Moderator Emeritus Skyler Posted April 30, 2012 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted April 30, 2012 This woman had it all. "Drug Dangers & Alternatives AN OPEN LETTER TO DOCTORS How a Simple Diagnosis of Insomnia Took Me Down the Dark Road of Drug Addiction" Read here As always, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! A proud supporter of the 10% (or slower) rule. Requip - 3/16 ZERO Total time on 25 years. Lyrica: 8/15 ZERO Total time on 7 or 8 yrs.BENZO FREE 10/13 (started tapering 7/10) Total time on 25 years. Read my intro thread here, and check the about me section. "No matter how cynical you get, it's almost impossible to keep up." Lily Tomlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Altostrata Posted April 30, 2012 Administrator Share Posted April 30, 2012 Very disturbing. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Emeritus Jemima Posted May 1, 2012 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted May 1, 2012 I'm horrified and amazed that this woman has enough of a mind left to tell her story so well. Psychotropic drug history: Pristiq 50 mg. (mid-September 2010 through February 2011), Remeron (mid-September 2010 through January 2011), Lexapro 10 mg. (mid-February 2011 through mid-December 2011), Lorazepam (Ativan) 1 mg. as needed mid-September 2010 through early March 2012"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." -Hanlon's RazorIntroduction: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1588-introducing-jemima/ Success Story: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6263-success-jemima-survives-lexapro-and-dr-dickhead-too/Please note that I am not a medical professional and my advice is based on personal experience, reading, and anecdotal information posted by other sufferers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gem Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 I can’t put into words how I feel about this. I couldn’t read all of the ECT part. It’s just horrendous. What an amazingly brave lady. I just do not get how her doctors did not think to even question the drugs. I cannot understand it. I came off Seroxat in August 2005 after a 4 month taper. I was initially prescibed a benzo for several months and then Prozac for 5 years and after that, Seroxat for 3 years and 9 months. "It's like in the great stories Mr.Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer." Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Altostrata Posted May 1, 2012 Administrator Share Posted May 1, 2012 My feeling is this could happen to anyone. I have no doubt at all that I would have been polydrugged, diagnosis escalated, etc. but I became very suspicious about what my doctors knew early in the game. It took me a long time, though, to realize they were utterly clueless! This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Emeritus Rhiannon Posted May 1, 2012 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted May 1, 2012 I have to agree. I think this could have happened to anyone. Including me. It was just luck that saved me; at one point I was applying for disability, and I could easily still be on the drugs and in poverty and still ruining my kids' lives. My diagnoses ranged from PTSD to major depressive disorder to severe anxiety to bipolar 2. The only one that was not caused by the drugs was the PTSD. The doctors and the counselor who advised me to take these drugs were well-meaning and really believed in them. They "learn" about these drugs from the pharmaceutical companies that profit from them, which are apparently run by p$ycopath$. The book Anatomy of an Epidemic does a good job of describing the history that led us here and explaining how these drugs are promoted. Started on Prozac and Xanax in 1992 for PTSD after an assault. One drug led to more, the usual story. Got sicker and sicker, but believed I needed the drugs for my "underlying disease". Long story...lost everything. Life savings, home, physical and mental health, relationships, friendships, ability to work, everything. Amitryptiline, Prozac, bupropion, buspirone, flurazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, Paxil, citalopram, lamotrigine, gabapentin...probably more I've forgotten. Started multidrug taper in Feb 2010. Doing a very slow microtaper, down to low doses now and feeling SO much better, getting my old personality and my brain back! Able to work full time, have a full social life, and cope with stress better than ever. Not perfect, but much better. After 23 lost years. Big Pharma has a lot to answer for. And "medicine for profit" is just not a great idea. Feb 15 2010: 300 mg Neurontin 200 Lamictal 10 Celexa 0.65 Xanax and 5 mg Ambien Feb 10 2014: 62 Lamictal 1.1 Celexa 0.135 Xanax 1.8 Valium Feb 10 2015: 50 Lamictal 0.875 Celexa 0.11 Xanax 1.5 Valium Feb 15 2016: 47.5 Lamictal 0.75 Celexa 0.0875 Xanax 1.42 Valium 2/12/20 12 0.045 0.007 1 May 2021 7 0.01 0.0037 1 Feb 2022 6 0!!! 0.00167 0.98 2.5 mg Ambien Oct 2022 4.5 mg Lamictal (off Celexa, off Xanax) 0.95 Valium Ambien, 1/4 to 1/2 of a 5 mg tablet I'm not a doctor. Any advice I give is just my civilian opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Emeritus Jemima Posted May 1, 2012 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted May 1, 2012 My feeling is this could happen to anyone. That's what's so frightening. It could have happened to me as well, or anyone who has the bad luck to be prescribed an AD. I was definitely borderline manic when I approached my doctor about tapering off Lexapro. I didn't display any symptoms in her office, and described my problem as hyperactivity from the drug, so she didn't object to my getting off of it. WHEW. Close one. I'm glad that I decided to let my GP handle the meds instead of a psychiatrist. I have never trusted them since my days as a psychotherapist, which began in the late sixties. Psychotropic drug history: Pristiq 50 mg. (mid-September 2010 through February 2011), Remeron (mid-September 2010 through January 2011), Lexapro 10 mg. (mid-February 2011 through mid-December 2011), Lorazepam (Ativan) 1 mg. as needed mid-September 2010 through early March 2012"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." -Hanlon's RazorIntroduction: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1588-introducing-jemima/ Success Story: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6263-success-jemima-survives-lexapro-and-dr-dickhead-too/Please note that I am not a medical professional and my advice is based on personal experience, reading, and anecdotal information posted by other sufferers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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