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Getting off all Psychotropics


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Has anyone made a decision to take the extremely courageous journey and

go Psychiatric Med free despite having mental illness? I have no plans to

do this right now, but it is a dream.

 

Are there any websites folks would recommend that support a Med free

approach that are trustworthy in your opinion?

 

Thanks

KB

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[bc...]

Hi KB  :)

 

I have been diagnosed with depression, psychotic depression, BPD, TLE, PTSD and PND, but wether or not I had any of those disorders in the first place is debatable.  What I do know, is that since I have been off every single psychotropic drug that I have been prescibed in the last 20 odd years I don't have any symptoms at all of any one of the DSM1V diagnostic labels/disorders, so go figure.  :thumbsup:

I don't know of any public websites that support med free approaches, but I guess there may be some around.

Maybe someone else knows of one.  :)

 

Take care

 

love and healing to you

Vicky  :)

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Vicki...

 

I just tried to smash a tiny little 'gnat' that was crawling on the left hand side of my computer screen...until I realized it was your avatar. :laugh:

 

Hilarious! I must still have 'benzo eyes'!

 

Kimba =^..^=

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In my opinion, you just need to make sure that "med free" isn't the same as "therapy free". When I say therapy I mean anything from a real therapist to self-help books. A lot of times people don't want to take medication, but they also don't want to do the work (HARD work) it takes to confront and learn how to deal with their issues without resorting to medication.

 

It's proven that CBT is as effective, if not more so, than medication when dealing with anxiety. The problem is a lot of people don't want to do the homework because it's very hard to go do the very things that cause anxiety. It's really hard for me to stop my avoidance behavior because I've been doing it pretty much all my life. But avoidance has only made my condition worse, so I have to avoid avoiding things.    :D

 

It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, which is why most people (including me) opt to take a pill instead. It took me a while to realize the pills weren't helping me really deal with my anxiety on a fundamental and lasting level.

 

So I think it's possible to be med free for a lot of people, but if you do nothing, nothing will change.

 

As the saying goes: if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got.      :)

 

To be clear - I'm not implying that you don't have a plan to be med free, I just thought I'd add my $0.02.

 

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I cant wait to be med free. The problems I had/have I think are hormonal so I dont know where that places me. I had severe postpartum depression, anxiety/panic attacks, and ocd.

But yeah I have a long ways until I'm drug free. I'm going to get off benzo's first, abilify, effexor and then lamictal.  :sick: :sick:

 

Sounds like fun lol.

 

What meds are you taking? What were you diagnosed with? Sorry if that's too personal you dont have to answer  ;)

 

Amanda  :smitten:

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Hey Amanda ;D

I am taking Seroquel,Lamictal and Cymbalta.

Diagnoses have varied over the past 20 yrs.

I'm 42.

PTSD/Depression/Anxiety/Bipolar.

Getting off the benzo will be a good start.

I have a long way to go with that.

Trying to put in place new ways to handle

my pretty bad anxiety is tough.

 

Yucky

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G O O D luck!

Ive been trying to get off prescribed meds for 20yrs...lowest I ever got was 1200mg lithium. The PDr.s messed that up and its been a battle of them putting me on meds vs me taking me off meds.

  The meds they put us on are so strong....change our brain chemistry so much.....Im sure its possible to get off all psyc meds...Im starting to doubt wether I'll ever get it done. I was just last month cutting down on Klon. Well, the  extended use of Klon makes a person less able to handle stress...I ended up in a stressful prolonged situation and had to go back up on Klon.

 

These Drug Co.'s arent stupid! There well aware of how to design drugs and how to design them to have to be taken a lifetime!...Im certain if I could find a place, and get up the courage, I could commit my self to a "locked" detox..probably at least 1yr long...and be rid of all my psych meds...It would be a b... though.

In the mean time I guess I'll keep praying and trying on my own.

Sk

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G O O D luck!

Ive been trying to get off prescribed meds for 20yrs...lowest I ever got was 1200mg lithium. The PDr.s messed that up and its been a battle of them putting me on meds vs me taking me off meds.

  The meds they put us on are so strong....change our brain chemistry so much.....Im sure its possible to get off all psyc meds...Im starting to doubt wether I'll ever get it done. I was just last month cutting down on Klon. Well, the  extended use of Klon makes a person less able to handle stress...I ended up in a stressful prolonged situation and had to go back up on Klon.

 

These Drug Co.'s arent stupid! There well aware of how to design drugs and how to design them to have to be taken a lifetime!...Im certain if I could find a place, and get up the courage, I could commit my self to a "locked" detox..probably at least 1yr long...and be rid of all my psych meds...It would be a b... though.

In the mean time I guess I'll keep praying and trying on my own.

Sk

 

Skkee you CAN do it! I know it's hard and scary but we do not have to live the rest of our lives on drugs. It isnt a good life to live, and you know that, otherwise you wouldnt be worried about getting off. You need determination, inner strength ( and I KNOW you have that. We all do, we must tap into it), and support. You have all the support you need here, we all understand this.

Anyway I miss you! Let us know how you are every once in a while!

 

Amanda  :smitten:

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Hey Amanda ;D

I am taking Seroquel,Lamictal and Cymbalta.

Diagnoses have varied over the past 20 yrs.

I'm 42.

PTSD/Depression/Anxiety/Bipolar.

Getting off the benzo will be a good start.

I have a long way to go with that.

Trying to put in place new ways to handle

my pretty bad anxiety is tough.

 

Yucky

 

 

Sorry yucky I didnt see this before  :idiot:.

How many years have you been on benzo's? Sorry if this is in your siggy or somewhere else I should have read, I have really bad benzo brain these days.

Alot of people on here have been diagnosed with a awesome number of things that they never even had! Most of this has been because of benzo's/benzo withdrawal. It's such a sad thing that doctors dont know the symptoms could easily be because of benzo's. But that's life I guess.

You'll get off of this and I think the majority of us are better off than before we went on them. We have been down a really tough road and we know that we can get through it. And we learn coping techniques.

I am really interested to know how long you've been on benzo's and when these diagnosis were made.

 

Amanda  :smitten:

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G O O D luck!

Ive been trying to get off prescribed meds for 20yrs...lowest I ever got was 1200mg lithium. The PDr.s messed that up and its been a battle of them putting me on meds vs me taking me off meds.

  The meds they put us on are so strong....change our brain chemistry so much.....Im sure its possible to get off all psyc meds...Im starting to doubt wether I'll ever get it done. I was just last month cutting down on Klon. Well, the  extended use of Klon makes a person less able to handle stress...I ended up in a stressful prolonged situation and had to go back up on Klon.

 

These Drug Co.'s arent stupid! There well aware of how to design drugs and how to design them to have to be taken a lifetime!...Im certain if I could find a place, and get up the courage, I could commit my self to a "locked" detox..probably at least 1yr long...and be rid of all my psych meds...It would be a b... though.

In the mean time I guess I'll keep praying and trying on my own.

Sk

 

Skeeter -

 

I'm down to 3 myself but I don't know if it's a good idea for me to be off all of them.  After I've done more healing from tapering lorazepam, I will take a crack at the seroquel again.  It was originally prescribed for bipolar disorder and I don't think I ever had that to begin with.  I think that having tapered from a benzo I have a good chance of being able to get off at least 1-2 of the others.  I'm not at the place where I believe no one should take any psych drugs; my nephew has schizophrenia and he gets in an awful state when he's off his meds.  Just take it one drug at a time, Skee. :thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Vicki...

 

I just tried to smash a tiny little 'gnat' that was crawling on the left hand side of my computer screen...until I realized it was your avatar. :laugh:

 

Hilarious! I must still have 'benzo eyes'!

 

Kimba =^..^=

 

ROFLMAO

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