Thorin: withdrawal from Latuda

[Catina7]

1 hour ago, Thorin said:

If I’m lucky I’ll be off by the end of the year

 

That's great!  I'm actually doing pretty well with my slow 5% monthly taper.  Thank you for asking!  

 

Keep up the great work!  

[Thorin]

7 hours ago, Catina7 said:

 

That's great!  I'm actually doing pretty well with my slow 5% monthly taper.  Thank you for asking!  

 

Keep up the great work!  

That’s really good. I’m only tapering just a little more. This speed makes it much more achievable. Glad you’re doing well!

[Thorin]

Thought I’d check in. I don’t come to the site very often any more.

The benzo taper continues. A slow taper of about 5% a month. Still hoping that I’ll be able to speed it up again at some point but need to be gentle with my body as benzos are a different beast!

I’m symptomatic every day and have been since last year. I vary from stuck on the couch and not moving to being able to engage but feeling rough. There are no non-symptomatic days. I’ve made it down to 0.216mg which is a massive achievement. Some symptoms have stopped, and then returned but with less intensity. I’m sure this is a great sign that I’m healing and that eventually those symptoms will cycle away and not return. I have constant fatigue so haven’t been able to exercise in a few weeks. I think that’s starting to ease again and I hope to start some short jogging sessions again this week. I also joined the gym about 5 weeks ago but only went once then the fatigue hit. Keen to get into the gym properly. I have a lot of low level depersonalisation which is very common in Benzo withdrawal. Just means my sense of self and ability to connect with myself is really compromised. It can be disconcerting at times but doesn’t hurt me and will pass eventually. OCD symptoms are slowly easing which is so welcome. They’re still there but much less intense and I hope they disappear entirely in time. Plenty of rumination still happening. I’m often stuck in my head but am making efforts to bring myself back into my body, or at least out of my head whenever I remember.

My relationship with my son just gets better and better as I am able to connect emotionally with him better than I could before. He commented that I’m much less snappy and irritable than I used to be.

I’m very isolated from people (have been for a few years now actually, since I started this journey) but am making sporadic efforts to spend time with people. Not far from moving into my own house and am concerned that I’ll become even more isolated than I have been. It will require some effort from me to make sure that doesn’t happen. I have a big increase in social anxiety (common with Benzo withdrawal) but I also had social anxiety years ago so am not sure how I’ll land with that long term. In fact anxiety in general is brutal in Benzo withdrawal but has ease to day which is very welcome.

as always I hope you’re all doing well. We keep on pushing forward knowing that better days will come if we can just persevere to the end.

[Iliveinhope]

Hi Thorin

 

I’m new to this site and have read the majority of your posts over the years you’ve been on here. I can’t thank you enough for giving me the encouragement to try a taper down from my medication of Latuda! I’m currently back to 80mg. You’ve been so honest with your feelings and emotions of what you’ve been going through. I’m so happy for you that you’re in a better place for tapering down safely. I know my safe journey has just started as I was unaware of such tapering methods until recently. I had a really bad CT experience the second time but no real issues with the first one - I was not expecting the 2nd CT experience to be as bad as it was.
 

Can I ask what is your current dosage of Latuda and how are things now with your son and daughter?

[Thorin]

13 hours ago, Iliveinhope said:

Hi Thorin

 

I’m new to this site and have read the majority of your posts over the years you’ve been on here. I can’t thank you enough for giving me the encouragement to try a taper down from my medication of Latuda! I’m currently back to 80mg. You’ve been so honest with your feelings and emotions of what you’ve been going through. I’m so happy for you that you’re in a better place for tapering down safely. I know my safe journey has just started as I was unaware of such tapering methods until recently. I had a really bad CT experience the second time but no real issues with the first one - I was not expecting the 2nd CT experience to be as bad as it was.
 

Can I ask what is your current dosage of Latuda and how are things now with your son and daughter?

Hi, thanks for dropping by and commenting, I don’t come by very often anymore. For a good while I was on here constantly. Tapering your Latuda is definitely achievable! Congratulations on making the decision to get off! It took 10 months after my last dose change to heal to what felt close to 100%. It was incredibly difficult after having made so many mistakes. But the Latuda doesn’t bother me at all anymore. I still have 14mg to taper but I’m finishing off my Benzo taper at the moment and i’ll only taper one med at a time. Once I’m healed from the Benzo taper I’ll finish tapering the Latuda.

My kids are doing really well. My daughter is 18 and finishing her last year of school. She has a boyfriend and is enjoying life. My son’s doing amazingly well after his rough patch with some life difficulties. 
I’m now down to 0.2mg of clonazepam and this taper has been brutal. But I’m doing it. It’s has changed me, the difficulties I’ve faced coming off meds. But I’d say most of the changes are for the better. I’m not there yet, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel that I couldn’t see before….

I’m happy to keep in touch if you like. You’ve got this! The absolute main thing I’ve learned is slow and steady. If you feel you urgently need to change something to feel better. Don’t change your dose. If you’re struggling. Go slower for a while. Good luck!

[Iliveinhope]

Thanks for the advice - I’ve learnt that slow and steady is the way to go. Good to hear that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel 😀