Posted by xbunny on December 17, 2006, at 13:29:59
In reply to Re: Dopamine deprivation - starvation? » xbunny, posted by ronaldo on December 17, 2006, at 4:07:48
[This should be redirected to withdrawal probably - the content doesnt in general just apply to withdrawal though]
> Thanks for your opinion bunny. I think I will take your advice. Not trying to rationalize the uncertain is good advice. Have you got any tips on how to withdraw from Zyprexa?
Well probably the most useful advice I can offer is to discuss the withdrawal in as great detail as you can with your psychiatrist. Together you should try to cover the situations you expect to encounter, here are some ideas of mine:
what is the likely hood additional temporary agents such as sleeping pills or antianxiety agents will be required? how will you get access to them? If they might be required what will you take? at what point should you consider using them? For how long? what is thier part in the plan?
Do you have a number of the mental health services your psychiatrist is attached to that you can call in (a) an emergency, (b) should you require advice and wish to talk to a professional, Who can you talk to? what is the lag time to get to talk to someone? what situations require which people? and at what timescale?
What is the overall plan? are you planning to get off zyprexa and onto another medication? would a cross taper be less stressful (likely if the next agent is also an antipsychotic), similarly if the next agent is not an antipsychotic or if you feel the side effects might be manageable it might be better to start the other med and then taper off the zyprexa after you are successfully on the new medication. What other options are there? maybe a reduction of zyprexa and a reassessment, maybe a reduction and the addition of a new agent? something else entirely? Are you ready to stop zyprexa? where is your treatment going? what is the goal?
Try to set milestones, get the psychiatrist to agree that if the situation at time period X is not what is expected then the two of you will review the plan.
You should also discuss the plan with someone close to you, a family member, partner, friend whatever. If you know that someone can offer you support and also perhaps keep a little eye on you it can help you feel more secure should things start to get unmanageable and maybe help you persist throught those experiences. Finally be sure to know what you are expecting, how are you expecting to feel, what will you do when you feel like X, are your expectations realistic? what is the psychiatrists view of this? do you think his expectations are realistic?So anyways discuss it with your psychiatrist, again my opinion is that failure to do so or failure to make an adequately complete treatment plan is probably going to result in a mess! I dont think this applies to just withdrawal, I think to acheive some kind of reasonable chance of decent treatment you need to plan as skillfully as you can.
Bunny
poster:xbunny
thread:714230
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061217/msgs/714581.html