Posted by 49er on February 17, 2009, at 17:46:33
In reply to Re: 2-1/2 years later have permanent withdrawal sympto » chinaroses, posted by SLS on February 16, 2009, at 15:15:15
> It would be an interesting experiment to take Ativan for a few days to see if your symptoms disappear. If they do, you might need an anticonvulsant to help stabilize hyperexcitable tracts in the brain that a prolonged exposure to drug withdrawal may have produced. The prolonged withdrawal may have had a kindling effect.
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> This suggestion is in accordance with a personal theory of mine. You might not find anything on the Internet to corroborate the theory except for a few abstracts that indicate anticonvulsants can help mitigate the intensity of withdrawal syndromes.
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> Good luck.
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> - Scott
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Scott,With all due respect, adding drugs compounds the withdrawal problems and is essentially medicating side effect after side effect. Then you have the problem of withdrawing from the drugs that have been added. So instead of dealing with withdrawal symptoms from 1 drug, you're now dealing with WD symptoms from the drug you added if you intend to get off of it.
I realize sometimes you have no choice. In order for me to sleep due to tapering Doxepin (a sleep med) and having rebound insomnia, I have to take a herbal supplement. I am concerned that down the road, it could be hard to get off of it.
But generally, adding a drug to deal with the problems caused by another drug is playing with fire.
For most people, time is the solution and letting the brain get back to homeostasis.
Finally, the key is to taper slowly. I know people are tired of me saying this but that hasn't stopped me:)) For antidepressants, taper 10% of the current dose every 3 to 6 weeks. For drugs like cymbalta or effexor that have short half lives, it is better to taper at 5%,
Too long of a taper you say? If you taper too fast, you will most likely add years of suffering so actually, you're not saving any time.
poster:49er
thread:880481
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090213/msgs/880771.html