What happened when you stopped your meds?

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Yeah, what I experienced definitely wasn't a resurfacing of previous symptoms, either. it made me really afraid to go on my new medicine (zoloft) but im glad i did now. im afraid to get off it, though.

I've completely crashed and I still have no idea when my meds might be back in stock. I don't feel like talking (typing is ok), I couldn't take care of my responsibilities today, and getting up to do anything feels like a chore.

I've gone on and off everything, feels like. I'm currently only on Zyprexa and it is working beautifully. I'm afraid to go off of it, and have no real desire to go off of it as it doesn't seem to be giving me any side effects that I notice. I went off antidepressants last summer, and that was a good move FOR ME, personally. Some people do well on antidepressants, but I am not one of them. Once the miserable withdrawl was over with, I was actually LESS depressed. But still on the Zyprexa.

I also take Klonppin as needed, because I have panic attacks. It's not really an ego booster to know I need a tranquilizer every so often- but I used to cut, and it's a lot better in my opinion to take the Rx as prescribed (and very infrequently in my case) than to sefl-mutilate or use another form of self-medication. It's safer. Having control of myself without any help would be the "nicest" option, but this is what works for now, and I'm getting better control of myself more often anyway, I think.

I have about two weeks worth of Ativan to be taken as needed which I have never taken because taking it is either inconvenient at the time and place or I can't bear to take it because when I get anxious I can't seem to put anything into my mouth without feeling like gagging.

Neuroleptics for AS? Do you ever stop taking it for a couple days to check for Tardive Dyskenisia(spelling?)?

The Welbutrin withdrawls were getting so bad today that I was wodering if I was going to have to check mysef into a hospital because I was getting so nonfunctinal. My mom helped me to finally find a pharmacy that had it in stock. I still don't feel even remotely like myself still, but at least I can get up and do stuff around the house for myself reliably. I still don't really feel like speaking much still. I wonder what causes that?

Downward Spiral.

This is really important information for people to have - a lot of times medications are prescribed to treat someone else's discomfort. When I was a kid therapist I often had kids come in whose teachers told their parents the kid could not return to school unless they took him or her to their pediatrician and got them a prescription for Ritalin.
Many people are 'way overmedicated in order that their symptoms don't bother anyone. My symptoms bothered me.
I am also diagnosed with ADHD, combined type. My friend describes my behavior as spinning. When I went to the psychiatrist I was taking 1200 mg of caffeine tablets daily. I tried Wellbutrin, which was like taking water, and cost me $600 in impulsive spending. As my social skills suck, I couldn't conceive of trying to return anything.

I tried Ritalin and my life was transformed. I slept. I ate hot food. I could leave the house and not go back for something I forgot, which, even with the caffeine, happened four or five times each morning. The only drawbacks were the loss of some creativity, and needing to sleep more than four hours a night. A benefit was the discovery of symptoms that led to the diagnosis of Asperger's. I also take Fluoxetine, which is generic Prozac. It's for amigranous migraines, which are migraines without pain, and a benefit is that it enhances the effect of the Ritalin.

The amounts and combinations of medications people are decribing here seem more designed to sedate than to treat. Glad you were brave enough to do it, anubend.

And just because you are an adult and have the right to informed consent doesn't mean people won't pressure you to take something for their convenience!

Forgot to add, just remembered another example:

I take Neurontin, which in my case seems to be effective both for neuropathic pain and seizures. (I took it for seizures along with Depakote back before the mass-marketing-to-everyone-in-existence happened, so my taking it for neuropathic pain today is a result of what I discovered back then, not to the drug company's questionable marketing tactics. And it does, despite all claims that this is also a mismarketing, appear to significantly reduce my seizures too even without Depakote -- with both it and Depakote, I couldn't function.)

If I skip too many doses of Neurontin -- and with Neurontin, it doesn't take long to cause major problems -- I get confusion, disorientation, dizziness, migraines, more seizures than usual, etc.

This is a known thing that happens when you discontinue seizure meds too rapidly. Even sometimes if you're not epileptic at all! Somehow, doctors rarely say, "Oh, you had seizures when you discontinued Neurontin rapidly? It must be epilepsy!" Yet with neuroleptics, they do the exact equivalent of that.

I take antidepressants, and have tried several different kinds over the past few years. Many don't seem to help me, but those that do help only seem to help for a short while.

I've had mixed experiences when I stopped taking them. Prozac made me feel completely numb, and when I stopped taking it, I immediately started to feel better. Effexor did not help me at all, but when I stopped taking that I had some very unpleasant discontinuation symptoms for 10 days. After that I did not notice any difference. There were 2 that helped for a while but then stopped helping. When I stopped taking them I felt extremely depressed for a few days, but after that I started to feel a bit better again.

I don't understand how in the world your pyschiatrist could write all those withdrawal symtoms off. Did he even have an explanation for where they originated or did he think your system just coincidently went wacky when you stopped taking your meds? I don't have a medical degree and even I've read the warnings on drug labels about drastically decreasing dosage. What you described was definately text-book withdrawal and I'd think surely as a medical professional, he would've caught on. I hope you're seeing someone else because he's obviously incompetant.

When I started working for a company that provided medical coverage in its benefits package, I started seeing a "real" doctor rather than visiting the county clinic for my anti-depressants. She took me off of Elavel, suggesting it was outdated and caused side-affects. Since I could now afford something newer, she prescribed "Zoloft". Not only did it not eleviate my depression, it made it worse, causing me to make irrational decisions. I eventually stopped taking it all together and after losing my job, had a breakdown which caused a suicidal attempt and was hospitalized for two weeks.

The meds the hospital psychiatrist prescribed worked a million times better than anything I've taken. However, the trade off is whenever for some reason I can't refill my prescription, I go into an ugly withdrawal that rivals a heroin addict's. Right now, since the pharmacy screwed up my Effexor prescription, I have to wait until my next doctor's visit. As a result of being without for two weeks, I get paranoid, have vivid, wild nightmares, waking hallucinations of tiny geometric patterns with my eyes shut and everything seems louder, irritating and more intense. If narcotic withdrawal is anything worse than this, nobody will have to worry about whether I "just say no".

I couldn't believe that he hadn't heard of it, either. He said that I just got sick from other things at the same time that I was getting off of my meds. such BS. And yes, I definitely have a new psychiatrist now!

AS is NOT all that is wrong with me. It's not for the Asperger's. I've been diagnosed with more s--- than you would believe, in therapy and in and out of treatemnt centers until I started living alone. I have been on everything save for anti-ADD meds, as that is one of the few things people never thought I had. This is all that works. Whatever it's treating, it's making me functional. s**t can go wrong with any drug. If I go off this, I will probably go off LIFE. I hate it when people think that they know what should work for me and what shouldn't, especially when they don't know ME, which you obvioudly don't or you would not assume that I "only" has AS.

It's also really frustrating that so many people on here seem to be so severely opposed to the idea of anyone being on any meds. If it helps, it helps. I have a chemical imbalance of some sort, and the Zyprexa helps it when nothing else does.

Last edited by Serissa on 07 Aug 2005, 7:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Sorry, I never would have guessed your situation was that bad.

Yeah. I seem to have very few side effects on my current dosage, and whatever the long-term effects of it are, I'd rather deal with them than be unable to function at all in life currently. New advances are being made in medicine every day, and if there's a time when I can risk being a basket case to swicth to something new and "better" I may try it, but for now, what works, works.