banjobear: Greetings. Tapering Lamictal and Wellbutrin after 20 years on meds.

[banjobear]

 

I'm kinda trepidatious about coming off meds because I have a severe spectrum, including psychosis and a suicide attempt, and have been on meds for 20 years.  For many of them, I believed the mental illness paradigm. I'm on 3 meds now. I have been tapering my Clozapine for a year and a half, down to a very small dose, and now want to begin with the Lamictal and Wellbutrin.  From the reading I have done here, it seems my Lamictal dose is quite high at 300 mg. I'm also on 300 mg Wellbutrin.   

So far, I've only had positive results from the withdrawal, I hope it continues that way. I am mostly concerned with mental side effects, over the physical. I am wondering where and how to draw the line with delusions. I don't have much of a support network for this. My loved ones are all very concerned and I wish I had more support.

I'm a visual artist living in Berlin. 

 

I hope I posted this intro correctly. 

     

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by manymoretodays
name to title

[Shep]

Hi, Banjobear.

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants. 

 

We have members and staff here who also were labeled with the more "severe" labels. I have a similar history myself, but am off all drugs and out living my life. You can find my Success Story below this post in my signature. 

 

Delusions only become problematic if they cause you to act out inappropriately around people who have more power than you. If you can recognize them as part of withdrawal and learn to let your thoughts pass as clouds in the sky and ignore them, you'll be okay during your withdrawal. Delusional thinking can be a withdrawal symptom and nothing more than that. 

 

You may find this book helpful:

 

Anatomy of an Epidemic

 

Scroll down and you'll find source documents linked, along with a few videos. Whitaker's work comes highly recommended here.

 

Another great read by the same author is:

 

Mad in America

 

More resources are listed if you scroll down that webpage. 

 

On 2/16/2021 at 6:16 AM, banjobear said:

I am mostly concerned with mental side effects, over the physical.

 

Please see:

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

On 2/16/2021 at 6:16 AM, banjobear said:

So far, I've only had positive results from the withdrawal, I hope it continues that way.

 

I hope so, too. With a careful and slow taper and some non-drug coping strategies, you have every reason to hope for the best. In the long run, you'll be glad to be off these drugs. 

 

Please add a signature.  Include drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements in the last 12-24 months. Also include supplements. This will help us give you the most accurate advice we can. 

• Any drugs and supplements prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years. 
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago) 
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016. 
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses. 
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As you continue to provide more information, we can help you set up your taper.