I actually didn't taper off of them ... at all and serously paid for it. That was early in my diagnosis before I realized that when it comes to ADs/APs you should NOT casually take 3x the dose your dr. tells you to, on an irregular schedule, while drinking heavily, and not consult with them about randomly increasing / decreasing the doses you take.

I didn't even realize that withdrawal from APs/ADs could happen. And I had the pleasure of going through the height of them while also extremely manic and at the first week of a new job (spoiler alert: I got fired in less than 7 days).

It was BAD.

In regard to the people saying I may need a higher dose, my pdoc says that we should wait a year before doing bloodwork (it's possible I misunderstood him at our last session though) and I'm worried about increasing the dose any more due to weight gain (which I've mostly avoided so far) and avoiding other side effects like provlems with memory and concentrating (which I've already been having). the meds have been helpful at their current dose (reduce suicidal thoughts, reduce cascading thoughts, etc.) ... it's just not a wonder drug.