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I want to taper my antipsychotics, is it possible I stay symptoms free and not need meds anymore?

Hello all, I'm currently stuck in Effexor side effect hell ever since I decided to take a higher dose of 75 mg a few months ago. Took the dose for almost a month and felt awful, so my psychiatrist decided to taper off entirely with Prozac, it failed badly and I ended up in the hospital with suicidal thoughts and extreme anxiety. I didn't even stop taking it, I was on 37.5 mg (immediate release). They decided to up my dose to 150 mg in the psych ward, couldn't do anything but comply. Got sent home, felt alright for a few days but the side effects have come back. Feel horribly restless, anxious, agoraphobic, and what have you. Have had some panic attacks as well. I've become non functional. Is it too late to revert to a lower dose? I've been on this dose for a bit more than 2 weeks at this point and have been in and out of my psychiatrist more than I can count lately, so she probably doesn't want to see me anytime soon. What should I do? I'm also taking Risperidone (they started giving it to me in the hospital) and got my psych to give me 0.25 mg of Xanax in case of any panic attacks if that means anything.

Pearl was 10 when she had some anxiety and hormonal issues and started having crying spells. She would go to her room and start crying. She was given Antidepressant for that. Initially it helped but then within 2 months she reached tolerance. So dose was increased. Higher dose worked for 2 more weeks. Then crying spells returned in worse intensity along with some mental confusions and distorted thinking. A benzo was added along with Antidepressant. No improvement was found. She started showing behavioral changes, psychosis symptoms (delusions only , no hallucinations). An antipsychotic was added. By the time we realized the drugs are harming her more, and are not the cure, it was almost 7-8 months. We started discussing with doctors and tapering was started. Tapering was done over a period of 1 year. She suffered bad withdrawal symptoms: Loss of sleep Crying spells returning Anger/Rage Zombie/Glazed look Entire day sitting at one place , not doing any thing Hygiene went to hell Memory and Cognitive decline She stopped going to school at this point. We also supported her as she was not able to comprehend what was being taught and it was giving her stress because she was not able to understand. She is drug free from 4 months. Still boiling rage is continuing. Some of the mental confusion/delusions are coming back. Cognition is not at all getting better. She is now 12. Even if we look at her, she starts throwing stuff at us. I being her mother is taking care of her hygiene and health. It will be 5 months of being drug free this week and still not much of an improvement. She is my child and her suffering like this is too painful for me. Is there any way I can speed up the recovery?

Hello, I've just recently found this site and kept reading and absorbing all kinds of information. I am so glad to read so many inspiring stories and would like to share my son’s story. On Nov 2022 last year, my son, Gogo, a recent college graduate and athletic, who has been suffering insomnia since pandemic began was put in Psychiatric hospital for 3 nights after emotional breakdown in public place. Police said he trespassed and his speech was not coherent. He was prescribed Risperidone 1mg in the morning and 1mg at night, 250mg Depakote in the morning and 500mg Depakote at night, as well as 7.5mg Mirtazapine in the evening for helping sleep. When he was discharged from hospital, we saw his speech was disorganized and had deliriums kind of symptom most in the earlier morning and evening sparsely. I thought it was due to the shock by police and medications. So I tried to reduce his med several time, but the symptoms didn’t go away. I paid to ask online psychiatric doctor about it and I got an answer said he most likely has schizoaffective disorder. After I was convinced that his breakdown most likely caused by his sleep deprivation and self medication with recreational drugs, I become more adapted with his continuation of those medications. But I don’t think he has schizophrenia. He still not has any diagnosis. He started to sleep better with those meds but most of day time is tired and lethargic. He was not doing well for his online class because of the lethargy caused by the meds. He was also diagnosed with mild sleep apnea short after discharging from hospital. We don’t have psychiatric doctor for almost 4 month after discharge from the hospital. But we tried to tape Resperidone especially, after consulting a friend who is neuron doctor, but failed, scared by the relapse of symptoms like self occupation and mood issue. I know now from here that the taping is way too fast. We are like walking in the fine line or water with medication management, and still now. His PCP only manage his Mirtazapine. I’m going to tell later what his PCP’s taping strategy for Mirtazapine. On 2/26 still suffering depression and sadness, and noticed that his chest is painful, Gogo insisted not taking any medication. I learned some knowledge about withdraw symptom from online, but find noting about detailed strategy. So my son and I agreed to stop taking the morning med. For the first 2 weeks, he become lively and being more like old himself I know, and had lots of self reflection of the past but more connected, even sometime he experienced strong emotions. But on 3/15, he has another emotional breakdown after visiting a friend. We decided he was not appropriate to drive and take him back in our own car. After this incident, with my knowledge from online study and search, I knew that we may withdraw too fast. Then he started to take the morning meds every other day. I know now it’s another mistake. We did that, and only realize not so late that it make thing worse in a few days. It seems fine for the first few days, then one day he insisted to drive himself without abling to speak logically and express his feeling. He was indecisive when driving. We reinstate to the original dose fully. Actually, I know now that we could have reinstate to lower doses, but we have no guidance. His pcp is not able to offer any help with his psychiatric meds except for Mirtazapine. I just wish we could find the site earlier. Only when I included the word ‘tape” instead “reduce” or “withdraw" in my search that I found this site. On 2/26, Following his PCP taping strategy for Mirtazapine, he started to take 7.5mg mirtazapine every other night for 4 weeks, till 3/26, then 7.5mg twice a week for 3 weeks till 4/18. His sleep seems fine with every other day’s 7.5mg mirtazapine. However, during the twice of week 7.5mg mirtazapine period, he started waking up in the middle of night because almost at the same time he started to taping 250mg evening Depakote on 3/30 following a RN's advice. I think that is another mistake to tape the evening Depakote first. We also finally saw a Psychiatrist on March, who recommend my son to take all 2mg Resperidone in the evening to avoid his daytime lethargy. We are reluctant to do that considering his most recent unstable situation. The Psychiatrist talked to me and asked why, I said I am afraid that the moving medication around the day might make my son unstable again. I shared my son’s med log to her and it seems she never read it. She also email me that she never heard of Resperidone withdraw symptom. She then said how about reduce the morning to 0.5mg. In a mind that want to tape all meds, we took it as she want to tape my son’s Resperidone. So Guoguo took 0.5mg in the morning and Kept 1mg in the evening. It came strong resistance from his Grandma. So I waited for few days before I reduce the morning dose, started reduction on the next Monday after seeing the psy doctor. During the following Thursday appointment with psy doc, my son told her he is doing fine after 3 days 0.5mg Resperidone in the morning . I again see my son begin to come back to be himself, having back his sense of humor, etc. But the weekend is a mix feeling. We went to outing, he was happy and enjoying the trip with friend. But on the way back, he started to show self-occupied without talking here and there, easy to get angry with small things. We start to reinstate his 1mg Resperidone the next morning. During the next appointment, we found out that his psy doc actually want to him to take 1.5mg Resperidone in the evening. She did NO intent to tape. I was so frustrated that why she did not emphasize that to keep the current daily doses unchanged. I also blamed myself for not asking for clarification with his Doc because I was so eager to get him out of those meds. She said we could continue as we have done like 2mg twice a day. She was also very unhappy we didn’t follow her advise, as well seeing an RN. My son did not have an appointment with her last week. I think we are going to find another one. We went to RN again, she gave us 3 options, 1) Go back to take 7.5mg Mirtazapine in the evening or 3.75mg 2) Reinstate the original Depakote of 750mg a day. 3) Move the morning 250mg Depakote into the evening, no Depakote in the morning. Concerning with moving the medication from morning to evening might make my son unstable, we choose to add 3.75mg mirtazapine because my mom is doing really well on that dose for a year and eventually taped off. A few nights he seems well with 3.75mg mirtazapine not waking up, but felt very tired and sleepy in the day. He stopped taking for few days because of that. But that makes him woke up in the middle of night. We also add megnesium 150mg 3 times a day, along with 50mg B6 twice a day and 1.5mg melatonia in the bed time. He went back to 3.75mg mirtazapine again and had only few night not waking up. One night he is so tired and not want to have Mirtazapine and any supplements. But I observe that he is doing fine when waking up. He had two nights not having mirtazapine, his mood seems fine. It seems for me he woke up feel good for those 2 nights without taking mirtazapine. Even he woke up earlier, but he has quality sleep in the first half of night.(we use apple watch to monitor sleep cycle, it’s said AW is close to EEG study). The day before yesterday, he woke up 5pm and stay in the bed for an hour and got up with good mood and took a nap in the afternoon. But he is not having a good sleep yesterday with 3.3g mirtazapine. It was 3.3mg because he did not take mirtazapine the previous 2 days. It’s the right dose? I read here that we need to keep the same dose and same time, some time we dont have the medication at the same time specially in the morning as my son is very hard to get up in the morning becasue of sleep issue. My son really wants to tape all of his medications, which make him gaining almost 20lb for an athletic as him in 3 months. That’s why he agreed to do Keto diet on 3/20. But after the outing incident in front of his friend, he told me he might need take all these med for his life. I said to my son that you don’t need to. I’m sure you will have good sleep without any of those med some time soon and enjoy your life drug free. When my son is stable with Depakote and his sleep, I believe he can start with taping Resperidone. Now just stuck with this Mirtazapine issue and sleep issue, do you think Gogo should take half of the 7.5mg or reinstate to 7.5mg or just stop taking Mirtazapine completely. I'm reluctant to let my son go back to original dose of 7.5mg, which make him gaining so much weight and sleepy during the day. Or take one of the NP advice to keep current doses unchanged and move morning 250mg to evening to make 500mg Depakote in the evening? Or move the Resperidone around to the evening to make him sleep better and less sedated in the day? BTW, I got a jewry scale from the recommendation link here for Mirtazapine 3.75mg, it rounds to 0.0mg, and too sensitive, reading often changes. I still have no clue how to do the liquid form for small doses, any advise will be helpful. Thank you for bearing me and appreciate so much for your help. Best Wishes, Dshine

Hello everyone. I had a psychotic episode in August 2022. Cannabis induced. Cannabis was possibly laced or sprayed with chemicals. I became very paranoid, didn't have visual or auditory hallucinations, but definitely was living in my own reality. Same month I was put in mental hospital for 3 weeks. Was given Risperidone 2mg tablets while I was there then when I was released and was put on compulsory treatment order and also put on Risperidone Consta injections 37.5ml. First Injection I had was on 1st of September. Then an injection every two weeks. After couple of injections I started noticing that I get exhausted by afternoon (About 3 pm) which was surprising. After more injections I noticed that by late afternoon all I wanted to do is lay in bed and do nothing which was alarming. Until one day, in October, I woke up and I felt extremely exhausted and extremely fatigued. I couldn't do much, but eat, lay in bed, even watching TV was very difficult, I had to force myself to do anything. I wanted to kill myself from the way I felt. I begged psychiatrists to cancel the injections, but they didn't. They changed the dose in December down to 25ml, but that didn't seem to change much. Only stopped them in Jan 5th 2023. I used to be a very active person, used to walk a lot (couple of times I walked 20km in one go, but 2-3hours on average a day), used to train 6 times a week, run 12km in the mornings, make music, draw, read a lot, play video games, have many interests, was very talkative, basically always doing something, I was alive 9 weeks later after the injections stopped. I don't really want to do anything, but lay in bed. I'm sort of able to watch TV now. I have to force myself to cook a meal, to go for walks, there is no enthusiasm or excitement about things. Just feel weak and unmotivated. I'm really worried about what's happening to me. Psychiatrists really haven't answered this question "what is happening to me and why this is happening" Thank you for your time

It is hard to believe that I am writing Gloria’s Success Story. I always hoped and dreamed to write it, but after so many awful and traumatic months that turned to years, I seriously doubted that it would actually happen. I am very happy to be wrong. I do not plan to reiterate her story, so please find her full story/Introduction topic at this link. https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/16360-%E2%98%BC-glosmom-my-daughters-taper/?do=findComment&comment=622533 On February 27, 2023 it will be exactly 4 years from when she ‘jumped to zero.’ Her progress occurred in a similar fashion as many other Success Story’s have described….it was hell to taper, the hell got worse after stopping, and then the waves of hell and windows of hope kept occurring over and over for years until the waves got shorter and less severe and the windows lasted longer and showed more and more improvement. Gloria continues to have ‘tiny waves’ that last for only minutes and can be redirected. She can actually talk through these waves now and express what is frustrating her. For years she was nonverbal during these times or merely cried, screamed, raged, paced or on occasion throw stuff and take swings at me. Time has been the only answer to make these waves of hell become waves of minor irritation. Gloria is not quite fully healed (my ultimate goal is to get her back to a part-time job) but she is much closer than she has ever been. I know now her healing will continue and my beautiful Glo will be restored, if not fully to her happy smiling self, at least to something close to that. Her biggest leaps really kicked in at the start of year 3 and then amazingly just got a lot better in the last month or so… month 46 and 47 after jumping to zero. It is really quite amazing that it takes this long; but it simply does. As some of the ‘older members’ of this very supportive website know Glo has special needs. Her recovery, at first glance, might not seem relevant ‘to normal people.’ But I disagree. I think her suffering and journey has been exactly like ‘normal people’ and is an incredible testament to her strength and courage to keep on living, even though her understanding of what was occurring was very minimal. Gloria and I had many times where I wasn’t sure she and I would come out on the other side. Our lives were on hold for at least 6 years….time lost for both a Mother and a Daughter. But now she says often, “I am getting better every day, aren’t I Mom?” Makes me smile every time and I am so darn proud of her. She is truly a Warrior!! Her beautiful smile has returned! She is excited for trips, shopping, swimming, hot tubs, putt put, movies and being with family and friends. She has returned to her Day program and is starting to go out in the community with them again. She spends up to 4 and 5 hours at a time with her ‘companion/Best Buddy’ and enjoys getting her nails done, swimming, bowling and other activities. Her vocabulary is coming back (still not fully back) but she verbalizes she wants to get a job again ‘when her brain starts working right’ again 😊 She is now back to the dentist for regular checkups and goes back with the hygienist by herself. She is agreeable to go to the doctor (for check ups) and agrees to get her labs drawn if needed. Her dad and I plan to get her on a plane soon (she used to love to fly) to see if we can start taking her on longer trips. She does ride nicely however on our long trips to and from Florida to the beach, so that works fine too…. if she struggles with flying still. Fingers crossed on that adventure 😊 Unfortunately, she has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism recently, so we are going through that process. Autoimmune conditions run in my family (I have autoimmune thyroiditis…hypothyroidism) but she seems to be going the other way with hyperthyroidism. Hopefully whatever treatment she ends up needing won’t cause the nightmare to return. She does take Vit D, B12, L-carnitine, Iron and magnesium, L-threonate as supplements. She was not able to take any supplements for many years but has tolerated them better in this last year….and I think they are all helpful. She still has insomnia at times but overall she does sleep much better. I believe evening magnesium helps with that. I did not want to delay posting this story any longer as I have faith all will be well and I know others on this site always need a nugget of goodness to help them keep hanging in there! I want to thank the amazing @Altostrata for creating this site. Without it, I know things would have turned out differently for Glo and me. I appreciated it so much! @brassmonkey and @Gridley for your knowledgeable threads that helped me keep my cool and keep plodding along. I hope all of you are doing well! I also want to thank all those that stopped by my thread to offer advice and support. @rupa@RachelSusan @carefulprayerful @ShiningLight @manymoretodays @Rosetta @puthappinessfirst @FarmGirlWorks @Cocopuffz17 @nicolantana @RichT @powerback @Rhiannon @Armorall and many more… You are ALL ANGELS!! My words of wisdom to any who may care to listen. Just give the healing process time. Keep hanging on until the windows and wave cycle become more tolerable. They will, if you let them. Every human body is different so comparing oneself to others recovery schedule can be disappointing if you are taking longer than others did. Don’t compare your schedule to someone else’s. Gloria only took 1 antipsychotic for 3 months then spent 2 years and 1 month to taper off of it and it and then it took 4 YEARS to recover. Ridiculous….but it was/is her reality. Stay off all other drugs and pharmaceuticals. Looking for another pill or latest invention to solve a current issue will only complicate the problem, create chaos and increase the amount of time it takes to heal. When you are ready, eat a clean diet (no processed foods) and lift weights. I decided 2 years ago when Glo was starting to do better, to get my own health in order so that I can ‘outlive her’ and take care of her for as long as possible. Currently at the age of 57, I am the strongest and healthiest I have EVER been and that is due to….clean eating and weight lifting. It is the Fountain of Health. Jump in when you can…. May Strength and Peace find all of you who are suffering. You are not alone and you can get through this!! Glosmom

Hi, my name is Roberto! You can call me Rob. I'm 23 and I'm from Venezuela. :'3 Sorry for my English! I started with this psychiatrist in late September and since day one she told me that I had to take risperdal 2 mg and carbamazepine 200 mg (the first one to organize my ideas and get a better sleep, the second one to stabilize my mood)... I started to take them in early October and then around early November she dropped me the Risperdal to 1 mg because I was feeling extremely exhausted . The side effects were hurting me a lot ( problems with my memory & libido, apathy , low energy, feelings of slowness) and since I was taking the meds for only one month I thought that quitting cold turkey both of them wasn't going to destroy me! I was wrong... I lasted 7 days cold turkey, the shivers and suicidal thoughts were heavy! This time I had to take Risperdal/Risperidone 3mg and Carbomazepine 400 mg( day and night) and seeing more mg really hurt me! TnT My psychiatrist doesn't want me to stop taking them, but I want to stop... Just that I don't know how! I was thinking in going 2.50 mg of Risperdal and then 2 weeks after 2 mg then 2 wks 1.50 then 2 weeks and take 1 mg until I get to 0... But is that too fast??? I'm feeling slow, emotionless, struggling with my memory,really afraid of all the plans that I had planned and that now were sabotaged! 😢 I want my life back!!! I want my spark!!!! I want my creativity! Please, help me!!! I send you a huge hug for reading my story!

So encouraged to find this site about experiences of withdrawal from antidepressants, because I am feeling so alone in my struggle to be drug-free right now. It is a lot of pain! I abruptly stopped long-term antidepressant pharmacotherapy when I read that new emerging symptoms I was having while on the meds, could actually be induced by dangerous drug-drug interactions of the medications I had been prescribed by my psychiatrist - and taking regularly. I had become more and more active over the summer, and it got to the point where I was getting up at 3AM to start work, working till 8 or 10PM, working on weekends, excited all the time about new projects, talking a mile a minute, and having unusually great success at all my activities, feeling euphoria a lot of the time - but it was just abnormal levels of activity and I got concerned, and looked it up. I was thinking of writing a book about my new state of mind, "Unbearable Happiness", then Googled about what other people with this experience were writing, and found many, many links to people writing about their psychological disorder of mania - and not in a good way, but from bipolar. I looked up my meds on drug-drug interaction sites, and found mania is a potential drug-drug interaction of the meds I was taking, and became distressed. What if I was developing mania from the drugs, after having depression for most of my life? What if I started doing dangerous risky manic things? So now I am in withdrawal at about 4 weeks after stopping all of them completely, all at once. I'm not feeling depressed, nor manic, but am feeling sick as hell physically. I live along with a house bunny and parakeets, as my daughters are grown and have moved on. I had been prescribed and taking a high dose of 2 different kinds of antidepressants, venlafaxine at 300 mg/day an SNRI, plus generic prozac at 80 mg/day an SSRI, along with risperidone at 2.5 mg/day for about 5 years, all intended to treat a psychiatrist's diagnosis of depression, and later, schizoaffective disorder. When I read that these medications are clinically contraindicated - not to be taken together - because of serious drug-drug interactions, and that the doses I had been taking were very high, I stopped taking them. That was about a month ago. Since then, I get waves of sleepyness coming over me a lot. Every hour or so when I try to work at something, and often I am just sleepy and napping all day long, and have trouble concentrating on things I would like to do, in addition to unbelievable constant pain. It eases up when I take advil and Benedryl, but how much of that can you take? Not a lot. I am home from work (I'm a research scientist) and most of the time unable to do my normal things like cook and clean and exercise because of the pain and fatigue. I have sneezing and coughing and GI upset all the time, but no fever or anything like that. Pulling myself together to go out into public is a real effort. I have pain all over my body - electrical pricks all over the surface of my skin, deep pains in my muscles, aches in my joints, terrible headaches, and the only relief comes from going to sleep, and I am sleeping a lot. But then I have the worst nightmares of my life, with horrible things happening to all my prior loved ones and pets, and wake up terribly disturbed. I think my nerve cells are all in disarray. I used to meditate and do yoga but right now, I can't seem to do them at all. What has been helpful to you, if you have been going through antidepressant medication withdrawal? How long does it last? With gratitude, Bunnymom

Hi, I am happy to know this site exists! After coming off of a couple of other antipsychotics (see below) I am finally on one that seems the lesser of evils. That being said Lurasidone is not perfect. I’m on 30 mg, soon to be 20 mg of Lurasidone. I have been on 30 mg (from 40 mg) for 3 months now so I feel it is time to trial a reduction. So far I haven’t had any withdrawal symptoms, but I’m pretty sure I am a poor metabolizer of this medication, so I’m expecting a delayed withdrawal. I think it will take some convincing to go down any further than 20 mg because I am on this medication for Schizophrenia which I have been newly diagnosed with, and literature with being poor metabolizers on antipsychotics is limited (I only found an article stating if you’re on Risperidone you should be on 1/4 of the recommended dose). It took enough convincing to get this far, as the normal starting dose for Schizophrenia is 40 mg. I haven’t had any hallucinations or other symptoms on 30 mg so I am hoping 3 months was long enough to go ahead and trial 20 mg. Overall, I find Lurasidone the lesser of evils for antipsychotics as I am not drowsy at all, and don’t have akathisia as bad as I did on other medications. I have had some weight gain, my hair is thinning a lot, and I have a bit of akathisia in the afternoons so I’m hoping the reduction will help with this. I wish I could go off of all medications, and part of me still believes that there is a possibility that my short-lived psychosis episodes were because of medication withdrawal, not schizophrenia, as I was coming off of medication both times the psychosis happened. Or, I have entertained that there is a possibility I have both Schizophrenia, AND had withdrawal psychosis. Either way the psychosis which presented as auditory hallucinations was super scary and I don’t think I want to experiment with being completely off a medication for now. If I was able to convince my psychiatrist to taper completely off of it at some point, I would probably want to be in hospital and because of the delayed withdrawals I experience, it would be quite a lengthy stay, so not ideal right now. July 2020 - Feb 2021 : Risperidone March 2021 - April 2021 : Abilify September 2021 - March 2022 : Clopixol March 2022 - Current : Lurasidone (Latuda)

Hi all, found this forum via google searches many a night on how to cope with withdrawals! Like many others on here and I am sure everywhere in the world, I started on on anti-depressant and it just spiraled into larger and larger doses then multiple meds and meds on top of that for side affects. So a general summary was that I went to the Dr around 14 years ago for depression. I was put on Cymbalta 30mg straight off the bat. The side affects were unpleasant but I don't recall specifics of what they were, just that I did NOT like how they made me feel and I stopped them cold turkey. Withdrawals for several months of course, though fairly mild with major brainzaps being the one I most remember. Somewhere along the way I then went onto Mirtazapine. 15, 30 and then up to 45mg over a short period of time, maybe a year or so ramping up? Basically a result of going to the Dr, saying that I wasn't feeling the best on these meds, so they just increased them. I stayed on 45mg for probably 5 years or thereabouts. During that time my personality changed a lot (on retrospection I see how much). I became anxious, paranoid, ALWAYS tired, I started having panic attacks, grumpy, short temper making me snap at people for little, and isolated myself a lot. This went on for years. Each time the Dr would just tell me 'its not a magic pill' and leave it at that. Along the way my marriage fell apart and I moved to a new city. To 'cope' with the enormous increase in anxiety and stress, Dr gave me Olanzapine.... I took maybe 3 doses ever, as that stuff turned me into a zombie. I found a new doctor who I discussed how I felt on Mirtazapine and was switched over to Effexor XR. Ramped up from 37.5 to 150mg in the space of a few months. Generally felt 'good' but then noticed side affects that were persistent, sexual side affects galore, my BP sky rocketed, and hey look my anxiety was still very much around and panic attacks were a semi frequent occurrence. Dr's response was to switch to Paxil - which resulted in a heightened state of anxiety and rolling panic for days until I stopped them completely. Went back onto Effexor, despite the side affects and stabilized. Mirtazipine was then added to the Effexor for 'californian rocket fuel' - still anxious, still having panic attacks.. My BP was now concerning my Dr so was given a Blood Pressure pill, which then became two sets of BP meds, then three. My Blood Pressure still stayed high. Propranolol was added on top to reduce the heart rate and stress on my heart in general. This year was the hardest, I was referred to a psychiatrist, who every 6 weeks would get me to start a different drug. So I went from Effexor to Pristiq 50, then 100mg, Pristiq + Mirt, then onto Pristiq plus Seroquel at night (which made my anger turn into rage), then over to Luvox and some Respiradone and Valium to 'help' with the panic. Luvox basically kept me in a state of permanent nausea for 5 or 6 weeks - the dose was also increased to 100mg. So I spent around 4 months going through a cycle of drug withdrawal and startup over and over. I couldn't cope with being nauseous and feeling awful ALL the time anymore. At which point I had my next appointment with my Psychiatrist who just told me to 'just take half a dose for a few days and then stop them'. I asked that just ceasing any and all anti-depressants after FOURTEEN YEARS on them sounds very dangerous, she just shrugged. So I cancelled any future appointments with that practice, and after much research decided to cross taper from Luvox over to 15mg Mirtazapine and taper down from there. I chose Mirtazapine for several reasons - one was it stopped that permanent nausea everyday from the Luvox immediately, two it was a med my brain and body knew well and would tolerate almost immediately (which it did) and three i knew precisely what I would feel and how it would change me. After around 4 weeks of brainzaps and mild gastro issues as my body cleaned the last of the mix of drugs out of my body, I started to work my way down on Mirtazapine. Have currently gone from 15 > 7.5 > 3.75 with 6 or so weeks between drops. I will stay here until I stabalise again. So far the steps down have been very mild and tolerable (brain zaps for a day or two then fine), so my body is tolerating the 50% drops ok. 10% is recommended here, but so far for me personally its been ok dropping at 50% each time and stabilizing. The only noticeable (and expected) WD would be insomnia. My sleep quality has really tanked. Though interestingly enough despite low doses of Mirt meant to INCREASE your sleepyness, it has had little affect at all. So thats where I am currently at. I'm taking supplements like Vit C, Fish Oil and Vit B in the mornings and the small dose of Mirt at night. From here, I may need to look at a compounding chemist to begin tapering more slowly on the lower dosages, as cutting a tablet into 8th's is getting very difficult, even with a pill cutter. So the methods of diluting in liquids or a compound chemist will be the plan for the taper slow down (if needed) from here and my goal of being drug free hopefully within the year the final target.

Hello everyone, first post here on the forum I was prescribed Risperdal for my schizoaffective disorder a little over a month ago and have decided to taper off of it for various reasons... Firstly taking it caused intrusive thoughts to occur which is a brand new symptom for me and never occurred before taking the meds... it feels like I may be diagnosed with OCD now because of the intrusive thoughts, and they are now way worse than any other symptom pertaining to my disorder. Withdrawal symptoms so far have been fatigue, insomnia, restlessness, more intrusive thoughts, low appetite, severe cognitive impairment, cant read or watch anything on tv, words are hard to put together, and really bad anxiety. So I started taking 1.5mg on 6/29 for about 4 weeks(the month of July) and decided to taper.. and I bought a scale for the tapering process.(no idea how to use it properly) By Aug 4th I tapered down rapidly to a quarter of a 3 mg pill (roughly .750mg) and have been taking that much since. -My question is since i was only taking for a month at 1.5mg is it necessary to draw it out still for many more weeks or is a shorter taper recommended? If i do the 10% method it will take me many more months of being on the drug to finally quit it which doesnt seem logical to do considering my length of time on it. Unfortunately being on the Risperdal was never beneficial to begin with, as it was a bad fit and caused unwanted intrusive/disorganized thoughts, so the longer I stay on it, the worse I get it feels in that regard, not including withdrawal from the drug itself.. and so its just hard to tell what is withdrawal symptom versus what are the unwanted side effects from the drug.. Thank you!

Hi , I am Andra. Thank you for this amazing site. It is very useful. I am helping my 23 years old daughter to taper off clonazepam, risperidone and sertraline. The doses were not so abysmal, however the psych recommended ECT. When we refused the psychiatrist ramped up the dosage to maximum. From cannabis induced psychosis the diagnostic morphed into MDD with psychotic elements. Under a different psychiatrist’s supervision we began tapering of the benzo . Starting tomorrow August 4 , it will be 0. The next is The AP and then the AD.

I believe in the Love of God, which I intuit because of what is good in this world, and that Love will always conquer Evil, with faith and hope, but the greatest of these is Love to go through this infernal suffering of the decrease of these drugs!

Hello All I am mother of 5, turned 40 this year Ihave been on anti deps and anti anxiety meds since 2002 multiple trials of weaning off led me to reduced meds fron 2014 -2017 but not a day I have been completely off meds since 2002 I am on so many meds that I feel there is no hope of getting off completely but even lowering dosage will do Start of April I tried to reduce clonazepam just by 0.15mg and started having anxiety and brain zaps had to go to same dose I have to try again in May guided by my psychiatrist but Brain Zaps throw me off literally and I start having panic attacks I feel it is totally impossible hence i was searching for success stories on google and landed here. Right now after being stable I haven't done any changes to my dosage and since two days getting brain zaps Any help,advice,support is much appreciated Love and prayers

I had been on some form of anti-depressant and mood stabilizer/anti-psychotic since high school, 2002 or 2003. Initially I was put on Zoloft for depression which caused me to become "manic" which lead me to be put on Lithium, Abilify and Risperdal (not sure doses or when). Starting around 2008 I was put on Cymbalta and Lamotrigine/Lamictal. I got off the Cymbalta & Lamictal cold turkey on my own in 2011 and it resulted in brain-zaps and then a deep deep depression. I reluctantly got back on my meds. Beginning in 2020 (exact date I'm trying to find), my psychiatrist agreed to help me taper off my meds. I was able to get off the Cymbalta it seems fairly easily, which I have been off since the end of the Summer 2020. After getting off that I began tapering off the Lamictal ... I'm trying to find information on how much I lowered initially, etc., and don't have it right now. I do know I got down to 100mg by November 2020 and had to go back up to 150mg over the winter due to debilitating depression. Starting in ~March 2021 I began tapering again (again don't have exact dates/dosages as of now). I have detailed records of my tapering beginning in May 2021 when I began using the 25mg tabs to taper: 5/18/21 (May 18) - 6/13/21 (June 13): I alternated daily between 87.5 mg one day and 100 mg the next day (87.5mg/100mg/87.5/100) 6/14/21 - 6/21/21: 87.5mg each day 6/22/21 - 7/11/21: 75mg/87.5mg/75/87.5 7/12/21 - 7/26/21: 75mg each day 7/27/21 - 8/8/21: 62.5mg/75mg/62.5/75 8/9/21 - 8/30/21: 62.5mg each day 8/31/21 - 9/12/21: 50mg/62.5mg/50/62.5 9/13/21 - 9/26/21: 50 mg/day 9/27/21 - 10/10/21: 37.5mg/50mg/37.5/50 10/11/21 - 10/24/21: 37.5mg/day 10/25/21 - 11/7/21: 25mg/37.5mg/25/37.5 *On November 1, 2021, my dog and best friend of 10+ years, the Big Guy (110lb. half boxer/half mastiff), died after a brief fight with cancer... in retrospect I should have ceased tapering at this point; instead I continued my tapering in earnest and began to self medicate excessively with alcohol and cannabis 11/8/21 - 11/21/21: 25mg/day 11/22/21 - 12/5/21: 12.5mg/25mg/12.5/25 12/6/21 - 12/20/21: 12.5mg/day 12/21/21 - 12/31/21: 0mg/12.5mg/0/12.5 January 1, 2022 - Present: Off Lamicital Completely I had no idea about this site or a couple days ago. I have been realllllly struggling this whole year but especially the past couple weeks. Some days I am so depressed I can hardly get out of bed. Some days I am "functional." I have major brain fog where I can hardly think most of the time (which is not good for my job!). I can't hardly make even the most basic decision. It is bad. I am desperate. I do not know what to do. I really don't want to get back on the Rx. I'm looking for suggestions on how to cope with the withdrawal symptoms. I have been sober (no alcohol or cannabis) since January 1st as well. I workout, do Wim Hoff breathing, garden, meditate/pray and eat mostly organic. Supplements: EMPowerPlus Lighting Sticks, 5-HTP, Vitamins C, D, B-complex (6&12) & K2, Magnesium Glyinate, Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract; Just started taking St. John's Wort a couple weeks ago I don't really recall withdraw symptoms (depression) prior to my Dog being diagnosed with cancer in September 2021 (which coincides with me getting down to 50mg/day)--since he was diagnosed and then passed Nov. 1st, I have been mostly depressed. The brain fog didn't really start that I recall until ~January of this year when I was totally off -- but I could be wrong. Since November of last year, it has kind of been a blur. On another note, while not directly related to withdrawal, I am very unhappy with my current career and have been for some time. I think doing something that goes against my values and not really knowing what my purpose is has a big impact on me feeling depressed. However, right now with my brain fog and depression, I am having a really hard time doing any work whatsoever. So my purpose now is to get past these withdrawal symptoms so I can find my purpose in this world and what gift I can offer to other people. I am VERY wary of getting back on any RX and do not want to go that route if at all possible. Thank you if you read this far and I appreciate any advice on how I should proceed!! -Will

I have depression and anxiety. My former prescribing ARNP started me on Latuda to augment sertraline (an off-label use) but I didn’t notice any effects. We then switched 150mg sertraline to 20mg trintillex from November-December and I felt good but I had eye twitching and found out it was expensive so I decided to try an ADHD medication as recommended by my prescribing ARNP. I lowered my trintillex (I think to 10mg) and started the ADHD med but I was anxious and nauseous on it so I stopped and went back up to 20mg trintillex. A few weeks after that, I started having severe symptoms (see below). I have a feeling that increasing the trintillex caused my current symptoms but Latuda is not covered by my insurance so I want to get off it as well. I know I need to titrate slowly but I don’t know which one to start with. I was working with an ARNP and we discussed starting sertraline and then decreasing trintillex but she dropped me after I asked started asking questions about and wanting to change the tapering schedule. She discouraged me from stopping the trintillex alone and said my depression would get worse. Since January 11th, I have been experiencing debilitating anxiety, crying uncontrollably (for the first two weeks), nausea, vomiting, racing heart, heat sensitivity, insomnia, stomach pain, suicidal ideation, obsessive thoughts, memory issues, cognitive issues, itching, agitation, feeling detached, irritability, waves of panic, self doubt, and constipation. My questions are as follows: Should I start decreasing the Latuda or the trintillex first? Do you think decreasing the Latuda could help my anxiety symptoms even though it didn’t seem to have a positive affect on me when I started taking it? Would it be unsafe for me to start decreasing trintillex without adding another SSRI? Would it be safe for me to start on sertraline before dropping the trintillex? To the best of my memory: 2006-2010: sertraline 2006-2007: risperidone 2010-2016: took fluoxetine and citalopram as mono therapy 2016: trial Effexor for a few months 2016-2020: escitalopram (polyrugged with Wellbutrin) 2016-2020: Wellbutrin, months on and months off May 21-Nov 21: tapered from escitalopram to sertraline 150mg August 21: trial of lamotragine (rash) August 21: started latuda (off label) at 20mg, then up to 40mg and 60mg but back down to 40mg November 21: two week taper from sertraline to trintillex 20mg, experienced eye twitching and itchiness (5mg trintillex for 5 days, day 6 decrease sertraline to 100mg, day 10 decrease sertraline to 50mg and increase trintillex to 10mg, day 14 stop sertraline, 10 days of 15mg trintillex and then up to 20mg trintillex) December 21: quick taper down on trintillex to I think 10mg and trialed dextro-amphetamine for a week, 10-40mg, anxious and nauseous (1/2 of 40mg pill in am, then 1/2 pill am and 1/2 pill pm, then 20mg am and no pm, then 20 mg am and 1/2 pm, then maybe 20 mg am and 20 mg pm) December 21: quick taper back up to 20mg trintillex, some lip and foot twitching January 22: lorazepam for a few days January 22: clonidine .1mg-.4mg per day, currently taking .1mg am and .1mg pm January 22-March 22: ashwagonda, L-theanine, and probiotics Current medications: Latuda 40mg Trintillex 20mg Clonidine .1mg am and .1mg pm Fish oil Vitamin D Levothyroxine .112mg

hello. I decided to make an account on this forum because of my problems definitely caused by antidepressants. I was taking escitalopram 10 mg and amisan 50 mg for a year and 3 months due to severe neurosis and drug seizures. Immediately I felt that the drugs had a strange effect on me because I was too aroused, Kind of like hypomania. I wanted to stop taking them but I couldn't give them up and every attempt ended with a strong drug and a heavy feeling of well-being. Unfortunately, my girlfriend left me after 2 months since I started taking these drugs and wanted to stop taking them. Unfortunately, it was hard because when I tried to stop taking drugs, I started to suffer more for it. So I was influenced by their actions for a year and 3 months, and only then we managed to put them off. It was ok for a month but then I started driving with my medications. They were even larger than before taking medications. I do not remember if my feelings and emotions were in some way matted then because I had strong emotions then, but after a few months I had to go back to drugs because I couldn't stand it. After the break, I took escitalopram 10 mg for 2 months and amisan 50 mg for 3 weeks, which is the previous mix. 2 weeks After we stopped taking escitalopram in November, I realized that my expression is not as strong as it used to be. There were feelings because I was suffering for my girlfriend, but I realized that I did not feel so intensely everything as with drugs. The problems have started and they are getting worse week by week. Stress has been killing me for a year and now it's getting worse due to the emotional contamination. Every day I think about what I used to feel, I can imagine it in my head but I can't feel it. I saw my ex-girlfriend's profile on social media yesterday. Now I suffer even more because I imagine how happy life is. She feels what I can't feel anymore, she has a man and she is in love, I can't do it because my anhedonia is getting worse. I used to be very emotional and nostalgic, now I'm smudged and have maybe 20-30% of my old feelings. I wonder if I got PSSD because I also had a sexual problem from quitting drugs a second time, but in the last few days it started in this respect for a few months. I also got strong mood swings. Depressive mood and anxiety, and in time a strange peace and good mood. I can't bear the fact that I can't feel life anymore and fall in love like my friends. Can someone advise me what I can do? I read that it should slowly get down from the dose and I, according to my doctor's recommendations, started to take half a tablet for 2 weeks and then stop taking it, so it's probably too soon. But I'm afraid to go back to medication because if I don't have PSSD then I can get it, or if I do, it might get worse. I'm afraid to mess in my brain already. Please help because I am dying inside. I apologize for any errors as English is not my first language

Here is my intro thread: ☼-armorall-ct-from-bupropion-and-risperidone Hello everyone! I will relay all the important things that I think serve people in WD (as did me, all I ever did was read the success stories part), then if you want to read more details, there’s a more detailed account following the abridged version, lol. Dosage and Tapering: I’m a 46 year old cis-female. I took 150 mg Bupropion for roughly 4 months alongside 2mg Risperidone for 3 months then switched to 10 mg Abilify for 3 weeks then 20 mg Latuda. So basically I took an SNRI plus an antipsychotic for 4 months. All were cold-turkeyed and no one I touched, not my psychiatrist, his nurse, his resident, my therapist or my GP said anything to warn me about it. I found this site two weeks after I started having symptoms. Trying to figure out how to reinstate drugs was too tricky amongst mod discussions, so we decided that nothing was probably the best solution. Symptoms: I couldn’t sing, write/listen to music, watch TV/music, read, take my son out to parks because I was either too tired/depressed, or the activity would send me into paroxysms of anxiety. At work, I slept through all my prep periods and had to leave early/show up late often because I was so beyond tired, even after sleeping for 8 to 20 hours. I couldn’t eat, I lost 70 pounds in 3 months, I lost 50% of my hair. I had heat dysregulation that would wake me up at night (heat would roll down my body), my skin peels off like a snake. I couldn’t eat sugar or carbs or else it would hyperstimulate me or make me super sluggish. I have tinnitus in my left ear, I still feel tremors at night. If I turn suddenly, either in my sleep or awake, my heart will start to race. Eating food or taking naps will also stimulate intense anxiety. I had to wear sunglasses while using the computer because the light was too bright. I will never be able to take cold medicine, drink coffee or alcohol ever again as it will bring me back to being ridden with symptoms. Hypnic jerks, waking panic attacks, fractured sleep, intense fatigue, floaters in the eyes, sound sensitivity while sleeping, expressive aphasia, inability to exercise for more than 10 minutes because it exacerbates symptoms, I often mix up homophones, and my short term memory suffers. Sore muscles if I do things that are slightly outside of the norm (reaching for a can on a higher shelf, using an unfamiliar computer mouse, twisting my body to tie something that I don’t usually tie, different shoes) will make my muscles sore. Recovery: Month 13 - I turned my first corner. I suddenly stopped having massive anxiety/rage episodes after napping, eating or upon waking in the morning. Month 18 - I then hit another benchmark of improvement. I could workout for 30 minutes without any repercussions. Month 22 - I found myself fully recovered!!! What had happened is that a friend was DJing on the beach and we decided that was a safe enough activity to try. We walked two miles to get there, danced all night, then walked the 2 miles back to car, then I got on the phone with a friend in distress and was up until 4:30am- I got up the following day at 11am and received house guests and never felt any ill effect, no waves, nothing. I realized then that I was fully recovered. At month 22, I could: sleep more or less normally and take naps with no consequence, wake up early in the morning without effect, exercise or dance as much and as long as I wanted to, eat sweets with no effect, listen and enjoy music, movies and other media. I feel like my old vivacious self again. I can work all day, plan parties, and am very active as an activist. I am fully present to my family. My husband and I are now seeing a sexologist (highly recommended) since we had lost our sex life before in withdrawal. It’s fun! At 29 months off now, I still cannot drink coffee, juice and most likely alcohol. I also can’t eat massive amounts of starch (but I will) it makes me beyond tired. It did before WD but it is brutal now, lol. If I’m out doing some activity, I don’t notice it, but if I’m home, I’m asleep from the effects. My short term memory is slightly taxed (you know when you walk into a room and then can’t remember why you’re there? I have more of those), and I have more moments when I’m not talking rapid fire (like at work) and in a more relaxed situation (like laying in bed with my husband) where I have to search for the words I mean to say (ex. So…I was at the store and I uh…trying to remember what words represent my experience at the store). Nothing big and nothing noticeable to others. If I get too hot (while I’m asleep or during the summer sitting in the heat) my heart will start beating faster, but it doesn’t do anything to me emotionally. The biggest tip I can leave here is about “turning the corner”. When I was in withdrawal, I kept scanning and scanning people’s success stories and feeling hopeless. Like, they still list symptoms they still have and it made me feel like no one “really heals”. What I found though, in that month 13 when I turned the corner, is that turning the corner is really the most important event on your healing timeline. Of course you want to heal and feel like your old self again. But, what I learned from that corner turn makes so much of a difference in relief, that once you do it, you know you can handle everything that come after it with ease. I often tell people, don’t worry so much about gauging when you have totally made it to the other side. Just hold on until you turn that corner (which will come way earlier to you than when you completely heal), because I swear, once you do, you know you can handle the rest and you are not suffering so much. That being said, when people post their success stories and they still list some lingering symptoms (like me) know that they probably felt good enough that the bulk of their suffering is over, and that’s why they felt good enough to post. I know it’s true for me, I’m so happy to be able to be happy every single day and have energy to enjoy life and get things done. I do feel resilient and capable, and if I can’t drink coffee anymore at the expense of that, well, no biggie. Only detriment is that when I feel really tired, I have to go to bed, there’s no more pushing through it to keep working with coffee, and I’ll take that exchange over what I don’t have to suffer with anymore. Life is beautiful again, and it will be for you! - ALSO thanks to the crew here at SA, aside from trying an acupuncture/herb regimen at the very beginning of withdrawal (which was completely disastrous), I never ever took anything to try to alleviate the WD state. I think that helped me a ton even though I kept asking in the forums about various things to try and noticing how risky it was. I never ended up taking/doing any of it. Just sleep, fish oil and magnesium. That lack of tinkering with supplements, drugs and weird devices probably got me here quickly and in a solid manner. So, please hold off on those for temporary relief whenever possible, it will help your receptors come back earlier in the long run! - I encourage everyone to start dropping reviews and doing what you can to get the word out about our suffering (like sharing the movie “Medicating Normal” - I have the link you can use so people can watch the 56 minute version for free! https://www.pbs.org/video/medicating-normal-kinbho/) once you are healed or feel up to it. I am available to help you write your reviews if you want. Just contact me here or via FB. Link is in my signature. Here is a breakdown that I had on a calendar of what new symptom was showing up/then later going away month by month. Month 1: Insomnia Month 2: Tinnitus Month 3: sore muscles from slight, but unfamiliar activity Month 4: fatigue/depression Month 5: nervous stomach Month 6: getting worse, turmoil Month 7: just absolutely awful Month 8: muscle twitches at night Month 9: more depression, more muscle twitches Month 10: inner tremor Month 11: expressive aphasia Month 12: dry eyes and mouth, more head pressure Month 13: Doing better! No anxiety anymore after dinner or nap. No new symptoms! Month 14: lots of muscle soreness as I try to increase my time on elliptical to 10 minutes Month 15: I can now listen to music and watch movies Month 16: my menstrual period stopped becoming erratic and is a normal cycle can workout for 16 minutes Month 17: Can eat sweets again! No cortisol from taking a nap. Month 18: Can workout for 30 minutes! Can eat A LOT of sweets and nothing happens to me. Month 19: Workout 40 minutes, sleep well even after exercising late in the day Month 20: Average heart rate lower. Up to 1.5 hours of exercise! Can listen to music and it feel the way I did before withdrawal Month 21: Doing well! Month 22: Breakthrough! Dance and walked 4 miles, stayed up all night, still felt good the next day! Month 23: Done! Functioning and feeling normal and good. When to write success story? Extra special thanks to @Shep, @Altostrata and @Undiagnosed1 for dealing with so many questions and keeping me grounded and unmedicated. Special thanks to the following SA members for their constant positive feedback and support: @Superwoman, @mustafa, @Erell, @Glosmom, @coldturkmama, @Hanna72, @ChessieCat, @manymoretodays, @Sassenach, @DrugfreeProf Here is the long and detailed version of my account if anyone wants to read it, otherwise take care and ask all the questions and requests for support that you want! As you can see from my drug history, I started out taking Bupropion and Risperidone after practically forcing (meaning I didn’t know my rights in the hospital, I thought I *had* to do what the psychiatrist told me, I found out later I was wrong. I was hospitalized on my own decision, so I didn’t have to take anything) me to take it via the hospital psychiatrist. Interestingly enough, her reviews show that polydrugging and overdrugging were definitely her thing. One complaint said that someone’s wife was on 9 medications because of her. Anyways, so after debating with the doctor on how deadly psychiatric drugs were (and my crappy therapist calling my husband to tell him to coax me into it because “it’s the only solution”) I was on both. Two months pass and even though I was spellbound from feeling better when I first took the drug, in retrospect, I was the same or worse. What was making me nuts prior to being hospitalized was probably how crazy I was while breastfeeding. I had learned before that I really don’t do well with hormonal changes- couldn’t take the pill without it driving me crazy, couldn’t take the Mirena IUD- just made me hungry and I bled for 6 straight months while others usually lose their period using Mirena. Anyways, so when I took Bupropion and Risperidone, I guess one of the side effects of the latter is that it ups your prolactin levels (related to lactating). So, even though I quit breastfeeding because I was on psychiatric drugs, I was still as jacked up or worse on them. The wellbutrin was super activating for me, too. I remember taking it and at night my eyes just dried out into raisins and I couldn’t sleep until 3am. So later, once the risperidone built up enough, I started getting suddenly sleeping at 11pm and couldn’t stay awake if I wanted to. My psychiatrist took a blood sample two months after I started and noticed that my prolactin levels were high. The next time I saw him, he said he’s switching me to Abilify, and that I should cut the Risperidone in half, take one the next day, the other half the next, then start a half of Abilify and the other half the next day. Yeah, that’s his idea of switching me out. So, 21 days pass and I’m slowly becoming more restless. I can’t lay in bed long enough to put my son down for sleep. I go get a facial and they cover my eyes with something and I freak out and rip one eye cover open. Simultaneously, I’m becoming more lethargic. I stop caring about hanging out with my adorable toddler son. I’m a teacher so I’m off for the summer, but I keep dropping my son off at daycare instead of spending time with him. The idea of having to make him breakfast seems overwhelming. I call the resident (because I can’t just get a hold of my shrink) and the resident approves me going off it. My shrink puts me on Latuda. I have crazy insomnia, then I go off of it. I continue to have insomnia. Mind you, I’m still taking Bupropion. My therapist says that bupropion is too activating for some of her clients. I go off it immediately in hopes of sleeping. After a week, I could finally sleep on my own, no melatonin or anything. Mind you, my psychiatrist knew, my GP knew, my therapist knew- I had happened to see each and every one of them within a week of quitting. NO ONE told me going off cold turkey was dangerous. No one. A month later, I start the heck that is withdrawal. And I’m so lucky I found Surviving Antidepressants at that time, or else I would have been even more kindled. I did go back to my psychiatrist to confront him about not protecting me (the psychiatrist in the hospital *also* never said anything about cold-turkeying drugs being dangerous). He said that withdrawal only lasts two weeks and when I asked him what he thinks I should do, he said he’d prescribe me Wellbutrin again and Trazadone for my insomnia. I never saw him again. So, that was my “taper plan”! And, I was scared to death. Like many of us, my symptoms changed every month, and for the WD-addled mind, it’s so scary. Looking back, some of the changes were very benign, too, like muscle twitches. You can see it all in my history. Through all this, I read success stories over and over. I also got in touch with Michael Priebe of the Lovely Grind as well as Undiagnosed1 who had posted his story here and offered to be an ear to anyone who is struggling. Both helped me, I paid for coaching from Michael (and Baylissa for a time- yes, I talked to EVERYONE- Stuart Shipko, Ann Blake Tracy, you name it!) I know you are not supposed to cling to other people’s timelines and compare yourself to them, or stick to a designated time on when you’ll think you’d be done, but I did it anyways (and yeah, got yelled at by one of my coaches- I won’t say which one). I tried to tell them, it’s just a goal, like when people say they will lose weight by a certain time- if they don’t hit it, they just make a new goal, but it at least gives me hope. So the strange thing is, my timeline was very close to Michael and Undiagnosed1. I was suffering pretty badly about 3 months in, I wasn’t asked back to my school of employment because I was struggling so much at work, my husband served me divorce papers at 7 months in because he was done with me being a wreck in front of our kid and blaming him for my medication usage. The only thing that really saved me was Covid- the courts weren’t in session so my husband *couldn’t* divorce me. We saw a therapist and she said to take advantage of this time to see if we could heal together. With Covid outside, I was able to rest a lot at home. My husband somehow trusted me to be with our son after all that and my son and I would just lay in bed and watch cartoons together and eat or go out to the forest and explore, it was actually really nice as my body continued to buzz with withdrawal. The insomnia portion had really died down after month 5 and I was really, really tired more than that, but of course deeply depressed/anxious. My husband and I still argued, mostly it would be me waking up anxious after a name, then being frustrated from the toxic nap and us getting into it. At month 11, a new symptom was expressive aphasia (it was hard for me to respond with the right words). I was so freaked out and contacted two different people who had had it on SA. Both said they recovered from it (I eventually did, too). Miraculously, at month 12, something in me settled. Like, eating and sleeping stopped triggering such a harsh response from me. I was still pretty messed up, but the fighting stopped. I stayed on that level and taught from home that year, which was also much more relaxing of course than managing behavior and teaching in person. I stayed at that level, then at month 20, I realized I could listen to music fully and it didn’t make me anxious and I could find it pleasurable in the same way that it did before WD. Month 22 we went out dancing and I realized I was probably mostly recovered. Before, I was only doing like 10 minutes on the elliptical (exercise) machine and that was enough to bring on symptoms. Here, we parked the car almost two miles away, danced all night, walked back. Nothing happened to me, it didn’t throw me into a wave or anything. Then on the way back to our house, my friend calls in turmoil. I get on the phone with her and stay up until 4:30am, yet another thing that would have taken me out in WD. Nothing happened to me. We even had guests the next day at noon and I was fine, didn’t feel wavy or even wiped from the night/early morning before! So, I’m sure I’m leaving out a lot about symptoms. I kept a journal the whole time as well as every month I would list on a sheet as it passed, I would write down any new symptoms each month, then after month 13, started writing improvements at each month. I will leave that list in another post as I’m getting tired now. One thing I did notice, expressive aphasia was probably my worst symptom, and after I experienced that one, a month later is when I finally started to get better instead of worse. I remember Undiagnosed1 had kaleidoscope vision right before he got better. So, I wonder if you do get some crazy symptom right before you start feeling better. The biggest tip I can leave here is about “turning the corner”. When I was in withdrawal, I kept scanning and scanning people’s success stories and feeling hopeless. Like, they still list symptoms they still have and it made me feel like no one “really heals”. What I found though, in that month 13 when I turned the corner, is that turning the corner is really the most important event on your healing timeline. Of course you want to heal and feel like your old self again. But, what I learned from that corner turn makes so much of a difference in relief, that once you do it, you know you can handle everything that come after it with ease. I often tell people, don’t worry so much about gauging when you have totally made it to the other side. Just hold on until you turn that corner (which will come way earlier to you than when you completely heal), because I swear, once you do, you know you can handle the rest and you are not suffering so much. That being said, when people post their success stories and they still list some lingering symptoms (like me) know that they probably felt good enough that the bulk of their suffering is over, and that’s why they felt good enough to post. I know it’s true for me, I’m so happy to be able to be happy every single day and have energy to enjoy life and get things done. I do feel resilient and capable, and if I can’t drink coffee anymore at the expense of that, well, no biggie. Only detriment is that when I feel really tired, I have to go to bed, there’s no more pushing through it to keep working with coffee, and I’ll take that exchange over what I don’t have to suffer with anymore. Life is beautiful again, and it will be for you! So, what are my lingering symptoms? At 29 months off now, I still cannot drink coffee, juice and most likely alcohol. I do try every couple of months to drink coffee, because it was my only religion before, lol. Even decaf messes me up (not terribly, but I really don’t want to feel bad at all). I have found though that I’m much, much more peaceful and less anxious than I ever was before WD, because I was a coffee fiend in that past life. I didn’t ever believe that coffee was making me anxious, but looking back, it was. It wore me out, it made me more irritable. Nothing like withdrawal, but still. I am much more peaceful than I was back then and much less irritable. I also can’t eat massive amounts of starch (but I will) it makes me beyond tired. It did before WD but it is brutal now, lol. My short term memory is slightly taxed (you know when you walk into a room and then can’t remember why you’re there? I have more of those), and I have more moments when I’m not talking rapid fire where I have to search for the words I mean to say (So…I was at the store and I uh…(trying to remember what words represent my experience at the store). Nothing big and nothing noticeable to others. I’m really bursting over with life now, constantly enthusiastic, met all the dreams I had when I was in WD, teaching my kid soccer and music, really being there for him and my husband. Gone back to being an activist and loving it. My husband and I started seeing a sexologist (yeah, I had never heard of one either, she’s a friend of mine who was licensed recently, that’s how I knew about it- I can refer you if you want! She works with a lot of people who are suffering from PSSD), and now we are embarking on improving our sex life. I’m at 29 months out. I would have written my success story around 24 months, but I wanted to wait until I was teaching in-person full time so that I could really celebrate being in the space that was destroying me when I was suffering with withdrawal fatigue. One step or one yell too many and it was like I had lost all life and energy. I wanted to come back to the space and see how much I could finally handle it again, with all the love and energy I have for the profession and my children. But…it looks like with how often schools are closing and opening because of Covid, it may be a while before I can actually go back into the classroom (I am privileged in that I can make that choice), so I thought now, while it’s the beginning of the year, is best. I am absolutely indebted to all the staff here (which reminds me I need to make my yearly donation). Without you, I would be kindled and who knows what else. I’d like to shout out Altostrata, Shep, and so many others that helped me along the way. You are incredible and save and improve so many lives. Please please ask any and all the questions you want. I also included my facebook link in my drug history signature if you need to inbox me and it is full. As those before me, I am here to support you, and remind you that you will heal soon.

Hello, I was wondering which antipsychotic is best suited for tapering? Regarding tapering dosages and also regarding the neurotransmitters they block. I read on holisticpsychiatrist.com that halperidol is the best to taper off regarding the amount of receptors it blocks. But I'm also struggling with the practicality of the tapering process with liquid forms etc. I was on Quetiapine before while I tapered. The tapering wasn't too difficult, but became unwell and now am on Risperdal. So deciding if I should switch to an antipsychotic that is best suited for my next tapering attempt. Thank you Reign

Sweet scallydaddy is in the hospital after falling then being confused. He is uninjured but has been hospitalized for several weeks because recovery from the fall is complicated by previously diagnosed early or middle stage dementia. While in the hospital, the dementia sometimes results in confusion about where he is and he gets "agitated." The first instance of agitation resulted in the "as needed" administration of zopiclone and trazodone. After an extremely unproductive cycle of late night PRN dosing that left him slurring his words well into the next day and too weak to do the brief physio recommended exercises, I asked that they pick one medication and provide it regularly. Thank you to all here at SA who helped me educate myself about this. Somebody (I've yet to find out who <grrr> ) started him on trazodone with dinner and citalopram with breakfast. WTAF?? Major interaction effects which include confusion, fever (dangerous for someone with a diagnosed arrhythmia), and increased risk of arrhythmia. Fortunately he's been stable on that for 10+ days until a confused agitation episode today. After the early "cocktail," I knew enough to ask about PRN (as needed) meds in the event of agitation. The PRN med that will be administered is halo-effing-peridol which, imagine your surprise, interacts in major ways with both trazodone and citalopram. It's beyond me how anyone thinks that's going to help him recover to a condition for safe discharge. I anticipate talking with his doctor about next steps and will ask, "Sometimes medications interact with each other. Are there effects we should be concerned about with Dad's prescribed meds?" Not sure what I need from other members of SA or the moderators. I guess the good news is that I've learned a few things and that it's early enough to interrupt predictable negative outcomes. Teasing out which symptoms are dementia progression and which are iatrogenic might not be possible until he's off all the meds.

Hi all, I appreciate this page. I recently decided to taper off of Risperidone by reducing the dosage by 5-10% per month. I got an oral solution manufactured that way. I had previously thought of making my own solution but found that Risperidone is not soluble. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.) Anyway, I stored the oral solution provided by the pharmacy in the fridge at 37 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the bottle says it should be stored at around 68- 70 ish degrees Fahrenheit. Has anyone had the experience of storing their medication at this temperature and not experiencing any difficulties?

Hi, My name is Usman and I'm from Pakistan. I'm new to this community. I have been on risperidone for more than 2 years now, it was prescribed for bipolar disorder (I don't know if I have or had bipolar, I was just very sick). This drug is ruining my life, I feel so disabled and find it difficult to work or be productive. I want to stop taking it but my psychiatrist wants me to continue. Where should I get help from? I have fear that If I stopped, my old symptoms might come back & I don't want to lose my mind again. But at the same time, I want to stop taking it as I know the damage these drugs can cause. So please, I want as much information as possible on how I can safely stop taking this drug. Should I consult a regular doctor and have him take me off? Please advice, Thanks.

Hi, In March I had received as an inpatient an depot injection paliperidone 125mg, and 75mg a week after it. My diagnosis was a psychotic episode. During this episode, I called the ambulance in a panic attack. I did not have hallucinations. My injection has been discontinued outpatient and I receive now 2mg risperidone tablets which I have been taking for only three weeks. I have trouble with my memory, and I need it desperately for my daily life as a student. I've read the injection gradually weans off, however, I'm still taking the tablets orally. I feel like going to 1mg (breaking the tablet) or go to 1.5mg using a pill cutter. The pills aren't easy to cut however and the doses could vary that's why I am considering jumping to 1mg. I am still in the process of setting up an appointment with my psychiatrist, best I could speak to him this week or next week. I'm not sure if he is cooperative in weaning off my medication. I'm eager to start weaning off.

I will try to make it short, I am in desperate need of help. I used risperidone (1mg) for almost a month when it started to seriously affect my quality of life and mental capabilities. that was almost a year ago. My psychiatrist only told me then to take half the dose for two days and then stop completely ( I fear now that this was completely insufficient for withdrawal). So far in, I still feel completely impaired, as if I were still taking the medication. My memory and concentration are in the gutter, I feel severely tired and incapable most of the day, my mind is uncontrollable and disorganized, my intellectual ambitions are all dead. In most of this period of recovery I trudged along through life like an undead, performing basic tasks and sleeping a great part of the day. Only recently, the last three months, have I tried to combat it with a regular daily routine, carefully taking note of the day's activities and making sure I do as much as I can for the exercise of my brain. This only shows mixed results, as my mental activity swings wildly from full depression to some semblance of creative euphoria and with these swings come also overwhelming, crippling emotion. I make no real progress. My mind is in shatters. I think that either my withdrawal was improper or my brain reacted badly to the medication, causing severe change. I am completely alone, as my family dont really believe me, and I can get no medical professional to listen to me. I saw a neurologist recently that dismissed any possibility of the drug causing a significant effect and thinks I simply have a sleep disorder, recommending a drug called vigiline and sending me to do a polysomnography. I have tried neither yet, as I despair of ever using any medication for my brain and the exam is still pending. So here it is, I have nowhere to turn to besides an internet forum. I want my mind back and there is no way I can get it back alone, if it even still exists. I have no idea about the fuctioning of the brain, but I would suppose that the drug, and possibly poor tapering, caused an imbalance in the production of neurotransmitters, and the integrity of my brain is forever compromised, even after the use of a small dose in a small period, it would seem. I would also suppose that it reacted negatively with the poor habits I kept earlier and a possible depression.

Hello everybody. I am a 54 year old male living in Europe,( nordic countries). I was unfortunately having a manic episode in august-september 2019 after being healthy for 12 years, and not using any medicines then. I was prescribed Risperidon, which I used for 3 months, first 3 mg for about 5-6 weeks, then 2 mg for 4 weeks, then 1 mg for 2-3 weeks. Then I stopped Risperidon. I didn't realise when taking it, but afterwards I did realise that it caused me to have heart problems, persistent atrial fibrillation. Before that I never had any heart problems in my life, not a single time, no palpitations ever. Later, I've had two cardioversions, and have been in regular sinus rhythm since June 2020, but I am using heart medications for it,( tambocor and metoprolol). While using Risperidon autumn 2019, I was experiencing depression,( which i had a feeling was caused by the medication). I went to a mental hospital in February 2020, stayed there for 10 days( I was not psychotic). There I was prescribed Deprakine,(Depakote) and zyprexa 10 mg. I stopped zyprexa when returning home, and after a while Depakote too. But I restarted Depakote march 2020 due to anxiety and used it to June 2020, about 3 months). The dose was 1000mg,( 1300 mg one week). Of course Risperidon destroyed my libido, but it returned 3 months after I stopped it. However I didn't realise that Depakote would also destroy my libido and sex life. That I knew again afterwards after doing some research about it. Now 7 months after stopping Depakote libido and sexuality has not returned. I am also feeling depressed. I think Depakote caused this, has anybody experienced something of the same?.I also experience anhedonia, I am not the person I used to be. I think Risperidon caused some kind of autonomic dysfunction, and Depakote again made it worse. If I had knew about the side effects of Depakote I never would have taken it, ( the same goes for Risperidon, I would have stopped it sooner). I am curious, have anybody had these experiences, and have you recovered?. I hope that I could get my life back.