Gibson527: Thinking I will just "cold turkey" it.

[Gibson527]

New here. I've been on multiple Antidepressant's over the last 5 years for major depressive disorder. I now believe I should have never been put on them in the first place! My husband died in 2010 and not surprising I had a hard time with this life change. I was 35 at the time with a 6 and 2 yr old. Went to a psychiatrist and that got me on the psych med train. So here I am now wanting off all of it. I just recently quit taking Concerta and Ritalin. I'll admit I miss it, but I can't look back now. I'm currently on the following:

Citalopram 40mg

Wellbutrin 300 mg

Fetzima 80 mg

I'm trying to get my dr to help me taper, however I'm feeling like she is blowing me off with the hopes that I will change my mind. My last appointment she talked me into a script for vynase. I decided not to fill it and emailed her the next day, no response. Emailed again a couple days ago, still no response. I guess I'm going to have to make another appointment.

I am so annoyed and so very tempted to just cold turkey it. I tell myself just how bad can it be? So I'll feel sick and probably feel anxious and depressed. Well I already feel anxious and depressed so what's the difference. I would just really like to know who I am again without chemical influence. I'm scared of failing and being on these freaking drugs the rest of my life. All that being said, any advice on which one to work on first? Or just taper them all together?

[dreamspirit]

Hello, welcome! Someone will be by shortly to help you...

 

My husband is on Fetzima too.. 20mg for 2 years now. He hasn't said he has a desire to taper off yet.. I've been on paxil for 19 years.. will be starting a taper soon..

I'm so sorry to hear about your husband..

 

Hugs!!

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Gibson.

 

Please do not cold turkey off anything, that can create much, much worse problems. Did you get any withdrawal symptoms from going off Concerta and Ritalin? When did you last take them?

 

What is your current daily symptom pattern?

 

Please put ALL the drugs you take in the Drug Interactions Checker http://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html and copy and paste the results in this topic.
 

You have been taking a lot of drugs. In my opinion, your psychiatrist is a drug pusher. I would not take any new prescriptions from this person.

[Gibson527]

I'll post the drug interactions when I'm on a computer, can't copy it for some reason right now.

I last took Concerta/Ritalin on October 15th. Due to being mailed a lower dose by accident, I kinda tapered down and then ran out and only took Ritalin a couple of days. Yes I think I've had withdrawal, mainly insomnia and extreme irriatiblity. Of course I'm tired now and can't think straight, both of which the stimulants "fixed."

As far as daily symptoms, I'm honestly not sure. I've only recently become more self aware. I think I'm more like a robot going through the motions. I don't think I'm capable of much emotion other than rage/anger. For years I've blamed this on my "illness", but now I think it's all these damn drugs making me insane. I can't even remember the last time I really cried, these drugs rob you of that emotion. And through all this I can't honestly say my depression and anxiety is under control and I firmly believe now it is Because of the meds. I can't stand the thought of a slow taper, I'm disgusted every morning now when I take these meds. I wish I would have been more strong when I talked to my dr. on the 15th, but I'm weak and let her steer me other directions. I think I've relied on her guidance too much these 5 years. I had a short time of alcohol abuse and she helped me with that, gave me drugs of course, but nonetheless I got myself straight and don't drink anymore. I've always felt like she wanted to help me and has seemed to understand me. I've trusted her and now I just feel hurt. When I think about it, the drugs I stopped taking previously Klonopin and Abilify wasn't because she recommended I stop its because I decided to stop. Well I actually still take Klonopin on occasion, but not that often. I guess I'm going to have to go see her again to get help tapering down, but I'm afraid she won't help me. I'm also afraid of telling her how I feel about all these drugs now and all that I've read. I don't imagine I would receive a favorable response. I've become obsessed with coming off everything this past week. Trying to read anything I can. Glad I found this site.

[ChessieCat]

Hi Gibson,

 

Have you checked out The Icarus Project?  It might help you decide on what to do.  Good luck.

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/207-icarus-project-harm-reduction-guide-to-coming-off-psychiatric-drugs/

 

ChessieCat

[nz11]

I tell myself just how bad can it be? So I'll feel sick and probably feel anxious and depressed. Well I already feel anxious and depressed so what's the difference.

If you CT i can tell you now that things may be bad real bad....galaxies worse than you could ever imagine.

It may put you to a hospital... or worse.

 

Never heard of this fetzima before so googled it and oh my goodness ...its an SNRI .!!! These prescribing pharma bonuses must be something else cos i cant honestly  see how anyone with a heart for healthcare could do this to people.

Thats 3 antidepressants!!! at the same time.

 

ill do the drug checker...

Later...well here we go..

.....................................//......................................

Interactions between your selected drugs
Major
bupropion citalopram

Applies to: Wellbutrin (bupropion), citalopram

Talk to your doctor before using buPROPion together with citalopram. Combining these medications may increase the risk of seizures, which may occur rarely with either medication. In addition, buPROPion can increase the blood levels of citalopram, which may increase other side effects. You may be more likely to experience seizures with these medications if you are elderly, undergoing alcohol or drug withdrawal, have a history of seizures, or have a condition affecting the central nervous system such as a brain tumor or head trauma. Your doctor may be able to prescribe alternatives that do not interact, or you may need a dose adjustment or more frequent monitoring by your doctor to safely use both medications. You should avoid or limit the use of alcohol during treatment. It is important to tell your doctor about all other medications you use, including vitamins and herbs. Do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor.

 

Major
bupropion levomilnacipran

Applies to: Wellbutrin (bupropion), Fetzima (levomilnacipran)

BuPROPion may cause seizures, especially at higher dosages, and combining it with other medications that can also cause seizures such as levomilnacipran may increase that risk. The interaction may be more likely if you are elderly, undergoing alcohol or drug withdrawal, have a history of seizures, or have a condition affecting the central nervous system such as a brain tumor or head trauma. You should avoid or limit the use of alcohol while being treated with these medications. Also avoid driving or operating hazardous machinery until you know how the medications affect you. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. It is important to tell your doctor about all other medications you use, including vitamins and herbs. Do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor.

 

Major
citalopram levomilnacipran

Applies to: citalopram, Fetzima (levomilnacipran)

Using citalopram together with levomilnacipran can increase the risk of a rare but serious condition called the serotonin syndrome, which may include symptoms such as confusion, hallucination, seizure, extreme changes in blood pressure, increased heart rate, fever, excessive sweating, shivering or shaking, blurred vision, muscle spasm or stiffness, tremor, incoordination, stomach cramp, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Severe cases may result in coma and even death. You should seek immediate medical attention if you experience these symptoms while taking the medications. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. Your doctor may already be aware of the risks, but has determined that this is the best course of treatment for you and has taken appropriate precautions and is monitoring you closely for any potential complications. [This is just cow manure sentences, no doctor is monitoring anyone closely they dont have a clue and this doc isnt even replying to emails!!] It is important to tell your doctor about all other medications you use, including vitamins and herbs. Do not stop using any medications without first talking to your doctor.

 

 

Other drugs that your selected drugs interact with

    citalopram interacts with more than 500 other drugs.
    Fetzima (levomilnacipran) interacts with more than 200 other drugs.
    Wellbutrin (bupropion) interacts with more than 300 other drugs.

 

 

Therapeutic duplication

The recommended maximum number of medicines in the 'antidepressants' category to be taken concurrently is usually one. Your list includes three medicines belonging to the 'antidepressants' category:

    citalopram
    levomilnacipran (active ingredient in Fetzima)
    bupropion (active ingredient in Wellbutrin)

Note: The benefits of taking this combination of medicines may outweigh any risks associated with therapeutic duplication. This information does not take the place of talking to your doctor. Always check with your healthcare provider to determine if any adjustments to your medications are needed.

.........................................................//..........................................

I stopped taking previously Klonopin and Abilify

Did you CT these?

Whats the bet you CT these experienced withdrawal so presented to doc to get answers and then handed the wellbutrin, fetzima and citalopram and sent home having giving uninformed consent.

 

That is one truckload of chemicals. Surely you are in danger of serotonin syndrome.

I don't know where to start on an exit out of this ...but i wouldn't be rushing anything,.. you will need to put aside years in tapering. imo

 

Sometimes i think i have seen it all but i just wait for a new day or two and im horrified all over again.

i am so sorry you are in this most difficult place.

 

Here is a link on how to taper off these drugs and be free of them for good and stop the doctors annuity to perpetuity!

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/

 

Lets put this into perspective:

Tapering at the 10% rate per month rec here will take :

56 months (4.6 yrs) to get to 1mg of wellbutrin from 300mg

43 months (3.6 yrs ) to get to 1mg of fetzima, from 80mg and

36 months (3 yrs) to get to 1 mg of citalopram. from 40mg.

 

If you taper one drug at a time it may well take over 11 years to get out from under the weight of these chemicals.

I'd fight to avoid taking klonopin intermittantly for an addiction may suddenly be triggered and i have just read this week that it is 20 times more potent than valium.

 

I guess I'm going to have to go see her again to get help tapering down,

It would be very wise to get a second opinion from this site before acting on 'her' advice. 

Ask her if she would consider taking 40 mg of citalopram for 6 months and see what she says.

 

wishing you strength.

[Gibson527]

Thank you nz11 for posting the drug interactions for me. I had read them and it scared me even more.

 

I stopped taking previously Klonopin and Abilify

Did you CT these?

Whats the bet you CT these experienced withdrawal so presented to doc to get answers and then handed the wellbutrin, fetzima and citalopram and sent home having giving uninformed consent.

 

Well, you've pretty much nailed it on the head with that comment.  If I recall correctly and mind you my memory is crap after all these years, I think this is when I started taking the fetzima. Plus she increased the citalopram from 20mg to 40mg. I've been trying to get my pharmacy records from my insurance company this last week and they tell me they can only get me two years, which can't possibly be true.  Wellbutrin was the first drug I was put on and then it just snowballed from there.

 

I am so thankful to have found this forum.

 

A practical question and maybe I've just got to read more about his 10% taper. But how is this even done practically? For instance my Fetzima is a capsule, I don't see how I can go from 80mg to 72mg.  it just practically seems hard to do.

 

I honestly feel pretty lost right now, I've really trusted this doctor and seen her as a life saver, but now I'm not so sure. I think had I never saw her I would have pulled through, the medicine wasn't necessary in the first place. And even if so, why not get me off after 6-8 months. She didn't want to hear that, just kept giving me more and I trusted her judgment. She said I needed to be "better" for a sustained period of time before thinking about stop taking it. At this rate, she's got me for life.

[nz11]

Well sounds like this is my lucky day !

Personally i think what she did is criminal.

 

G527,

A lot of people are using liquid ..it may pay to attempt to get your drugs in liquid form.

 

Here is a link on tapering citalopram

Tips for tapering off Celexa (citalopram)

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2023-tips-for-tapering-off-celexa-citalopram/?pid=19887#entry19887

 

tips for tapering wellbutin

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/877-tips-for-tapering-off-wellbutrin-ir-sr-xr-xl-bupropion/

 

Dont know if sa has tips for tapering fetzima eitherway you would still be best to follow the 10% rec taper procedure.

 

There is another link that may be worth reading and it is tapering multiple drugs at the same time

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1070-taper-more-than-one-drug-at-a-time/

 

It could be an option to taper all three at the same time [people here are doing that] but do it at say 5% per month or less even. However the problem with this is if you start having wdl symptoms you wont know which drug has caused it. And if you trigger full blown ssri wdl times 3 that will be one mother 'nightmare.'

 

Sadly doctors are held up by society as trustworthy and infallible ....well this white coated religion are not worthy of our trust. They arebeing influenced by poisoned literature and the people feeding them info dont have healthcare as a priority.

 

Best wishes

 

ps Are you able to get 'anatomy of an epidemic ' by r whitaker from your local library . A very insightful read

[luv2knit]

Gibson, please follow the recommended taper schedule. The only drug I ever took was Zoloft, a SSRI, but I didn't know about withdrawal, and rapid tapered over a 6-week time period. That was 15 months ago, and I am still not even remotely functional. I promise you, it can be very bad indeed... for a very long time.

[Altostrata]

What time of day do you take each drug?

 

Sleep disruption and nervousness are common side effects of Wellbutrin.

 

Tips for tapering off Wellbutrin, SR, XR, XL (buproprion)

 

Please do not cold turkey! You may be suffering withdrawal symptoms from going off the stimulants. Piling more withdrawal symptoms on top of that could make you very, very sick.

[MollyN]

Hi and a great big welcome, I'm so glad you've found such a brilliant place as this xxx I'm so sorry you were medicated for grief, when love, care, time, nature, time and time could have been your healers xxx

 

I know it's hard, but the moderators here are extremely knowledgeable, they are asking all these questions to assess and then present the best advice for you. Most people (including myself ) ignore their expertise to start with at our peril, but basically every sentence they write you is backed up by the experience of hundreds/thousands of people like you and me that appear here desperate and so confused.

 

Truly when they say 'don't go cold turkey' they know what they're talking about and for sure they'll be here to support you if you do, but they want to save you the terrible trauma that can eventuate if you do. Lots of love in moving forward (slowly ) to drug freedom xxxxxxx

[Gibson527]

Thank you all. You have certainly convinced me not to CT. Seems that is an extremely bad option. Quitting the Concerta and Ritalin is kicking my butt, but I'm surving. Just highly agitated and I've had difficulty sleeping through the night. I've resisted the urge to take Trazadone. (Yes yet another prescription, but better than the Ambien I use to take) I probably should wait on tapering until I reset after taking stimulants the last 8 months. I'm just anxious to get all this poison out of my body. I can't dream of taking years to taper down. I simply can't go that slow. I'm trying to embrace it, but I face those damn pills every morning and just get pissed. Some places I read say not everyone has a problem with withdrawl. Maybe I'm one of those? I fear my doc will talk me out of it, or have me taper down too quickly so that I come running back. I just refuse to believe all this time that she would intentionally do me harm. To what end? Just so I can continue to be a patient? She doesn't have a problem keeping busy. She has to really believe she is doing what is best. She has been the only one I could truly talk too, so now I feel lost. I think I'm obsessing too much about all of this honestly. I really should chill. But. My. Mind. Won't. Stop. Got that old time feeling for a drink.

[Altostrata]

Ordinarily, we also urge people to taper the stimulants. I know this is not what you want to do, but reinstating a little Ritalin may ease the withdrawal syndrome from that and Concerta. Then, you would taper off later.

 

See What is withdrawal syndrome?
 
About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms
 
The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

Nobody likes this situation, and we don't like to have to tell people they're at risk because they're taking psychiatric drugs. If the world were a fair place, doctors would acknowledge this, minimize prescribing these drugs, and take responsibility for supervising tapering off.

 

Like everyone else on this site and millions elsewhere in the world, you are in a difficult situation because of haphazard diagnosis and overprescription of psychiatric drugs. Your doctor probably wants to help people, but she's been indoctrinated in untruths about the drugs and won't open her eyes to the reality.

 

Other people may have an easier time going off, but your nervous system is telling you you are not one of those people. Look around you on this site, there are hundreds of cases where people tried to go off too fast and took years to recover. Which would you rather do, have some control over your life while tapering or be incapacitated by withdrawal syndrome?

 

I can assure you that if things go wrong, your doctor will not come to your rescue. She will be in denial about having made a mistake. That is why this site exists -- no one here could find a doctor who knew what the heck was going on. Ignorance about withdrawal syndrome is widespread among doctors.

 

Nobody can extract you from this, you're going to have to do it yourself.

[KarenB]

Hello Gibson and welcome to S/A,

 

What's happening right now is that you've discovered you're between a rock and a hard place, and that can really put your mind in a spin for a while.  It will start to settle - you'll gradually absorb all this new info, and you'll get support and a plan, and you'll find a way through it all.  The mind just needs time to process.  I took quite a while getting to a place where I could accept it, then get on with gentle tapering and healing.

 

And it's true you may be one of those who can taper faster, but just in case you aren't it's best to start slow.  You can always increase the rate down the track a bit if that seems possible then.  I tend to agree with Alto though, that you are already quite sensitised to the meds and need to give your nervous-system all the help it can get. 

 

See http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1112-non-drug-techniques-to-cope-with-emotional-symptoms/ for ways you can start managing some of the anxiety/racing thoughts etc.

 

Hugs,

KarenB 

[Mort81]

Hey Gibson I also think you need to take  things slow. CT off of 3 AD at one time is a recipe for disaster! CT off 1 is rough enough. I know its going to be a long process to get off all three but it will be worth it. You can probably be very functional going slow but going fast will make you non functional in a hurry. 

[Orangecat]

Keep your spirits up! I was extremely disappointed when I realized I have to wait a year or so (maybe more??) to taper off of Zoloft before I feel comfortable even trying for a kid. I'm no spring chicken! I was angry for a few weeks at least. When I started feeling much better in my body after I slowed down my taper and responded to good tips from this forum, I was relieved that I didn't have to give up my happiness or sanity while tapering. Fortunately for me, a very slow taper is indeed relatively painless! My past attempts, directed by my well meaning but misinformed doctor, we're both very painful and failed (and yes, my doc mistook my crash and burn experiences as a recurrence of depression). The idea of actually getting off of my drugs now seems possible to me, and that's incredible! I can't wait for the day. I can't wait to be a mom who isn't dependent on ssri's just because, as so many mothers now are.

 

I'm so sorry to hear all you've been through. You've put in so much hard work. I wanted to advise you that just because your doctor has made a sizeable mistake (to put it mildly) does not mean she did it on purpose, and it doesn't discredit the good she did by listening to you and advising you in non drug related areas. Sounds like she has a major blind spot. I have a doc who is much more conservative about drugs, and even she did not know what withdrawing successfully from ssri's requires. She was taught incorrectly by the VERY powerful establishment on this issue, and that's typical. I've actually convinced her otherwise, by sharing with her my self directed taper, explaining my anger at the situation, and lending her The Antidepressant Solution (another book recommendation). You may not be able to convince your doc about her mistakes, and if she steamrolls over you and simply offers more drugs, it sounds like a lost cause. But I'm glad you got help from someone in some fashion- you were in a tough spot. Perhaps you can look for a new doc, remain angry at the mistakes of the old one, but in your heart hold on to whatever good she might have offered you by being your companion and helping you keep off alcohol. And certainly be proud of yourself for taking charge of your health. I'm softer on docs than many here, and I understand why- I've been extremely lucky in my experience, and I've read horror stories here. So that's my two cents, take it or leave it : ). I wish you all the best as you start your journey off of the drugs, over time I hope!

[Gibson527]

Thank you all for your advice and encouragement. I'm not feeling as angry about the whole thing now, so that's good. Just taking the time to step back and think it through. I've got an appointment with my psychiatrist on Monday.