Posted by bleauberry on October 20, 2009, at 17:18:03
In reply to Is Becoming Med Free a Reality?, posted by Buckeye Fan on October 20, 2009, at 10:18:11
> Just wanting some opinions gang....after 10-15 years of using an AD and a Benzo....is there any hope I could become med free ?
AFter 15 years of most of the psych drugs, the longest stretches being one year on Paxil and then 8 years on Prozac+Zyprexa+Modafinil, I have been med free for 3 years.
>
> Would my system eventually return to it's pre-med state?
>
> BFNo. That will never happen. In 15 years, with or without meds, a things have changed. The body is always aging, changing, adapting, and so on. Things never stand still. You would land in some new place unlike the old you and unlike the drugged you.
People who do the best med-free after long psychiatric med histories usually have a few things in common...
1. They change their food choices and activity choice. For example, some feel better on something similar to the Atkins diet...basically heavy on proteins and plants, very light on anything else. Some people like me do best on an anti-inflammatory diet, which is heavy on plants and fats but light on proteins. It is a healthy change to take on a new hobby or activity, sort of like a new chapter in the book. It symbolically draws a purposeful line in the sand that says the old is done, bring on the new.
2. Experimentation and usage of natural reinforcement. That could be anything...SAMe, SJW, Rhodiola, 5hpt, tyrosine, dlpa, GABA, glycine, ginkgo, one of the three ginsengs, feverfew, lemon balm, passionflower, albizzia, adrenal cortex extract, licorice, and others. These things are highly under-rated in terms of power and potential, usually because the user is not well informed on how to choose them, dose them, or combine them.
3. Detective work to hunt down the real cause of the psychiatric symptoms that was ignored and covered up all those years on meds. It can turn out to be something like thyroid, adrenal fatigue, amalgam fillings, candida, one of a number of ruthless pathogens with Borellia (Lyme) being just one of them, or a combination of several things likely. Many times we may never know what the real problem is, but there are still vast treasures of plants on the earth to treat any condition or symptom. All of these things are actually fairly easy and cheap to test and explore.
Worst case scenario...you may need a med or two for longterm or forever...but you can likely do 1/4 or 1/2 of customary doses with the aid of other supplements that strengthen your body and mind and address the symptoms.
My own opinion is that anyone contemplating getting off longterm meds should do the following:
1. Go at a very slow pace...tiny steps down in dosage spread out over months.
2. Begin those new food choices and activities.
3. Recruit an Integrative MD on your team, as he/she will have good ideas to help supplement your weaning process, guidance on supplements during and after weaning, and a general view of the mind being an extension of the whole body, not just a separate entity. What happens in the body directly affects the mind. Integrative MDs prefer to use natural supplements to allow the body to do its own good work and healing, but can also prescribe appropriate meds when needed.
poster:bleauberry
thread:921662
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091012/msgs/921711.html