Tapering off Medication
- replies: 5
Hi there,I've just joined, it's my first foray into fora - I hope it's not too presumptuous of me to start a thread straight away, but I'm hoping that this is a topic someone out there might be keen to discuss.As a bit of background, I'm a 38 year ol... View more
Hi there,I've just joined, it's my first foray into fora - I hope it's not too presumptuous of me to start a thread straight away, but I'm hoping that this is a topic someone out there might be keen to discuss.As a bit of background, I'm a 38 year old male who works full-time as a mental health support worker - more than a little ironic I know. I guess I'm fairly well-educated, and I have led a full life to this point. I'm thankful for the good things. I would stop short of calling it 'a fulfilling life'. I have experienced anxiety since childhood and have overcompensated in many ways over the years via the common routes of drinking, drugs, promiscuity, risk-taking etc. I can't remember large swathes of my adult life. Currently my only addiction is cigarettes.In my early twenties I became depressed and I couldn't understand why. Other people started noticing an anger in my manner that I could not see and would not admit to. I moved from state to state, job to job, and partner to partner for years, leaving a legacy of discarded clothing, unpaid bills and credit defaults behind me. I was lucky to have forgiving friends. Some stayed the course, but all would have justifiably questioned our friendship. After the depression faded anxiety set in. Panic attack after panic attack. I thought I was a dead man walking - not in terms of wanting to die, but I felt a pervasive sense of doom and mistrust, and I was sure my body could not stand up to the stress. By the time I lost my closest friend at 31 I was literally living in a gutted train caboose in a back yard on medication, and grabbing a large pizza every night on my way home from work before drinking myself to sleep. These days I hardly drink and I haven't done drugs in any form for around five years. I now live with a partner and her daughter and try to be as responsible as I can. My partner isn't a talker. My family and friends are in different states, and I don't have a regular GP.Anyway, to cut to the chase, I'm tapering off another medication. I've gone to a half dosage relatively smoothly over a few weeks, except one panic attack after a one-off night shift and then missing a dose. I'm about to go in half again by taking my current dosage every second night for a couple of weeks before finishing completely. I've built up so much anxiety around this, andI' m fairly scared of losing the plot. I don't want to weigh my partner down with this. I would appreciate any thoughts at all around this. Thank you.
