Tapering off Medication

[Johnny_Citizen]

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, and

I' 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.

[geoff]

dear JC, it's been a ride and a half along the way, but firstly welcome to the site.

I have to congratulate you on the effort you have put in, however can I ask you a question, I am just wondering why you are cutting down on your medication with the intention of stopping it, especially as it's making you more anxious, unless you want to start another medication.

I will continue when I hear from your reply. Geoff

[Johnny_Citizen]

Hi Geoff,

Thank you for your reply. I guess my main reason for stopping medication completely is that I have been able to get on with my life for long periods without being medicated. This medication has been mainly about getting into a good sleep pattern as most of my anxiety seems to have come at its worst when I haven't slept well for a couple of days. It has been great for sleep for the last 7 months or so, but it leaves me so drowsy and my memory is terrible. Apart from sleep it doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on my mood at all. I am hoping to find a PRN to break the cycle of poor sleep that I can take every now and then instead, and get a good exercise routine and diet. I'm also concerned about the long-term physical effects on my body. My partner also feels I am a bit emotionally numb at times, and I can't see it which concerns me.

I'm sort of between a rock and a hard place but I'm not sure that the positives outweigh the benefits, if that makes sense.

JC 

[geoff]

dear JC, thanks for getting back to us, because it does mean a lot for this to happen to hear back from the people who we reply to.

I understand your logic but perhaps you may need some medication to help you with your panic attacks otherwise this may begin some disturbed sleep again, so it's really a catch-22 situation.

If your partner is a non talker this can make a relationship a bit difficult, because we all think and you're not quite sure what is going on and how she feels, and there's no way you can force her to open up, because she will resent this.

I'm in no way saying that this relationship has problems, so I can't comment on this, but it can make decisions to be difficult.

Sleep problems can be disturbing because you want to sleep when you can't, and when you go to bed your mind turns over a hundred million times, and this happens with anxiety and/or depression.

I also urge you to find a GP but perhaps it's trust in one that's the main problem, there is a list of doctors who are aligned with BB and specifically deal in all sorts of anxiety and depression, and you can find them by clicking 'get support' at the top of the page.

Your post really interests me, so I hope that you can keep in touch, however it may get lost when it moves to page 2 or 3, but if you make another comment it will bring it back to page 1, so please I would like to know what is going on. Geoff.

[JC1962]

This is my first post.

After four years , I have been tapering off medication over three months and today is the third day since I took my last one. I chose this time as I am off work until January 8th. I feel dizzy, nauseous and scared. I tried to come off before but the symptoms were so bad I ended up going back on. My psych and my GP know I am tapering so I am in good hands but today I feel terrible.

Does anyone know or have advice on how long these symptoms will last?

[james1]

Hello JC1962,

I am very sorry for the delay in our response. Usually we look for new threads so we can occasionally miss posts in existing threads.

We aren't really able to give you advice on how long these symptoms will last as only your doctors would have a rough idea. That said, I have a friend who is coming of a drug as well and her tapering has been very erratic, so I understand where your fear is coming from.

The most important thing is that whatever you do, you do with the consultation of the doctors. Coming off any medication is very tricky as it changes the chemical balance of our bodies.

Have you spoken to your doctors about the symptoms you've been experiencing?

James