Omorfi: Beginning withdrawals and afraid by xyprexa result

[Shep]

Hi, Omorfi. I moved your post here. Please remember there's only one Intro per customer.  This thread is where you can continue to post all of your updates and questions and have them in one place. 

 

Is this what you are currently taking?

 

3mg - Risperdol

450mg - Trileptal

600mg - Lithium

 

Are you off Wellbutrin now (it's listed in your signature at 150 mg)? When did you come off the steroid z-pack? I have a similar history of being polydrugged for many years, and I'm very sensitive to any type of steroid due to manic reactions, so I do understand these kinds of complications. 

 

Please give us an update of what you are taking now. 

[Omorfi]

Thank you for responding to me. As I am here for the support I am grateful you told me about your experience with steroids. 

 

The current drugs were correct. I am off of Wellbutrin and I am trying to avoid anti depressants like the plague. 

 

In October 2015 I had decided to titrate from the Trileptal I was on. I was on 900 mg of Lithium and I believe 350 of Trileptal. I was doing a slow taper and in January I had begun to feel a sort of relief from the fog of the medication. I began to feel myself again. And in that time I also moved into a new and lovely apartment that was very exciting to me. I began to feel closer to nature and closer to books and art. As an artist I felt relieved. I call this an "opening". My problem was that I started playing in this new space. I began drinking coffee, playing on facebook, smoking cigarettes, occasionally drinking and doing all the things I knew that I couldn't do anymore. Then I was hit with a terrible sinus infection that led me to coughing all night and losing that precious sleep. I was prescribed the Zpac in mid March and after 5 days I was over the top. I was hospitalized and highly medicated on Risperdol, 1200 mg of Lithium, and Seroquel. The Dr. that had prescribed these all to me soon lost his license in the weeks following. 

 

My Dr. agreed with coming down off the Risperdol but she went quickly that led me to have another manic episode. This Dr. diagnosed me as Schizphrenic which I am not and put me on 3mg Risperdol and 600 mg of Lithium. I suffered Akathesia with the Risperdol and again my doctor decided to put me on Trileptal in hopes of being able to safely get me off of the the Risperdol. 

 

Currently, I am having early morning anxiety. I wake around 5am (an hour earlier than I need to) and can't find sleep in a nap if I needed it during the day. I find myself extremely sensitive in sleep to sounds which I was not before. I feel also that I am flooded with Cortisol in the morning and the anxiety at this time is really uncomfortable. I find myself moody and not very hopeful. I am not connected to myself or my surroundings and have to really push myself to find hope. But, I do. I walk forward everyday because i know this can be done. I know I must change my lifestyle to give "ground and legs" to these great openings that I hope will occur again. 

[Altostrata]

A Z-pack is an antibiotic, not a steroid. But either can upset a nervous system that's been sensitized by going on and off drugs.

 

Omorfi, it's not clear what you are looking for here. If you have sleep problems related to going on and off drugs, see Important topics about symptoms, including sleep problems  and other topics in the Symptoms and Self-Care forum.

 

As your mentor may have observed, you need to learn consistency and keeping yourself stable. You are welcome to pop in here every 6 months or so, but we can't really help you with your drug cocktail and all the changes to it.

 

By the way, you've been on one antipsychotic or another for many years. These drugs are notorious for disrupting the insulin balance and causing weight gain, adding to the risk of diabetes. This is a serious adverse effect of the drugs. You need to discuss minimizing drugs with your doctors.

[Omorfi]

I have only been on Risperdol for a couple of months. I have gone from 3mg to 1.25 in about a month and a half. I have found it to be very tough even though I wasn't on it very long. Does anyone know if this is unusual? My doctor suggested a first that I go faster than I ended up going. She was surprised I was having a hard time with early morning awakening, anxiety, depersonalization and other factors. She put me on 450 mg of Trileptal in addition to the 600mg Lithium to stabilize me. These drugs don't seem to help with the withdrawal. 

 

I just need to hear I am not alone in this and that it will eventually go away. I know about going 10 percent and pausing if the symptoms are too aggressive. I had just hoped to be finished with this drug by now. 

[Altostrata]

Omorfi, I moved your post here.

 

I suggest you use site search in the Introductions forum and look for

 

Risperdal

 

or

 

risperidone

 

You will find others who have taken it. You can post your questions on their Intro topics.

[JanCarol]

Omorfi, you have been through so many drug changes since you have come here to SA.

 

Always you have submitted to doctors and their complex cocktails.

 

When you go to a doctor and complain, s/he will make changes.  It's what they do, what they are trained to do.  Doctors don't like feeling helpless - so - they DO something.

 

This action, always DOING something, every time you complain - has made you unstable, up and down, increased symptoms and generally messed up your life.

 

If you want to get your life back, you need to do a few things:

1.  Do not complain to Doctor every time your symptoms change.  Live with your symptoms, try to get stable.

2.  STAY on the SAME DOSE of the SAME DRUGS for at least 6 months to a year.  NO CHANGES.

3.  Learn how to live with your symptoms (see #1) so that you can stabilize.  

4.  Establish a non-drug practice, daily.  Maybe a few.  Maybe chi-gung every day, maybe something creative once a week, maybe something social once a week.  Consider these your non-drug prescriptions for wellness.  Establish the practice so that you are strong at it when the time comes that it is safe to taper again.  (HINT:  it is not safe to taper now)

 

You have had glimpses of the windows, the open landscape, the music, the art.  These things are waiting for you - but you need to stay stable before you will see these.

 

You are not alone.  I know many people - some here on SA, some in the "real world" who have been through what you are going through.  The diagnoses, the drugs, the changes, the cocktails, the hospitalizations, the "episodes" of extreme behaviour when in withdrawal, and then the resulting new diagnoses.  I've been through some of this myself.

 

Right now, you will be unable to tell what is withdrawal from your last drug change, and what is a side effect of the new drug.

 

If you put up with a year of numb, of bleak, of dark - and use this year to stabilize, you have hope for a lifetime of clarity, colors, music, and art.  But you have to stabilize before you can get well again.  And that means no drug changes, no quitting, no tapering, no changes at all, until you have achieved a steady state.  6 months to a year.  In the course of a lifetime, it is a small price to pay for freedom for the rest of your life.

[Omorfi]

I tapered from 3mg to .75mg in 2 and half months with little anxiety. Going from 1mg to .75 has left me in a constant state of fear and anxiety and I don't know what to do. It has been one week and I am exercising and practicing qi gong and yoga but I feel like I am dying. I read all the information that this is a side effect but how long will this last and what should I do? Do I go back up? I am lost. 

[SquirrellyGirl]

Hi Omorfi, 

 

I'm sorry you aren't feeling well on this last cut, but it was 25% which is rather large.  You've been tapering rapidly and gotten away with it thus far, but I think this is a sign that your speed has outpaced your nervous system's ability to keep up.

 

So, up-dose to 1.0 mg and stabilize there for a month, and reassess.  

 

It is much harder the lower you go on these meds.  Has to do with occupancy rates of receptors at the different dosages.  This paper is for SSRIs and an SNRI, but the graphs are a nice illustration of why it is so important to go slow, especially at the lower doses.  What I want you to see on the graphs is that at high doses, the curve flattens out; dosage increases don't lead to higher numbers of receptors being occupied by the drug (blocked).  But, as you drop below the minimum effective dose, receptors free up precipitously; small cuts lead to large numbers freeing up, and that leads to instability and symptoms.  Why taper?

 

Though the research hasn't been done for all the drugs as for this handful, I expect that the same pattern holds true and explains why so many people crash and burn at the low end of the taper.

 

So, hopefully you will feel better back at 1 mg, and once you are stable, please follow the 10% protocol, which will feel like forever but is the best chance for success.  

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

It is your choice to reinstate or not, but since you have gone rather aggressively, I think this is the best option, the other being to hold where you are at as long as it takes to be symptom-free before resuming with a 10% taper.  I can't say how long that will be.  If you want to try for that, you will want to look through the Symptoms and self-care forum and check out Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms.

 

Keep us posted :-)

SG

[SquirrellyGirl]

Omorfi, I moved your post from Tapering to your Intro because it is about your situation, not a general tapering question.  It is important to keep your history together for context.  

 

After i moved your post I read through your thread a bit to get a sense of where you've come from.  JC wrote back in May:  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6041-omorfi-beginning-withdrawals-and-afraid-by-xyprexa-result/?p=227079

 

You've continued on your way regardless of the guidance given here.  Please up-dose and stabilize, and hold for a good while.  It has been a bumpy year for you so far, and to have the best chance of success it would be best that you be a bit more patient and allow your nervous system to heal from all the changes before doing anything else.

 

SG

[Omorfi]

I thank you all for the advice. I didn't know to check back on this particular thread to find support. I see now. I will reinstate tonight for I want to go slow and be effective. My doctor had advised me to go much faster and I was going slower than her advise and see now that my body simply wasn't ready. I am now going through a change in work and this change is not helping the extreme state of nervousness and fear I am experiencing. Thank you so much for your help and words of wisdom. I will do just that. 

[Shep]

Hi, Omorfi. I'm glad you found out how to check back on this particular thread. 

 

To make it even easier, you can "follow" your thread: 

 

• Click on the box in the upper right corner that says "Follow this thread"
• In the dialog box that appears, click on "receive notification"
• Click on the button that says "follow this topic"

Then you will receive an email notification when someone replies to your topic. 

 

Please continue to give updates and make note of your symptoms.

 

 

[Omorfi]

I have had a much better time because I have decided not to withdrawal for four weeks or until completely stable. I have immersed myself in exercise, qi gong meditation and yoga. This seems to really calm my nervous system down. As well as reading some good Pema Chodron. I am writing because after a visit to my pdoc I am a bit confused. She knows I was suffering from my last cut that was too big (1mg-.75mg) but she recommended going on another drug to get me off the Risperdol. I calmly told her I was against adding something and I wanted to do what my research had found which is 10% every 4 weeks or so. She also said you could do ....one full dose one day and the next lower for two days, and then one full dose...                          This sounded really ridiculous to me and I decided to do what I know. Little baby cuts very slowly. 

 

I asked for the liquid and I need to find the smalleds ml liquid syringe. I will do the research to find one. 

 

Any feedback would be helpful. 

[scallywag]

Great work, Omorfi, standing up for yourself in your meeting with your doctor.  You're the one who lives 24 hrs/day with the consequences of her recommendations, you get to decide!

 

And finding ways to calm yourself will make a big difference for you as continue this process. What a wonderful update!