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Going cold Turkey on meds

Posted , 3 users are following.

Quovadis
Quovadis

Hi I have had enough, so have gone cold turkey over two days on 

my :Zimovane, Lomotrigine,Clonazepam,Cipralex,Zolpidem Rampril,Ezitembe stopped them dead in their tracks ..spoken to the pharmicist who says there is no organic reason why not to , but just advise you GP ...so I did ...so two days ( and nights)  down and ??? to go, I honestly  feel better already ..... sleep is still light , but hey at least I am feeling a little more normal and not getting poisoned in the process. I have been on these for 18 months and many of them should have been short term or not given at all ... I have had to research this ( and the risks) myself and my heart says this is the right way to go ...so this is it folks I will keep you posted for sure 

regards Paul

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • asterix
    asterix Quovadis

    Posted

    Hello Paul, just wondering how you are doing so far. I can understand the "had enough" feeling. I have read that it can be risky to go off so many drugs suddenly though. The drugs never worked for me but made things worse. It was after I got off most of them did I begin to realise how unwell it had made me. I was developing Parkinson like symptoms plus a whole lot of other stuff but never thought it had anything to do with the drugs until I started researching and educating myself. I am still suffering iatrogenic injury from many years of being poly drugged. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will recover eventually from this. So many years lost. Listen to your body. I wish you every success.
    • Quovadis
      Quovadis asterix

      Posted

      Hi Asterix, thanks for the posting.... Life seems to be less Psychotic, yes , I have some weired and wondereful nights of no sleep at all, weird dreams anxiety, strange thoughts etc  ....but after a nearly a month , these have ( at last ) started to relax their grip on me. I sleep , not soundly but at least its a few hours, its more like a disturbed sleep  bad its better than nothing, and I can live like that. The days of being out of my head have gone, Ok I have my ups and downs etc, BUT at least I can remember everything that has happened.. With zopiclone , there were days I was going for appointments, and I havent a clue how I got there, who I saw, what I said , and to be honest was doing, saying, thinking, thoughts of a madman ... It was a case of making the jump to cold turkey irrespective of the costs... I had no choice, and besides I couldnt be any worse of could I ? 

      I will never recover, I know this, but at least I have the opportunity to at least work towards it ... plus....the added advantage is that I am now dealing with ME...... not a suppressed me..., or a drugged me ...just me ... at least I can get a handle on the ISSUE rather than what could be medication or side effects of . 

      I am due to see the support team on Wednesday... I have already asked (and got) a second opinion and a change of doctors, as the last lot were quite happy to let me carry on with these short terms drugs for another year ... Its not acceptable. so hence my stand againts Zopiclone and other medications ... I  willl let you know how things pan out if you like .. regards 

    • asterix
      asterix Quovadis

      Posted

      Hi Quovadis

      I so believe you will recover because of your determination, courage and autheticity. The body is quite resilient and can bounce back. People who have been on the medication much longer have recovered over time. I really like your attitude, to want to feel the real you, rather than the drugged you, and to have the confidence and belief in yourself that you can deal with whatever life throws at you. We learn, we grow. There is so much potential in all of us.

      How did the meeting go?

      Please let us know how things pan out. Cheering you on.... 

    • Quovadis
      Quovadis asterix

      Posted

      Ooops, Saying one thing and doing another are for sure two different things .. I went to the meeting with no pre-concieved ideas of how it might go ... but eventhough this was my first meeting with this Dr (psychiatrist) I was worse than I thought I would be ... The very fact that I tried to talk about issues immediatly saw , the emergence of stress, anxiety, confusion, speed of thought, even to the point I was that stressed ?anxious ? I dug my nails in my arms and cut myself ...... I have NEVER done this before ... I didnt realise until I left and blood was running down my arm .... I dont know, she wanted to slow me down and to focus on the claming side ... for me the hour was like five minutes and I was unable to discuss any issues that touched on some of the things I experience .... I was rattled the rest of the day and today.... I will go back again , but have stated I need more time to get in touch with what is doing on ... so its back to the drawing board for the moment , but I will go back for sure ... I am holiday on Monday so that will give me a break from all this , hopefully I will come back with a better frame of mind and stress tolerence ... thats what I am hoping anyway ... kind regards 
    • asterix
      asterix Quovadis

      Posted

      Sounds like you were very anxious. Side effects of withdrawal could have added to the pre-existing (baseline) anxiety as well. There are online forums that offer withdrawal support for different types of meds for people who want to come off meds.

      Be kind and gentle to yourself. Keep things simple, make sure you don't have too much on your plate at this time. Cut yourself lots of slack. At this time you won't have a high tolerance for stress. As you recover the resilience will grow naturally. It will take time but it will come. Hope this doesn't sound too nagging, don't mean to.

      I found that I had to prioritise in a big way and learn to let go of things that are not absolutely essental, that I don't have to do everything, and all at once, to reduce the sense of overwhelm. It was hard because I am very type A but am learning to be type A- and hoping to become more type B.

      Take care, and don't be too hard on yourself.

    • Quovadis
      Quovadis asterix

      Posted

      Ok, thanks for the info .... I am just going to take it steady whilst away ... and will post again after next visit ...which will be in about 6 weeks ... take care of yourself also ...kind regards 
    • VCSL2015
      VCSL2015 Quovadis

      Posted

      Your actions sound like being bipolar (I am not a doctor) can give you extreme ups and extreme downs. Extreme ups can be good if you want to conquer the world in one day for example, yesterday I Cut the grass, layed down new soil in bare spots with a wheelbarrel and shovel thats how much i was using, cleaned the shed that took about an hour,cleaned all the outside windows of our house, went for a bike ride, made dinner, cleaned up after the dinner, then washed two cars. Although I was feeling accomplished,I was also upset i didnt have time to color my hair.  I was a mess the 2nd day not wanting to do anything.
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