Greatful: Is this withdrawal or too many med changes at once?

[Greatful]

On 1/13/2024 at 9:12 AM, Greatful said:

Maybe this is it, I am the one that can heal from this"....

 

I guess most people figured out I meant " I am the one that can't heal from this"

 

On 1/13/2024 at 9:12 AM, Greatful said:

This is so inhumane and so uncompromisable to grasp the amount of misery these drugs can cause.   

 

I guess my I should check over my writing LOL  What is uncompromisable?  I meant to say say uncomprehensive.

 

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement.  I am sooooo worn out right now.  Maybe winter weather is not helping😓  I try to get out and walk but lately it's been very cold here...I bundled up today,  went for a walk...at least it was 10 degrees... not below 0 LOL.  

 

So should I say to myself wow Heidi you have 3 years in, that's  3 years of healing under your belt, that means your light at the end of this nightmare is right around the corner.... Or the tire out Heidi say how much more am I going to have to go through.  Man the brain sure has away of taking control and holding on to negative thoughts.  

 

Does anyone else have a hard time remembering what it was like to feel good, your brain working right, and being a part of life?  I get quick glimpses of feeling normal.  What I remember normal being LOL.. What I wouldn't give to go out for coffee with a friend and not feel fear, or just plain awful... 

 

I think we should start A/w/d (antidepressant withdrawal) chapters like AA. 

Maybe call it ABIND...Antidepressant & Benzo Induced Neurological Dysfunction.  I see it now...Several people sit around a table drinking tea, or decaf coffee, sharing stories, coping skills and most of all support and validation.  

 

Back to one day at a time, and making it to my pillow.🌞

Wouldn't it be great if we had a place to go and talk, listen and help each other on a weekly basis.

 

 

[Greatful]

@LotusRising  Are you the benzo helper now?  You changed your name....I know that you tapered off benzos.

Did you dry cut?  I am thinking about holding my lex taper and working on my Benzo....I am dry cutting now but was wondering if I should try liquid...I'm on Xanax,  is there a water solution for Xanax? I take it 3x a day and was wonder if I should do a small cut across the board.  I am at 0.042mg at each time....Could I go to 0.040mg?

My hubby does the cutting and it is getting hard to be consistant the lower it gets.   

 

Hat's off to you.  You are doing a great job moderating....Please take care of yourself.  We need you.

[LotusRising]

Hi @Greatful, 

 

Yes! I'm doing my best to fill the benzo helper shoes. Yep, I tapered off and am free and clear now  

 

You've made a ton of progress! Wow!

 

Just to be clear, your total dose is .042mg per day, or .042 3x/day.

 

 

[Greatful]

@LotusRising .042mg 3x/day.  

[LotusRising]

And you're wanting to do that with each dose?

 

If you want to decrease each dose to 0.040, that would be a total reduction of 0.006mg, which is roughly 4.7%, so that sounds reasonable to me. 

 

Are you getting the same math?

 

I switched to a compounded liquid almost immediately while I was tapering, but since I didn't taper the same benzo I'm not familiar with making a solution. I did find this topic in the benzo forum. If you scroll down, @Terry has some info about how they made their solution. You might reach out if you don't get the information you need from the topic.

 

 

Also, thank you for being so kind to me when I came to the forum ❤️ I was really struggling for a long time - I listened to the beautiful youtube music "relax" that you sent me endlessly, and I still pass it along to others. Thank you!

[Greatful]

Quick update

I broke my right arm up by my shoulder last Saturday.  Spent Sat. night at the hospital and had surgery Sunday morning to put a plate and skews in it.  I told them no benzo at the time of surgery.  Trying to manage the pain with Ibuprofen and Tylenol with a little oxy at night to sleep.  I had to sneak in my Lexapro and Xanax...   Way to hard to ask them to administer .15mg lex in the am and .1mg in the afternoon, let alone .042mg of Xanax 3 x a day.  I did tell them I was on them and tapering off.  The didn't really ask to much about it.  

 

 I bought Mark Horowitz and David Taylor's book " Deprescribing Guidelines "...  Just got it days before I broke my arm.......  for Lexapro he shows how to taper in % of receptor occupancy.  For my Lexapro Fast taper up to 9% sert, Moderate taper up to 5% sert. and Slower taper up to 3% sert.  Of course everyone will still have to listen to your body.  They have written a taper break down for Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids 

and Z drugs.   

 

Okay that's enough for now. Typing is not the easiest with a broken arm🙄

[Oaktree1]

3 hours ago, Greatful said:

I broke my right arm up by my shoulder last Saturday.  Spent Sat. night at the hospital and had surgery Sunday morning to put a plate and skews in it.  I told them no benzo at the time of surgery.  Trying to manage the pain with Ibuprofen and Tylenol with a little oxy at night to sleep.  I had to sneak in my Lexapro and Xanax...   Way to hard to ask them to administer .15mg lex in the am and .1mg in the afternoon, let alone .042mg of Xanax 3 x a day.  I did tell them I was on them and tapering off.  The didn't really ask to much about it.  

That's rotten luck Greatful - it must be awfully painful.   I know someone who broke her arm a few years ago and the main thing is as much rest as possible and try and keep it immobilized.  Very important to eat lots of protein too for repair apparently.  Still you didn't need that to happen on top of tapering.

 

The main thing is that fair dues to you you stuck up to the hospital staff and asked them for the reduced doses and they actually complied.  Something must be changing a bit.

 

I plan to purchase 'The Deprescribing guidelines' too.  It's expensive but for anyone tapering I think it's a must have book that can be flashed at ignorant and supercilious medical staff and other ignorant parties in one's life.

 

I hope you take the time to rest up and get over this.

 

Oaktree1

[Mia1]

@Greatful I’m so sorry to hear about your arm, I can’t imagine having to deal with surgery while going through this. How are you doing now? Where are you in terms of your tapering, are you starting to feel better? 
 

I’m thinking of you and sending you healing thoughts and prayers 💜🙏

[Ariel]

@Greatful

Hello, and so sorry to hear about your arm. That sounds painful and it must have been stressful to also have to think about protecting yourself from prescription mishaps at the same time. Good on you for having the presence of mind to stay on top of things like that and advocate for yourself. How  brave and strong and wise you are, and gosh look at how far you've come, your signature is a testament to your courage and tenacity! If I didn't know better I'd think you were bragging, haha 

Thinking of you and sending so much love, respect, admiration -- you're doing it!