What to taper first ?

What to taper first ?

 

I pretty much decided (as it’s kind of obvious) , but still want to hear second opinions.

 

So I was on 5 months on 5mg Lex and 0.5 K when I decided to taper (the only pshychiatric meds I ever took).

Undortunatelly I am now in month 13 with 2.88 mg Lex and 14 mg V (needed to do a bridge), because of an unfortunate event my taper got kind of slowed down.

 

One of the reasons is SurvivingAntideppresants, which have a broken theory that you should taper first the antideppresant (because it’s activating), then the benzo (as it protecting sleep, which is important ofc).

But the completelly ignore the tolerance part of the benzos and that is a big mistake, as tolerance grows and the wd becomes more and more bad, while you are tapering the wrong med basically.

 

I was in tolerance at month 5 with K and started to taper Lex, as following their advice (should have listen to BB instead lol).

 

There is one more thing to add, Lex for me is activatint, causing some sort of adr and raising symptoms after taking it (not in all cases, but at least 50% of the times).

 

Also, when I take the V doses (7mg at 12 am and 7mg at 10 pm I don’t feel anything whatsoever, it was obvious I was in tolerance 8 months ago with 0.5 K, but now, the tolerance seem to build up even more, even after switching doses and raising a bit the dose (0.5 k = 10 mg V). So the benzo tolerance is clear.

 

My only dilemma is, what someone in my shoes would do in this case ?

 

Would you continue in benzo tolerance (and maybe protect sleep, maybe) while getting off an antideppresant that is causing an adverse reaction, but also building up more and more tolerance and implicit increased wd or you would taper the V to get rid of the tolerance and potentially prolongue the toxicity of the antideppresant ?

 

Note: tapering an antideppresant would theoretically would take more to taper off, as lower you go the harder it gets because or the serotonine ocupancy %, at lower doses the occupancy is high => benzo tolerance would build a lot in meanwhile, while already beeing pretty high / very high .

 

Not a easy decision, I know…

But my current plan for this is to get to at least 2.5 mg Lex and minimize the adr, take a break to stabilize (if possible) then go all out V first.

I am currently doing this but it seems to be getting harder, probably because I was micro fast tapering Lex in the past 7-8 weeks, who knows.

 

Sorry for the long post, I hope you don’t got bored reading it lol

One thing I thought of while reading your post is that adjusting the benzo could cause depression, in which case the Lexapro could help.  I don't know if you're currently taking the Lexapro for depression, anxiety, or OCD.

lex, I replied on your thread on the taper support board.

One thing I thought of while reading your post is that adjusting the benzo could cause depression, in which case the Lexapro could help.  I don't know if you're currently taking the Lexapro for depression, anxiety, or OCD.

 

I took the meds for anxiety.

But Lexapro did not helped at all, on the contrary after I take it my symptoms ramp up badly on many occasions.

I have adr from Lexapro as I mentioned in the post.

 

Indeed V can cause depression, that is true, but also I've build tolerance with benzos long time ago, been on meds 14 months and on month 4-5 build tolerance with K, the first time and switched to V last winter while tapering Lex. Because I had horrible symptoms and after talking with SA mods we seem to noticed the tolerance from benzo was building up.

One thing I thought of while reading your post is that adjusting the benzo could cause depression, in which case the Lexapro could help.  I don't know if you're currently taking the Lexapro for depression, anxiety, or OCD.

 

I took the meds for anxiety.

But Lexapro did not helped at all, on the contrary after I take it my symptoms ramp up badly on many occasions.

I have adr from Lexapro as I mentioned in the post.

 

Indeed V can cause depression, that is true, but also I've build tolerance with benzos long time ago, been on meds 14 months and on month 4-5 build tolerance with K, the first time and switched to V last winter while tapering Lex. Because I had horrible symptoms and after talking with SA mods we seem to noticed the tolerance from benzo was building up.

 

I see...I'd agree with kate08.

If you are having an adverse reaction to the AD, you do not want to taper the Benzo 1st IMHO.

Most people on here thought i was crazy, but I did n't care.  I was on gabapentin and lamictal while tapering the xanax.  The gabapentin and lamictal were giving me weird/scary side effects every time I took them.  I tapered off of them over a few months, that is just what I had to do, Im no giving advice, I'm no doctor.    I knew I had to risk things. 

I'm now on an aston crossover from the horrible xanax using valium.  Things are still very difficult and depression is on of my main side effects.  For me, it is better than thinking gI was going to have a heart attack every time I would take those other two pills.  This is such an  individual journey and it is so hard listening to your intuition because w/d makes me doubt yourself in so many areas.

 

They say benzos cover up side effects from other drugs.

 

In 2.5 years I have come of 5 psych drugs, my brain is still healing from those, and I'm still tapering the benzo.

 

Best of luck..I'll keep you in my healing thoughts. We all need each other.

If you are having an adverse reaction to the AD, you do not want to taper the Benzo 1st IMHO.

 

Even if risking building benzo tolerance ? As I am already in.

Most people on here thought i was crazy, but I did n't care.  I was on gabapentin and lamictal while tapering the xanax.  The gabapentin and lamictal were giving me weird/scary side effects every time I took them.  I tapered off of them over a few months, that is just what I had to do, Im no giving advice, I'm no doctor.    I knew I had to risk things. 

I'm now on an aston crossover from the horrible xanax using valium.  Things are still very difficult and depression is on of my main side effects.  For me, it is better than thinking gI was going to have a heart attack every time I would take those other two pills.  This is such an  individual journey and it is so hard listening to your intuition because w/d makes me doubt yourself in so many areas.

 

They say benzos cover up side effects from other drugs.

 

In 2.5 years I have come of 5 psych drugs, my brain is still healing from those, and I'm still tapering the benzo.

 

Best of luck..I'll keep you in my healing thoughts. We all need each other.

 

So as a conclusion you say it's best or has been best for you to stay on benzo to cover the symptoms and taper the other ones ? In my case the antidepressant.

 

How about the danger of benzo tolerance building up ? That builds more and more and you get hit with more withdrawal.

If you are having an adverse reaction to the AD, you do not want to taper the Benzo 1st IMHO.

 

Even if risking building benzo tolerance ? As I am already in.

 

Just because you are in tolerance, doesn't mean that you will suddenly go into tolerance WD. On the other hand the AD is causing symptoms. If you taper the Benzo 1st, you will not only suffer WD symptoms, the symptoms from the AD will get worse too, as you will be stimulating your CNS when it's trying to heal.  I honestly don't think there's much choice

If you are having an adverse reaction to the AD, you do not want to taper the Benzo 1st IMHO.

 

Even if risking building benzo tolerance ? As I am already in.

 

Just because you are in tolerance, doesn't mean that you will suddenly go into tolerance WD. On the other hand the AD is causing symptoms. If you taper the Benzo 1st, you will not only suffer WD symptoms, the symptoms from the AD will get worse too, as you will be stimulating your CNS when it's trying to heal.  I honestly don't think there's much choice

 

Did you read my post mate ?

 

I am in tolerance wd from a couple of good months now . I really know what wd is and when it occurs.

When you hit tolerance first with a benzo, you won't hit immediately, I hit first tolerance almost a year ago, what do you think, I hit tolerance wd ? .

 

Anyway thank you for your input.