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Hi everybody, I am writing this post on behalf of my wife. Due to some possible withdrawal symptoms such as blurred vision and intense fatigue/drowsiness, my wife is currently unable to post herself. My wife was admitted to hospital in Jan 2023 for her first psychotic episode. During her stay in hospital, she took four anti-psychotic drugs (Olanzapine, Blonanserin, Haplodil Injection, Quetiapine) and three Benzodiazepines (Clonazepam, Brotizolam, Nitrazepam). A mix of up to seven psychotropic drugs kept my wife in bed all day. The psychiatrist here masks the side effects of antipsychotics such as Akathisia, Restless Legs and Drug-induced Parkinsonism by over-sedating and drowsiness. When she was discharged in February, she continued to take 10mg Olanzapine, 2mg Biperiden* as well as two Benzodiazepines (1mg Clonazepam and 0.25mg Brotizolam**). I found this forum because I am doing my best to help my wife get off (or reduce as much as possible) the psychotropic drugs she is currently taking. I cannot trust the Japanese psychiatrists who are so keen to use multiple benzodiazepines at the same time, and it is desperate that these drugs are even used just to prevent insomnia even though my wife doesn't have it. Since being discharged from hospital in Feb 22, we have been tapering the dose of Brotizolam and Clonazepam out of fear of using multiple benzodiazepines at the same time. We would like to stop the Brotizolam but keep the low dose of Clonazepam and wait for the status to stabilize before starting the Olanzapine taper. From March to April this year, the dose of Brotizolam was reduced from 0.25mg to 0.0625mg, the dose of Clonazepam was reduced from 1mg to 0.5mg and Olanzapine was always 10mg. On April 21, my wife's daily medication and supplements were as follows: 10:00 Vit C 250mg, Vit B-Complex***, Ginkgo biloba 60mg 13:00 Vit C 250mg, Vit B-Complex, Ginkgo biloba 60mg 18:30 Biperiden 1mg, Clonazepam 0.5mg, Vit E 400IU, Omega-3 1000mg 20:00 Olanzapine 10mg, Brotizolam 0.0625mg At that time, she was in a more stable state and although she had some symptoms of side effects of the medication, such as blurred vision, lack of concentration and poor short-term memory, they were all at an acceptable level and she was able to do simple light exercise every day. However, after this she experienced problems. From April 22 my wife stopped taking Brotizolam and reduced the dose of Biperiden from 1mg to 0.5mg on April 28. From April 28 till now, my wife's daily medication and supplements were as follows: 10:00 Vit C 250mg, Vit B-Complex, Ginkgo biloba 60mg 13:00 Vit C 250mg, Vit B-Complex, Ginkgo biloba 60mg 18:30 Biperiden 0.5mg, Clonazepam 0.5mg, Vit E 400IU, Omega-3 1000mg 20:00 Olanzapine 10mg Those days, April 24-30, were supposed to be her best days since her discharge from hospital. However, the situation began to turn bad on May 2 when she started to become extremely fatigued and drowsy. She goes to bed at 20:00 and struggles to get up at 10:00. Even after 13-14 hours of sleep she still felt tired, had no interest or motivation to do anything even talk to our children, and wanted to lie down during the day except to eat even though she could not fall asleep. It is usually at 17:00 that her energy returns a little and she gets up for dinner. She did not have insomnia at night but would have vivid dreams could describe the details of them when she woke up, sleep did not seem to give her brain any real rest. Although I kept holding her hands and hugging her to comfort her as much as possible, she felt overwhelmed with failure and powerlessness, she became very depressed and felt like a wreck, she was worried that her state would not improve and she was worried that she would not be able to return to work in 1 month (her sick leave was due to end in a month). This state of extreme fatigue continues to this day and the only good news is that apart from the fatigue she does not seem to have any other new noticeable withdrawal symptoms. Biperiden does not seem to have serious withdrawal symptoms (correct me if I'm wrong), it is anticholinergic medication that works to alleviate the Drug-induced Parkinsonism caused by Olanzapine, which were barely felt on the previous few dose reductions. Personally, we tend to think that it is mainly the withdrawal of Brotizolam that causes the intense fatigue, and that several Brotizolam reductions at the end of March similarly caused fatigue(slightly lighter than now), but it goes away after 2 days. Current questions: 1. Should I keep the status and be patient and wait for the withdrawal symptoms to go away? Still have 1 month of sick leave left. 2. Today is day 13 after Brotizolam withdrawal and day 4 of intense fatigue/drowsiness. If after 1 week there is still no improvement in status, should the dose of Brotizolam be resumed to 0.0625mg? or is it better to be resumed now? 3. Are there ways to reduce vivid dreams and improve the quality of sleep? 4. If Brotizolam is not resumed, what non-pharmacological methods are available to alleviate withdrawal symptom? I have searched and read some of the posts in the forum but they seem to be mainly for insomnia and anxiety, are there any methods and suggestions for fatigue relief? I wish I had found this place earlier, after reading some of the posts I realized that the Brotizolam was being tapered too quickly and that this was causing my wife's withdrawal symptoms. But it's all happened and it's no use regretting it and hopefully I can get some advice and help here to get things back on track from now on. A little help and advice would be great. Thank you for your help in advance! --------------------------- *Biperiden, sold under the brand name Akineton among others, is a medication used to treat Parkinson disease and certain drug-induced movement disorders. It is not recommended for tardive dyskinesias. Common side effects include blurred vision, dry mouth, sleepiness, constipation, and confusion. It should not be used in people with a bowel obstruction or glaucoma. Biperiden is in the anticholinergic family of medication. (From Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biperiden) **Brotizolam, (marketed under brand name Lendormin) is a sedative-hypnotic thienotriazolodiazepine drug which is a benzodiazepine analog. It possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, hypnotic, sedative and skeletal muscle relaxant properties, and is considered to be similar in effect to other short-acting hypnotic benzodiazepines such as triazolam or midazolam. It is used in the short-term treatment of severe insomnia. Brotizolam is a highly potent and short-acting hypnotic, with a typical dose ranging from 0.125 to 0.25 milligrams, which is rapidly eliminated with an average half-life of 4.4 hours (range 3.6–7.9 hours). (From Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotizolam) ***Vit B-Complex = B1 20mg, B2 15 mg, B6 15 mg, B12 10mcg, Niacin 20mg, Pantothenic Acid 20mg, Biotin 25mcg, Folate 100mcg, Inositol 25mg

Hello everyone. I want to quite meds, but I am not sure which drug I should taper first. Here’s the short history of my meds. I was put on drugs (ADs and neuroleptics) in March of 2017 during detox from alcohol. I had the acute withdrawal symptoms: tremors, agitation, suicidal thoughts etc. I was hospitalized and doctor prescribed me Tofisopam (Emandaxin, Grandaxin, Sériel), Carbamazepine and Phenibut. After 2 weeks I got worse and another doctor put me on Amitriptyline (1 tab - 25 mg – 3 times a day). My reaction was bad and after some time they changed it with Emoxypine and Sulpiridum (Sulpirid). After 7 days prescription was changed again. I was suggested to take Prozak (20 mg once a day). The reaction on Prozak was terrible (suicidal behavior, tremor etc.) and the doctor changed Prozak with Trittico (Trazadone) – 150 mg. Then Quetiapine was added. Lately – ¼ of Akineton (Biperiden) twice a day for controlling the side effects of neuroleptic (it helped a bit with tremor). Well, this is the story. I’d like to add that I had no idea about SSRI’s, neuroleptics and other psychotropic drugs, so I was taking them very carelessly. Tofisopam, Carbamazepine, Emoxypine, Sulpiridum, Prozak - all these drugs I stopped without tapering. Now I am taking: Trittico (Trazadone) – 150 mg Quetiapine – 25 mg (last week I decreased it from 50 mg) Akineton (Biperiden) - 1 mg I am suffering from severe agitation and tremors (it is a bit better after adding Akineton). Sometimes I am also feeling exhausted, dizzy. I was planning first to quit neuroleptic (Quetiapine), because of the risk profile. But it seems that Trazadone is the cause of agitation, which is disturbing me very much. What should I do now? Please, help me.