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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by thinkfast on January 5, 2005, at 14:21:35
I've never been sure that this medication helps or makes me feel worse. It's always in the back of my mind, the doubts that it is doing any good. I think I will scrap effexor and seroquel and go with just a benzo if the doc will permit me too. I havn't been 'sober' in years either from Rx drugs or ilicit. With a benzo I can choose not to take it if I please to see what happens, then can go back if I freak. I really want to try this. Anyone else ever done anything like that and had good results? The doc will probably want to up my dose and not see any benefit of going off my meds, but I need to try it for my own curiosity. I've found no perfect drug and now realize there is no such thing. Feeling controlled by medication drives me insane. It pisses me off every time I take the effexor in the morning. Why would anyone want to take something if they didn't think it really helps? I want out of this loop!
Posted by thinkfast on January 5, 2005, at 14:23:53
In reply to tired of meds, posted by thinkfast on January 5, 2005, at 14:21:35
huh...I feel better when I just start a med and have side effects and also when I withdrawl. What the hell is all that about? Brain zaps are great!!!
Posted by Dan Perkins on January 5, 2005, at 14:44:23
In reply to Re: tired of meds, posted by thinkfast on January 5, 2005, at 14:23:53
This may not be at all what you are talking about, but . . .
I actually feel the same way about certain side-effects and withdrawal. When I started Parnate, I would get very dizzy sometimes when I stood up and I would start to black out. I never actually fainted but I came close on a few occasions. And I really liked it.
The reason why I think I liked this was because I finally had a physical symptom that matched how I felt inside. One of the hardest things I have found about depression is that I can feel suicidally depressed, as miserable as any human being could feel, within inches of taking my own life in some violent manner, yet if I walk outside to the rest of the world I look completely fine. When I came close to fainting those few times, I felt like my depression was finally manifesting itself in some way outside of my brain where others could see it.
As far as withdrawal, I have on occasion gone cold turkey when I knew that it would cause some kind of negative effect on me. Why? I think because I feel so numb and dead to the world on some medications that I thought that having some negative withdrawal symptoms would make me feel something again. I think it is sort of the reason why some people cut themselves.
OK, that's it for me. Perhaps a bit too much information there . . .
> huh...I feel better when I just start a med and have side effects and also when I withdrawl. What the hell is all that about? Brain zaps are great!!!
Posted by Phillipa on January 5, 2005, at 17:04:14
In reply to Re: tired of meds, posted by Dan Perkins on January 5, 2005, at 14:44:23
I am too. I'm in the process of doing exactly what you are doing. Trying to find out who I really am after all these years. Other people with problems don't need meds, they work it out. Are they just stronger? Phillipa
Posted by thinkfast on January 6, 2005, at 2:57:52
In reply to Re: tired of meds, posted by Dan Perkins on January 5, 2005, at 14:44:23
Makes perfect sense Dan. I can always start up again if it gets too bad. This dizzy feeling is great. It's almost like being high or something lol. I felt the same way coming of paxil. This mini-vacation I'm on helps too. I don't have to think about work or anything else really. I havn't paid attention to time either. I sleep when i'm tired and just lounge around the rest of the time. The apathy from the medication is just not who I am. It seems like I am unable to feel good or bad on that stuff and I hate monontony. Well, I'm still here so I'll keep going for now.
Posted by yxibow on January 9, 2005, at 0:30:09
In reply to Re: tired of meds, posted by Phillipa on January 5, 2005, at 17:04:14
> I am too. I'm in the process of doing exactly what you are doing. Trying to find out who I really am after all these years. Other people with problems don't need meds, they work it out. Are they just stronger? Phillipa
I'll bypass the normal "you" restrictions and say plainly, don't ever think that you are weaker because you need the help of medications. But it does require at least an open mind that the condition you are suffering from is caused by brain neurotransmitter imbalances. A diabetic is not weak because they're injecting themselves with insulin and monitoring glucose levels. That diabetic may be the world's happiest person (besides their diabetes) because they don't have a brain chemical imbalance) but they have an equally hard task to take.
People who appear "stronger" in life are often faking it in one way or another. Maybe they hold it together at work but at home a domestic dispute happens. Or something else.
Strength and hope are values that come from within, not bought on the street corner. So we equally can't compare one mans strength with another's despair. Its something one will find within, not because medications made one less weak, but because medications or therapy or both allowed one to fight something that, as I return to the beginning, is one type or another of a biochemical imbalance beyond ones fault.
Posted by johnnystats on January 9, 2005, at 14:14:07
In reply to tired of meds, posted by thinkfast on January 5, 2005, at 14:21:35
I can relate to the medication merry go round. It's so frustrating that with so many drugs out there, you've gotta experiment for at least a year to find a reasonable combo to help yourself get better. I finally realized there's no magic pill (at least not yet) to cure whatever condition you may have. I've been in psychotherapy for 2 years w/ no help. So I'm going into an intensive day treatment program to help myself get well. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Posted by Phillipa on January 9, 2005, at 15:32:39
In reply to Re: tired of meds, posted by johnnystats on January 9, 2005, at 14:14:07
Eight years later, and I'm still trying. Numerous pdocs, and even short hospitalizations. Phillipa
Posted by CareBear04 on January 10, 2005, at 22:17:20
In reply to Re: tired of meds » johnnystats, posted by Phillipa on January 9, 2005, at 15:32:39
hey all,
this is exactly how i feel-- i'm so sick of all the meds, sick of experimenting and being experimented on, and sick of being so doped up that i can't function. lately, i've been losing track of time so that i go through whole days and forget that they happened so that i woke up on sat thinking it was friday. right now i'm on a shitload of stuff, and the prospects of getting off look bleak. zoloft, lamictal, prozac, xanax, klonopin, ambien, percocet, phenergan, zofran, haldol, adderall, and others. i don't have a clue as to what is doing what, whether i'm sicker as a result of being so overmedicated or whether i'm doing better and need the drugs. it's now almost exactly two years since i first tried a psych med, and in those two years, i've been through at least two dozen if not more-- most of the new ADs, most all the mood stabilizers, all but one of the new antipsychotics and some of the old, almost all antianxiety and sleeping pills, etc. i'm only 22, and i can only hope that they come up with better drugs in the future or that i somehow grow out of needing meds. every dr is concerned that i'm on so many drugs at a young age, but no one can help me get off them. i don't dare go cold turkey because the one time i did do that, i had horrible effexor withdrawals and started rapid cycling my way into a huge lithium OD and a bad hospital stay. i feel better finding this post and knowing that other people are in the same place as i am. thanks.
This is the end of the thread.
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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