Cold Turkey? Prozac And Seroquel And Atarax.

[Gadgie]

Yea! It's amazing really, the doctors told me that the reason I'm four stones underweight, is due to.....stress!

They also told me that every other ailment I have is due to my PTSD, so they seem to have everything covered?

Well, at least that justifies all the pills that they have got me on?

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Cold turkey is never advisable.....it could de-stabilize you and end up with a hospitalization (worse case scenario).

Drug withdrawals don't typically get bad until you're a few days in. Right now, you still have much of those meds in your system so the withdrawals aren't so bad. But, they could get worse.

I know that it sounds like a good idea to just throw them all away and stop, but you could be jeopardizing your return to work, unfortunately.

 

[Friday]

No one has mentioned seizures, heart attack, & death, yet.

In addition to psychosis & suicidal impulse... The whole brain damage & death thing? Generally why one tapers psychiatric meds. These aren't like cigarettes or most street drugs where kicking the addiction just sucks, but while you feel like you're going to die, aren't actually at risk for it*. Going cold turkey without medical supervision can kill you. In more ways than one.

Speak to a doctor or pharmacist. Get the taper schedule for the doses & length of time you've been on.

Your dosing may be low enough that you're fine... But this isn't something you want to guess at.

* Alcoholics, otoh, can die from DTs /seizure / heart attack. That's another one that needs medical supervision if the alcoholic has been drinking x amount for y period of time.

 

[Flossy]

You can develop Fibromyalgia by coming off Prozac cold turkey.

I did. It only took a week.

I still have it six years later.

It hurts like a toothache everywhere. Now I take a different SNRI and it keeps the pain at bay.

I also went through a period of urinary incontinence.

What fixed it for me was a tube of Estrogen cream with a teeny bit rubbed on the urinary tract opening once a day.

Fixed within 2 or 3 days. I kept it beside the loo.

Apparently, scphincter muscles weaken when estrogen gets low. Who knew?

Have you considered that PTSD thinking could be behind the decision to stop all meds and stop them all cold turkey?

Urinary incontinence can also be trauma related and dream related. I wet the bed until I was 13 and it happened again after my son died.

1. Please get back on your meds.
2. Take what your doc has given you for anxiety.
3. Ring your doctors surgery.
4. Make an appointment.
5. Come back on here and talk to get you through until you see him.
6. Ask him his thoughts on a trial of estrogen cream.
7. Drink water in the meantime to make sure your meds get into your blood.

((hug))

 

[Leah Morgan]

So after 24hours I had a freak out and my friend virtually shoved the tablets down my throat. But I haven't taken them since 48 hours in I'm doing good. Yesterday was awful but today I feel almost normal

 

[joeylittle]

I haven't taken them since 48 hours in I'm doing good. Yesterday was awful but today I feel almost normal

@Leah Morgan, they aren't out of your system yet. I swear to you. You are your own person, and absolutely will make your own decisions. But I'm going to quote myself, because I really believe in what I wrote:

My advice? Stay on the prozac. Stay on the atarax. Start tapering the seroquel. If you are taking it at night, for sleep, go down to a 1/2 tab for 7 days, then go off. Wait a week after that and see if things improve.

I'm not a doctor. I've come off and gone on and transitioned through many, many medications. You don't even know if the medications are causing your primary side effect.
/end lecture.

 

[Leah Morgan]

I know some people have suggested low Oestrogen but I'm not even thirty so nowhere near hormones dropping

 

[Friday]

... but I'm not even thirty so nowhere near hormones dropping...

You don't have to be 30 for your hormones to get out of whack! Kids who haven't even hit puberty get unbalanced hormones for a variety of reasons. Psychiatric meds? (As well as 1,000 other things! Birth control pills, going off birth control pills, stress, any kind of pregnancy -including you don't even know you were pregnant because it spontaneously aborted before your period was due-, diets high in unfermented soy, dieting to lose weight, sudden weight gain, illness, infection, autoimmune disorders, medications, changing medications, going off medications,... List goes on) can all trigger a hormone imbalance. Or nothing at all! Hormones can just get imbalanced for awhile. At. Any. Age.

 

[Deleted member 29961]

I really do worry that in about 3 days you are going to feel awful, physically and emotionally.

I cold turkeyed imipramine (300 mg/day) and xanex (8 mg/day) once. Day three is when the withdrawl really started getting bad, I felt like I was losing my mind and the physical symptoms were driving me insane. By day six I was in jail and spent a couple of nights in the poke and then was sent to the county mental health facility where I spent several weeks. While there, I was put back on my meds, but at a lower dose.

If I were you, I would seriously consider tapering off. and still try to get in touch with your doctor.

 

[Flossy]

@Leah Morgan You sound pretty determined to do it.

Just keep in mind that after another 48 hours you will be freaking out again and your friend may not be there.

Keep in mind also that by then the levels will be so low that taking one dose will not get you back to feeling normal.

It will probably take at least two weeks....two weeks of freaking out.

I did the same. It's your PTSD brain telling you, that you don't need the meds.

You'll believe it after you have done this five or six times. It's hell, but sometimes we have to learn the hard way, despite what wellwishers do not want us to suffer through.

We don't want you to suffer. That's why we take the time to respond.

Your initial post asked "Is this as bad as it gets?" and we all said "No, it will get much worse". You do not believe us.

So, you will suffer. I am sorry, but it's that simple. I am sad you will suffer. It's just sad.

 

[Flossy]

I know some people have suggested low Oestrogen but I'm not even thirty so nowhere near hormones dro...

You don't have to have low Oestrogen blood levels to have lax bladder sphincter muscle control which can be strengthened by a tiny dob of oestrogen cream.

Why not just give it a go? Why dismiss something that someone else has had and found a cure for and then told you about when you asked about it?

With PTSD sometimes you have to give in to someone else's suggestions and try them.

With PTSD "acceptance" can be the same as "giving in" and trying something you don't believe.

 

[Leah Morgan]

Okay so have been to the consultant he got very cross as predicted by everyone. Sorry I did not listen. He has put me back on the meds infact he has double them. But the are now taking me seriously about the incontinence and are testing my hormone levels as suggested by people (thank you for arming me with some information) and sending me for urinalysis and will get help managing it as well as hopefully stopping it. I will be allowed back to work slowly. Thank you so much for looking out for me.