Stopping antidepressant....

I had a good experience in my hospital, I met some really nice people, we were mostly moody or sad, there were several therapy groups but also a play group, we had free time between meals and therapy group and again in the evenings for puzzles and games or chatting. One of the nurses would go down to the vending machines at the end of the night and buy us snacks (we had to give him money). I felt safe and I was out of the situation causing me distress and I was able to get started on new meds. I was there for 5 days, came home for 6 and went back to the hospital for another 6 days. To be honest I didn't want to come home. It felt safe and calm.

I was able to wear my own clothes and pjs and do wash, and had my own blankie and pillow too.

UGh...im sorry. its so hard to come off of an AD. I have been there. Paxil is my enemy and we will never meet again! I had wd for about a week (flu-like, shakes, etc.) followed by mania, followed by a crash. I was not on a mood stabalizer at the time, but I think if I had been, it would have helped keep the mania in check, therefore preventing the depression that followed.

It sounds like your pdoc is on it, and being very aware and sensitive to your needs. I am crossing my fingers that you are through the worst of it already and that inpatient does not become necessary. (HHUGS))

Thanks, folks. My pdoc and I had a good productive session today, and IP is no longer on the table, although he says he will not hesitate to force the issue if I should ever need it. He said he'd rather risk destroying a relationship than to let a patient come to harm, if it came to that. Otherwise, the only time he will hospitalize me is if I were to feel I'd be safer in than out; this brief psychotic episode wasn't enough to require IP, although he would have admitted me if we'd both thought I needed to go in. He thinks that I'll be OK as long as I still have enough sense to call him when I'm in trouble.

That's good enough for me. I feel much better about it now, especially since things are considerably better today and I am grounded in reality. I figured he'd want me off the Zyprexa, but he actually increased it and wants me to take it for an additional 2 weeks, along with everything else. Neither of us wants a repeat of this episode!

The downside: I am now a 55-year-old grandma with a CURFEW!! I have to be in bed no later than 11:30 PM, and out of it no later than 8:00 AM. He wants to reset my body clock to bring it into sync with most of the rest of the world, and to promote consistency in my sleep patterns. I get that, but damn.....I'm an adult, not a five-year-old! You should've seen me trying to negotiate that bedtime, though---he originally wanted an 11 PM lights-out, but I talked him into letting me stay up long enough to watch the news. He wouldn't budge any further, though.

But you know, I pay the fellow a pretty good amount of money to tell me what to do, so it's probably in my best interests to do it. Besides, I know it'll benefit me in the long run, and this episode scared me badly enough that I want to avoid a repeat if at all possible.

Did you know that you can make a psychiatrist spit his Diet Coke across the room by telling him you really believed for a while that you're just going through a two-year-long existential crisis and are NOT mentally ill?

I love the part about the 2 year existential crisis!!! I am glad that things are working out in your favor and that you have such a trustworthy pdoc to help you through your ups and downs. I have an HMO and feel mostly like a number. It is nice that you have a great working relationship with your doc!! Well, sounds like you are on the way to a less bumpy road! : )