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Hello, I have decided to go to a different medicine than my current one (going on 5 years with Abilify 30mg although it hadn't started that way at the beginning of course. it ramped up to 30mg over some time. I digress). I chose this different one based off a video that talked about the least weight-gain-inducing as a side effect, medicine. That medicine is Latuda. The reason for this is because the doctors are worried that my EPS side effect symptoms (in my case: oculogyric crisis and some weird hand tremors and movements) will last longer or become permanent if i don't either 1) taper down (which I've tried on numerous occasions [going down 1mg at a time] without success). or 2) Switch to a new medicine temporarily. That being Latuda. I guess the idea being switching and then tapering off of that one eventually. Or staying at a lower dose of the new one. Initial thoughts/questions: Did I make the wrong decision here? How would I have better prepared to go down on the medicine if I had chosen that route again another time? Thanks

hello, I've been on psych drugs since 2004 when I was diagnosed with bipolar. around three years ago I began the slow process of a slow taper withdrawal. things are becoming very challenging with the lamictal withdrawal. I have looked into a peer run respite house that I am planning on going to for two weeks while I do my next 10% taper of lamictal. I am feeling some discouragement because it takes so much energy to deal with communicating and educating my family, friends, support system and the doctor and still maintain my integrity for keeping to my goals and what I value for my own health. I get tired of constantly having to deal with the misguided information that everyone seems to believe and try and keep me from moving forward. the thing is, I still have a long way to go and I can't afford to waste my energy on people who are not interested in supporting me for better health. I feel tired and then I get so exhausted when I'm tapering on top of it. I am so thankful to have found this site because there is so much good information on how to taper more effectively. Really, I've been going too slow. I need to keep my momentum going. I'm new to this site and I think I need to set up my profile, trying to figure out how to do that. I appreciate the support. 2004 -Seroquel and Depakote. many changes of many drugs. cold abrupt stop. 2007-abilify 2014- abrupt stop restart abilify. 2015- abrupt stop -- put on abilify injection. then abilify oral. lamictal. Cogentin. 2016- began slow taper of lamictal 100mg, taper of Cogentin 10mg. taper of Abilify 5mg. 2019- now 37.5mg of lamictal. 0 of Cogentin, 4mg of abilify.

I am 23 and have recently recovered from a temporary psychotic break due to trauma, and wound up on 10 mg Haldol and .5 mg Cogentin for a total of 2 weeks and 10 mg Lexapro for 3 weeks. I suffered from very heavy side effects while on the medication (sexual issues, severe constipation, shaking in my legs while walking, trouble moving my jaw while eating, exhaustion, uncontrollable salivation, the list goes on...) and my psychiatrist did not listen to me and told me that side effects were due to stress. My therapist noticed that I started slurring words and was struggling to complete sentences and was not as eloquent as I used to be. I couldn't take it anymore and quite everything cold turkey, which gave me Akathesia. I went back on everything at half dose for a few days and managed to taper quickly again with less withdraw symptoms. In retrospect I probably moved too quickly to stop everything, but I was deeply frightened by the neurotoxicity and the intense side effects of the Haldol and wanted to prevent permanent brain damage from developing. I was never informed about any of the risks or side effects of these medications. Now I have been off of everything for roughly 3 weeks and withdraw has stopped. I was exited to get back to my old life but now things seem dampened and not as enjoyable as they used to be. I have a strange feeling in the front of my head, like a piece of my brain has been taken out. I am not completely devoid of feeling, but I feel like a cloth has been placed over the world and I cant experience things in the same way i used to. I have tried telling a few people about this, but everyone insists that I was not on the medication long enough to cause that type of feeling. I am not sure if this is due to recovery from the medication or if this is part of the recovery process for my illness, but I am very afraid that I have sustained damage to my frontal lobe, and the more I learn and feel the horrid effects of Haldol the worse my anxiety gets. I have recovered a lot of my previous speech and cognition, but something still feels "off" and I am afraid this feeling will never go away. I managed to cry for the first time today which I take as a good sign my emotions are returning, but it was very difficult and I felt I had to force it out. I'm hoping that I can find others who have had emotions return after discontinuing antipsychotics and antidepressants, especially from Haldol which seems to be a particularly tricky drug. Thank you for your time and support 🙂.

Hi there, Imipramine, Clonazepam, Cogentin are the drugs my doctor has me on to deal with the anxiety and aka that an antipsychotic has given to me. I’m worried the Imipramine (antidepressant) may be irritating the aka more. I’ve also been on Effexor, Pristiq, and Prozac since last summer tried them all for my anxiety but Imipramine seems to be the best so far. I know jumping from one to another is bad but they were not helpful. Clonazepam seems to be the only thing that is helping most symptoms. I’ve had people on another site telling me it almost killed them and is hard to get off. What to do? Should I wean off the Imipramine? Which my doctor also told me doesn’t cause aka but I’m not so sure to trust that. I think any antidepressant can irritate it? Does anyone have any light into this? I take it at night and wake up feeling hung over. It makes me sluggish and I feel only sadness and wanting to just not exist any longer since I’ve been on it. Bad thoughts all day. My body just feels poisoned from everything and I don’t know how I will ever recover from this. The aka is unbearable without the Clonazepam. I’m scared the anxiety will be worse if I go off the Imipramine tho. How to cope? How do I help myself? My doctor just gives me more drugs each time I see him for the symptoms. Invega has ruined my life. I don’t feel I’m strong enough to keep going or figure out what med to taper first. My poor nervous system is shot. Any ideas if getting off Imipramine would be a good start? Sorry so negative I just feel like I’m drowning here tho. Please help

Hi everyone. Thanks for reading this! This is my first post but I've read a lot. I'm in the south. 28 year old male. around 3 years ago I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder and started seeing a therapist and psychiatrist at the same office. I have a great relationship with both and I really trust them 100% with my care. I currently take 300 Wellbutrin, lamictal, buspar, abilify and cogentin Wellbutrin has been awesome over the years and so has buspar and lamictal. I was not diagnosed bipolar but they are using it as a mood stabilizer and it works well However over the years I've had some pretty bad circumstances and been on and off abilify. It works I guess in the way it can stop my obsessing andrew my mind slow down etc. I had been on about 10mg a year ago or so and then I stopped when I started lamictal. I had a bad turn around October last year and the cycle started again. Right now I'm on 5mg split between morning and night. 2.5mg. Oh and add the cogentin for good measure I have started to be quite foggy and started having some short term memory issues I think. The only thing we have changed in the last while was adding the cogentin and abilify back. I'm so worried my memory will not come back. I also need to talk to my pdoc this week as I want to start tapering off it. Thanks for reading! My mood was up and down and we started