Posted by 49er on April 20, 2011, at 7:50:17
In reply to Re: the only way out » 49er, posted by SLS on April 20, 2011, at 6:44:00
Hi Scott
"I think many people are confusing withdrawal with persistent changes in structure and function. In my experience and observation, drugs can often go in, make changes, and go out, leaving the system in a different state than when it went in."So far, we're in agreement.
" This is evidenced by several phenomena, including drug poop-out, post SSRI sexual and motivational deficits, and the loss of responsiveness to a drug following its discontinuation. These are not acute withdrawal symptoms. They are residual and persist long after drug discontinuation. "
Poop out is not a withdrawal symptom in my opinion. That refers to the feeling that the drug has lost its effectiveness when you are taking it.
But regarding motivational and sexual dysfunction, they can either be withdrawal symptoms or residual depending on if they resolve or not which they do for some people. The problem is if they are residual, many psychiatrists will erroneously blame it on the person's label.
> I agree with many of your recommendations for drug discontinuation, although I am still of the opinion that the rate of taper you suggest is too slow for most of the drugs being used in psychiatry.
>
I vehemently disagree. I wish I had a nickle for how many times I have seen posts on boards like this one and others where it was clear to me the person had problems from tapering way too fast.What is the rush? The only issue I see where tapering slowly may not be a good thing is if the doctor feels the side effects are so life threatening that the person has to get off the drug immediately.
But even in cases like that, I have seen people have withdrawal symptoms that were so horrendous that i wonder if simply lowering the dose slowly would have lessened the problems.
After all, Jay Cohen, a psychiatrist who is not anti meds has said alot of side effects are from increasing meds too quickly and starting patients on too large of a dose.
I guess my question to you is what specific objections do you have regarding my plan being too slow?
49er
poster:49er
thread:983009
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110418/msgs/983321.html