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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by ltlnnja on February 29, 2008, at 15:05:47
I have been on three medications for about 5 years now: Trileptal 300mg twice daily, Effexor 150 once daily and Seroquel 200 mg once daily. When I was diagnosed with bipolar 5 years ago, I had attepted suicide once and was almost there again when a friend stepped in for the first time. I went to a doctor and she labeled my bipolar II in about a 15 minute time frame. I was started on my meds and stupidly never really looked into any of them. I figured a doctor gave them to me and they should be good for me. Big mistake! Recently I was looking into drug interactions and found out a lot about all of them. I have gained around 80lbs since starting, most of which was in the first year. I also have experienced much of the other side effect symptoms - pancreatitis, being on of the worst. I have been in the hospital twice for this. (side effect of the seroquel) Needless to say I was more that surprised and pissed off when I found out that a lot of my problems had been enduced by the very meds that were suppose to be helping me. I have since been doing some research on some natural ways to stabalize moods and balance insufficiencies in the body that contribute to bipolar issues.
My question to all is - Has anyone been on a combo of any of these meds and gone off? How did you do it and how did it go?
Any suggestions on quitting the individual meds and the withdrawals from those?
Does anyone have natural remedies that have helped them?Thank you very much for any imput. Good luck to everyonce going through anything having to do with the meds of this and the last 2 generations.
Posted by Phillipa on February 29, 2008, at 17:09:56
In reply to I want to quit all of my medications, posted by ltlnnja on February 29, 2008, at 15:05:47
I'm sorry you're having such a horrible time with meds right now. I'd like to welcome you to babble and let you know there are many knowledgeable people here. I'm sure one will try to help answer your question soon. Again welcome. Phillipa
Posted by bleauberry on February 29, 2008, at 22:14:52
In reply to I want to quit all of my medications, posted by ltlnnja on February 29, 2008, at 15:05:47
I've been in your shoes. After years of being ok with drugs, and then later developing serious problems from them, I felt it was responsible to seek alternative treatments.
Please do not underestimate the dangers involved or the difficulty. It requires a tough as nails mindset and a goal oriented patient strategy.
Make sure those you live with know what you are doing and why. That will help them understand the changes you will go through.
Get real good at cutting little tiny pieces off of pills. Get good at emptying tiny little bits out of capsules. It will be crucial to lower doses in eensy weensy increments. Based on my own personal experience in getting off similar drugs, a likely timeframe for the whole deal should be about 6 to 12 months. That allows for slow enough weaning to tolerate it and continue functioning in life and minimize dangerous chaotic reactions of going too aggressively.
I found it best to wean off one at a time so I knew what was doing what. Sometimes I would wean one down to about half, then the other down to about half, and seesaw back and forth on the way down.
No matter. The key is take a long time, probably longer than you think, and that's ok. Time is only slow in the present. Looking back, where did time fly? Ya know? Steps down in dosage should be very very very tiny ones. You will know if you went to much too fast, as your body and mind will go into chaos. Backup and slow down. It is fine to pause at a certain dose for a couple weeks to stabilize and rest. If you try to push it, you will be sorry.
It would be a great idea to have an alternative or integrative doctor onboard the whole time. Someone who knows the drugs you are on, someone who can prescribe them, someone who has ideas of what to do once off them, and someone who knows what can help right now that doesn't need to wait.
Posted by yxibow on March 1, 2008, at 3:28:54
In reply to I want to quit all of my medications, posted by ltlnnja on February 29, 2008, at 15:05:47
> I have been on three medications for about 5 years now: Trileptal 300mg twice daily, Effexor 150 once daily and Seroquel 200 mg once daily. When I was diagnosed with bipolar 5 years ago, I had attepted suicide once and was almost there again when a friend stepped in for the first time. I went to a doctor and she labeled my bipolar II in about a 15 minute time frame. I was started on my meds and stupidly never really looked into any of them. I figured a doctor gave them to me and they should be good for me. Big mistake! Recently I was looking into drug interactions and found out a lot about all of them. I have gained around 80lbs since starting, most of which was in the first year. I also have experienced much of the other side effect symptoms - pancreatitis, being on of the worst. I have been in the hospital twice for this. (side effect of the seroquel) Needless to say I was more that surprised and pissed off when I found out that a lot of my problems had been enduced by the very meds that were suppose to be helping me. I have since been doing some research on some natural ways to stabalize moods and balance insufficiencies in the body that contribute to bipolar issues.
>
> My question to all is - Has anyone been on a combo of any of these meds and gone off? How did you do it and how did it go?
> Any suggestions on quitting the individual meds and the withdrawals from those?
> Does anyone have natural remedies that have helped them?
>
> Thank you very much for any imput. Good luck to everyonce going through anything having to do with the meds of this and the last 2 generations.
>
>Its very difficult, and I can only make a short posting here because I should be setting my sleep clock back, but I would be careful about "dumping" Seroquel. If you must for health reasons, discuss this with your doctor. Slowly go down on it. Please don't just not take it for a week or more. I've done this several times with severe depression and anxiety returning.
Discuss options with your doctor on the other ones too if you need to make a change -- you might want to try Lamictal.
-- tidingsJay
Posted by 49er on March 1, 2008, at 15:47:09
In reply to I want to quit all of my medications, posted by ltlnnja on February 29, 2008, at 15:05:47
Hi,
I started tapering 4 meds in 2006 after being on mostly 3 meds for over 10 years. I am now down to two, Remeron and Doxepin as I was able to taper Wellbutrin and Adderall pretty quickly.
But with the Remeron, I am sticking to tapering 10% of the current dose every 3 to 6 weeks as Remeron requires this type of taper.
I am not a medical professional but in looking at your meds, you will definitely need to taper very slowly in my opinion.
Your brain needs time to adapt to the neurochemical changes of having less of these meds. Otherwise, tapering too quickly is like going 60 miles an hour and putting the car in reverse.
As far as supplements, I am reluctant to recommend what I take because I suspect your needs are going to be different as your meds are much heavy duty than mine. You might want to visit the Icarious Project forums on alternative meds
You also might want to look at empower plus which many people have used to get off the type of meds you are on. I know nothing about it as an fYI.
Personally, I think you can do this as many people have gotten off these types of meds. But in my opinion, it has to be done very slowly.
There are also orthomolecular psychiatrist who will prescribe supplements while taking you off of these meds. But even they taper way too quickly in my opinion.
Good luck.
49er
Posted by Molybdenum on March 3, 2008, at 14:50:45
In reply to I want to quit all of my medications, posted by ltlnnja on February 29, 2008, at 15:05:47
I'm on high dose Effexor & mirtazapine too but I'm nowhere near ready to give them up now.
However, someone here posted a link to a site in the UK where they had detailed info on withdrawing from different benzodiazapines. Now, I know your lot are not benzos but firstly, there might be similarities in her methods that could help you & secondly, try emailing her as to your meds. Can't hurt.
http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzcha02.htm
Good Luck...;)
This is the end of the thread.
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