Posted by xbunny on October 11, 2006, at 8:08:08
This isnt a request for help or advice I just would like to record my experience for those who may be considering the same thing or are just interested :)
I have been taking antipsychotic drugs for about 10 years, over that period I have switched been several atypical drugs including risperdal, zyprexa and amisulpride and several typical drugs including thioridazine, stelazine, thorazine. My last regiem was a combination of pericyazine and flupenthixol. Most drugs I took for periods lasting 3 months to a few years in various combinations and doses. The prime reasons for discontinuations and other changes were inadequate symptom control and anxiety.
On the instruction of my psychiatrist I have been off all antipsychotics (and all other psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants and benzodiazapines) for 4 weeks now. I stopped cold turkey going from a dose of 75mg of pericyazine and 6mg of flupenthixol to nothing in one evening. The initial effects were severe; the first few nights I went both manic and psychotic, I was unable to sleep, sit still, think in a rational fashion, my anxiety reached extreme levels, as if by remote control I talked constantly about things which made no sense. I was physically sick with extreme nausea and unable to eat, I constantly felt cold and had goosebumps or cold turkey, my muscles throughout my body muscles were alternating between rigid cramps and vibrating movement. All that kept me going was continual self reassurance I felt that these were drug effects and not a normal state nor a return of my symptoms. After 3 days the mania gradually subsided and I resumed eating and was able to sleep. The next day I became severly depressed, I experienced dispair like I rarely felt before, I became extremely scared of just about everything around me and beleived that all hope was lost, Most of mind was telling me this is it you will never recover this will be your natural state, in short your f**ked mate. Again all that kept me going (at this point from suicide) was the beleif that these were drug induced effects and would not be permanent. Over the next week or so the attacks of fear and depression began to fragment and I would alternate between periods of relative lucidity and these torturous experiences. Physically my naseua was subsiding, my cold turkey was still evident and as strong as ever, my muscles stopped cramping but began feeling increasing leaden and difficult to move. A few more days later the severity of depression began to lighten and I felt alot more lucid. My mood began to improve in short periods and I felt mental clarity and a wicked sense of humour returning. Mentally I felt quite weird, detached and disconnected, like remotely viewing my body and my thoughts, my perceptual distortions had worsened considerably, but I did not feel psychotic (if its possible to feel psychotic) in fact almost everything seemed a like a very big and weird joke which I cant really explain. The follow week things improved further. So here I am, the cold turkey has subsided to merely annoying levels though for some reason I still seem to feel the cold alot more than I did before. My muscles still do not feel right I find it difficult to move them after periods of stillness and frankly everything feels too heavy. My thought process feels detached and impersonal. My mood is reasonably stable. I am not experiencing hallucinations however my perceptual disturbances are worse. Overall I would say the experience has been quite unpleasant however I would say that it has been no worse than I might have expected and I hope that given more time things may improve further.Bunny
poster:xbunny
thread:693781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20061010/msgs/693781.html