[Passion222]

You hate the side effects and deal with heavy withdrawals instead of weaning off???

Originally Posted by Passion222

You hate the side effects and deal with heavy withdrawals instead of weaning off???

I got on Lamictal and it sent me into a hypomanic episode which I didn't realize at the time. I became in denial about my illness and suddenly stopped my meds. My episode got worse and worse but I am unsure if it got worse because I stopped my meds or if it would have been just as severe if I kept on them. I'm assuming stopping my meds did more damage than good but there's no way to know for sure.

[Mollie May]

Lamictal was rough on me at first. And my dose was changed multiple times before my episodes of hypomania AND depression were under control.

[Passion222]

I'm up to 250 mg of Lamictal and feel better. Side effect that's annoying is to constantly have to pee. Not a infection. Ugh. I read it can be a side effect. Weird one huh? Only with upped dosage. How many mg if Lamictal did you say you're on?

[Mollie May]

500 mg. Dose went up slowly. Never got the rash...only wicked vivid, often violent dreams with each uppage. I'm on birth control, which, according to my pdoc means more Lamictal is needed. Now that you mention it, I do have to pee multiple times a night, often waking up to do it. Hadn't thought about that being a side effect of the Lamictal.

[BlackPup]

I have stopped meds suddenly many times - always ending badly mainly when I was back on lithium but also on others. Now I'm a good girl and do as I'm told !!!!

[Trippin2.0]

I did. Refused to deal with side effects, and didnt want to wait 3months for pdoc. Withdrawls sucked the 1st 10days, but got easier. Then after came the adjustment period, which is worse. It took 3 months and included some crazy rapid cycling and some hectic episodes, as my brain adjusted to no meds. After I got thru that, I've improved dramatically! Its been 2 weeks short of a year since I quit cold turkey, and honestly, I'm doing better than ever. I dont really cycle, and had my last episode in March...

[ellipsisdream]

I have- but usually because I ran out/could not afford... I have had physical withdrawals from some of them which are hell. Lamictal and Effexor were the worst for this.

It is strange... I have never had trouble stopping benzos. I was on Klonopin 3 times a day for over two years, and even that did not bother me when I just decided I did not want to be on benzos anymore.

[Passion222]

Tripping you are med free?

[Trippin2.0]

Originally Posted by Passion222

Tripping you are med free?

Yip. Flushed them down the drain 14 October 2012

[Victoria'smom]

I have stopped them abruptly too. I've always have gotten flu like symptoms for about a week, with head zappyness.

[Moose72]

What are those brain zaps about anyway?

[Mollie May]

Originally Posted by Trippin2.0

Yip. Flushed them down the drain 14 October 2012

You mean 2011?

[BlueInanna]

I would really like to quit the meds.. I'm strongly considering it. I will wait and tell pdoc at next appt. She wants me off of welbutrin anyway, so I'll start there. I'm only on 75mg/day, low dose. Then is the lithium, I'm at 600mg/day that's 3 pills, low dose too. The ones I take as needed are clonazapam, adderall, ambien - not everyday. What worries me most are anxiety and sleep, so I don't want her to take away my clonopin. She might insist I stay on lithium, will see what she says.

[BlueInanna]

Originally Posted by Moose72

What are those brain zaps about anyway?

I got those bad from quitting cymbalta, anti-depressant. Horrible withdrawals. I hate the brain zaps!

[Trippin2.0]

Originally Posted by Mollie May

You mean 2011?

Lmao! Yes October 2011

[BNLsMOM]

I have gone off of meds because of side effects under my doctor's orders, but the relief of the side effects being gone have outweighed any withdrawals. I never really felt any.

[thickntired]

Originally Posted by Trippin2.0

Lmao! Yes October 2011

Hey Friends

Please please don't stop taking all your meds without medical supervision!!

I've been through this and so have a few friends. One ended up in the hospital on sucide watch and the other in the E.R. for stitches on a SI.

I get it. I hate being a slave to the pharmacutical industry for life, and I don't have the cash flow to fund all my meds.

Just please be careful.

[Mollie May]

Originally Posted by thickntired

Hey Friends

Please please don't stop taking all your meds without medical supervision!!

I've been through this and so have a few friends. One ended up in the hospital on sucide watch and the other in the E.R. for stitches on a SI.

I get it. I hate being a slave to the pharmacutical industry for life, and I don't have the cash flow to fund all my meds.

Just please be careful.

Agreed. Stopping meds w/out supervision can be very dangerous. Is it worth the risk? Not IMO. No matter how much I hate being slave to the drugs.

[BipolaRNurse]

I echo what TnT said---one should NEVER stop all meds cold turkey if one can possibly help it. Our brains get used to being bathed in certain chemicals, and when we alter the composition of those chemicals, it really messes with how our brains function. It's different for different people, as well as different according to what meds we were taking, but the vast majority of people who suddenly stop all their psychotropics experience withdrawal symptoms, and these can be hell.

I'm not kidding. I tried going off Celexa from a tiny, 10 mg dose this summer and promptly went into a mixed episode. I went through 15 days of exquisite suffering before being put back on it. Then a couple of months later, I tried discontinuing Zyprexa, which threw me into a hypomanic episode within 48 hours. Obviously, my brain needs these drugs to function at its best; to call an abrupt halt would be shooting myself in the foot.

Look, I get it. As a nurse, I make a lousy patient, and I've fought "taking pills" my whole life. I don't relish the prospect of spending my remaining Sunday nights filling my med minder with the three blood-pressure pills, two allergy pills, a diabetes pill, Vitamin D, fish oil capsules, and four "crazy pills" I have to take every day. BUT~every single one of those meds is critical, not only to my survival, but to my quality of life.

[Anika.]

I think it's important for us all to realize the risk assoctiated with going off meds cold turkey. You know what tho, sometimes even trying to ween yourself off slowly will not garner the suport of your pdoc, depending on his or her stance regaurding medication.

I think it's important for us to relize that there are different ways to manage bipolar symptoms for different people. When we say "never do this, or that " we close the door to choices. I'm not advocating just dropping meds left and right, but sometimes, dr's will not give you the option of supervised weening. And some people can handle the withdrawl of cold turkey, it's a personal thing, and only you know what is right for yourself.

My refusal to remian medicated doesn't make me a bad patient, refusing to put up with ridiculous side effects doesn't make people bad patients. All it makes them is wanting for something better or more acceptable.

If I didn't ween myself off, my pdoc refused to supervise me, then what ? I just have to stay on them and put up with terrible side effects forever?

For every horror story, there very well likely could be a success story, as we have seen in this thread. You can't just discount one, and not the other. It would not be very accurate.

[Deb5302]

I did, and both times I ended up getting sick. The number one reason people end up hospitalized? They go off their meds.

What made the difference for me - a psychiatrist who didn't hesitate to switch things up. Not working? Wean off and on to the next. If your sick and you stop, you either stay sick or get sicker.

Meds aren't necessarily forever (or for everyone). But when I'm not well, I get treatment and get better faster.

[Blue Poppy]

When I was younger and a university student, I was having a hard time paying for Paxil. So I stopped it cold turkey and was so sick with flu like symptoms and dizziness that it wasn't long before my folks paid for more meds.

[Trippin2.0]

If I had listened to 'Never', I'D have waited 3 months for a ppdoc to placate and convince me that being a zombie guineapig is my ONLY choice. No thanks. I did my homework when I quit cold turkey, so I sort of knew what to expect, except withdrawls were much easier than documented online. Its an individual thing, some can, some cant, and many factors play a part in who falls into what some. I'm GLAD I quit my meds, being medicated made me miserable, and a YEAR later,I still feel a sense of accomplishment!

[canacrip]

I stopped my meds suddenly a couple of months ago. Two weeks later I was drinking. A week later I woke in an ER after a suicide attempt. Don't try it.