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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 15 of 15. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Christ_empowered on August 10, 2011, at 13:44:47
I guess this could've gone on the medication board, but there's more involved here than taking/not taking pills, so I'll post it here.
I'm tired of feeling tranquilized and slowed down. I'm tired of not having a job or many friends and not caring. I'm tired of gaining weight and not caring. Abilify is "effective" in the sense that it tranquilizes the hell out of my mania and agitation, but I don't think its going to be helpful in actually getting a life together.
I remember being burned out, prematurely aged, and absolutely despised in my small town several years ago. Psychiatry helped get me to that point. I remember overhearing a former shrink talking about my confidential information at a local bar. I remember a psychiatrist driving by my parents house, staring me down, and making asinine comments.
I feel as if psychiatry has already taken too much from me. I can't blame the profession too much--when I was young and naive, I really *believed* psychiatry was the answer--but I do need to know when to say when.
I'm healthy again. Somehow, I became reasonably intelligent again (a shrink at a mental hospital called this "transcendent intelligence"). People leave me alone most of the time. I think maybe its time to say good-bye to the profession that's proven to be harsh, judgmental, expensive, and anything but "professional."
I do, of course, reserve the right to change my mind.
Posted by ron1953 on August 10, 2011, at 16:09:25
In reply to Stopping Abilify for now, posted by Christ_empowered on August 10, 2011, at 13:44:47
I fully support your decision and hope you can continue to function acceptably (for you) without "professional help".
I feel that the mental health profession has done me more harm than good, and suspect that I'm part of a pretty big group. I don't feel all that good a lot of the time, but I'm still better off without psychotropic drugs.
Posted by Dinah on August 10, 2011, at 16:53:54
In reply to Stopping Abilify for now, posted by Christ_empowered on August 10, 2011, at 13:44:47
Do you think Abilify is playing a role in your feeling better now? You say that it helps with mania and agitation.
I think there's a big temptation to stop medications when you're feeling better *because* of the medications you're planning to stop. I understand that temptation, but I wonder if quitting might put you back where you started. What is your past experience with stopping meds? I think I remember other periods of time when you did this. Did it work?
Is it possible to tweak the dose a bit to get the advantages while trying to cut back on the side effects? Why just stop it, rather than reduce doseage? If eventually you can reduce it to zero with no recurrance, that's great. But why the hurry?
I know you've had bad experiences, and really I'm a bit cynical about all the medical profession including psychiatry. But isn't it possible that it's mental illness that caused the biggest change from what you remember and what you perceive now?
Posted by sigismund on August 10, 2011, at 17:14:13
In reply to Re: Stopping Abilify for now » Christ_empowered, posted by Dinah on August 10, 2011, at 16:53:54
Don't just stop it.
Stop taking it slowly.
You can feel your way there and take it as it comes.
I think that would be wisest.
Posted by sleepygirl2 on August 10, 2011, at 19:39:42
In reply to Re: Stopping Abilify for now, posted by sigismund on August 10, 2011, at 17:14:13
These guys make sense. Did you go off it before? How did it go?
Posted by Christ_empowered on August 10, 2011, at 20:57:19
In reply to Re: Stopping Abilify for now » sigismund, posted by sleepygirl2 on August 10, 2011, at 19:39:42
OK, its been several days, but I think sigi is right...time to do this thing gradually, instead of stopping it suddenly and expecting my poor brain to just "deal" with a sudden burst of activity after a long period of tranquilization.
I took 15mgs today. Feel fine.
Posted by sigismund on August 11, 2011, at 4:29:29
In reply to maybe not so fast..., posted by Christ_empowered on August 10, 2011, at 20:57:19
>I took 15mgs today. Feel fine.
That's the shot. Feel your way through it.
I don't think people should stay on or off psych drugs.
But having tried to give several up, I know how much stress that places on your system.
Posted by Phillipa on August 11, 2011, at 11:20:28
In reply to Re: maybe not so fast... » Christ_empowered, posted by sigismund on August 11, 2011, at 4:29:29
CE go slow and remember what happened last time you quit. You are doing well now please be careful. Phillipa
Posted by sigismund on August 11, 2011, at 14:54:22
In reply to Re: maybe not so fast..., posted by Phillipa on August 11, 2011, at 11:20:28
Can you titrate down on Abilify though?
When you get to (what is it?) 5 or whatever, will it turn out to be too stimulating?
Posted by floatingbridge on August 11, 2011, at 16:55:18
In reply to maybe not so fast..., posted by Christ_empowered on August 10, 2011, at 20:57:19
CE am I allowed to say you must taper?
How about this: I feel that for the best effect, one should taper abilify slowly.
I took a month to taper. And that was from 10mg.
I want to address a couple of things in your first post.
I feel those two doctors you mention behaved
unprofessionally. There are reasons for a code of e
thics. Unprofessional psychiatric treatment can be experienced as traumatic or damaging of one's trust. ESP psychiatry, such a wierd science to begin
with.Have you seen in passing any of these docs since you've returned home? It just occurred to me that maybe being home reactivated those hurts and injustices.... Just a thought.
So who you see now, how are they?
You went back up to 30mg? With remission of symptoms, yes?
O.K. Can you stay at 15-20mg for awhile and observe? Make a pact with yourself not to rush. Could you do that? What about 2-3 weeks?
I fight with my meds still :-/. Sorry CE this is going on.
But to have either rebound symptoms due to rapid withdrawal or re-emergence of primary symptoms won't serve any long range goals as I see it. Then there is the personal and
clinical observations that bouncing on meds reduces efficacy for some folks.Oh, be well, sweetie. Hope this wasn't just a barrage of questions.
I do agree with a poster above that it is o.k. being on or off psych meds to my thinking. Real efficacy is the goal. Try to jettison those assinine doctors. They behaved like jerks :-/
Posted by Christ_empowered on August 11, 2011, at 18:18:13
In reply to Re: maybe not so fast... » Christ_empowered, posted by floatingbridge on August 11, 2011, at 16:55:18
hey, FB.
No, I haven't seen any of those docs in a while. I saw one--the one who said I was narcissistic and then proceeded to break confidentiality, once when I was within earshot--about a year ago. He tried to stare me down, I stared back, he looked away. Awkward. I think that was before he got a subpoena for my records from the Medical Board. The other guy, who worked at the same mental hospital, apparently no longer works there. The hospital has a website (privately owned, corporate things) with pix of the staff physicians. His picture has been taken down.
Anyway, I think I'll stick with 15mgs/day for now. All I have are 30mgs tablets. I figure the 30mgs will start to self-taper (abilify has like a 3 day half life or something crazy like that) and then the 15mgs should be sufficient to keep the crazy at bay without feeling like a zombie. I guess I could try cutting them into 1/4 pieces, but so far so good. I'm also starting Lamictal soon (tomorrow, hopefully), so I think an anticonvulsant/antidepressant will help take the edge off things. Here's hoping.
Thanks for your concern, and don't worry about asking too many questions or whatever...I appreciate it.
Thanks.
Posted by Christ_empowered on August 11, 2011, at 18:30:52
In reply to Re: maybe not so fast..., posted by Christ_empowered on August 11, 2011, at 18:18:13
sigi,
do you think the low doses are very stimulating? Way back when, I started at 7.5mgs (1/2 of a 15mgs tablet from a sample pack). I felt calmer and more relaxed. For some reason, my doc ramped the dose up to 30 (this was years ago).
Anyway, I've been wondering about this...I've read that 10mgs/day is the minimum effective dose, but I also read somewhere else that its 7.5mgs/day. What do the smaller doses do? More of an antidepressant than a neuroleptic, like a really expensive flupentixol?
Thanks.
Posted by sigismund on August 11, 2011, at 19:37:47
In reply to Abilify dosage, posted by Christ_empowered on August 11, 2011, at 18:30:52
>do you think the low doses are very stimulating?
I of course don't know, but I think I read that on the med board.
It is really hard getting off some drugs. I gave up opiates after forever, but have not yet succeeded in giving up benzos. I take a shitload of chinese herbs to keep me calm as I reduce. They help. I would have been better if, as a young man, I had never come across psychiatry. But my problems were different to yours. I was just frightened and deprived. Now when young men especially say they are frightened, I always want to say that it is not fun, but entirely normal....100 years ago, for example, plans were afoot to kill 10,000,000 of you for starters. What is there not to be frightened of in that? Bloody people.
Posted by sleepygirl2 on August 11, 2011, at 20:42:46
In reply to Re: maybe not so fast..., posted by Christ_empowered on August 11, 2011, at 18:18:13
Good luck ce :-)
I hope you find lamictal helpful.
Initially, lamictal made me a little speedy, once, really irritable.
One thing though...
It's a change of 2 meds at the same time, does it make it hard to distinguish what is what?
Posted by floatingbridge on August 11, 2011, at 21:41:24
In reply to Re: maybe not so fast... » Christ_empowered, posted by sleepygirl2 on August 11, 2011, at 20:42:46
> Good luck ce :-)
> I hope you find lamictal helpful.
> Initially, lamictal made me a little speedy, once, really irritable.
> One thing though...
> It's a change of 2 meds at the same time, does it make it hard to distinguish what is what?CE,
A good point here about the two meds at once. You might not know if or how activating or brightening the lamictal might be. You know your baselines at both Abilify dosages?
The Abilify dosage question might be best on the meds board, unless of course someone experienced posts here. About at what level *might* you expect symptom coverage with minimum sedation.
This is the end of the thread.
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