Posted by Sarah T. on February 27, 2005, at 0:47:31
In reply to Don't do that., posted by SLS on February 26, 2005, at 7:26:40
I've stopped different medications abruptly over the years for different reasons. On several occasions, I had to have surgery, so I did a very fast "taper" as soon as I knew I had to have surgery. I've also had several doctors misguide me into stopping abruptly, telling me it's "no problem." A couple of times, I chose to stop abruptly because I just wanted to get it over with. I have to say that as far as withdrawal from most drugs is concerned, I agree with you, but I disagree as far as stimulants are concerned. For me, a slow taper from stimulants would have been impossible. When I withdrew from stimulants, I chose to do it abruptly. I had tried doing it slowly, and I found that being in a constant state of rebound was infinitely more painful than not taking any at all. By the way, "rebound" from stimulants is not the same thing as withdrawal. Rebound is that period when the drug levels are declining, but the drug is still in your system. I've never withdrawn from benzodiazapines abruptly. The first time I withdrew from a "benzo," I tapered off Dalmane (an old hypnotic) very slowly over a couple of months. The second time, I withdrew from Xanax by switching to Klonopin. I took that for a while and then tapered very slowly over several months. I found it to be painless. So, I think that how you go about withdrawal depends on the medicine and on your reasons for withdrawal.
poster:Sarah T.
thread:463648
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050214/msgs/463939.html