How do I safely come off of effexor, tegretol, and quetiapine?
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I agree, find another doctor. You may need medication, whether you like it or not, but if your doctor won't even consider helping you knowing you're going to stop anyway, you really do need a better doctor.
I can only personally tell you what to do for effexor. I'm assuming you're on Effexor XR? If you've ever missed a couple of days of it, you know how nasty withdrawals can be. Even after a single day without, you may start to feel the mood swings, dizziness, and 'brain swooshing'. If you want to avoid this, you simply need to taper off the medication instead of stopping cold turkey. If your prescription is one pill, start only taking the pill every other day for a week or two, and then skip another day between doses, and then you should be good to stop. If you have multiple pills, do the same thing only start by first reducing the number of pills by half each day. If you're on a higher dosage, that may take a little longer, but still, you can safely stop that within a month without any bad side effects. Ideally, you'd do that with a doctor who could prescribe you a month's worth of small dosage pills so you could work your way down and still take them daily so you won't start to feel the withdrawal effects at the end of the day.
I've quit effexor cold turkey and lived through it just fine, but it was a rough couple of weeks. With everything else going on though, I wouldn't suggest you quit cold turkey.
I can't say for sure about the other two, and again, I'll urge you do seek another doctor's opinion if you can. If you're dead set on going ahead, I'll point out a few more things. Seroquel doesn't have direct withdrawal effects, just an increased risk of having whatever problems you take it for. Also, being on it increases the chance of seizure in some people. So, and especially since Tegretol is an anticonvulsant, I'd stop taking the Seroquel before you stop taking the Tegretol. Tegretol doesn't have huge withdrawal effects either, but if you do take it for to prevent seizures, I'd consider staying on it. Otherwise, do the same thing with the Seoquel and the Tegretol that you did with the Effexor, but since they don't have the nasty withdrawal effects of Effexor you may be able to do it a little quicker. I'd suggest only stopping one drug at a time so you can deal with each on its own, and also, that way, if you start to have problems or feel worse off of the drugs, you'll know exactly which one you might need to keep taking for now.
i can understand your wanting to come off the meds. and if your doctor won't help you, then find another doctor. one who will work with you and help decide what is actually best for you. good luck.
flush the pills, call the pharmacy and cancel the rxs, and smoke a spliff!
Read pages 2, and 1, at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris... and find a new doctor, who will tell you how many weeks it takes, to taper off each of them. Use the multidimensional approach; begin now, and persist: with 3 medications involved, don't expect it to be easy.
Why do you think you know more than your doctor? All chronic medication takers want to be off their meds. & they usually try it once. They all learn that they can't do without them & go back on. I understand your desire to be drug free, but sometimes that's the breaks & you have to learn to live with that. Cold turkey could send you into convulsions &/or seizures or bouts with extreme depression or mania. Believe me - you're so lucky to have meds. available that can help U to live comfortably. good health to you!
Are these seizure meds ? I know tegretol is. You need to be very care full in handling this yourself. If your doctor wont help then switch doctors .
Go to another Doc, To come down you must be under a Docs care One who Cares.
Do NOT quit cold turkey and flush your medications. These medications must be tapered down slowly, over about a month each, and one at a time, to prevent you potentially ending up in a mental ward (hopefully temporarily). Tell your doctor that you are going to attempt to taper them down, and ask for help in deciding which one to do first. If he/she is adamant that you stay on them at the current dosage, respectfully ask why. If the answer is unsatisfactory, request a second opinion. Keep the prescriptions current though, in case you need to get back on them.
Your doctor will taper you off theses meds. DON'T GO COLD TURKEY... you will regret it in about two-three days.
FIRST OF ALL...Never come off of any anti depressant WITHOUT Dr supervision. I took effexor and was having serious side effects. It took over a week for me AND my DOCTOR to decrease the dosage SAFELY to get it out of my system. It was horrible I went from mood swing to mood swing. I couldn't tell which way I was coming. You're obviously taking these medications for a reason...MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES. Anti depressants are serious medications and shouldn't be played with WITHOUT A DOCTORS SUPERVISION...UNLESS YOU WANT TO WIND UP IN THE MOURG
Please if you don't like what your doctor has to say or refuses to listen or even consider what you want, please don't come off you medication but FIRST seek out a competent mental health provider for a full evaluation and second opinion. I know that when you have to take the meds you think to yourself you're doing okay and you don't need this but its just the disease and ego talking and believe me I know that stuff can make you feel like a 100 pound stuffed sock but it keeps you on the level...unless you like standing naked in middle of down town traffic with a traffic cone on your head screaming you're the wizard of ID...then forget about it and go cold turkey. Otherwise get that second opinion.
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