off meds...

[Caroline]

i went off my meds about two months ago (lithium, seroquel, wellbutrin, lamictal) because i was just damn tired of taking them. i ended up in the hospital for a week - got out tuesday, now on seroquel, trileptal, very small dose of lamictal. my moods are up and down multiple times a day. way up and way down and i'm used to cycling rapidly but this is too much. any experience for if this happens when going off meds?

[Martha]

I deceided to go off of my meds when my mom suddenly past passed away about a month ago becuase I felt they were making me numb and I needed to "feel". I felt she at least she deserved that. Needless to say I went into a a bad Manic episode - worse then I have ever had and ended up in jail (see my earlier post). Now I am taking my meds sporatically - maybe every other day. I do however take my Xanax everyday - that is one med I just cannot live without.

[dymphna]

(im 26) when i was a teen, i went off meds every summer. never worked. did it again around may - nope. just tried to pare down a huge cocktail (down to lithium[first time], and seroquel[3rd time]), not working at present.

im not trying to nay say. just saying its never worked for me.

but i truly understand what its like to take a @#$%^ handful of pills in the morning, and continue all day. thats why im messing with my chemicals now. its sucks.

*for those who may be new to the wonderful world of pharmacology*
some meds have to be ramped- weaned off of. do not just quit stuff. withdrawals are real, and just as unpleasant as they sound.

[withavengeance]

'some meds have to be ramped- weaned off of. do not just quit stuff. withdrawals are real, and just as unpleasant as they sound.'

Truer words were never spoken, dymphna.

[dymphna]

just another gems of my own advice i regularly dont follow.... le sigh.

[Another Manic Monday]

anti-seizure meds need to be ramp off of slowly becauce they can caause rebound seizures if you don't. I was taking lorazapam everynight for sleep for quite a while and started increasing it because it wasn't working and then suddenly stopped. About a week later someone returns a phone call I didn't make, except I did but the memory was gone. Seizures that were wiping out past memories.
Yes, I'm prone to seizures but it is dangerous for anyone to go off of any anti-sezure medication with out tapering it: lamictal, depakote, topomax, tegretol, triletal, etc.

[My idol]

I've never tried to just stop my meds. After listening to you all, I was very lucky not to have done that. I don't like my side effects either, at all! But I do trust the combination of my pdoc and myself. We make my med choices together so we'll also make the decision to drop any meds together.
Love to all,
Linda

[withavengeance]

Actually, lorazepam is a benzo and as such, is highly addictive. That's why you built up a tolerance to it and that's why you should be weaned off of it. Don't ever just stop taking a benzo! Your doc can help you.

[Sarah Johns]

I stopped taking my meds last fall, but continued one for sleep. I wasn't doing great but I didn't see how much it was affecting me until the summer when I crashed and burned into a deep depression. I didn't have a therapist to see me, and I had to pretty much quit a job a few months before the depression hit. The anxiety of work was really getting to me and I was really stressed out. I started having irratible bowel syndrome with abdominal pain and nausua, (not I wasn't pregnant) I finally got on something for that, and it has helped so much that I know when I haven't taken it. or missed a dose,. Anyway, I was in and out of the hospital from July to first of October. I kept having suicidial thoughts, and that scared me too much. I am now on the handful of meds not just for psych stuff but a few other things too... I really would be messed up if I stopped taking my meds again

[Bob's My Uncle]

I have a good friend that has been steady for years. Went off his meds... 3 weeks later they had to put him into the hospital.
He is really sick.

[withavengeance]

Much as I hate taking them, I won't stop my meds...I know what will happen and don't want to ever go there again if I can help it. Bps are famous for going off their meds...they think they're 'cured'. I know that's not true as this illness is incurable, but treatable.