Posted by med_empowered on September 26, 2005, at 1:34:16
In reply to Re: I'm excited! Any you choose is fine!!!, posted by linkadge on September 25, 2005, at 19:56:38
Hi! I'm sorry if my message came off as too harsh...I think what I'm trying to get at is that the meds used in psychiatry, and the general approach to mental illness, dehumanizes people..plus, docs and companies still aren't being honest about what these drugs can do to people. Anyway, I noticed in one of your posts that you said you're on meds, but you'd like to quit. I've been there...at the height of my craziness, I was on 7-8 *daily* meds. Now, I'm taking Saint John's wort and although I still struggle, I think I'm doing better than I have in a long, long time (this isn't me telling anyon "go off your meds and go to GNC"; I'm just saying..this is my experience). Benzo withdrawal is probably the worst, but my withdrawal from Cymbalta was surpisingly rough. I mean, the initial effects--nausea, fatigue, etc.--weren't all that bad, and they only lasted for about a month. The real problem was the bumped up anxiety, the weird mood instability (I'm thinking the withdrawal made that *worse*, but it certainly didn't *cause* all of it), and the erratic sleep. I quit cold-turkey off of 90mgs Cymbalta (which is 30mgs above the FDA-approved, marketed dose; my shrink got a little *creative* I guess). Anyway, withdrawal is rough, and I wouldn't recommend doing it just now if you have reall stressful events going on (divorce, illness, deaths in the family, that kind of thing) that could exacerbate any emotional issues that pop up. But..*gradual* withdrawal be much, much less painful than *abrupt* withdrawal. Just talk to your doc and lay it out for her--the drugs were good for a while, thanks bunches, but now its time to withdraw, and anything that can be done to minimize side-effects would be *great*. With Effexor, the good news is that although the withdrawl is rough, its been around long enough for a good doc to know what to expect, so withdrawal problems can be anticipated and handled as they pop up. If you can do it, and if you're interested, some sort of therapy can be *tremendously* helpful; if not, some sort of introspective, soul-searching self-exploration will also be of use. The thing is that, for me at least, quitting the meds didn't just result in phsyical symptoms; suddenly, I had all these issues that had been more or less suppressed through medication that I had to deal with, somehow. Since I've had some bad experiences with therapists in my area, I opted to go it alone...its been rough, but I think its been worth it, too; I've gotten more writing done in the last couple months than I have in years, and I feel much better *and* more in-tune with my true Self than I have ever before. So...if you opt to ditch effexor and other meds, it can be done, assuming your doc is capable and you can also do necessary follow-up work with the emotional stuff; on the other hand, you may decide to continue Effexor and/or other medications...either way, just know that you do have options. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:558119
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050921/msgs/559686.html