your responsibility. If necessary, you may need to engage the services of a psychotherapist or other counselor to learn those self-management skills.

 

The staff here cannot meet the emotional needs that overwhelmed your family, friends, and employers, and it is unfair and exploitative of you to expect them to.

 

If a staff member communicates to you that you are wearing them out, please do not continue to demand their attention. We require you to respect the time, and dedication of the staff and limit tagging them to important questions about tapering or withdrawal symptoms.

 

Be mindful not to exhaust the patience of a volunteer staff member. They may refuse to respond to your posts. They are people too, and too much can be too much.

 

If your demands for attention are extreme or if you overuse tagging, you may get warnings and eventually be banned from this site.

 

- Being uncooperative, specifically, not keeping notes and reporting your symptom pattern when requested to do so.

Keeping daily notes of your symptoms, when you take your drugs, and their dosages is quite simple. In many situations, particularly when you're taking multiple drugs, we need this information to tell if a drug is causing an adverse reaction or if an adjustment is working.

 

If, after requested, you avoid doing this, we can't help you. If you persist in withholding this essential information, you may receive more than one warning point, up to being banned from the site (4 warning points).

 

- Taking over someone's Introductions topic or Success Story to make it about your concerns

To get support from staff here, we ask each member to open an Introductions topic to discuss their specific situation. The owner of the Introductions topic is encouraged to post questions there, get answers and support from staff and other members, and look back on the Intro topic as a record of their progress. It is like an ongoing, first-person case history.

 

It's one thing to emphathize with any member here and share your experiences and opinions, but it's another thing to take over someone's Intro topic or Success Story and make it All About You. This is selfish and disrespectful to the owner of the topic. It also can obscure the owner's need for information and support.

 

If you do this persistently, you may earn a warning point. Post about your concerns in your own Introductions topic.
 
- Using all capital letters in posts.
On the Internet, the use of ALL CAPITALS to communicate is interpreted as shouting. Posts entirely in capital letters irritate the moderators and will not get you extraordinary attention, if that is your purpose.
 
Moderators will hide posts that are entirely in all caps. If you persist in using all caps, you may get warnings. Upon the 4th warning, you will be banned.
 
Please keep this a civil community. Use your inside voice instead of all caps.

 

- Aggressively advocating religious practices
Our members come from all over the world, of all faiths, religions, and age groups. We support the private pursuit of religious or spiritual support, but caution members against promoting a particular religious practice in contexts where this might offend others.

The Finding Meaning forum is the appropriate venue for expressions of personal religious beliefs. Rather than proselytizing throughout the site, you may be asked to maintain one topic in the Finding Meaning forum where you can answer questions about your faith.
 
- Offering psychiatric or  psychotherapeutic care without a publicly displayed license. If you are a licensed physician, therapist, or social worker and want to risk your license to offer such services gratis here, you must post your license number in your signature. You will need to take sole responsibility for what you post as advice. SurvivingAntidepressants.org will not take responsibility for your advice and will not assist you should you meet legal challenges.
 
- Drug shopping or recommending drugs
This is a site for going off drugs. It is not a site for finding out what drug to take next, comparing drug cocktails, or recommending what drug to add. This could be dangerous. People could be hurt by your advice.

 

We do not recommend experimenting with ketamine, psilocybin, hallucinogenics, adaptogenics, psychoactive herbs, or any gray-market drug. You never know exactly what you're getting and results are unpredictable even in people whose nervous systems have not been compromised by adverse drug reactions.

 

If your nervous system has been sensitized by adverse effects from psychiatric drugs (or street drugs) or withdrawal, , you could make yourself a lot worse by experimenting with hallucinogenics, etc., and the only remedy is to cope with your symptoms until they go away. We don't have any magic potions for you.

 

Try such substances at your own risk. If you take street drugs or gray-market drugs and have an adverse reaction, we may not be able to provide you support as you recover and may ask you to leave SurvivingAntidepressants.org.

 
(We do not know of any drugs or drug combination that will fix withdrawal syndrome. Reinstatement of the original drug, often at a low dose, sometimes helps and sometimes does not.)

 

For the safety of our members, we cannot permit people to give irresponsible drug advice on this site. If you get a warning for this, please take it to heart.

 

  • If you feel you must tell a member to seek help from a physician, please specify the physician. Most likely, the member has joined this site because of lack of success finding a knowledgeable doctor.
  • If you believe taking  psychiatric drugs will help a particular member, please specify drug and dosage. Take responsibility for your advice.

 

If you cannot do this, don't tell people to take more drugs. They don't know what to take and neither do their doctors. I and the staff here on SurvivingAntidepressants.org don't know, either.


We not not provide unpaid volunteer advice about adding drugs to your existing psychiatric drug regimen. We don't mix, augment, or tweak drug cocktails. There are paid professionals called psychiatrists who provide such advice. If your doctor cannot answer your questions about drugs they recommend for you, you might reconsider taking advice from this doctor.

 

If you want to talk about your diagnoses and adding to your drug cocktail or balancing it, there are other support sites for this, such as http://DepressionForums.org or http://PatientsLikeMe.com.

- Insisting on nonsense about the causes of so-called psychiatric disorders and withdrawal syndrome. You'll need to do a lot of reading and credible citations to come up with original plausible theories.

Red flags for nonsense often found in pop psychiatry:

  • Reliance on the "chemical imbalance" theory or that mental disorders are due to some kind of neurotransmitter deficiency.
  • Claims that mood disorders are "brain disease,""diseased nerve pathways,""damaged signaling" etc.
  • Reliance on neuroimaging or brain scans.
  • Assigning specific functions to specific neurotransmitters ("dopamine is responsible for pleasure"). All neurotransmitters are multifunction; normal functioning depends on their all operating together.
  • Making sweeping generalizations about "depression." One huge problem in psychiatry research is that there is no one definition of "depression" and studies use different measures for it.
  • Publication in biological psychiatry journals.
  • More to come, I'm sure.

The "chemical imbalance" or "serotonin deficiency" theories for mood disorders, which were in vogue for about 20 years, have been disavowed by medicine. There never was any basis for this. If a doctor tells you that is the reason for your distress, the doctor is wrong, misinformed, or not being straightforward with you.
 
This is also true of alternative or "natural" practitioners. The "chemical imbalance" theory is invalid wherever it pops up.
 
The "chemical imbalance" theory or its variants does not bear discussing any more than does a theory that says the sun revolves around the earth. It is a waste of time. This site will not add to the dissemination of this misinformation. Credulous discussion of such will be discouraged.
 
See Again, chemical imbalance is a myth. Stop the lies, please. and Ronald Pies says doctors tell patients the "chemical imbalance" lie as a favor
 

Edited by KenA
updated

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • 4 months later...
  • Administrator
Posted (edited)

What will get you banned right away
- Spamming the site with commercial messages or posts in which you are promoting something that brings profit to you. (You may mention your site, blog, or book in your signature.)

- Attacking a moderator or administrator in a topic, including rudeness, sarcasm, and talking back. This undermines the community and will not be tolerated. This site cannot be all things to all members. You'll have to trust the staff's decisions.
 
If you disagree with a member of the staff, the appropriate action is to open a polite dialog in a personal message. Haranguing or grandstanding about a staff decision in public is uncivil, disrespectful, and will not be tolerated.

- Aggressively promoting or defending psychiatry, or ridiculing the concept of withdrawal syndrome. This upsets the members, who have experienced injury from psychiatrists and psychiatric medications.

- Having multiple identities, playing manipulative games, and not being a candid, sincere contributor to the community. This also applies to trolls. If anyone thinks another member is a troll, please pm me or let me know in e-mail.

- Registering with a phony e-mail. The admin gets the bounce messages. You can't get away with this.
 

Edited by Altostrata
updated

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • 3 years later...
  • Member
Posted (edited)

At the bottom of every page on this site is a link to the Site Guidelines. Cussin' is in there:

 

"You agree that you will not post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law, on this site."

 

The filter sometimes falls asleep but that is no excuse. Language can have a bit of  'color', I sometimes use asterisks deliberately or some other cleaner phrase for a cuss word. But don't try to evade the filter by using spaces or other tactics. And the use of alternate spellings for the 'f word' to me is just plain tacky. People in wd are often very sensitive and words like that can be very jarring. Even the misspelled ones.

 

(It is interesting how the elements on a web page are totally ignored if they are in a pale, muted font color. Like we never focus on the 'wallpaper' anymore.)

 

You get warned well in advance before you are banned. Unless you do one of the biggies above.

 

And here, a site search brought up a 'venting thread'. We here at SA aim to please. Your cussing can go there. I hope the filter is awake if you do.

Edited by cymbaltawithdrawal5600
added link to 'venting thread'

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

I just posted something then wondered if it was okay if I did it.  Forgive me for bothering you all, brain isn't keeping up with what I am doing.

 

I just put up a link to a site where many books are uploaded (and the authors paid for this; not illegal uploads) where there's a free month trial period, then it costs per month (I don't know how it works, I *think* though that you can use the month trial and not sign up.  )

 

I don't work for this company, and they do pay the authors, it's bascially like a digital library..Just put it up as they had a book btdt mentioned and she said she didn't have the $ for it.

 

Is that violating any rules?

 

I tried to remove it in case it was but my edit time had elapsed.

 

Sorry again, the post is in the Chronic Fatigue thread if you need to look at it. 

I am not a medical professional and nothing I say is a medical opinion or meant to be medical advice, please seek a competent and trusted medical professional to consult for all medical decisions.

 

Posted

I hope that didn't fall under the spam rule as I honestly just wasn't thinking clearly when I put it up, and was trying to help her out.

 

The post is here if you need to look at it:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6329-chronic-fatigue-prozac/page-2#entry121752

I am not a medical professional and nothing I say is a medical opinion or meant to be medical advice, please seek a competent and trusted medical professional to consult for all medical decisions.

 

  • Member
Posted

Not the same thing, US, as you are not profiting from the link. No worries.

What happened and how I arrived here: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4243-cymbaltawithdrawal5600-introduction/#entry50878

 

July 2016 I have decided to leave my story here at SA unfinished. I have left my contact information in my profile for anyone who wishes to talk to me. I have a posting history spanning nearly 4 years and 3000+ posts all over the site.

 

Thank you to all who participated in my recovery. I'll miss talking to you but know that I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines, suffering and rejoicing with you in spirit, as you go on in your journey.

  • 4 months later...
  • Administrator
Posted

Added

 

- Racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, or other hate speech.

 

to what will get you warned or banned.

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • 3 months later...
  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

This site is here to provide support and advice to people suffering from withdrawal or tapering psychotropic drugs. It is very structured and that is so that people who view the site can find information on the subjects relating to withdrawal and tapering. The introductions forum is there for members to log their progress and also as case studies for medical and psychiatric professionals to see the affects that the drugs have on people.  There are rules in place that have been set to keep the site informative and professional.  Respect for those rules is all that Admin ask of members. 

**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    :D 

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

 

 

  • 1 year later...
Posted

- Insisting on nonsense about the causes of so-called psychiatric disorders and withdrawal syndrome. You'll need to do a lot of reading and credible citations to come up with original plausible theories.

Red flags for nonsense often found in pop psychiatry:

  • Reliance on the "chemical imbalance" theory or that mental disorders are due to some kind of neurotransmitter deficiency.
  • Claims that mood disorders are "brain disease,""diseased nerve pathways,""damaged signaling" etc.
  • Reliance on neuroimaging or brain scans.
  • Assigning specific functions to specific neurotransmitters ("dopamine is responsible for pleasure"). All neurotransmitters are multifunction; normal functioning depends on their all operating together.
  • Making sweeping generalizations about "depression." One huge problem in psychiatry research is that there is no one definition of "depression" and studies use different measures for it.
  • Publication in biological psychiatry journals.
  • More to come, I'm sure.

The "chemical imbalance" or "serotonin deficiency" theories for mood disorders, which were in vogue for about 20 years, have been disavowed by medicine. There never was any basis for this. If a doctor tells you that is the reason for your distress, the doctor is wrong, misinformed, or not being straightforward with you.

 

This is also true of alternative or "natural" practitioners. The "chemical imbalance" theory is invalid wherever it pops up.

 

The "chemical imbalance" theory or its variants does not bear discussing any more than does a theory that says the sun revolves around the earth. It is a waste of time. This site will not add to the dissemination of this misinformation. Expect credulous discussion of such to be discouraged on this site.

 

See Again, chemical imbalance is a myth. Stop the lies, please. and Ronald Pies says doctors tell patients the "chemical imbalance" lie as a favor

 

 

I don't think it's fair that talking about chemical imbalance or biological causes of mental illness should get a person warning points or banned.  The majority of people out there, including mental health professionals still believe that a "chemical imbalance" in the brain is responsible for mental illness.  This concept is still alive and well embedded in our culture. There are still tons of commercials on TV for antidepressants that allude to neurotransmitter imbalances.   So while you say that the chemical imbalance theory was popular 20 years ago, to me it still seems quite popular and prevalent.

 

Maybe well inside the industry doctors or researchers know that this theory never had any scientific evidence, but most people don't know this at all.  The average person wouldn't  know or understand what you have against biopsychiatry or brain scans.  I certainly know very little on this topic.  I would lean towards believing brain scans, because there's so much talk of them in the media. Doctors such as Dr. Amen have PBS shows and TED talks about brain scans as the definitive scientific tool.

What I'm saying is, that most of us don't know that the stuff you consider "nonsense" is nonsense, especially since there are tons of articles, lectures, books, etc. by doctors who tell us otherwise.  I think this is a very important topic and maybe should be pinned for all newcomers to see and understand why you believe and what evidence exists (or doesn't exist) that the above is nonsense.  

I read a lot, and I still don't have a complete understanding as to why people who are anti-psychiatry recognize mental illnesses as illnesses at all. 

2005-2008: Effexor; 1/2008 Tapered 3 months, then quit. 7/2008-2009 Reinstated Effexor (crying spells at start of new job.)
2009-3/2013: Switched to Pristiq 50 mg then 100 mg
3/2013: Switched to Lexapro 10mg. Cut down to 5 mg. CT for 2 weeks then reinstated for 6 weeks
8/2013-8/2014: Tapering Lexapro (Lots of withdrawal symptoms)
11/2014 -8/2015: Developed severe insomnia and uncontrollable daily crying spells
12/2014-6/2015: Tried Ambien, Klonopin, Ativan, Lunesta, Sonata, Trazadone, Seroquel, Rameron, Gabapentin - Developed Anxiety disorder, PTSD, and Psychogenic Myoclonus
7/2015-1/2016: Reinstated Lexapro 2 mg (mild improvement, but crying spells still present)

1/2016-5/2017: Lexapro 5 mg ( helped a lot, but poor stress tolerance & depressive episodes)

5/20/2017 - Raised dose to Lexapro 10 mg due to lingering depression(Total of 2 failed tapers & severe PAWS)

9/11/2018 - Present: Still on 10 mg Lexapro and mostly recovered.(Anxiety still triggers Myoclonus.)

10/7/2022 - 20 mg Lexapro (brand only) Plus occasional Klonopin for anxiety and Ambien for insomnia.

 

  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

Lilu,

 

The key word in the text you've quoted is "Insisting." Just mentioning the theory doesn't result in a warning point. Such a post is likely to get a reply with a gentle comment that the hypothesis was based on weak evidence and has long been discredited.

 

Being insistent about the truth of the theory and/or arguing with moderators about the validity of the theory and/or similar comments are behaviours that prompt warning and banning.

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

  • Administrator
Posted

Lilu, you've been at this for years. Please stop it.

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

Posted

Lilu, you've been at this for years. Please stop it.

Alto, I respect you a lot. I respect and promote this site everywhere I can. Honestly.  But I run into so much opposition, and feel helpless to change people's ignorance on the subject. The only reason why I said what I said above, is because of my question here:

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4291-again-chemical-imbalance-is-a-myth-stop-the-lies-please/?p=288786

2005-2008: Effexor; 1/2008 Tapered 3 months, then quit. 7/2008-2009 Reinstated Effexor (crying spells at start of new job.)
2009-3/2013: Switched to Pristiq 50 mg then 100 mg
3/2013: Switched to Lexapro 10mg. Cut down to 5 mg. CT for 2 weeks then reinstated for 6 weeks
8/2013-8/2014: Tapering Lexapro (Lots of withdrawal symptoms)
11/2014 -8/2015: Developed severe insomnia and uncontrollable daily crying spells
12/2014-6/2015: Tried Ambien, Klonopin, Ativan, Lunesta, Sonata, Trazadone, Seroquel, Rameron, Gabapentin - Developed Anxiety disorder, PTSD, and Psychogenic Myoclonus
7/2015-1/2016: Reinstated Lexapro 2 mg (mild improvement, but crying spells still present)

1/2016-5/2017: Lexapro 5 mg ( helped a lot, but poor stress tolerance & depressive episodes)

5/20/2017 - Raised dose to Lexapro 10 mg due to lingering depression(Total of 2 failed tapers & severe PAWS)

9/11/2018 - Present: Still on 10 mg Lexapro and mostly recovered.(Anxiety still triggers Myoclonus.)

10/7/2022 - 20 mg Lexapro (brand only) Plus occasional Klonopin for anxiety and Ambien for insomnia.

 

  • Administrator
Posted

Lilu, your question is answered sufficiently in http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4291-again-chemical-imbalance-is-a-myth-stop-the-lies-please/

 

We discourage such "debate" here because it's a waste of time. You're right, many people believe in the "chemical imbalance" theory. There is no reason to fight that war over and over on this site. It's an unnecessary burden for the moderators.

 

If a person has to believe in the "chemical imbalance" theory, that person can go elsewhere.

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • Administrator
Posted (edited)

New grounds for warnings, both added to post #1 in this topic:

 

- Being uncooperative, specifically, not keeping notes and reporting your symptom pattern when requested to do so.

Keeping daily notes of your symptoms, when you take your drugs, and their dosages is quite simple. In many situations, particularly when you're taking multiple drugs, we need this information to tell if a drug is causing an adverse reaction or if an adjustment is working.

 

If, after requested, you avoid doing this, we can't help you. If you persist in withholding this essential information, you may receive more than one warning point, up to being banned from the site (4 warning points).

 

- Taking over someone's Introductions topic to make it about your concerns

To get support from staff here, we ask each member to open an Introductions topic to discuss their specific situation. They owner of the Introductions topic is encouraged to post questions there, get answers and support from staff and other members, and look back on the Intro topic as a record of their progress. It is like an ongoing, first-person case history.

 

It's one thing to emphathize with any member here and share your experiences and opinions, but it's another thing to take over someone's Intro topic and make it All About You. This is selfish and disrespectful to the owner of the topic. It also can obscure the owner's need for information and support.

 

If you do this persistently, you may earn a warning point. Post about your concerns in your own Introductions topic.

 

 

Also updated

- Drug shopping or recommending drugs
This is a site for going off drugs. It is not a site for finding out what drug to take next, comparing drug cocktails, or recommending what drug to add. This could be dangerous. People could be hurt by your advice.
 
(We do not know of any drugs or drug combination that will fix withdrawal syndrome. Reinstatement of the original drug, often at a low dose, sometimes helps and sometimes does not.)

 

If you feel you must tell a member to seek help from a physician, please specify the physician. Most likely, the member has joined this site because of lack of success finding a knowledgeable doctor.

 

If you believe taking  psychiatric drugs will help a particular member, please specify drug and dosage. Take responsibility for your advice. If you cannot do this, don't tell people to take more drugs. They don't know what to take and neither do their doctors. I and the staff here on SurvivingAntidepressants.org don't know, either.

 

For the safety of our members, we cannot permit people to give irresponsible drug advice on this site. If you get a warning for this, please take it to heart.

 
If you want to discuss your diagnoses and talk about adding to your drug cocktail, there are other support sites for this, such as http://DepressionForums.org or http://PatientsLikeMe.com.

Edited by Altostrata
added recommending drugs

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • ChessieCat pinned this topic
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

@Altostrata I read the rules, and I'm wondering if  you are saying that mental disorders don't exist. Or are you saying there are no physiological causes of mental disorders? Or are you saying that mental disorders are real but their causes are unknown and its pointless to try and guess or have discussions?

-On SSRI since April 2006.
-December 2007: SSRI discontinuation and withdrawal start.
-February 2008: SSRI reinstatement... improvement, yet withdrawal symptoms remains to this day.
-Currently taking: 16mg Citalopram, 1mg Risperidone (for insomnia).
-Current issues: obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), insomnia, exaggerated physical symptoms of anxiety, muscle fatigue, weight gain, high prolactin/low testosterone

  • Administrator
Posted

Not sure where you're seeing this in the rules.

 

We don't entertain discussion of the "chemical imbalance" theory because it's a crock and a waste of time to repeatedly debunk it. It's like a flat Earth theory. If you would like to discuss this superstition, please do it elsewhere.

 

Can't deny that stuff does happen in people's heads, that would be mental, correct? Whether it's normal or a disorder is a judgment call. For the most part, we do not make such judgments. In terms of going off drugs, psychiatric diagnoses, which are often wrong anyway, are not very meaningful. If you're willing to take responsibility for whatever symptoms you might experience off drugs, we'll support you going off. If you don't want to go off, or only partly reduce your drugs, we'll support that, too.

 

If you want to think of yourself as mentally ill or having a mental disorder, that's your own choice, we don't diagnose. We do not provide treatment or support for "mental illness" beyond recommending self-help techniques and, on occasion, urging people who appear to be in intense distress to seek face-to-face help from a psychotherapist or other helping professional. We do this because, as an Internet community, we cannot provide immediate close personal attention ourselves.

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

Posted

Thank you altostrata. You explained that well and I agree that the chemical imbalance theory is an outdated theory that, once SSRIs are banned, will become as void as the humeral theory was back in olden times (balances of black bile, yellow bile etc cause different "temperaments" within people). Also, the term "mental illness" only recently came into use when people started "treating" people who have similar clusters of "symptoms" (or personality treats, temperaments) with drugs. So we can call it whatever we want but I personally don't see how there could be an "illness" within someone, despite how much emotional pain they may be in or if they are hearing voices etc, if it doesn't kill people and isn't spread by a virus, bacteria, or parasite and canNOT be treated by medicine. Talk and cognitive behavioral therapy have been shown to help people and actually change the brains of people who are "mentally ill." So with the exception of schizophrenics (those who are schizophrenic NOT from the usage of other medications as some psychiatric drugs can cause those symptoms in people), I'd say mental/emotional problems (not going to call them illnesses) can be treated/helped by therapy with the exception of some severe genetic differences in people who hear voices etc. But antipsychotics also damage the brain significantly so I would rather die than take one of those even if I was hearing voices (which can be spurred on by stressful life events, lack of sleep etc.). I am not a doctor nor am I a mental health professional. These are my opinions.

Zoloft 50 mg from April 23, 2015 to August 28th, 2016 (1 year, 4 months).

4 week taper. Last dose on August 28, 2016

 

Mianserin 30 mg in an attempt to reverse PSSD from September 6th, 2017–around mid November 2017 after a few week taper. Did not fix PSSD

 

Currently taking: Melatonin and magnesium every night.

  • Administrator
Posted

Thanks, potions, that was well put.

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

Posted
On 6/15/2011 at 11:45 AM, Altostrata said:

We do not know of any drugs or drug combination that will fix withdrawal syndrome. Reinstatement of the original drug, often at a low dose, sometimes helps and sometimes does not.

 

Thanks. Pretty much answers pretty much all of my questions! There is so much information here, and I really appreciate it. Feeling trusting of your information. Thanks.

ancient hx: started anti-depressant 1991

drug hx: venlafaxine 150 mgs since ~2000

taper: Mar. 9, 2018 to 100 mg.; Mar. 24, 2018 to ~75 mg.

  • Altostrata unpinned this topic
  • Administrator
Posted

I want to bring this addition to everyone's attention. The tagging function is relatively new. Please do not overuse it, the staff (which includes me) needs time to have their own lives.

 

On 6/15/2011 at 11:45 AM, Altostrata said:

- Overuse of tagging to get reassurance from the staff

Please be aware that the staff is all unpaid volunteers, who often have worries, jobs, families, and health issues of their own. While we do our best to help, none of them can fulfill the role of therapist or social worker. You cannot expect them to fulfill your emotional needs. 

 

If you want to go off psychiatric drugs, you must learn to manage habits of mind that might have led you to seek psychiatric treatment originally. These habits of mind may include: Irrational worrying, health anxiety, perseveration (repeating the same thing over and over again), rumination, inability to make decisions, needing constant reassurance, chronic pessimism, chronic hostility, finding fault with everything.

 

These habits of mind might have caused you a great deal of distress in your life, as well as causing distress to your family, friends, and employers, who may have urged you to seek psychiatric treatment. While we are sympathetic to the pain these problems have caused you, there is no way around your responsibility. If necessary, you may need to engage the services of a psychotherapist or other counselor to learn those self-management skills.

 

The staff here cannot meet the emotional needs that overwhelmed your family, friends, and employers, and it is unfair and exploitative of you to expect them to.

 

If a staff member communicates to you that you are wearing them out, please do not continue to demand their attention. We require you to respect the time, and dedication of the staff and limit tagging them to important questions about tapering or withdrawal symptoms.

 

Be mindful not to exhaust the patience of a volunteer staff member. They may refuse to respond to your posts. They are people too, and too much can be too much.

 

If your demands for attention are extreme or if you overuse tagging, you may get warnings and eventually be banned from this site.

 

 

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • Administrator
Posted

Added another basis for a warning:

 

Quote

- Graphic descriptions of sexual organs or functioning. This is offensive to some of our members and not appropriate for this site.

 

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • getofflex pinned this topic
  • Administrator
Posted

Added to post #1:

 

- Working against yourself or causing your own problems. Since 2011, we have seen many people come here with self-designed drug regimens or other practices that are in themselves problematic, such as taking supplements or high doses of benzodiazepines that are causing unpleasant symptoms. If you not willing to review or change those practices, we may not be able to help you.

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • Administrator
Posted

Updated post #1:

 

On 6/15/2011 at 11:45 AM, Altostrata said:

We not not provide unpaid volunteer advice about adding drugs to your existing psychiatric drug regimen. We don't mix, augment, or tweak drug cocktails. There are paid professionals called psychiatrists who provide such advice. If your doctor cannot answer your questions about drugs they recommend for you, you might reconsider taking advice from this doctor.

 

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

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

I just got warned because I posted natural supplements that are supposed to be a huge help. They said it was spamming. Could I please get an explanation. Thank you!

fluoxetine since 13 (2012) with a break (maybe about 1 year) at some point in there. 

When I came off I was on 80 mg. I cut out one dose a week.

Last dose taken on 1/25/23

Reinstated 1 milligram April 24th, 2023

Dropped to 0.9 around 5/09/24

Dropped to 0.83 on 6/17/24

Dropped to 0.79 on 7/25/24

Dropped to 0.75 on 8/27/24

Dropped to 0.675 on 9/30/24

Currently taking super food, zinc, varies tinctures, magnesium, iodine, nectar brand electrolytes. 

Psalm 46:1-3

 

  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

It was a specific product with a specific link, and a discount code connected to you.  That's "sales," or promotion, not just recommendation.  I could've posted my iHerb code a decade ago and made some benefit for myself by "selling" to SA members.  It's not done here.  

 

Also, you established a new thread for one product, creating work for moderators (when we have many discussions of gut health  elsewhere).

 

Looking at the product itself, it appears to be an extremely expensive combination of fruits - that could be managed by simply eating well.  Additionally, combinations are not always good, because if you react to something - was it the pomegranate?  Or the guayusa (which is a caffeinated beverage, btw)?

 

You don't have any points against you, just a warning about posting commercial products.

 

 

"Easy, easy - just go easy and you'll finish." - Hawaiian Kapuna

 

Holding is hard work, holding is a blessing. Give your brain time to heal before you try again.

 

My suggestions are not medical advice, you are in charge of your own medical choices.

 

A lifetime of being prescribed antidepressants that caused problems (30 years in total). At age 35 flipped to "bipolar," but was not diagnosed for 5 years. Started my journey in Midwest United States. Crossed the Pacific for love and hope; currently living in Australia.   CT Seroquel 25 mg some time in 2013.   Tapered Reboxetine 4 mg Oct 2013 to Sept 2014 = GONE (3 years on Reboxetine).     Tapered Lithium 900 to 475 MG (alternating with the SNRI) Jan 2014 - Nov 2014, tapered Lithium 475 mg Jan 2015 -  Feb 2016 = GONE (10 years  on Lithium).  Many mistakes in dry cutting dosages were made.


The tedious thread (my intro):  JanCarol ☼ Reboxetine first, then Lithium

The happy thread (my success story):  JanCarol - Undiagnosed  Off all bipolar drugs

My own blog:  https://shamanexplorations.com/shamans-blog/

 

 

I have been psych drug FREE since 1 Feb 2016!

Posted

I didn’t realize that we weren’t supposed to post links, but it seems like people need to hear about this amazing company… There are a couple people that have went off of antidepressants that I know of so this stuff is super helpful. And it is expensive but the quality is amazing. It also isn’t just fruits… its probiotic as well… and it’s not the same as just eating well because it is certain particular plants that people don’t generally cosume in their diet! I guess I didn’t realize we couldn’t post links.

fluoxetine since 13 (2012) with a break (maybe about 1 year) at some point in there. 

When I came off I was on 80 mg. I cut out one dose a week.

Last dose taken on 1/25/23

Reinstated 1 milligram April 24th, 2023

Dropped to 0.9 around 5/09/24

Dropped to 0.83 on 6/17/24

Dropped to 0.79 on 7/25/24

Dropped to 0.75 on 8/27/24

Dropped to 0.675 on 9/30/24

Currently taking super food, zinc, varies tinctures, magnesium, iodine, nectar brand electrolytes. 

Psalm 46:1-3

 

Posted

also I was confused by this website and didn’t know how to put the info on a previous thread so that’s why I started a new!

fluoxetine since 13 (2012) with a break (maybe about 1 year) at some point in there. 

When I came off I was on 80 mg. I cut out one dose a week.

Last dose taken on 1/25/23

Reinstated 1 milligram April 24th, 2023

Dropped to 0.9 around 5/09/24

Dropped to 0.83 on 6/17/24

Dropped to 0.79 on 7/25/24

Dropped to 0.75 on 8/27/24

Dropped to 0.675 on 9/30/24

Currently taking super food, zinc, varies tinctures, magnesium, iodine, nectar brand electrolytes. 

Psalm 46:1-3

 

  • Moderator Emeritus
Posted

Added to post #1:

 

Also, discussions of Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), other organizations of this nature, or encouraging others to suicide are not allowed on this site. This creates undue distress for our members and burnout for our volunteer staff. 

 

 

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