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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 15 of 15. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by katie san diego on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:07
Has anyone gone off all meds completely as a final solution? I was successfully on prozac for 10 years until i had "poop-out" and major winter depressive episodes. after throwing everything at me that they could think of during that winter including anti-psychotics, lithium, effexor, wellbutrin, ECT, depakoke and others i cant even remember, i found relief with lexapro.
One winter later i was back in depression, and back as a guinea pig. recently i have had limited success with cymbalta. it seems that the only drugs that made me feel normal were prozac and lexapro and those inevitablly "poop" out after a period of time.
I am trying the EMSAM, but i honestly feel that i may just try to give them all up completely. So far the EMSAM has made me feel worse. I am going to try the higher dose, and then that is it. have all those years on the prozac changed my brain permanently? is it possible to live without these meds? Can my brain adjust back?
Posted by curtm on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:07
In reply to Going off all meds for good, posted by katie san diego on May 31, 2006, at 19:06:30
Well I did. It has only been a year and a half. I feel like such a wuss. Or maybe not. I need to do it for me. Just to see if I really still have any feet or not.
If I had to do it again, I would have weaned off the Lamictal. It's been an unpleasant ride so far.
(content tonight)
Posted by Donna Louise on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:07
In reply to Going off all meds for good, posted by katie san diego on May 31, 2006, at 19:06:30
> Has anyone gone off all meds completely as a final solution? I was successfully on prozac for 10 years until i had "poop-out" and major winter depressive episodes. after throwing everything at me that they could think of during that winter including anti-psychotics, lithium, effexor, wellbutrin, ECT, depakoke and others i cant even remember, i found relief with lexapro.
>
> One winter later i was back in depression, and back as a guinea pig. recently i have had limited success with cymbalta. it seems that the only drugs that made me feel normal were prozac and lexapro and those inevitablly "poop" out after a period of time.
>
> I am trying the EMSAM, but i honestly feel that i may just try to give them all up completely. So far the EMSAM has made me feel worse. I am going to try the higher dose, and then that is it. have all those years on the prozac changed my brain permanently? is it possible to live without these meds? Can my brain adjust back?For me, I have relapsed every time I have tried to quit. Initially I will have what feels like must be a good hypomania, a two week reprieve where I am so happy that I don't need them anymore and then whammo. Everytime. and I have tried alot to stop. I don't know if any of these drugs have changed me in a bad way for good, I know the depression and anxiety itself left untreated would have caused alot more damage. I have to resign myself as much as I don't like it, that I really need these meds. I so hope the higher dose EMSAM will work for you. It is supposed to be such a beneficial med rather than a damaging one. Try a little longer and with adding something to help the rough spots. It may work yet.
donna
Posted by Phillipa on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:07
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good » katie san diego, posted by Donna Louise on May 31, 2006, at 21:55:39
Wonder where Robert David is tonight. He's had such success on EMSAM. Love Phillipa
Posted by mike lynch on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:07
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good, posted by Phillipa on May 31, 2006, at 22:08:30
i have stopped all these damn meds and i feel better then i thought i would.. who knows if it will last.
Posted by sparky123 on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:07
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good, posted by mike lynch on May 31, 2006, at 22:45:32
i got a post just above where i discuss my experience coming off medication for good. its been a couple of years now. i do believe it was the best step i took.
im a bit extreme about medications and there flaws and perhapes thats why i stuck to my guns so tight. i vow never to go back to meds forever. now med free i have never felt this good in over a decade. Believe you me, i was ready to end my life. my post is--
NARDIL couldnt get.i was suicidal now normal again sparky123 5/27/06hope you bother to read it.
chow
Posted by pseudoname on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:07
In reply to Going off all meds for good, posted by katie san diego on May 31, 2006, at 19:06:30
Hey, katie.
> Has anyone gone off all meds completely as a final solution?
> is it possible to live without these meds?I think it happens all the time.
I wouldn't call it a FINAL solution, though. There's no reason such a decision has to be irreversible.
I tried about 3 dozen meds & med combos 1987-2005 for unipolar depression. NONE of them were effective. I gave up the med search several times and went without meds for years at a time. I was not any better in the med-free periods, but I wasn't any worse, and I didn't have the side effects, the cost, and the emotional wringer of getting my hopes dashed again & again.
But I'm happy to report that I went "back to the pharmacy" (so to speak) last year and finally got an antidepressant that really worked for me! And it's been working for about 6 months.
So I know it's sometimes possible to find an effective med. But it's also not the end of the world (at least for nonpsychotic, non-ADHD, unipolar depressives) to go without *in*effective meds.
> have all those years on the prozac changed my brain permanently? … Can my brain adjust back?
You've already been off Prozac for a while, right?
BTW, the American Psychiatric Association convention is in San Diego next year. If Dr Bob does another seminar at it about Babble, you can commute! :-)
Posted by willyee on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:08
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good, posted by Phillipa on May 31, 2006, at 22:08:30
Even so,adding him and a few others,still taking a step back at looking at the Big picture i think one cant argue Emsam has yet lived up to any high expecatitions.
At the most,if that,it is doing as well as any ssri,i dont believe it is even comparable in effectivness to the standerd maois Nardil and Parnate,i agree with the orignal poster,all of the meds simply one form or another are not living up to a reasonable potential as a whole,this is not saying there are the people who are being helped tremndously,its just it seems to be just to high a majority of people not!
Im terrified at this point of being off drugs,i never so much as inhaled secondary smoke off a joint in my teen years,i had no idea what i thought at the time was "medication" effeoxr,would later on down the line have me a junkie which is no better than what i am,just a pharmuctical one,not much difference.
Posted by nickguy on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:08
In reply to for years but not now » katie san diego, posted by pseudoname on June 1, 2006, at 10:15:10
psuedoname,
what antidepressant is working for you?
Posted by pseudoname on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:08
In reply to Re: for years but not now, posted by nickguy on June 1, 2006, at 13:24:32
> psuedoname,
> what antidepressant is working for you?Hi nickguy.
I've been taking the mild synthetic opioid buprenorphine (Subutex). It's not a total cure of all my problems, but capital-D Depression is gone from my life, and my incremental improvement continues.
Bupe carries some stigma and a risk of mild physical dependency. Pdocs are notoriously misinformed about it, so it's hard to get. I put a list of links & bupe threads here:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/psycho-babble-tips/links/buprenorphine_for_de_001146748536/I am a Johnny Appleseed of buprenorphine for treatment-resistant depression.
Posted by detroitpistons on June 3, 2006, at 1:45:08
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good » katie san diego, posted by Donna Louise on May 31, 2006, at 21:55:39
> For me, I have relapsed every time I have tried to quit. Initially I will have what feels like must be a good hypomania, a two week reprieve where I am so happy that I don't need them anymore and then whammo. Everytime.
I second that. That describes me exactly...same thing happens to me. I resented having to take meds, as a lot of us do. So I've tried to not take them, but now I'm terrified of getting off of them because of what happened.
Even now, sometimes I think that maybe I'll get off of them, but then I come back down to earth. If you really want to see what happens, try it. But be VERY aware of signs of depression. If it comes back, nip it in the bud....When I quit meds and then started getting depressed again, I waited waaaay too long to get back on. I thought I could resist the depression for some reason, and little by little I made my way back to rock bottom. I'm not trying to scare you, but if you do quit meds, just make sure you're responsible enough to go back to the doctor at the first sign of depression.
Posted by musky on June 4, 2006, at 0:21:17
In reply to Going off all meds for good, posted by katie san diego on May 31, 2006, at 19:06:30
>I dont think the damage is permanent.. the body needs to readjust.. it is remarkable in how it will heal..if you let it.. All those meds just mix up everything..
Good luck
musky.Has anyone gone off all meds completely as a final solution? I was successfully on prozac for 10 years until i had "poop-out" and major winter depressive episodes. after throwing everything at me that they could think of during that winter including anti-psychotics, lithium, effexor, wellbutrin, ECT, depakoke and others i cant even remember, i found relief with lexapro.
>
> One winter later i was back in depression, and back as a guinea pig. recently i have had limited success with cymbalta. it seems that the only drugs that made me feel normal were prozac and lexapro and those inevitablly "poop" out after a period of time.
>
> I am trying the EMSAM, but i honestly feel that i may just try to give them all up completely. So far the EMSAM has made me feel worse. I am going to try the higher dose, and then that is it. have all those years on the prozac changed my brain permanently? is it possible to live without these meds? Can my brain adjust back?
Posted by musky on June 4, 2006, at 0:28:36
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good, posted by detroitpistons on June 2, 2006, at 18:33:07
> Hmmm interesting.. I kinda wondered that myself about quitting and relapsing, but from my experiences I have been told there is MORE chance to crash being on a MED than being off and taking control.. there are many ways to overcome depression.. and if you go back to the doc, all they do is PUT YOU BACK ON IT and the cycle starts again.. a no win situation..
I am coming off Remeron and plan to just gut it out. I have had some mood stuff already but I am using other techniques to fight this w/d.. and alot of the depressive symptoms are from w/d .. I never had a problem until i started meds for a chronic health issue,and thats when I started getting symptoms..I plan to stay clean ... no matter what..
musky
For me, I have relapsed every time I have tried to quit. Initially I will have what feels like must be a good hypomania, a two week reprieve where I am so happy that I don't need them anymore and then whammo. Everytime.
>
> I second that. That describes me exactly...same thing happens to me. I resented having to take meds, as a lot of us do. So I've tried to not take them, but now I'm terrified of getting off of them because of what happened.
>
> Even now, sometimes I think that maybe I'll get off of them, but then I come back down to earth. If you really want to see what happens, try it. But be VERY aware of signs of depression. If it comes back, nip it in the bud....When I quit meds and then started getting depressed again, I waited waaaay too long to get back on. I thought I could resist the depression for some reason, and little by little I made my way back to rock bottom. I'm not trying to scare you, but if you do quit meds, just make sure you're responsible enough to go back to the doctor at the first sign of depression.
Posted by musky on June 4, 2006, at 0:31:09
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good, posted by willyee on June 1, 2006, at 13:20:35
> I agree with your comments here..
Too many people on these meds and NOT truly happy.. so why take them?????End of story
Musky
Even so,adding him and a few others,still taking a step back at looking at the Big picture i think one cant argue Emsam has yet lived up to any high expecatitions.
>
> At the most,if that,it is doing as well as any ssri,i dont believe it is even comparable in effectivness to the standerd maois Nardil and Parnate,i agree with the orignal poster,all of the meds simply one form or another are not living up to a reasonable potential as a whole,this is not saying there are the people who are being helped tremndously,its just it seems to be just to high a majority of people not!
>
> Im terrified at this point of being off drugs,i never so much as inhaled secondary smoke off a joint in my teen years,i had no idea what i thought at the time was "medication" effeoxr,would later on down the line have me a junkie which is no better than what i am,just a pharmuctical one,not much difference.
Posted by musky on June 4, 2006, at 0:35:12
In reply to Re: Going off all meds for good, posted by sparky123 on June 1, 2006, at 2:45:55
> Good to read this post... gives me hope as well. Ive finally come off remeron(10days off now) and am toughing it out.
Hope I can look back a year from now and say the same thing.. that I FEEL good and actually have the feel good emotions back after being so numbed out for 3yrs..Musky
i got a post just above where i discuss my experience coming off medication for good. its been a couple of years now. i do believe it was the best step i took.
>
> im a bit extreme about medications and there flaws and perhapes thats why i stuck to my guns so tight. i vow never to go back to meds forever. now med free i have never felt this good in over a decade. Believe you me, i was ready to end my life. my post is--
>
>
> NARDIL couldnt get.i was suicidal now normal again sparky123 5/27/06
>
> hope you bother to read it.
> chow
>
This is the end of the thread.
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