Anyone know the benefits of a super slow taper?

[angie007]

Hi guys,

 

I am hoping to be able to finalise the end of this thread with the complete answer

at some point in time.

 

But for now:-

Does anyone really know what are the obvious benefits of doing a super slow taper from these meds?

 

Does anyone here also know if your brain is healing/recovering between tiny drops????

Or does healing/recovery only begin when the medication is stopped completely???

Does it lessen the severity of wd symptoms???

Is recovery time quicker????

 

Or am i Surviving Antidepressants one

and only guinea pig lol, to have completed this method, and your all waiting for me

to answer my own question hahaha

[Altostrata]

angie, the benefits are that your nervous system adjusts between drops. When drops are small, it's easier to acclimate.

 

Think of it as a tiny, vulnerable baby in a pram. Say you take the baby on a mountain trail. What does it feel as it goes over the rocks in the path? If the rocks are big enough, the baby will get bruised, and hurt.

 

To protect it, you want to wheel it over a smooth path, with tiny bumps that are hardly noticeable.

 

(I'm awful at metaphors. If somebody else can think of a better description, please chime in!)

[summer]

I definitely think a slow taper is a must. It gives your system/brain a chance to adjust to the new dose. How much to lower your dose just might be another story. In a way, I'm a guinea pig... I recently dropped from 15mg Celexa to 12 1/2, which is more than generally recommended. However, I felt this would work if I gave myself a long while to adjust to the drop. I had several rough days, but I'm already starting to feel better. I think the answer is different for everyone. As we know, some people simply stop and are fine... but many aren't. Actually, I think those of us that took antidepressants are all guinea pigs...

[Rhiannon]

Hi guys,

 

I am hoping to be able to finalise the end of this thread with the complete answer

at some point in time.

 

But for now:-

Does anyone really know what are the obvious benefits of doing a super slow taper from these meds?

 

Does anyone here also know if your brain is healing/recovering between tiny drops????

Or does healing/recovery only begin when the medication is stopped completely???

Does it lessen the severity of wd symptoms???

Is recovery time quicker????

 

Or am i Surviving Antidepressants one

and only guinea pig lol, to have completed this method, and your all waiting for me

to answer my own question hahaha

 

Nobody can really answer the questions about what's happening in the brain during a taper, because it would take scientific studies to say, and those studies haven't been done.

 

Studies per se haven't really been done on the symptoms, but a lot of people have talked about it. It seems to me that the main benefit to slow tapers that we can really point to is that they are generally less disabling than faster tapers and c/ts. That is, people are more likely to be able to work, take care of families, etc. doing a slow taper than a fast one.

 

At least, that's what I've observed.

 

And on the benzo board I work on, there's a consensus that recovery time after a slow taper is shorter and smoother than with a faster taper.

 

And overall, people who taper more slowly and smoothly seem to have fewer complications than people who have tapered fast or done lots of switches of meds and quick changes.

 

But as far as exactly what happens in the brain--well, I have my own ideas about what is probably going on, but it's all speculation. I personally do think that the brain is adapting during the taper process in ways that will make the final adjustment to no med at all be easier, less drastic.

 

For example, if receptors have to be added or taken away to adapt to not having the med, then if you taper slowly, it seems like those adjustments can be already taking place as you go down, so when you get to the end there's less to be changed. Again, speculation, but it makes sense to me.

 

And similarly it seems logical to guess that the other physical, chemical, structural adaptations that have to be made, are being made during the process of the taper, so that there will be less of a shock to the system when the drug is removed completely.

 

But as far as KNOWING if that happens, no, I don't think ANYbody knows.

 

I personally think your odds of a smooth recovery are better with a slower taper, both because of peoples' self reported symptoms and histories, and because of what I speculate about what might be happening in the brain.

[angie007]

Thankyou Rhi,

 

Wouldnt it be wonderful if your theory is right,

for me, there was no other way, after a failed ct taper from 30mg,

that rendered me non functional, and i ended up back on the poison at 20mg.

 

Yes i was terrified, not so much of letting go of the tab, but i knew

the repercussions of just ditching it, and i feared greatly what may come

either way. So yes!!! i did a pthetically slow taper, wether it will pay off,

again only time will tell.

 

How scary that man can develop chemicals that can do this to any human being!!!!!!!!!!

When all i was unnecessarily medicated for originally was grief, which is afterall

a normal human emotion. The days of trusting a doctor to take care of your health

here, are long gone.

[compsports]

With the exception of Wellbutrin XL, which I pretty much cold turkeyed, I did a super slow taper of the rest of my meds. My taper lasted from 8/06 to 6/10. I got off of 4 meds and started this "fun" in 1995.

 

I am still not 100% but I am totally convinced that if I hadn't done a mostly slow taper, I would have been pretty much non functional.

 

My biggest challenges are insomnia, adehonia, lack of focus, and brain fog. This sounds strange but due to the brain fog that worsens near the end of the day ( I am reluctant to take fish oil capsules too late for fear they will cause insomnia), I keep making the same mistakes that don't help my insomnia.

 

So I literally have to remind myself that today, after I eat dinner, I will drive to the nearby library so I can stay awake until it is time to go to sleep. Falling asleep prematurely is not a good thing.

 

I also sit at the computer staring at Outlook trying to figure out what tasks I should take care of next so time management is another issue I struggle with. That was in issue with me prior to meds and I feel being on meds while they initially helped has over time greatly worsened that problem.

 

Anyway, I guess my point is that a super slow taper does not solve every problem but in my opinion, not doing one, makes things a whole lot worse.

 

CS

[Healing]

angie, the benefits are that your nervous system adjusts between drops. When drops are small, it's easier to acclimate.

 

Think of it as a tiny, vulnerable baby in a pram. Say you take the baby on a mountain trail. What does it feel as it goes over the rocks in the path? If the rocks are big enough, the baby will get bruised, and hurt.

 

To protect it, you want to wheel it over a smooth path, with tiny bumps that are hardly noticeable.

 

(I'm awful at metaphors. If somebody else can think of a better description, please chime in!)

 

This is an adorable metaphor! New SA meme -- "Don't take the baby over the Himalayas!"

[stan]

hi,

 

very slow taper is much better than quick taper,

but this is only one of many parameters : the other are the amount dose, the duration, the amount of receptors burned and were, and the individual ability to repair

i see slow taper who suffer and cold turkey who have recovered better

if i had choice today, i would do a two years taper instead 11 months, but not more years because i read in benzo forum, it is prolonging the agony

[angie007]

This is a particular worry to me stan,

because im none too sure, this is exactly what i have done, and this

is the cause of a lot of my suffering.

 

As according to the other site, slow taper should mean minimal wd, ct was horrendous

and this has been comparable, but far from minimal i would have to say.

I was even told on the other site, that they had never heard of anyone slow tapering as

i had and having wd, i felt like a fraud for being a victim of a pharmaceutical drug.

[Hopeful]

I was even told on the other site, that they had never heard of anyone slow tapering as

i had and having wd, i felt like a fraud for being a victim of a pharmaceutical drug.

 

 

Angie, this just isn't true...from what I have read over the course of six years some people have a hard w/d recovery regardless of how slow or fast they come off the drug. So please don't let that comment upset you.

[strawberry17]

Hi

I am doing an excrutiatingly slow taper, about 5% reduction every 5 weeks approx, I don't care how long it takes, if takes another couple of years so be it, I've had so many failures over the years from withdrawing way too fast I got phobic about it.

Another advantage of the slow taper is that SSRI's numb your emotions and personality, coming off slowly means that you get a slow gradual readjustment to the return of normal emotions and dealing with them, it also greatly reduces the anxiety about coming off the medication, if I have a bad withdrawal I know I can always go back to the previous dose until I feel reassured and ready for the next reduction. Luckily I haven't had to do this but I know it's there as an option.

[Rhiannon]

Hi

I am doing an excrutiatingly slow taper, about 5% reduction every 5 weeks approx, I don't care how long it takes, if takes another couple of years so be it, I've had so many failures over the years from withdrawing way too fast I got phobic about it.

Another advantage of the slow taper is that SSRI's numb your emotions and personality, coming off slowly means that you get a slow gradual readjustment to the return of normal emotions and dealing with them, it also greatly reduces the anxiety about coming off the medication, if I have a bad withdrawal I know I can always go back to the previous dose until I feel reassured and ready for the next reduction. Luckily I haven't had to do this but I know it's there as an option.

 

Wow, I hadn't really thought of it that way, but it's true. I'm slowly beginning to be able to feel again, and it's intense, particularly as I have a lot of grief about the things that happened and the things I lost during the years on the Drugs. When those emotions wash over me, it's quite intense. I hadn't thought about the fact that the slower taper gives me more time to adjust to feeling so raw, so alive, feeling things so intensely again.