jeffcom2f: Losing itself, finding itself, Love will find me!

[jeffcom2f]

I believe in the Love of God, which I intuit because of what is good in this world, and that Love will always conquer Evil, with faith and hope, but the greatest of these is Love to go through this infernal suffering of the decrease of these drugs!

[Shep]

Hi, Jeffcom2f.

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants.

 

Please let us know which drugs you are tapering. 

 

It will help us if you could set up a signature with your drug history. Please see:

 

How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

A direct link to your signature is here:

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

Please continue to use this thread to document your taper and to ask questions. 

[jeffcom2f]

💌I would like to know if I can post my introduction where do I start? I already put my summary of psychiatric drugs in the presentation, respecting the lines that I haven't used all of them, thank you SHEP for the answer and for welcoming me, I want to be able to help with the experiences of reducing these drugs and if necessary to receive support in difficult times, I am grateful to you and to everyone who is part of this forum, I wish you all find healing and stability!

Edited June 9, 2022 by jeffcom2f

[getofflex]

6 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

💌I would like to know if I can post my introduction where do I start?

Please just post your introduction right here in this thread.  Please give us more details about which drugs you are tapering now, as per Shep's request.  See the links in her post for instructions on how to do this. 

[jeffcom2f]

Good afternoon Getoffflex, Thank you for answering, the meds I currently take are Klonopin 0.50mg and 0.25 risperdal and I finished my vitamin b12 replacement and I'm taking omega 3, as recommended by this forum I'm trying it, I'm improving and doing things that I didn't do before, in some of my reductions this happened, in one of them I started looking for a partner that I had never been able to because I was shy, and I started looking for a girlfriend and looking for a job each time and in the current phase I'm improving, but I have a lot of difficulties, especially when it comes to the family, and my dream of having a partner didn't come true. I face many daily difficulties at home and away from home to go to school and come back, sometimes I walk long distances on foot, but my greatest asset is never giving up because I know that people who really care about us always show up to help and that all of us who have gone through this hell of decrease have to hope that the cure will come and our personal dreams have come true!

 

[Shep]

@jeffcom2f Thank you for adding your signature. Please note I added a "currently taking" line that includes your doses. 

 

When was your last reduction? Please let us know the details of what doses you've been taking the past few months for both of these drugs. 

[jeffcom2f]

Good morning Shep Thanks for replying my decreases from 2 months ago are +or- on April 6th increases to 0 of the two monster drugs! April 12, 2022 I managed to take 10 drops of this clonazepam and sleep for 5 to 7 hours and risperidone on April 11, 2022 at 0.25mg April 22 9 drops of clonazepam May 15, 2022 0.50 mg of Clonazepam 0.50 mg of risperidone I use +or - 0.25 mg of risperidone a little before the 06/08/22 and clonazepam 0.50mg which is 5 drops from this day and currently with 0.25 mg of risperidone and 0.50 of clonazapam! How are you currently? I want to learn from you Beautiful people with a lot of courage to continue healing each other!

[Shep]

16 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

Good morning Shep Thanks for replying my decreases from 2 months ago are +or- on April 6th increases to 0 of the two monster drugs! 

 

What do you mean "increases to 0"? Did you stop taking these drugs on April 6th and then reinstate later? 

 

 

16 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

currently with 0.25 mg of risperidone and 0.50 of clonazapam!

 

How long have you been taking 0.25 mg risperidone and 0.50 mg clonazapam?

 

 

[jeffcom2f]

Thanks for asking Shep on my current decrease with risperidone and Clonazepam it is respectively as I said 0.25mg and 0.50mg about 11 days ago and yesterday I reduced risperidone to almost half and Clonazepam to 0.40mg because for me the worst symptoms are:
emotional sedation

and religious psychosis

I think all the other symptoms and difficulties result from this, because without being able to fully feel the experiences of life, everything becomes more difficult, including interpersonal relationships!

[Shep]

You have been on various forms of psychiatric drugs for a decade. I would not reduce your drugs this abruptly. Please see:

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

 

11 minutes ago, jeffcom2f said:

Thanks for asking Shep on my current decrease with risperidone and Clonazepam it is respectively as I said 0.25mg and 0.50mg about 11 days ago

 

What doses were you on prior to 11 days ago? 

 

We really need a complete drug history in order to be able to help you. Please see:

 

How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

For the past 6 months, please list the dates (month and year), the names of the drugs you took, and the doses. 

 

      January 2022 - name of drugs and the doses

      February 2022 - name of drugs and the doses

      March 2022 - name of drugs and the doses

      and so forth until today

 

What time(s) a day are you taking your drugs? How many hours are you sleeping at night? 

 

 

[jeffcom2f]

January 1.80mg of risperidone on 23/2022 and 060mg of Clonazepam

February 1.70mg of risperidone and 0.80mg of clonazapam on 5/2022
1.60mg of risperidone
on 11 of 2022
1.50mg of risperidone on 13/2022
1.40mg of risperidone on 14th of 2022
0.70mg of clonazapam and 1.40mg of risperidone on 15/2022
0.70mg of clonazepam

0 of risperidone on 21 of 2022
0.70mg of clonazepam and 0.50mg of risperidone on 24/2022
March 0.60mg of clonazepam and 0.50mg of risperidone on 4th of 2022
around 7/2022 0.70mg clonazepam and risperidone

April +or- on the 6th for 0.mg of both
April 12, 2022 I took 0.10mg of both and got about 5 hours  0.90 of Clonazepam in 2022

May 15, 2022 0.50 mg of Clonazepam
0.50 mg of risperidone
use + or - 0.50 mg of risperidone a little before the 8/06th and clonazepam 0.50 mg from this day onwards and yesterday returned to risperidone in half and clonazepam to 0.40 mg this resume drugs months.

[jeffcom2f]

Thank you Shep ,I take risperidone between 4 and 5 pm and from 6 am onwards Clonazepam because I go to school to study and I arrive at different times, I have been sleeping an average of 3 to 5 hours a night currently, sorry for anything thank you for wanting to help me !

[Shep]

Thanks for the additional information, Jeffcom. Please add the details to your signature so we know the dates and the doses. 

 

Below are some guidelines you may find helpful in trying to get stable before you continue tapering: 

 

As mentioned in my last post, reductions should be 10% or less a month, based on the prior month's dose (not the initial dose).

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Taper one drug at a time. Since you take Risperdal at night, it's likely more sedating for you than Klonopin, which you take during the day. You may want to taper the Klonopin first and leave the Risperdal until last in order to preserve sleep. 

 

Take each drug at the same time and at the same dose every day. Being consistent with your drugs is extremely important. You'll need to work out a schedule for your studies that allows you to be more consistent with when you take the Klonopin. You can use non-drug coping skills to handle the symptoms in between doses or you may want to split your daily amount of this drug and take it more often. 

 

Here is more on non-drug coping:

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

You may want to practice mindfulness techniques to help you handle symptoms in between Klonopin doses so you can get on a regular dosing schedule. 

 

Here are some tips to help with sleep:

 

Tips to help sleep: so many of us have that awful withdrawal insomnia

 

On 6/17/2022 at 7:20 AM, jeffcom2f said:

Thanks for asking Shep on my current decrease with risperidone and Clonazepam it is respectively as I said 0.25mg and 0.50mg about 11 days ago and yesterday I reduced risperidone to almost half and Clonazepam to 0.40mg because for me the worst symptoms are:
emotional sedation

and religious psychosis

 

You may want to increase your dose to where you were 11 days ago and see if you can stabilize, especially with your sleep being so poor right now. Some of your symptoms may not be side effects of the drug but a lot of them may be withdrawal symptoms, which is your body's way of telling you to stop tapering and give your nervous system time to catch up to these reductions. 

 

Please post your thoughts. 

 

[jeffcom2f]

THANK YOU SHEP, FOR PUTTING YOURSELF ON ME, I'll write what we think to reflect together Dear Shep religious silk to reflect philosophy abstinence, and studying correct philosophy for abstinence, and studying correct philosophy is helping me to think the right way, a little bit about your post, to think more deeply to reflect on philosophy, because philosophically and I want to learn at school, think philosophically and I want to learn at the correct school, and content about philosophy, I love poetry, singing, I already do meditation and mindfulness , compose, listen music, write all kinds of texts because I love the Portuguese language and write my own texts like: Reflections, written philosophy, poems, music, relationships and much more and I'm going for the stability of my humans to follow and will follow through on these people and after they stabilize I your advice to decrease 10% or less, I'm going to love further tell you more about my decreases, and how I overcame hellish moments that are now becoming a "Paradise" because I have my coping strategies but I'd love to read how you post, my sleep is still not ideal but it's improving and following in search of my Dream of having lifemate,and it will be better in the forum with my experiences in the decreases is also helping to learn languages like les por while I translate with google translator what to write, Your avatar is beautiful and I would like to know how you are!Thank you Shep!

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by ChessieCat
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[Shep]

@jeffcom2fLet us know if you have any tapering questions. 

[jeffcom2f]

Hello bear Shep, thank you for treat me with love, my decrease through December 2021 were successful with difficult but supportable symptoms, despite some critical moments, but the most extreme phase was December 2021 until recently, because at this time I arrived in limit, I needed a lot of help that many times I didn't have and now it is improving a lot and stabilizing, when I find it necessary to decrease I will ask for advice, because I have always had difficulties with framents and decrease methods because I do not have the conditions to use these methods because there are several and would be great value for your help from here on, thanks. Beautiful and charming Shep!

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by ChessieCat
changed from all caps

[Shep]

@jeffcom2f You're welcome to ask questions any time, but please do not use all capital letters - it comes across as screaming on the internet. 

[jeffcom2f]

Sorry Shep, for writing in capital letters I use the google keyboard and the key that makes the capital letters is activated on my Android, and I will continue with my current dosage until I can gradually decrease it as much as possible, and Thank you for being available to answer my questions, your help will be of great value, some of the difficulties I currently have are with mental confusion and involuntary and invasive thoughts, difficulty with attention and memory with recent things I have my coping strategies I hope that with stabilization these symptoms will improve and if If you can give me tips to complement mine, it will be great, I'm learning to deal with these difficulties!

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by ChessieCat
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[ChessieCat]

I've edited the post from all caps.

[ChessieCat]

You might find some helpful tips in this topic:

 

Best of SA - Favourite advice and insights

[Shep]

2 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

Sorry Shep, for writing in capital letters I use the google keyboard and the key that makes the capital letters is activated on my Android, and I will continue with my current dosage until I can gradually decrease it as much as possible, and Thank you for being available to answer my questions, your help will be of great value, some of the difficulties I currently have are with mental confusion and involuntary and invasive thoughts, difficulty with attention and memory with recent things I have my coping strategies I hope that with stabilization these symptoms will improve and if If you can give me tips to complement mine, it will be great, I'm learning to deal with these difficulties!

 

 

Continuing your current dosage is a wise plan. 

 

Here are some links about your symptoms you may find helpful:

 

Withdrawal causing intrusive or repetitive thoughts, rumination, and increased panic?

 

Easing your way into meditation for a stressed-out nervous system

 

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements, as many members report their nervous systems are simply too fragile to handle them. However, magnesium and fish oil tend to be calming to the nervous system and many people report they do help. Please only add in one supplement at a time and at a small dose to see if your nervous system can tolerate it. For more, please see:

 

 King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker

 

As you stabilize, the memory and concentration problems will get better. Insomnia can cause a lot of memory and attention problems. Here are some tips to help with sleep:

 

Tips to help sleep: so many of us have that awful withdrawal insomnia

 

[jeffcom2f]

Hello Shep Suap your wise as my polarity Linda I am your ordeal for following what I do as I continue with my current experience I am wiser of your advice to become wiser as I am telling you what I do and I use Omega 3 at 1 pm 9 pm and 5 am, a cool thing that I love and fun lyrics to form words and sentences that encourage me to call attention to this synergy with lyrics that transform me with good mood, come in a fun way from typeface anywhere that helps my imaginative creativity is cool and I can create in my mind with anything with visual stimulation!

[Shep]

13 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

I use Omega 3 at 1 pm 9 pm and 5 am

 

How much are you taking? Remember to start at a low dose. You can always increase as you find out how much your nervous system can tolerate. 

 

Please let us know how you're feeling over the coming days. 

[jeffcom2f]

I'm taking Omega 3 with DHA 360mg and EPA 540 from the manufacturer Apisnutri, as I said at 1 pm, 9 pm and 5 am, 3 capsules and my nervous system does well with this amount and I'm going to take magnesium chloride PA because you recommended me, I'll start with a low dose and let you know how I'm doing from here on out!

[Shep]

Thanks, Jeffcom. Let us know how you're feeling over the coming days. 

[jeffcom2f]

what I've been having nowadays is: shame of asking for opportunities, chest pain, confusion when I forget, or with something I look for until I find it, and the external and internal noises, and the improvements are: more patience, which is what I progressed the most, kindness to everyone, having fun with drawings and meditation and a lot of imaginative creativity playing in my thoughts with many things, situations and with many life projects! In short, the biggest problem is having difficulties with many and having many things to do and being difficult to decide where to start, things that are common to everyone in everyday life and it is with patience that I have to do extreme things to deal with what move me forward and not give up as the days go by so I'll let you know how it goes, thanks Shep!

[Shep]

You're welcome. Your hobbies of drawing and meditation sound wonderful and healing. 

[jeffcom2f]

Thank you Shep I will continue with my hobbies, which are healing processes for me and I have besides these that I told you many others, I have loved to sing a lot, and today I went to the square near here and sang with live music, and I go to a party to have fun, I had never gone to one alone, today was great to do services household items and I liked it, because everything I did was very clean! the bad things today are: the difficulties with the many responsibilities I have at home with my family members, but not making this my main focus, but trying to remain patient in the face of this, this week I will take finals at school on Monday, after I have my certificate I'm going to try a job! I'm going to keep watching cartoons, singing because everyone says I sing well and with my favorite meditation a little guided and a little self guided by my intuitive way of being!

[Shep]

12 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

and I go to a party to have fun

 

Please avoid alcohol. Many people going through psychiatric withdrawal have a lot more symptoms when they drink alcohol. This is especially true for people taking benzodiazepines such as Klonopin (alcohol and benzos both act on GABA receptors). 

 

12 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

this week I will take finals at school on Monday

 

Good luck on your finals. 

[jeffcom2f]

Thank you so much Shep, have fun at the party if you can have a lemon juice, I'm a abstainer, I've never had anything alcoholic, Thanks for wishing me good luck in my finals, I'll try my best I'll be very happy to see you progress together with me, if you need me, you can message me when I can and I'll answer you as soon as possible, I will also need your wise advice, Polar Bear!

[Shep]

18 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

Thank you so much Shep, have fun at the party if you can have a lemon juice, I'm a abstainer, I've never had anything alcoholic,

 

This is wonderful, Jeffcom. Avoiding alcohol is the best policy. 

 

18 hours ago, jeffcom2f said:

I will also need your wise advice, Polar Bear!

 

Thank you. Perhaps after your finals you'll be able to set up a plan for your taper. For now, concentrate on your studies and let us know how you feel over the coming days. 

[jeffcom2f]

Thank you Shep today I finished the final math tests which were the last modules 1,2 and 3 and the final module 3 and the final was today, I took respectively 5,5,5 and 7

 And I would like to have your help  to continue a funneling plan because I don't know how to fractionate the antipsychotic pills to go more gradually  which is risperidone and Clonazepam I take in

[Shep]

I'm glad your math tests are done and you're now able to concentrate on your taper.

 

On 6/17/2022 at 10:38 AM, jeffcom2f said:

Thank you Shep ,I take risperidone between 4 and 5 pm and from 6 am onwards Clonazepam because I go to school to study and I arrive at different times, I have been sleeping an average of 3 to 5 hours a night currently, sorry for anything thank you for wanting to help me !

 

Are you finished with classes or are you still going to school? Do you feel you can taper off the clonazepam that you take during the day? 

 

Does the risperidone help you sleep? 

[jeffcom2f]

I'm done with classes, I'm going to get the certificate, in a few days, and then I'm going to continue studying the subjects I like, I don't think it's appropriate to reduce clonazepam because it helps me sleep, risperidone for me is the worst because sedation makes me have psychotic symptoms mainly hearing, memory and mental confusion, but in general I'm getting better every day, enduring with extreme patience the ordeal of this experience of being in the transition from many decreases to stability to homeostasis and hoping that through brain neuroplasticity I find a cure! and looking for my inner path and my biggest dream which is to have a companion!

[jeffcom2f]

Thank you Shep!These days I've been having problems with risperidone that causes psychotic states mainly some auditory hallucinations and emotional sedation that has improved a little, and chest pain, I'm at half of 0.25mg and I can't make this cut stay with equal fractions, but so It's more bearable than before because there are also improvements that are improved sleep, new discoveries like my vocation for philosophy that I want to study more deeply and sing the songs I like a lot! I would like when it is possible to gradually decrease with your help thanks and sorry because I had written the wrong dosage of risperidone!

 

[jeffcom2f]

advice for auditory hallucination symptoms

 

I have been having symptoms of auditory hallucination that bother me a lot and I'm on 0 mg of respirone and 0.20 mg of Clonazepam I think about taking a small dose of risperidone to see if these symptoms that bother me a lot decrease, I appreciate anyone who can help me because I'm studying the effect of the meds a lot and I know what they cause but I just need an opinion to make the right decision Thank you and I look forward to your reply!

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by ChessieCat
added topic title before merging with intro topic