Getting off medication?

[bchamp]

Amazed with the amount of responses I've received so far.

Lamictal is also used for bipolar.
I take Trileptal, which is an anti-seizure med, but it's to slow down nerve impulses to treat trigeminal neuralgia.
Often meds are used for other than intended purposes.

That is true, as I do not have bipolar(At least, was not diagnosed). I was prescribed Lamictal as I did have mood swings that were to some degree drastic, although not threatening. I was on a fairly low dosage, I think 200mg is pretty low for Lamictal? It's helped with outbursts that I did have.

Quick question here: if one is on medication and it helps shouldn’t one continue to take said medication? What criteria would one use to decide to wean one off of a medication? If unsupervised could this be a danger? I’ve no experience in this area but am courious. Do these medications have side effects that outweigh the positive effects or is it simply a desire to see if one can manage without them after being in them for a while and have aged a bit more? Thank you for humoring an old man.

Yes, they've helped me get my life together for the most part... and keeps me content, you could say. Although, I often feel very flat a lot of the times, tired whole lot more than I should be. I stay physically active, and eat rather healthy, not the best but I try to. During these years of being on medication, I have learned a lot about myself. When I say flat, I mean.. No emotion, no motivation, not sad, not happy, nothing. I'd rather feel actual emotion than this thing created by medication. Or at least, try to. And that's what I'm doing.

If in the end, it doesn't work... I can always go back, although I really don't. I'm going to work on this, and I already know I will have withdrawal symptoms of some kind.. maybe severe, or not. I'm focused on this.

 

[George Newman]

Thank you to each one for educating me of the realities surrounding these medications. Thank you bchamp for the post and for the follow up. It seems to me that your eyes are wide open to all the possible outcomes including a plan B. I wish you the best. You are in my thoughts and my prayers. Thanks again to bchamp and Autismforums.com family.

 

[Bedlamite]

To fairly add my experience, I'd have been certainly dead 2 years ago of Accute Leukemia unless I had ingested massive quantities of said 'toxins and poisons'. Medical Science is still a valid science, with theories at the leading edge as they push into new areas.

The internet is flooded with information compiled by creditable “mainstream “ sources reflecting the latest data that concludes an obvious “fact” that healthcare in America is extremely broken. Your “opinion” could be right, or the creditable mainstream sources (i.e. just one of hundreds mentioned below) could be right, or they both could be wrong, but one glaring feature when interpreting compiled data is conflicting sources both can’t be right.

=================
The third-leading cause of death in US most doctors don’t want you to know about

Published Thu, Feb 22 2018 • 9:31 AM EST | Updated Wed, Feb 28 2018 • 9:39 AM EST

Ray Sipherd, special to CNBC.com

Key Points

• A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000.
• Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
• Advocates are fighting back, pushing for greater legislation for patient safety.

==================

If one bothers to take the time to "research" where this data comes from and break down the "individual" medical errors, they will find that prescribed pharmaceutical medications contribute a great deal to the overall number of deaths.

 

[dragstone]

Well medication isn't supposed to be indefinitely used. Ideally you'd want to get well enough that you can understand what has happened to you and put in places where you can manage a better lifestyle and therefore stop ill mental health from returning. What that could be can be things like exercise, joining clubs for a better social life and eating less unhealthy food.

I'm not sure about this. I've asked on a couple different occasions if I am able to stop taking medication and was told that I should stay on them indefinitely if it's doing me any good. I still have a choice, of course, but I have to weigh the risks. I've been on many medications over the course of my life so far and have quit most of them because it wasn't having an effect or the side effects were unbearable.

I wish the OP well and I think tapering is always the way to go.

 

[WereBear]

I know people on SSRIs who wound up with serious problems from longterm use. ABSOLUTELY taper; these things are like brain dynamite.

I'm deeply cynical on the subject of medications. If it works for you, great: and I mean that.

However, for at least 2/3rd of the population, they don't. But people take them anyway, because no one has any better ideas; officially. THIS IS WHAT YOU GET when you go for help.

Now, I've had some disappointments and I am also deeply aware of how messed up the pharmaceutical companies are. They get special treatment, relaxed regulations, and are all about drugs you have to keep taking, and paying for, no matter how messed up that might make people with undisclosed side effects.

Also, turns out I'm one of those autistics whose brain adapts and they stop working. So brain drugs are essentially off the table for me.

I have filled the gap with:

• anti-inflammatory strategies like Omega 3 fish oil, low carb diet (sugar is especially inflammatory) and good sleep hygiene
• monitoring my stress status and taking sick days as much as I need to (it's a great help that I can work at home, and my work prefers I work at home to not working at all)
• the Brainwaves app on my iPad
• supplementation: hormone precursors like progesterone and pregnenolone, neurotransmitters like GABA, glycine, L-theamine

I looked up scientific studies on ALL of this and I am frankly and highly pissed off that medicine ignores that because they are cheap and don't require a prescription.

These strategies have done WONDERS for me.

 

[Gayda Collins]

I've been on Lamictal for several years for an almost-controlled seizure disorder. (A couple of brain surgeries did wonders for that control.) This drug has worked wonders for me. Though my neurologist doesn't exactly approve, I've had to 'tweak' (titrate) my dose a bit. I can't wait months to get an appt only to be told to do what I'd already do anyway. I've had this since infancy, and I'm a medical transcriptionist, so I'm fairly confident and experienced tweaking the medicine. This is based on both my experience (seizures) &/or serum levels of drug. I'm on 300 mg twice daily. This is the lowest effective dose for me. I know the Lamictal is also used for bipolar. I'm not bipolar and haven't noticed a change in my moods. Though all drugs have side effects, I haven't noticed any particular ones on this medicine.