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The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs


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I was just getting ready to post this. Long article but worth the read.

 

By the seventies, one in ten Americans was taking Valium. The chief of clinical pharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital declared, in 1976, “I have never seen a case of benzodiazepine dependence” and described it as “an astonishingly unusual event.” Later, though, the F.D.A. acknowledged that people can become dependent on benzodiazepines, experiencing intense agitation when they stop taking them.

 

Sounds like a bit of an understatement. Most of us here know full well what benzos can really do to people. Keep this in mind when thinking about other psych meds that you don't nave any personal experience with. Fortunately I didn't seem to have any terrible long term issues from discontinuing antidepressants but the awful side effects they gave me let me know that they are far from safe and I can extrapolate what someone who is experiencing AD withdrawal is going through. Benzos certainly aren't the only drug with deep, dark secrets.

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I was just going to post this as well.  I really like how it touches on all the aspects of getting a psychiatric diagnosis.  It affects all the aspects of our lives after that. 
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Read this article yesterday - that poor girl was given so many drugs and amazing that she got off everything and went on to help others.

 

The New Yorker always has the best articles too.

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Thanks so much for this, sierra!

 

I agree, the NYer has really good, investigative articles!

 

Thanks to Laura Delano also! A very brave soul.

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Great article! Thanks so much for posting it. I kept groaning as Laura was put on medication after medication after medication. Brutal! That's madness! It's just unbelievable that doctors felt it was appropriate to pile the stuff on without any thought to interactions or cumulative effects. Mind-boggling!

 

Anyway, good for Laura to have survived this and to have gone on to help others. Very strong and courageous. Inspiring.

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Great article! Thanks so much for posting it. I kept groaning as Laura was put on medication after medication after medication. Brutal! That's madness! It's just unbelievable that doctors felt it was appropriate to pile the stuff on without any thought to interactions or cumulative effects. Mind-boggling!

 

Anyway, good for Laura to have survived this and to have gone on to help others. Very strong and courageous. Inspiring.

 

Me too, Lapis!  And I got really excited when she was going to confront her doctor, though was let down by her starry-eyed inability to do so. 

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Her case was complicated and full of nuances. And I could understand her need for comfort of some kind. What a difficult and treacherous road she has travelled!
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Her case was complicated and full of nuances. And I could understand her need for comfort of some kind. What a difficult and treacherous road she has travelled!

 

It really was.  I really related to her story, especially the parts about how psychiatry basically made her think all little things about her were symptoms.  I was like that for a while. 

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I hope it sends a very large ripple out to the medical community!!!

 

Why is it that doctors keep wanting to prescribe more and more pills?

 

Just yesterday I was in to see the nephrologist, and he wanted me on MORE pills other than the 8, and sometimes 9, that I take. I had to put my foot down and say no. We jostled back and forth about other things, particularly the diuretics he's so sure I need. He slammed the door when he left the treatment room.

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Did he at least acknowledge the possible interactions that could take place between that many different medications, Terry?
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No, absolutely not. He told me that my creatinine is rising and do I want to be on dialysis? (Trying to convert me to take diuretics again - I've already been taken off 3 diuretics because of low sodium). I went home and researched one of the newest pills I was given in the hospital, Losartan. Sure enough, it causes increased creatinine. But he didn't say anything about that.

 

He never blames the pills. He does look askance at me, however.

 

I need to search for another doctor, although I'm afraid all doctors are like this.

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Thanks, Lapis. You're very kind!!!

 

It actually made me angry. I was very depressed, thinking that I was on a downward trajectory, but this woke me up again and made me ready to fight for my health!  :boxer:

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