Scared to come off my meds

[superawesomeme]

For the past decade or more I have been treated for a number of misdiagnosed conditions with the key symptom being depression.

The depression was primarily triggered by the frustration I experience not being about to understand the world, or more specifically the people in the world around me.

My Aspergers has had a significant impact on almost every area of my life, most noticeably on my adult relationships, and these episodes generally do not end well.

So my doctors and psychiatrists have treated the depression with anti-depressants and supported me with different types of therapy to get a more accurate diagnosis (which I now have) and help provide me with the skills I need to manage my condition more effectively.

My main doctor and I both feel that the lifestyle changes I've made and the effort I've been putting into understanding and managing my Aspergers are sufficient to start the weening off process for the anti-depressants.

We have agreed on a one year transition period which I really want to stick to as I have plans to potentially emmigrate this time next year, however...

I'm scared.

I have been drugged up on antidepressants for so long now (about 12 years) that I'm worried I won't be able to cope without them. I'm worried I may slip back into a deep debilitating depression and undo all the work I've done to get this far or wind up dead.

On the flip side I'm worried that if I don't come off the medication, it will make my plans to emmigrate more difficult as I would have to arrange a healthcare plan in a country where I don't speak the language fluently or understand the medical system.

There's probably nothing anyone can say to help, I just wanted to get it off my chest. A problem shared and all that.

 

[Judge]

I made the decision to go off my meds for depression.

Started by cutting my dosage over time and eventually simply stopped taking them at all. Many years later I discovered that the FDA halted all prescriptions for this medication (Thioridizine) as it was causing people to have irregular heartbeats, which I also have.

 

[superawesomeme]

I made the decision to go off my meds for depression.

Started by cutting my dosage over time and eventually simply stopped taking them at all. Many years later I discovered that the FDA halted all prescriptions for this medication (Thioridizine) as it was causing people to have irregular heartbeats, which I also have.

Oh dear. I don't think mine are that bad. Sertraline. But I would prefer to start the next chapter of my life without them if possible.

I know I'm in a much different place in my life now than when I first started taking them but I do worry I could revert back to those days if I stop taking them.

 

[Guppyfry]

I had serious depression for many years, suicidal-level depression, and nothing really helped until I tried Prozac, which is in the same category as what you are taking. It saved my life!!! Good news is that I only took it for about 3 years, then came off them on my own, and have been depression free since (Over 10 years now).

Prozac wasn't masking the depression symptoms like they other drugs I was on did - the other drugs just numbed me up so I didn't feel anything. Prozac actually worked to re-establish optimal serotonin levels in my brain. I think I had been depressed for so long, my body lost sight of what a healthy, normal serotonin level was, and kept under-producing. Bringing the neurotransmitter levels up set a new baseline for my brain chemistry to work with, and with proper reference levels, was able to keep the production up even after I discontinued the Prozac.

It will be your decision, and I think it is a very brave one to try and discontinue medication - any big potential changes can be very scary. But I would say, based on my own experience, it will be a non-event.

 

[superawesomeme]

I had serious depression for many years, suicidal-level depression, and nothing really helped until I tried Prozac, which is in the same category as what you are taking. It saved my life!!! Good news is that I only took it for about 3 years, then came off them on my own, and have been depression free since (Over 10 years now).

Prozac wasn't masking the depression symptoms like they other drugs I was on did - the other drugs just numbed me up so I didn't feel anything. Prozac actually worked to re-establish optimal serotonin levels in my brain. I think I had been depressed for so long, my body lost sight of what a healthy, normal serotonin level was, and kept under-producing. Bringing the neurotransmitter levels up set a new baseline for my brain chemistry to work with, and with proper reference levels, was able to keep the production up even after I discontinued the Prozac.

It will be your decision, and I think it is a very brave one to try and discontinue medication - any big potential changes can be very scary. But I would say, based on my own experience, it will be a non-event.

Thanks. Kind of the push I needed. I'm going to give it a go. Worst case scenario I guess I just go back on them.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

I think it's a good thing to try if you're coping much better with social signals, et cetera. You really don't have much to lose, like you said, worst case: you just go right back on them. You might find that if you still need them that on a low dose of sertraline which in that case you can just go back up in dose fast, saving yourself pain.

 

[WereBear]

I am coming off over a year of Gabapentin. Started for nerve pain for the shingles, seemed to help with the anxiety, and then stopped working. Now diagnosed, I think there are better ways for me to cope with anxiety, and I'm down to 1/12th my previous dosage, almost done.

What helped me a LOT was chelated magnesium, it countered the rebound effect from lowering my dosage. Not sure if there is anything like that for your medicine.

Don't forget it was so long ago when you started taking it. You really a different person now!

 

[Judge]

After so many years I simply got tired of feeling like one of the walking dead. I wanted "me" back. I still had symptoms of social anxiety, but not anything as bad as it once was. Since then the only prescription meds I have rarely taken were for unrelated things like a sinus infection and irregular heartbeat.

 

[Servelan]

Well....I was on the generic form of Welbutrin for about 7 years or so until my abusive ex rose to new levels of a**holery and I realized the meds weren't doing me any good (and I really didn't need them, it turned out), called my doctor and was off them in two weeks and felt much better.

I, too, was scared of being off meds, and this was before I knew I has AS. Now that I know I have AS (I learned not long before my 60th birthday and the divorce becoming final), I've learned to identify a lot of what made me depressed to begin with (abusive husband is now a thing of the past, trainer who had been touching me inappropriately for months, ditto, and I have taken charge of my life as best I can and have let go of the guilt and self-recrimination over the bazillion things that were due primarily to Asperger's).

A timetable and your doctor's support are excellent ways to manage the change to a non-medicated or less-medicated life.

 

[virtualbacon]

Be wary of stopping the medication if you feel like it's helping, but are concerned with taking them long term. I was on an SSRI for a while and stopped taking it because I was concerned about long term use. But now I wish I hadn't stopped as trying to get back on the same med proved to be a nightmare, every common side effect listed I had, mainly insomnia. Went through several different meds, couldn't find one I could tolerate. I guess the positive was I got my diagnosis as a result of seeking a different doctor (the first one was just a med pusher). I was perfectly fine for several months after weaning off, but the anxiety and other reasons I started in the first place slowly started creeping back up on me. I hope things work out better for you!