ivans: Drug resistance and its consequences

[ivans]

Hi! I'm new here. And i want to share my story.

So it begins in 2008 when I was a kid. In this year I had to graduate middle school(9th grade in Latvia), but i started to have problems with my mood, anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I finished my class and that summer I ended up in a children's psychiatric hospital and was diagnosed there with OCD. I was on medication for a while, but then my dad told me not to take it. And I was free from psychotropic drugs from 2009 to 20012. But later in that year (2012) I went back to the psychiatrist. And got paranoid schizophrenia... but I only struggled with small depression and intrusive thoughts. From then till now I'm taking them on daily basis. There were times I tried to quit them, maybe 2-3 times dropping meds abruptly, which I thought was very brave but stupid action. And for the past two years I have felt that, the medication does not help me and they has no therapeutic effect at all. I have developed resistance to the point where I sleep at night time to time. Although I take quetiapine 150mg and Lorazepam(benzo) and Chlorprothixene 50mg at night. 

So tapering for me is now a vital question. Maybe I was misdiagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. When I went to the doctors, the only thing I complained about was bad mood and intrusive thoughts. Naturally I complained about other aspects that didn't matter as much. My first doctor and later most of the doctors I changed, as it seemed to me, in the measure of working skepticism, took the peculiarities of my character for a disease - schizophrenia. But I have not experienced auditory and visual hallucinations in my life. I am quite a calm and reasonable person, not conflictual. But the last 2 years of taking psychotropic drugs, I have a strong irritability and insomnia. Because of that, I had moments of short-period hallucinations. And now I'm in a very bad situation, often insomnia, feeling like I'm going crazy, no desire to do anything and depression. I would really like to get off these medications. But the doctors always shake their heads and don't let me get off, so it is difficult for me to solve the this problem.

And now i found this forum, now I'm a bit calmed down and motivated to learn about tapering. 
I am taking, Cariprazine 4.5mg, Quetiapine 150mg + 25mg, Chlorprothixene 50mg and Lorazepam 25mg.
I would like to know your opinion, is this drugs are kind of easy to get off? Or they are heavy? and how much time will it take to be free completely? 

Thanks!

Edited December 15, 2024 by Emonda
Name to title

[Jane318]

Greetings @ivans and welcome to SA.

 

So the moderators can best help you, please complete your drug signature by following these instructions. Adding a signature ensures your drug history appears at the bottom of every post, making it more efficient for those trying to assist. This link should go directly to your own signature: Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

I commend your desire to get of psychiatric medications, and you are in the right place to get the support to do so.  Unfortunately, your experience with doctors who are quick to assign a label and prescribe drugs is all too common. 

 

On 12/15/2024 at 4:04 AM, ivans said:

I would really like to get off these medications. But the doctors always shake their heads and don't let me get off, so it is difficult for me to solve the this problem.

Many or most doctors lack the knowledge to help people discontinue safely.  Further, prescribing drugs provide income for them - there is no financial benefit to helping people get off of them.  However, we have many members who have gotten off these and similar drugs.

 

On 12/15/2024 at 4:04 AM, ivans said:

I would like to know your opinion, is this drugs are kind of easy to get off? Or they are heavy?  and how much time will it take to be free completely?

Every person's experience is unique.   While some people can discontinue quickly, many cannot.  Here at SA, we recommend a slow, hyperbolic taper, which you can read about here:  Why taper by 10% of my dosage?   With multiple drugs, think in terms of years.  Those that taper too quickly often develop very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. This Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms (PDF) is a helpful summary of what many experience.

 

Given your history with multiple drugs over several years with several sudden stops, it will be especially important for you to taper sufficiently slowly to keep withdrawal symptoms in check.  With a hyperbolic taper, the reductions are based on the prior dose and so get smaller and smaller each month, for example: 10mg, 9mg, 8.1mg, 7.3mg etc. Importantly, if you develop unpleasant side effects from tapering, halt the taper, give yourself time to settle, and once stable, taper more slowly and by smaller amounts moving forward. The experience of others suggests that the lower you go in dose, the slower you need to go with tapering

 

 

Are you taking any other medications? If you are taking more than one medication, there may be interactions between them, which your doctor is unaware of, these may be adding to your symptoms. Please put ALL the drugs you take in the drugs.com Drug Interactions Checker at:

Drug Interactions Checker

You may post the results here in your thread.

 

Here are some important links for you to read as you prepare to taper - let us know your questions after you have read this material:

Before you begin tapering - what you need to know

DO NOT START TAPERING if ...

 

Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first

Important topics in the Tapering forum and FAQ  

Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine)

 

It is extremely important that you start working on some non-drug coping mechanisms early in your journey, in order to maximize your chances of getting off of these drugs and staying off of them for good!  We have many threads on how to cope with symptoms – I encourage you to check out the various forums / links on the SA.org home page.

 

We do encourage people who are tapering to avoid caffeine, alcohol, and recreational drugs.  Many prescription and OTC drugs can cause problems too and should be avoided as much as possible. 

 

To look for information on any topic of interest to you, you can click through the topics listed on the home, browse the various forums (menu at top), or use the search function: https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/search/

 

This is your introduction topic.  Each member gets one intro topic- please post updates and questions here, in this thread.

 

Again, welcome to SA.  I look forward to following your journey, and helping out in any way I can.