Jump to content

how long do most ppl wait until they start tappering other meds?


[Me...]

Recommended Posts

Just curious about how long ppl usually wait until they start tapping other medication.  I have gotten off serequel in the past and it was a breeze.  Now it seems as difficult as benzos to tapper. I hope that as I heal from benzo w/d the serequel gets easier to tapper.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just curious about how long ppl usually wait until they start tapping other medication.  I have gotten off serequel in the past and it was a breeze.  Now it seems as difficult as benzos to tapper. I hope that as I heal from benzo w/d the serequel gets easier to tapper.

 

There's no general rule, but I waited until I'd been off Xanax for a year to start tapering citalopram (celexa).  I'm tapering that much more slowly than I did Xanax, and it's going well--I've only had very minor withdrawal symptoms so far. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My pdoc recommended I wait TWO WEEKS after jumping from lorazepam to start tapering trazodone. Don't know how practical this is. We shall see.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

once i found the ashton manual and knew what this is all about i tapered all the meds

within 10 days. i am glad really...no more poison in my system. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will also be tapering from an antipsychotic.  I'm sorry, I don't have any helpful information.  Yet we will be in the same boat, I guess. 

 

I'm ~6 months off benzos (I think, I don't count anymore).  I'm going to jump from 1mg to 0.5mg of Risperidone.  It's kind of a big jump, and I'm anticipating some very uncomfortable things.  I hope your taper goes well.  And please wish me luck.  :-[

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My pdoc recommended I wait TWO WEEKS after jumping from lorazepam to start tapering trazodone. Don't know how practical this is. We shall see.

 

Hiya Laser!  At the other extreme I read on Surviving Antidepressants that some benzo boards used to suggest a whopping six month wait.

 

Personally I would wait something like 6 to 8 weeks because there are very many accounts of people getting off benzos and having a significant relapse of symptoms weeks and months later.  I think it would be much better to avoid that while tapering trazodone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Braban:

 

I spent the morning reviewing the clinical literature regarding epidemiology of anti-depressant discontinuation syndrome and found a number of very relevant reports. The recommended rate of taper varies for each specific anti-depressant as does the potential for emergence of taper-related symptoms. Compared to all benzos, anti-depressant discontinuation syndrome is VERY mild and short lived, though there are some reports of extreme reactions in a very minor subset of people. It also depends on whether the original symptoms one was taking the AD for, are still present at the time of discontiunation. The following link provides a table from one of these peer-reviewed published reports and is likely to be very useful:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181183/table/i1523-5998-003-04-0168-t03/

 

As you can see in the linked table, the duration of tapering off some of these ADs can be as short as 1-2 weeks, depending on the dose at the onset of taper. For paroxetine, which has a very short half life, both the recommended taper and jumping oint are longer and lower, respectively, but still profoundly easier than any of these benzo tapers/jumping points.

 

For those interested in tapering ADs, there really are a lot of good and specific published scientific/clinical reports that can guide one with respect to their specific AD.  :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did some co tapering of xanax and valium. Then stayed at a stable dose of valium while I completed the xanax taper.  Two months off xanax I started a slow valium taper. I got no direction from any of my docs...it was strictly a self drawn plan. Best of luck.

Carita

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Braban:

 

I spent the morning reviewing the clinical literature regarding epidemiology of anti-depressant discontinuation syndrome and found a number of very relevant reports. The recommended rate of taper varies for each specific anti-depressant as does the potential for emergence of taper-related symptoms. Compared to all benzos, anti-depressant discontinuation syndrome is VERY mild and short lived, though there are some reports of extreme reactions in a very minor subset of people. It also depends on whether the original symptoms one was taking the AD for, are still present at the time of discontiunation. The following link provides a table from one of these peer-reviewed published reports and is likely to be very useful:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181183/table/i1523-5998-003-04-0168-t03/

 

As you can see in the linked table, the duration of tapering off some of these ADs can be as short as 1-2 weeks, depending on the dose at the onset of taper. For paroxetine, which has a very short half life, both the recommended taper and jumping oint are longer and lower, respectively, but still profoundly easier than any of these benzo tapers/jumping points.

 

For those interested in tapering ADs, there really are a lot of good and specific published scientific/clinical reports that can guide one with respect to their specific AD.  :thumbsup:

 

Hiya Laser.  It's seems to be a myth that antidepressant withdrawal is milder than benzos.  I have not experienced AD withdrawal personally but from what I hear, it can completely mimic benzo withdrawal.  Bliss Johns wrote this in the intro to "Recovery And Renewal".

 

When I wrote the original Benzo-Wise book I had no idea that just as many people discontinuing antidepressants as those coming off benzodiazepines would end up reading it and would contact us about out services.  More than fifty percent of our helpline callers are coming off an antidepressant only, or an antidepressant taken with a sleeping pill or other benzodiazepine.  The symptoms are very similar

 

I know PubMed/Medline contains little about the difficulties of AD withdrawal but it also contains little about the true difficulties which some people get when withdrawing benzos.  First hand accounts of the AD withdrawal symptoms can be seen at http://survivingantidepressants.org/.  Perhaps it's the case that the percentage of patients who suffer AD withdrawal is smaller than those who suffer benzo withdrawal but that's just conjecture on my part because I don't believe any studies have been done to establish this.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried decreasing my serequel dose but I just wound up very suicidal.  I have no idea how ppl survive coming off multiple drugs in a short time.  Maybe its just me?  Maybe I am just really sensitive? 

 

I've also herd of waiting a full year before trying to taper another med?  I just feel like the benzo w/d has made me so weak.  But I so just want to get off of this suff!!!  ughhhh......it makes me want to cry.  I feel so trapped again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi. I've seen several posts about Seroquel and a lot of folks seem to have trouble getting off it. If it's not really bothering you, you may want to just wait until you're doing better post-benzos and do one thing at a time.

 

Hang in there!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

P.S. There's a section on other medications. Have you read through that? Also, maybe try the "search" and just type in "Seroquel taper" and see what you find.

 

Best wishes!

 

Tex

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...