My Support Forums - View Single Post

ultramar · Mar 24, 2013, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluemountains

Okay, I am ignoring the pdoc's instructions to just cut my dosage to half. I am staying on lamictal, wellbutrin, and klonopin for now, though.

Yes, I have given this some thought. This is a good time to try to forego the ad because I only teach three days this week, then a workday, and then I am off for 10 days. I figure the drug will stay in my system long enough to get me through a few days. During this time I have a t appt. and a pdoc appt. at the end (by then I may have switched back!) I am awful at lying, so I will tell both about my decision.

Now the why. I think that the ad zombies me out. I am tired, I feel little emotion, and I have no drive to exercise, spend time with my kids, etc. We also have a mini-vacation planned during this time, a few days in Washington, DC and I want to enjoy it! A sidenote, I saw the movie Olympus is Falling, and I joked with my husband that I hope they get DC put back together again before we arrive!

Bluemountains

Hi Bluemountains,

I recently lowered my Seroquel dose for similar reasons that you have stopped Zoloft, so I completely get it. But I don't understand why you've stopped it altogether instead of tapering down? If your goal is not to be so zombied out then lowering the dose little by little should accomplish that but without the potentially horrible side effects of stopping cold turkey. Your Pdoc suggested halving the dose --couldn't you do that and then if all goes well stop it altogether the following week? Have you discussed that possibility with your Pdoc? That way it's not just a choice between only halving and stopping all at once, there's a potential option in between.

What if you're going through brutal withdrawal from the med during your mini-vacation? I know you want to get rid of it as soon as possible, but it's possible too that halving the dose will make you feel better while you're on your way to stopping it altogether.

So my question is, why quit cold turkey instead of halving it (which might start to help) and then stopping all together a week later, or however long later that your Pdoc recommends? I don't want to judge you, I worry that you'll suffer terrible withdrawal, and I just don't get it. I really wish you the best of luck. If it works out -and probably not everyone reacts badly to stopping all at once- then hopefully you'll be in a better place very soon and I really wish that for you. I know how awful the struggle with meds can be.