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Thank You Success Story


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Dear list,

 

I just wanted to thank whoever created this website and forum it is a life saver. My wife 33 yoa had been on Ativan for five years as a result of a very dangerous psychiatrist. We were a young married couple at the time and I failed to get involved enough in here treatment and left things up to her and her doctors to figure out the problem. I can see now looking back that my wife was not able to answer and ask doctors questions properly and do research about the medications she was taking as a result of her clouded judgement and anxiety do to the effects of the medication. She was up to 6mg at one time. She built up a terrible tolerance from the medication. She was even diagnosed with bipolar disorder which turned out to just be withdrawl symptoms from the Ativan she was experiencing. She was given more medication to cover up these withdrawl symptoms created by the Ativan by the same dangerous psychiatrist.  My wife struggled for months cutting her self back on the Ativan down to 2.5 Mg before the withdrawl symptoms became to sever to hide. I escorted my wife back to the dangerous psychiatrist office to meet him myself and present him with printed material that I had gathered from this site. We told him we wanted to get my wife off the Ativan because we believed it may be causing the majority of her mental and physical problems do to the tolerance and withdrawl symptoms. Of course this doctor used some slick talk and dismissed my research as old information that was not valid. But being the nice guy that he is he offered to get her off the Ativan. He proposed she take 3mg of Xanex XR in place of her 2.5 MG of Ativan. He said since it was time released it would be easier for her to come off of it later down the road. I asked before I left his office about the effects of coming off Ativan cold turkey. He said my wife should not experience any withdrawl symptoms she would just feel "different" on the Xanex XR not to worry. As a direct result of reading information from this site and links to this site I was able to help my wife get informed and get a second opinion. My wife struggled for months cutting her self back on the Ativan down to 2.5 Mg before the withdrawl symptoms became to sever to hide such as High temperature, body twitching, increased heart rate and muscle cramps. I got her in to see our general practitioner and he referred us to Parthenon Pavilion Dual Stabilization Unit in Nashville TN. Once in the unit they gave her medication to help her get of the Ativan and monitored her vital signs constantly. She never suffered once in the hospital. With in two days she was playing volley ball with other Patience and with in five days she was out of the hospital completely off the Ativan. She has a good psychiatrist now who appears to believe in using the least amount of medication necessary. She is currently on 25 MG of Seriquil at night. The doctor plans to get her off of it within three months. She still felt a little weak and had trouble sleeping through the night the second weak off the Ativan but by the third week she was sleeping like a baby all night. In the hospital they diagnosed here with seasonal depression and proscribed a special lamp to use for twenty minutes a day. We under stand she is not cured and we are just taking one day at a time but she looks and feels so much better. It is like going back in time and having my wife and life back before all this happened. I may be getting my hopes up for nothing but even if I am it was all worth it just for these last couple of normal weeks.  I hope this post helps someone out there. Good luck to you all. NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP!     

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  • 1 month later...

Seroquel is also bad news...please see that your wife gets off that, too.  Anti-psychotics can cause permanent damage, so the longer she is on them, the more dangerous it can be.  Not to scare you, just looking out for her.  I had to get off Ativan after only taking it a couple months...I was already in tolerance and inter-dose w/d by about the 3rd week on it and thought I was sick.  No dr. would help me...I did it alone.  Using another drug to get off the original can backfire.  Please see that she tapers the Seroquel carefully and she may still experience benzo w/d while tapering that, as it is now only masking the inevitable.

 

Good luck to you and your wife...this is a frustrating journey, but she can be drug-free with patience, time and proper knowledge.

 

Take Care,

 

Lisa

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Lisa,

 

How do you know that anti-psychotics can cause permanant damage?

 

Sandy

 

For one, I have done A LOT of research and two, my fiance' was on a lot of them for years and got permanent damage from them, personally.

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For one, I have done A LOT of research and two, my fiance' was on a lot of them for years and got permanent damage from them, personally.

 

I am sorry to hear about your fiance.  That is very sad.  I also was on anti-psychotics as well an several other psychiatric drugs over the last several years.  I refuse to believe that I will have permanent damage because of them.  The longer I have been off of them the better I feel.  I won't give up.  I intend to be 100 percent recovered one day and I hope that your fiance will be too.

 

Sandy :)

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I am sorry to hear about your fiance.  That is very sad.  I also was on anti-psychotics as well an several other psychiatric drugs over the last several years.  I refuse to believe that I will have permanent damage because of them.  The longer I have been off of them the better I feel.  I won't give up.  I intend to be 100 percent recovered one day and I hope that your fiance will be too.

 

Sandy :)

 

He and I pray for the same thing.  We are hoping over time that the damage will lessen.  We hope the same for you, as well. :thumbsup:

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Hey guys I appriciate the concern and kind words. My wife has been off the Seriquel now for several weeks now maybe a month it is hard to keep up. The doctor said she was on such a low dosage she could quit it cold turkey. She did and had no problem. I think the Seriquel was perscribed to help her sleep and releave the muscle twitches she was haveing coming of the ativan. From what I have been told Seriquel can be perscribed up to 400mg in some cases so I guess 25mg was no problem to come off of. The drug has long term health problems associated with it such as high colesterol and wieght gain. Our doctor told us up front she would not be on it longer than three months. She was a quick healer and was able to come off quicker. Knock on wood we have had no set backs at all. I am even getting used to having her back feeling well all the time and not wondering when the bad day is going to come. 
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I would just like to add something else. I think one of the keys to my wifes success was getting a second opinion. From my experience most if not all general practitioners don't have a clue what to do for someone one with depression or dependency problems. Most of them don't even know a good psyciatrist, treatment, or even a website like this one to send them to for information. Some of them may know about these things but it is not there specialty. You need someone that specializes on your problem. If you have a doctor that is treating you and does not have a plan for you months down the road run like the wind. Find someone else I don't care if you have to drive or fly cross country it is worth it. Do not take the standard "take this and see how this works", "I have some samples try this", "there is a new drug out on the market lets try this" and my favorite why would you want to come off your medicine". These are all key phrases that should scream out to you they do not know what they are doing. Sorry for my ranting but I guess I am still a little on the chip about my wifes former doctor that got her in this mess. :muscle:     
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Hey guys I appriciate the concern and kind words. My wife has been off the Seriquel now for several weeks now maybe a month it is hard to keep up. The doctor said she was on such a low dosage she could quit it cold turkey. She did and had no problem. I think the Seriquel was perscribed to help her sleep and releave the muscle twitches she was haveing coming of the ativan. From what I have been told Seriquel can be perscribed up to 400mg in some cases so I guess 25mg was no problem to come off of. The drug has long term health problems associated with it such as high colesterol and wieght gain. Our doctor told us up front she would not be on it longer than three months. She was a quick healer and was able to come off quicker. Knock on wood we have had no set backs at all. I am even getting used to having her back feeling well all the time and not wondering when the bad day is going to come. 

 

That's wonderful news!!! :yippee:

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