starlitegirlx: slowly tapered off Imipramine

[tezza]

That gives me hope, too!

[Barbarannamated]

Starlitegirl,

 

You sound great! I'm glad things have been going better for you. I haven't been following your K taper, but your posts here have a completely different tone, complete with hopefulness. I'm often amazed at the complete changes that are evident in relatively short periods of time.

 

I always appreciate your honest and insightful posts.

 

B

[starlitegirlx]

Starlitegirl,

 

You sound great! I'm glad things have been going better for you. I haven't been following your K taper, but your posts here have a completely different tone, complete with hopefulness. I'm often amazed at the complete changes that are evident in relatively short periods of time.

 

I always appreciate your honest and insightful posts.

 

B

 

Barb! I haven't seen you posting much in your thread when I've been on (not much). I hope all is well or improving with you.

 

I still have periods where I'm really sad or down about this whole nightmare, but I do feel better overall physically and emotionally then I did when I arrived at this forum. I wish this taper wasn't going to take years, but since it will, I am trying to do what I can to make those years more decent than filled with WD symptoms, lost days to WD and I'm trying to return to doing stuff I did before all of this, even if it is at a decreased amount - like working out some on the better days. It helps me feel better about myself and it definitely makes a difference with the weight stuff. I already dropped a few pounds. Even started eating a lot better by limiting white flour, processed foods and sugar. The more I limit those foods, the better I feel. Every bit helps. Plus I naturally lose weight when I eliminate those foods. I've done it before and dropped close to a size with nearly no exercise. The weight stuff right now is key to my moods and how I feel about all this since it's kind of the last straw given the WD and length of the taper I'm doing. So getting that under control helps with all of it.

[starlitegirlx]

Thought it might be nice to update. I've been off the AD for over a year. Don't really notice any issues with it though I suspect it is part of the reason why I'm having to go so slow with my K taper. I think there is still a sensitivity that is causing it so that I cannot taper the K any faster than 5% or maybe 5.5%. I think I will give 5.5% a try because it's just a smidge higher. 

On the bright side I'm down from 3.5 mg K which was where I started at in Jan to 2.28 mg. That's a good 1.25 mg or so in 9 months. So a nice chunk off my dose but still it is slow going though part of me hopes that as I get further out from the AD taper that maybe I will be less sensitive and be able to increase my taper a wee bit. But I'm not expecting it. I'm figuring that I'll have to stay around 5% then given what I've read maybe down the line at a low dose I'll probably even have to go to less than 5%.

 

Life is really limited. There has been an uptick in how I experience symptoms and I have no idea why because I do go stabilize before each taper. But I've got this weird electricity sensation in my arms (tingling I guess) that has moved up from my legs. But I'm used to it at lower levels now so only when it's a bit higher from WD sx does it fully register beyond nuisance. It's amazing what one adapts to or gets used to. But I don't feel it every day. I get days off. So there's that. I've accepted this situation and since I have no power over it I choose to just do what I can to make it an easier process. Sometimes I'm sad about it. I did an excel sheet with the tapers and I'll have to go pretty low with the K before a jump and that's around 7 years out. I kid you not. So I'm going to have to look at this differently. Rather than a taper, it's me taking a med with some periods of unpleasant side effects  and this med is one that I am choosing to reduce very slowly over many years. I was on it a chunk of my adult life, and now I am going to be tapering it a chunk of my adult life. But I'm just taking it normally but less over time. That's the only way I can look at this without going a bit batty.

 

So that's the long and short of it. I wonder how much going of the AD is involved in me having to taper so slowly. I do think it's connected. Maybe that part will continue healing and this will get easier as I go. Maybe. I can hope.

[Rhiannon]

So I'm going to have to look at this differently. Rather than a taper, it's me taking a med with some periods of unpleasant side effects  and this med is one that I am choosing to reduce very slowly over many years. I was on it a chunk of my adult life, and now I am going to be tapering it a chunk of my adult life. But I'm just taking it normally but less over time. That's the only way I can look at this without going a bit batty.

 

 

I think of my taper this way too sometimes, and find it helpful at those times to frame it in that way. Thanks for your eloquent description.

[starlitegirlx]

 

So I'm going to have to look at this differently. Rather than a taper, it's me taking a med with some periods of unpleasant side effects  and this med is one that I am choosing to reduce very slowly over many years. I was on it a chunk of my adult life, and now I am going to be tapering it a chunk of my adult life. But I'm just taking it normally but less over time. That's the only way I can look at this without going a bit batty.

 

 

I think of my taper this way too sometimes, and find it helpful at those times to frame it in that way. Thanks for your eloquent description.

 

 

YW. It really is a test of patience and a test of our sanity, isn't it?

 

Thanks for your help on my taper. It was much appreciated. Today has been a wave day - mild to moderate - and I had to reread your post and remind myself to not rush. It's hard to not step it up when I'm feeling tingling vibrations through my arms and legs but stepping it up would only make it worse. So I have to accept how crappy I feel and live with it. I ordered a beginner yoga DVD. I'll watch it and do what poses I can. Maybe there are even some I can do on the mild to moderate days, not just the good ones. I'm so out of shape, but maybe this will help. Yoga is great for the mind and body.

[lexicon]

Hi Star,

You are such a warm and caring person. I feel fortunate that

we have crossed paths, as your bravery, your perseverance, your courage,

are inspiring to me, and many others I am certain.

You never tire in offering support and encouragement,

to help someone in distress ..

Thank you Star ..

I am deeply saddened, with all that you have endured ..This is a very long road

we are on, that we did not choose ..But we must walk it, to reach the other side ..And it will happen Star ..I find myself counting seconds when the going gets tough ..But then I think that these seconds add up ..We will be fine someday, and back to our own selves ..We have to stay strong, and keep walking ..

I am suffering a wave too, and crying today ..

I would hate to see how many tears I have cried .. Buckets full, I am sure ..

Hang in there ..This too shall pass ..

Sending you love, and wishes of wellness and healing ..

Lexi xx

[Skyler]

Thought it might be nice to update. I've been off the AD for over a year. Don't really notice any issues with it though I suspect it is part of the reason why I'm having to go so slow with my K taper. I think there is still a sensitivity that is causing it so that I cannot taper the K any faster than 5% or maybe 5.5%. I think I will give 5.5% a try because it's just a smidge higher. 

On the bright side I'm down from 3.5 mg K which was where I started at in Jan to 2.28 mg. That's a good 1.25 mg or so in 9 months. So a nice chunk off my dose but still it is slow going though part of me hopes that as I get further out from the AD taper that maybe I will be less sensitive and be able to increase my taper a wee bit. But I'm not expecting it. I'm figuring that I'll have to stay around 5% then given what I've read maybe down the line at a low dose I'll probably even have to go to less than 5%.

 

Sometimes I'm sad about it. I did an excel sheet with the tapers and I'll have to go pretty low with the K before a jump and that's around 7 years out. I kid you not. So I'm going to have to look at this differently. Rather than a taper, it's me taking a med with some periods of unpleasant side effects  and this med is one that I am choosing to reduce very slowly over many years. I was on it a chunk of my adult life, and now I am going to be tapering it a chunk of my adult life. But I'm just taking it normally but less over time. That's the only way I can look at this without going a bit batty.

 

So that's the long and short of it. I wonder how much going of the AD is involved in me having to taper so slowly. I do think it's connected. Maybe that part will continue healing and this will get easier as I go. Maybe. I can hope.

 

The rule of thumb TRAP used was wait for 6 months after finishing the benzo taper before trying to taper an AD.  While multi-drug tapers in the cautious way Rhi has discusses are possible, TRAP's caution points to the importance of letting symptoms from one taper extinguish before attempting another..  The cross over WD effects from one psychotropic to another cannot be underestimated.

 

SG.. I would aim for .5 mgs of K (for example), and then hold for a year or so.  It's entirely possible you would have more quality of life as you taper off the rest.  Just reduce the benzo low enough so side effects are no longer prominent.  And this might seem a better goal for now, what do you think?

[Altostrata]

letting symptoms from one taper extinguish before attempting another

 

Makes great sense to me.

[starlitegirlx]

I do let symptoms extinguish for about a week before I taper again. The issue is that I have a side effect (I think it's a side effect) that can also be a WD symptom. It's why I began tapering off the AD but I suspect now that it is related to the benzo. It has progressed a bit. Instead of just my lower legs tingling, now it's sometimes my arms. This was present for a around 3 months before I started tapering. It has been persistent for a few years. It comes and goes. So that is the element that has gotten worse and it remains despite stabilizing at a dose. Otherwise, at 5% my WD tends to be minimal with only a four to five day period where it upticks, but the upticks are minimal at 5%. However, I still have the SE or whatever this tingling is and it is not related to my taper though if my taper is higher with more WD it will worsen. But I do stabilize with no symptoms of WD before my cuts. I have been doing that since I started my taper. If I waited for this tingling to stop, I would never cut. I wasted three months holding because of that. I think the tingling has gotten a bit worse because of the amount of K in my system.

 

Ah well, I will continue at 5% a month, stabilizing to no WD before each cut.

 

I had been off the AD for 6 months when I began my benzo taper. June 2012 was when I took my last dose of AD (not counting the 2 day test reinstatement that didn't work) in August. But otherwise, 6 months. Right now it has been 15 months. I began the taper of the benzo because it was such a high dose and I realized it was very likely the reason for the tingling I had been experiencing for over a year. Waiting a while to taper from such a high dose with nerve related symptoms seemed less than wise. At least now I have 1.5 mg (approximately) less of that drug in my system, but still more than I had when I started tapering.

[Skyler]

 It has progressed a bit. Instead of just my lower legs tingling, now it's sometimes my arms. This was present for a around 3 months before I started tapering. It has been persistent for a few years. It comes and goes.

 

Hi SG... it's a side effect, and WD.. a twofer if you like.  I have same... it's restless legs (RLS), only in some lucky folks, it's the arms too.  Do you take Mg when this happens? It really helps me... I know you were taking it for what you think of as RLS.. but the creepy crawly tingling is part of the package too.  Sorry you have same.

 

BTW.. I too started with RLS before tapering.  I think RLS is kind of like tinnitus.. once you develop the sensitivity, a number of different meds (or WD from) can set it off.  And with both RLS and tinnitus, the onset is very soon after taking a cut.. no lag time with that, NONE. 

 

Skyler