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almeda24fan said:
I wonder how hard it will be to do this? and if my T and p-doc will support me through it...?

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">Can you tell them up front that you need their support as you wean off the meds? A therapist is there for support--hopefully he can help. The pdoc got you into this multiple meds situation and has the expertise to tell you how best to wean.

If people don't need ADs anymore (e.g. because they are no longer depressed), when they go off their meds they often feel worse first before they feel better. (And then they get discouraged and immediately go back onto meds.) This is due to the brain reacting to the changing biochemical landscape. In reaction to an SSRI such as Prozac, the brain down regulates the number of serotonin receptors to try to control the articially high (med-induced) amount of serotonin now in the synapses. When you stop the SSRI, suddenly you are left with lower serotonin because you aren't taking the med, PLUS you have a lower number of serotonin receptors due to your brain's reaction to long time use of the SSRI. So you need to give your brain a chance to get used to the lack of SSRI and upregulate the number of serotonin receptors again. This takes time. This is why you will be advised to go off of that SSRI gradually, to give the brain a chance to accommodate slowly and not throw you into an extremely low serotonin funk. Of course, you may find that even after months off of ADs, you are still depressed, and then you can revisit whether to start drugs again or rely more heavily on coping strategies learned in therapy.

I wish you luck!

P.S. I read a really interesting blog/essay today called The Politics of Depression. Not quite sure what I think of it yet, but I did agree with some of the points. There were also some really thoughtful responses in the comments section. Here is the link:
http://www.furiousseasons.com/archiv...epression.html