No meds

[Ellen70]

Ellen;

I felt gutted when I read your post - you were talking about mental anguish and how you are so tired etc etc - it is appalling. I know someone who is going through very similar at the moment - she is a member on here and she may message soon. I know how bad the mental anguish can be as I suffered similar when I was in withdrawal from Seroxat. I sympathise deeply with you and hope that you will feel better soon. These evil medications can make us so ill and Idon't think the doctors' realise just how bad we do suffer.



Yvonne

thanks Yvonne. Life is really hard right now. Withdrawal is hell. However I ate a small meal today and haven't thrown it up (yet!) so even that small thing is progress.

Take care

Ellen x

[mirry]

Big hugs to everyone here suffering

Bless you all

xxx

[Pink Panic]

As a side, there is a an atypical anti psychotic called Seroquel (quetiapine) being prescribed a lot nowadays instead of benzos. I was prescribed 200mg per day about eight months ago and it was great! - for about two weeks! Then it stopped working and my psych kept increasing the dose but it did nothing for the anxiety and panic. So I had to wean off it slowly and have now been off it altogether for about 5 weeks. My psych told me this drug was non addictive but I have been in hell for the last five weeks and the withdrawal symptoms are horrific. I have the most awful mental anguish, I feel I am being tortured by my own mind and it is near impossible to carry on. The physical symptoms are very bad too, especially on the digestive system. I have permanent nausea, abdominal pain, vomitting, bloating and diarrhroea. I can eat only small amounts of very plain food like porridge or boiled potatoes and even a piece of fruit makes me vomit. Also I have awful pressure in my head and dreadful tension in my body and feel exhausted all of the time.
So if anyone is offered Seroquel please think carefully before accepting it. Not everyone will get these withdrawal symptoms but it is possible you might so weigh up the pros and cons before you start on this drug.

Best wishes

Ellen[/quote]

Hi

I am so very glad I caught up with this post. I was offered Quetiapine by my Psychiatrist a couple of appointments ago when I was in a bad crisis at that time. As I'm Meds phobic I was too scared to take it but I did think that if things got worse I might have to bite the bullet so to speak and give in to meds.
At last visit he now says I don't need meds and wouldn't even give me Propranolol for my morning anxiety.

Pink
x

[Yvonne]

Wow,

Pink, what is meds phobic? Please let me know.

Strangely enough I saw a psychiatrist a couple of months ago who shocked me by saying that she thought we should try the "no meds" approach. Her thinking was that because I had tried a good few (Citalapram, Nortriptylene, Sertraline and Duloxetine) with little therapeutic effect - that no meds may be the only way.

A few weeks ago I was getting very very bad panics and had to see another psychiatrist (my consultant) - and because he could see I was suffering so badly he has advised me trying an MAOI - although he has no problem with me giving the "no meds" approach a go.

Pink, let us know how you get on without medication and what you do to help yourself.

Yvonne

[Pink Panic]

Hi Yvonne,

Meds phobic is my way of saying I have a phobia of taking medication.

Well, according to my Psych I'm doing very well but I have problems believing it sometimes....... low self-esteem and all that.
I have gone from not being able to leave the house particulary the bedroom for 3 months to moving in with my partner to his house and getting back to being able to function and do "normal" (whatever normal is lol) things such as shopping, hairdressers, days out, meals out etc., BUT, at the mo my partner is my safe person although my daughter can be Ok when she's in a good mood.
Partner is a Medic which helps. Upon first meeting him I thought ... Oh great now I will get better as it will be like having a Doctor on call 24/7 but I soon found out it doesn't work like that!
I also had problems with being alone but that's easing too, so now I'm starting to work on doing the "normal" things on my own.

I guess now I'm just used to the symptoms and as they appear I think to myself "Oh that's my panic" and get on with whatever I'm doing and try to distract myself. Logically I know they can't hurt me but they are just so uncomfortable and more of the time now I am able to deal with them and work through it where as before I would let them take over me and every waking moment was spent in wondering what was going to happen next coupled with thoughts of "this is it, I'm going to die this time." I seemed to have a fear of everything.

I think going to a 6 week Anxiety Management Course was the best thing that happened to me along with other Support Groups ran by the Mental Health team.
Getting to the Day Unit where the course was held once a week for a whole day at the local Psych Hospital was the biggest hurdle for me as it meant I had to stay away from my safe place but the more I did it the easier it became and just being in the same room as other suffers was so good as at last here were other people face to face who totally understood.
I have done a group on Self-Esteem and also started CBT, I get taken out by someone from a Mental Health Charity once a week for an hour to do whatever I like be it shopping or just a walk and I have a Community Psychiatric Nurse who I see fortnightly or I can phone when I need advice. I also attend a Support Group every week and have the support of my partner and girls.
My Psychiatrist now is a young good looking fella who actually listens and gives me sound advice which aren't all related to me taking a pill and just getting on with it as has happened before.
I have lost all of my old friends but I do now have new friends from the groups I go to and Internet friends. My parents were supportive but now this illness has gone on too long and they use the old adage of "pull yourself together."
The last two years or so have been really hard but at last I can see there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I also know that this can be beaten as I was like this 13 years ago and it went away but it's a slow process and patience is not my thing!
The talking therapy can be very emotionally draining and many times I think that I won't bother going to a group but then afterI make the effort to go I always get something out of it.


I hope you make the right decision for you and I would be really interested in keep in touch to see how you get on with whatever you decide.
Hope I haven't rambled on too much and thanks for taking the time to read.

Take Good Care,

Pink
x

[Yvonne]

Pink

It sounds as if you are doing so well - it also sounds like you have a good team of medics around you. The psychiatrist in particular sounds very very good - a lot of psychiatrists I have seen don't really want to talk about anything other than what med to give you. I don't want to run the shrinks down too much though because on the whole mine have been supportive.

I have a cpn and I was seeing her on a two weekly basis. She was revamping CBT for me - she was reintroducing stuff I have learned before but she presents/teaches it in a different way to the way I had been taught.

I was getting on well with that - (not that I'm big on CBT). I was having to get a bus to go and see her in town and I was fine when accompanied by my daughter. I then had to go alone one day on the bus and the panic was horrific. I managed to get to the clinic to see the cpn and I was feeling like I was in shock. All that afternoon I felt really bad. You would have thought I would feel better having actually managed the bus journey but no. After that I would not go on the bus again alone.

So now I don't go to see the cpn but she is arranging for me to have some exposure therapy with one of her colleagues. I am looking forward to this because I do know that if I can keep practising for longer periods than that which I do at the moment (I tend not to stay out for too long on my own) then maybe I can kick this thing.

You really sound as if you are getting lots of help and you are doing really well without medication. Good luck to you my friend - I have a feeling you are going to go from strength to strength.

Yvonne

[Pink Panic]

Thanks for your kind words

I can totally relate to you saying you were in shock after the bus journey as I often feel like that after I have accomplished something that I should see as a success and be celebrating.

Good luck with the exposure therapy and everthing else and please stay in touch.


Pink
x

[joy]

Just as a side line on the anti psychotic front. I was put on Risperidone earlier in the year and as you say for two weeks I was great then it crashed out, increased dosage and so did the panic, increased again and so did the panic. Changed to another called amisulpride and was pole axed with nausea for 3 days and typically the docs says" well I am surprised on such a low dose etc etc" After two weeks it doesnt seem to be doing anything for the panic and the nausea is still with me but bearable.

For those of you that have managed to get off the meds merry go round I'm very pleased for you but for those of us that are still suffering,God help us


Love joy

[mirry]

something I have thought about lately ,

a few months ago I was put on amitryline ,
now as far as I am aware , these pills are to increase our serotonin in the brain , I was put on a low dose and to begin with , I cut the pills into 1/4 becaue i was afraid of the effects ........basically I didnt feel anything having such a tiny dose. So Im wondering , would we all be better off on a tiny weeny dose that might just raise our serotonin level slightly ?

Another thing I am looking into is the Potato instead of prozac approach ,
has anyone tried this ?
your supposed to eat in a certain way to help get
serotonin and endorphins directly into the Brain instead of just sitting in the blood.

You have to eat 3 meals a day , that MUST contain protien and some complex carbs.
Then 3 hours after you have eaten your evening meal , you have to eat a
baked potato with the skin, you are allowed to put butter on it but no protien. Apparently , doing this will make the serotonin and endorphins go straight to the brain.
Its all about perfect timing.
also, if you need to snack inbetween , make sure you eat protien.

http://www.radiantrecovery.com/potato_qna.html

what do you think ? Ive started this plan as from today.

[Yvonne]

Mirry

How are you getting on with the Amitriptyline? It does seem like a good idea to start off on any medication at a low dosage - I know this is normal procedure. However, I think if the dosage is so low it would take much longer to work. With these medications they have a build up effect - hence the reason you are told they take 2-4 weeks to kick in. If it worked for you then brilliant. Are you finding the medication is helping?

I'm going to have a look at that website in a minute about the diet thingy. I am going to start taking my 5 htp Tryptophan to get the seratonim working.

Yvonne