Dreamspinner

[Dreamspinner]

I just found this site through an article on a grassroots movement to help people taper their way off of antidepressants. I've been on meds off and on for some 39 years, running the gamut from Tofranil (caused hypomania) to a range of SSRIs and others. I currently take Cymbalta 40 mg. daily for depression and fibromyalgia, Wellbutrin 150 in an effort to both treat depression and to lose weight, and Trazodone 100 mg at night to help me sleep. When I've tried to slowly taper the Cymbalta, I found that along with other unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, my fibro pain cranked up. If I miss a dose for so much as half a day, the pain gets worse. Cutting down Trazodone keeps me from sleeping-heaven help me  if I miss taking it completely. Cutting back the Wellbutrin, the most recent of my meds, simply makes me feel lousy. That one no longer helps control my appetite, having been on it for maybe a year or so, and when I took it alone in the past, the antidepressant effect seemed to fail over time. Now might or might not be the best time for me to start tapering off of much, as I'm five weeks out from a total knee replacement and dealing with bilateral SI joint pain, as well as seasonal depression, situational depression (related to the recent pain and mobility issues), or both, but I'm tired of the emotional flatness and loss of creativity, not to mention total loss of libido and any interest in my husband. I recently decided to learn to draw and paint, and found that I'm not half bad at these. Sadly, the creativity that's always been one of my defining characteristics is so blunted that I have a hard time producing anything that's interesting enough to look at, much less work on. I see a mental health ARNP every three months, I think the next visit being in February, and would like to be able to work with him in tapering meds, but feel I need a lot more information before I approach the subject. I'm also a retired RN, so I have some rudimentary knowledge of meds biology. Thanks for letting me join this forum. 

[Gridley]

 

Welcome to SA, Dreamspinner.

 

To start, in order give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication history in a signature.   Include drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements in the last 12-24 months. Also include supplements. This will help us give you the most accurate advice we can. 

•  Any drugs and supplements prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years. 
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses. 
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs. 
• This is a direct link to your signature:  Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

We recommend tapering by no more than 10% of your current dose every four weeks.  Some members have to go more slowly.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Brain Remodelling 

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

We advise tapering only one drug at a time.  Otherwise, if a problem comes up, you won't know which taper is causing it.  We recommend tapering the more activating drug first, leaving the more sedating drug(s) until later to act as a buffer to help alleviate any withdrawal symptoms that may come up.  

 

Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first?

 

Wellbutrin is a very activating drug, and I would recommend that it would be the first drug to taper.

 

Tips for tapering off Wellbutrin, SR, XR, XL (buproprion)

 

You might consider waiting until after your knee surgery, which will be a stressful event, before beginning your taper.  

 

Please be aware that doctors, including psychiatrists, know very little about tapering and will invariably recommend a taper that is much too fast and can leave you with some very unpleasant and long-lasting withdrawal symptoms.

 

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Doctors generally don't believe in withdrawal from antidepressants or that is very short.  Unfortunately, we have learned that they are wrong.

 

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

 

This is your introductory topic where you can ask questions and post updates.

 

 

 

[Carmie]

Hi Dreamspinner, 

 

How are you doing?💚