su4mentalheath, I'm so happy you came back here. You know that we know each other well, and I think the world of you. PsychCentral has been a great place for me since I, too, came back a while ago.

You know that I am afraid of your experiment if it's without your pdoc's full knowledge. It is so sad that you have suffered so much over the years, and that you had such a long hospitalization recently. I really really don't want you to end up there again. I want you to find stability, and for your cycling to stop.

Though your four month hospitalization was long and hard, I will say that it seems that going from 11 to 5 medications was a very positive thing about it. That was a HUGE reduction! Reducing further on your own (without a doctor's knowledge) would sound very risky. I understand where SorryShaped is coming from. Please do see their statement as being with only the best for you in mind. I think a majority of us have experience quitting meds on our own and suffering consequences.

I must say that whenever I quit meds cold turkey on my own I usually ended up in the psych hospital soon after. When I was taken off medications by a doctor, either I had relatively few withdrawal effects, or they were managed carefully. I think the only times I really suffered withdrawals, was from quitting alcohol cold turkey (which I did in the hospital under pdoc and nurse observation, and with a benzo for some relief), and when I was slowly weaned off of Geodon after 8 years on a high dose. Yes, even withdrawals happened from being very slowly weaned off Geodon. My withdrawals were sweating, anxiety, gastrointestinal distress (upset stomach, heartburn/indigestion, low appetite), and headaches. In addition, my moods became unstable during that process. In response, my pdoc increased my Seroquel XR doses along the way, and temporarily halted weaning, as necessary. Though going up on Seroquel XR was a bit of a bummer, in the end I was happy to be on only one antipsychotic in the end, versus two. I also take a very large dose of Tegretol XR, and a small dose of Lamictal, plus a little benzo. Right now I'm feeling great, but stable.

I think I had few or no withdrawals when quickly taken off other medications in the past, because similar medications replaced them immediately. All done according to pdoc directions.

I was taken off Lithium for surely the last time a few years ago. The reason was because of mild kidney damage. Even with kidney damage my pdoc said he wanted to wean me off slowly to prevent mood instability. I think he reduced my Lithium by 300 mg every two months. I was originally on 900 mg, so the weaning off period took three months. I did not experience withdrawals, given the caution. Actually, I rather only experienced an improvement in my quality of life as side effects faded. At that time I was still taking a fairly large cocktail.