GiodornesBruno: Psychotropic cocktail withdrawal

[GiodornesBruno]

Hey guys, I am withdrawaing from a cocktail of drugs. I tried the brakes first and was too difficult. Now I am trying the accerlerator (luvov). This is excruciatingly difficult. I have been prescribed dalmane and ambien to help me sleep. I am taking SAMe and exercising. Anyone ever come off a cocktail and survive?

[GiodornesBruno]

I started withdrawing pretty quickly from luvox.  I feel super unsteady and discombobulated, agitated, depressed...  The SSRIs IMO you can't wean to quickly, as opposed to seroquel.  I can get off seroquel quicker than luvox.  I have been on both for 16 years.  I was misdiagnosed.  Not recommending anything, but for me SAMe works a little bit, and what works amazingly well is just plain old xanax.  I am under a GPs care, and have been through the mill with psychiatrist.  Very hard to find a good one.  I feel psychiatry is too suggestive, and needs to look to being way more objective and logical.  We all know medical care has gone down the drain as someone who works in the field.  Sorry for being cynical, I used to be naive, but life made me a cynic.  Anyways, this helps me vent, and not many understand the hell of taking psychiatric medications.  Anyone with any pointers?  I am looking for any... thanks.

[scallywag]

GiordornesBruno -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)
 
Many people have successfully come off "cocktails" of psych medications with careful tapering. We suggest that people taper one drug at a time. The posts at this link discuss which drug to taper first.
Taking multiple drugs? Which to taper first.
 
When tapering, we suggest that people reduce the dose no more than 10% and make reductions no more often than once every 4 weeks. You can read more about that at these links:
Before you begin tapering -- what you need to know
Why taper by 10% of my dosage? .
 
A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-18 months particularly?

• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Any drugs prior to 18 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• You don't need to include symptoms or diagnoses other than the initial condition that led to prescribing the first drug.
• We ask for this information in your signature so that we can see it at a glance. A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature
• If you are using a phone or mobile device, you need to switch to the "full" or desktop version of the site. Instructions are in Post 8 and Post 9

In your second post, you've mentioned sertraline (Luvox) and quetiapine (Seroquel). Here are links to information about tapering these 2 drugs:
Tips for tapering off Luvox (fluvoxamine)
Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine)

If you are taking other medications, please post them in a reply post and include them in your signature. I'll make sure to give you links to the relevant topics.For information until then, you can either browse tapering forum, or use a web search tool, i.e. google or bing, with these search terms:
site:survivingantidepressants.org "tips for tapering" [medication]
 
You may also find it helpful to learn more about withdrawal symptoms. Links to our discussion topics about that:
What is withdrawal syndrome
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list -- a list of many (but not all) common symptoms
List of links to discussion topics of frequently reported symptoms
 
 
I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.
 
Please read the links I've provided. If you have any questions, please post them here so that all your questions, answers and information stay in one place.

[RachelE]

I have been on 3 psych drugs, occasionally 4 or 5 but only for brief periods of time.

 

Went off the lamictal cold turkey. I don't recommend that, but I couldn't dry cut it successfully or reduce it any other way. Plus I had been on it for less than 2 weeks and thought it was causing a rash.

 

Two weeks later I dry cut my 20 mg abilify tablet. Into fourths. Tapered to 15 mg, then 10, 7.5, 5, 2.5. Off in 10 weeks with no problems but some head aches, malaise, and trouble concentrating.

 

Two weeks later I started reducing my effexor beads by 10%. Don't feel great. Feels like I have a mild case of the flu a lot. Too tired/lazy to do much housework or exercising. Dry skin and eyes. Really this one has the nastiest withdrawal symptoms of any I have tapered. Could be worse though.