panther771: Hello - starting my taper

[panther771]

Hello all,

 

This is not my first taper, I have been on and off pharmaceuticals for a while now. I know I need some meds, but I have been over-prescribed and I don't know why I keep going to the doctor, he keeps messing with my prescription again and again. 

I am currently taking Sertraline, Lithium, Risperidone, Lamotrigine and (Clonazepam+Zolpidem for sleep)

Right now, I only wish to taper off Lithium and Risperidone. 

I tried cold turkey, and the first few days were hell, I was anxious, euphoric sometimes, confused(mental fog), couldn't sleep. For me, the worst symptom of any withdrawal is the sleep deprivation.

I have now restarted both lithium and risperidone at half the dose, of what I was taking before. I guess, there a downregulation of dopamine and glutamate receptors. So, the abrupt withdrawal explains the super sensitivity and the experienced symptoms. 

I am gonna see, how I respond to reduced dosage. From what I have read about Lithium, it is recommended to gradually taper for at least 4 weeks, so that's what I am trying to do.

About the dosage, I can only do half. Pills I have are not dividable. no access to liquid solutions. No pharmacists here. I am from a sh*tty country.

So, That's it. If anyone has any input, I would really appreciate it.

[DataGuy]

Hi @panther771,

 

I think you did the right thing by reinstating half the dose. How long were you off before you reinstated the drugs? Are your symptoms much improved? 

 

Usually withdrawal from antipsychotics like risperidone is characterized by the symptoms you described, as well as a few others, explained here by Chouinard: Antipsychotic-induced Dopamine Supersensitivity Psychosis. It can last for weeks, months, or even years. Generally tapering the drugs slowly reduces the severity and length of the impairment and limits the damage.

 

What dosage were you on when you cold-turkeyed? Can you obtain lower doses than the one you currently have? It would be very helpful if you could create a drug history in your signature like this one. This link will take you directly to the signature. Signatures generally look like this: 

 

Example:

2001–2002 paroxetine 
2003  citalopram 
2004  paroxetine
2008  paroxetine slow taper down to 2016 Aug off paroxetine
2016  citalopram May 20mg  Oct slow taper down
2018  citalopram 13 Feb 4.6mg 15 Mar 4.4mg 29 Apr 4.2mg

 

This will allow any moderator or member to quickly see your history and where you are in your taper, and thus be able to help more easily without too much reading (most people here are volunteers and have other jobs).

 

I would suggest reading our topic Why Taper By 10% for your risperidone / lithium tapers. Tapering slowly helps minimize both symptoms and symptom severity, ensuring you can remain functional while you get off the drug. Reducing more quickly than 10% can be too fast for many people, and as you get to lower doses you may want to slow the reduction even further, since receptor occupancy of these drugs tends to decrease more rapidly at lower doses. Here are specific tips for tapering risperidone and lithium. It's recommended that you only taper one drug at once, since withdrawal symptoms from different drugs can be similar and tapering more than one may make determining the source of your symptoms more difficult. 

 

In the meantime, you might find some of these non drug coping techniques helpful to ease your symptoms. Hope you are recovering ok from your CT : )

[panther771]

@DataGuy Hi, Thank you for the response and tips.

I was taking 800mg Lithium, and 1mg Risperidone. Risperidone can be cut in half, so, that's what I am doing now. I can't go any lower, the pill is very small.

I am taking Lithium SR, although there are no lines on it, it can be cut, any way you want, but, it wouldn't be very accurate, I mean into 4 quarters, so I guess, 100mg per quarter(400mg tablet). Assuming, each quarter has equal proportions of lithium.

The first day, I cold-turkeyed, I had trouble sleeping, then it got worse, I noticed extreme confusion while driving, so I got scared, around 72 hours after cold-turkeying, I woke up in the middle of the night, with stiff muscles, I panicked, and re-instated. I believe, I am better than before, but it's only been 2 days since reinstating...I am keeping a log of the symptoms.

I will go through the guides you provided. Thank you.
 

[DazzlingCold]

Im not a moderator here, but want to share something. I didn’t read this at the beginning and I really think its all very important…

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forum/2-read-this-first/ 

 

Best of luck. We came to the right place to start this journey. Welcome

[DataGuy]

14 hours ago, panther771 said:

@DataGuy Hi, Thank you for the response and tips.

I was taking 800mg Lithium, and 1mg Risperidone. Risperidone can be cut in half, so, that's what I am doing now. I can't go any lower, the pill is very small.

I am taking Lithium SR, although there are no lines on it, it can be cut, any way you want, but, it wouldn't be very accurate, I mean into 4 quarters, so I guess, 100mg per quarter(400mg tablet). Assuming, each quarter has equal proportions of lithium.

The first day, I cold-turkeyed, I had trouble sleeping, then it got worse, I noticed extreme confusion while driving, so I got scared, around 72 hours after cold-turkeying, I woke up in the middle of the night, with stiff muscles, I panicked, and re-instated. I believe, I am better than before, but it's only been 2 days since reinstating...I am keeping a log of the symptoms.

I will go through the guides you provided. Thank you.
 

 

You're welcome @panther771,

 

Was just looking at the available dosages of Risperidone and it seems it does come in 0.25mg tablets. Maybe you could get the doctor to prescribe those? Would make tapering a bit easier. You'll also note from the Risperdal tapering guide that you can cut up or crush the pills and use a digital scale to get an accurate weight for tapering. Withdrawal symptoms from large reductions can be pretty rough and can last quite a long time, so this is definitely worth looking into. 

 

Excellent that you are keeping a log of symptoms. Important to have something like that to refer back to if you need it. 

[panther771]

@DataGuy Unfortunately, in my country, the lowest available dose is 1mg...which can be cut in half...so, can't go any lower than 0.5, I guess...However, I just checked, liquid solutions and suspensions are available at 1mg/ml...I don't know, how I will measure 0.25mg...Syringes, maybe...

[panther771]

I think 0.5 cc is 0.5 ml...So, Insulin syringes might work...I am not sure...

[ChessieCat]

29 minutes ago, panther771 said:

I think 0.5 cc is 0.5 ml...So, Insulin syringes might work...I am not sure...

 

Yes this is correct.

 

From https://www.convertunits.com/from/cc/to/ml

 

1 cc to ml = 1 ml

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