[claireunderwood]

Sorry, the title wasn't the best phrased!

My question is: how do you differentiate between symptoms that are due to discontinuing a med and, say, symptoms that are unrelated or from the mental health issue you are managing?

With things like the "brain zaps" it seems more obvious. But, for example, irritability - how can you tell if irritability is due to discontinuing a medication; anxiety; or just being irritable? (Not limited to irritability, that was just my example!)

TIA!

[Altered Moment]

Which med are you talking about and how long and slow did you do the taper? Both questions are factors.

Also what were the symptoms you had before starting the med? You started it for some reason.

[ChangingMyMind]

I really wish I knew! It really depends on who you ask. Ask a psychiatrist and they will likely say if it's been more than 2 weeks then it's return of symptoms otherwise it's withdrawal. I don't agree in the least and it's a controversial topic. I feel like I'm still having withdrawals after 10 months but I was on the med for 11 years, so I think it will take me more time to get back to normal.

Sorry this doesn't answer your question.

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[LastQuestion]

Through personal experience and being observant I was able to tell things were not quite right. The perceptual experience was different from what I had experienced in the past, so it was clearly separate from my pre-existing diagnosis.

However, while discontinuation can cause new symptoms and many similar to one's like those part of one's diagnosis it is also generally destabilizing, which means it can exasterbate the disorder causing it to appear as if there is recurrance when, in fact, it is as a result of the drugs withdrawal. Due to this being part of the discontinuation process there can be little distinction between what is disorder and what is withdrawal. It is during periods like this that clinicians can often confuse the two, prescribing more drugs to treat symptoms caused by existing treatment (speaking from personal experience as well as illustrating the general state of mental health treatment which one can expect to receive from clinicians).

In my view, until the withdrawal process is complete, which is at least four to eight weeks of recovery after discontinuation (again, speaking from personal experience and that of supporting data from other patients, literature, and what little can be inferred through our limited understanding of the brain), any and all symptoms are best assumed to be caused from withdrawal. I know that if I had relented to my clinicians advise I would have been overmedicated, prescribed an anti-psychotic to treat what was an interdose withdrawal from a benzodiazepine.