[pickabooICU]

Hi All

I just joined the group today. I have been on medication for the past 20 years for depression (which was diagnosed later as bipolar), SAD and a bit of OCD. I moved 10 months ago to another country, and the meds I have been taking is not available here. I have had a workaround of them being posted to me by mail from my home country, and obviously a visit to my psychiatrist once a year. I'm only able to go back again in 6 months time. My question pertains to how will I be able to wean myself off the meds, I'm afraid of doing this, but at this stage I do not have another option, each month is a huge effort for everyone involved to get the meds here, my Husband and I are fighting constantly over this, as I'm dependent on him for collecting it each month. I think going without them, might be my only option at this stage. What would you recommend I do?

Regards,

[Fresia]

I am sorry to hear about the struggles in getting meds. I was in a similar situation for meds and living in another country circumstances, with similar medical MH history as you.

When I moved to another county I finally looked into finding a relatively local pdoc and trying a different med as a possibility for something that is more readily available to get easier than stressing and relying on family and friends to get them to me. This way was not going completely without, which in my case, I knew would not be the best option to be off meds. Typically one can even find a western physician in the area, if that is a concern, to go to to continue your care, or get referrals from others or your GP for someone that they have worked with there.

I also continued phone consultations with my previous pdoc about the meds available in that country as to recommendations as to what they think might be a good alternative to what I was currently taking, then got enough of the current med to transition to another meanwhile as well from my long standing pdoc. I got a copy of my records from him so I could give them to whomever it was I ended up seeing regularly to help smooth the transition.

I don't know if this might be something you want to consider but it saved me and family/friends a lot of frustration, time, and money to transition to someone locally so that I could maintain my care. Being off meds might be an alternative for you and works well for some, something I know you are considering, but it just wasn't an option for me to manage the depression and BP; had tried this in the past with disasterous results. However, I have friends that are managing their BP just fine med free. Talk to your doc.

I hope you find a solution soon. Hang in there.

Originally Posted by pickabooICU

Hi All

I just joined the group today. I have been on medication for the past 20 years for depression (which was diagnosed later as bipolar), SAD and a bit of OCD. I moved 10 months ago to another country, and the meds I have been taking is not available here. I have had a workaround of them being posted to me by mail from my home country, and obviously a visit to my psychiatrist once a year. I'm only able to go back again in 6 months time. My question pertains to how will I be able to wean myself off the meds, I'm afraid of doing this, but at this stage I do not have another option, each month is a huge effort for everyone involved to get the meds here, my Husband and I are fighting constantly over this, as I'm dependent on him for collecting it each month. I think going without them, might be my only option at this stage. What would you recommend I do?

Regards,

Hello pickabooICU: I have taken myself off med's several times in the past. The key is to do it SLOWLY... the more slowly the better. In fact, the longer you've been on a med, the more gradually you want to taper off. In order to do this you need to get your med's in as small dosage capsules as possible. That way you can reduce your med's every week or so a small amount at a time. If you try to reduce quickly & / or in large steps, you're likely to have problems. Of course, I think it goes without saying that the best thing to do is to do this under the supervision of a doctor. But if you can't, it is possible to do it alone. Just do so as gradually as you possibly can, especially if you've been on med's for a long time. Good luck....

[Sunshine1965]

Hi, I am currently going to wean myself off some of my meds. I started with Tegretol and got from 800mg a day to 400 ok, but then when I went to anything lower than 400 I couldn't sleep. I'm thinking the remaining meds I'm on are only helping me by getting me to sleep. If I come off what I'm on now I'm worried I'll end up back on sleeping pills. I wonder if all meds act like a sleeping tablet?