Posted by blueberry on June 14, 2006, at 16:03:58
In reply to Re: Antipsychotics RULE! » blueberry, posted by heaven help me on June 14, 2006, at 10:39:13
Weaning off an antipsychotic can be hard. But like everything else, mileage varies. Maybe someone else wouldn't have as hard a time as I did. Even though I was on zyprexa for 5 years, it was a low dose of 5mg. I can't imagine someone coming down from 10mg or 20mg. Ouch.
Anyway, as those dopamine receptors got opened up to the real world, they were not in shape for the stimuli they would receive. I expected they would adjust, but over 3 months they did not.
These are the things I experienced...
Alternating waves of fierce anxiety or depression, but not at the same time.
Loud ringing in the ears.
Sensitive acoustic startle response...small noises like a phone ringing or a car door closing or footsteps on a hard floor made me jump and made my heart skip.
Lousy sleep, maybe 4 - 6 hours at best.
Free-floating terror and anxiety upon waking.
No appetite. Went from 142lbs to 129lbs, bad.
Leg cramps. Weak legs.
Difficulty concentrating.
Overwhelmed with ordinary simple tasks.
Zero interest in anything.
During the first 3 weeks lots of muscles were twitching and moving around like some kind of worm was under the skin...this did go away.It was rough. I think next time I taper off I need to rely heavily on xanax for many of the symptoms and some kind of antihistimine for appetite.
poster:blueberry
thread:656678
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060610/msgs/656954.html