Posted by katia on March 16, 2005, at 15:05:04
BPII dx. Paxil 12.5mg, Trileptal 450mg and Seroquel 25mg, St. John's Wort, Fish oil, and seasonal light box 10 min. a day is my info.
I've been on Paxil for almost a year (9mos.) I was feeling better and so as we do, I decided that it was time to come off of it. About 6 weeks ago, I braved the withdrawals. (I've braved the w/drawals of Effexor and Zoloft two years ago - not fun). It wasn't just the physical stuff, like shocks and nauseous as it was my crazy mood swings, irritability and suicidal thoughts. I went back on it just to stop the w/drawal. I talked to me pdoc about it and he doesn't know if it's w/drawal or not. Come on.....of course it's w/drawal! It made me realize i have to take the matter into my own hands...
My question is: why are some SSRIs, like Paxil harder to come off of? Why do some have this withdrawal effect and others are easy to stop? I feel uneasy taking something everyday, (even if it does help) that my body is becoming very dependent on.
Second question: I've heard that if you've had one depression, it's 25% chance you'll have another. If you've had two, 50%. If three, 95%. So if you've had three, you should stay on meds for life. That's what I've heard. (i've had wayyyyy more than three). So turns out I'm bipolar II with an emphasis on the lows, therefore doesn't it make sense that I should be on meds for life or for a long time? And then doesn't it make sense that the med should be an antidepressant accompanied of course by my mood stabilizer (MS)? Or is a MS enough?
What happens when we finally get stable? Are we "healed" and back to balance and then we can go off the meds? Or is it the meds in place that are causing the balance? I don't want to take things unnecessarily. I'm confused about all this.
Thanks for reading this. Any comments?
Katia
poster:katia
thread:471753
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050312/msgs/471753.html