Posted by 49er on October 28, 2007, at 17:02:34 [reposted on October 30, 2007, at 1:59:59 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Weaning off meds, posted by Racer on October 28, 2007, at 16:48:11
Hi Racer,
In my opinion, cutting meds by 50% is a way too fast tapering rate. Sure, some people like yourself can get away with it but in my opinion, that is playing with fire.
Also, as one who suffered horrible withdrawal symptoms from CTing Prozac, I think the advice to use it to buffer withdrawal symptoms needs to be approached with extreme caution.
The best advice I have seen on tapering meds is to withdraw 10% of the current dose every 3 to 5 weeks. Of course, this isn't always feasible but if you want to minimize your withdrawal problems, you need to go as slow as possible.
Just so you know, I picked up this advice from the paxil progress boards. The woman who runs it is a nurse who almost lost her son to a paxil induced suicide.
Finally, I am curious as why you assume people need to stay on meds for life? I am not asking to be argumentative but I think I am a little sensitive becasue that assumption was made about me. Well, during my tapering, in spite of dealing with crisis's like a near death of a family member and job instability, I have not come close to a relapse.
I can't prove this but I think one reason people have relapses and go back on meds is that they withdrew from meds too quickly or CTd meds unnecessarily.
49er
poster:49er
thread:792294
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070929/msgs/792297.html