Your thoughts and experiences with medications - I want to get off this cocktail of pills

[doomXart]

Hey guys,

I'm on a huge mix of meds to keep my BPD in check and I've been like this for awhile. It has made me gain a lot of weight and overall I'm a constant zombie with a lack of real emotion. I want to get off this medication but I've become so dependent on it. I really don't know what to do about it. Has anyone else been able to decrease or completely stop their medication?
I worry about the kind of person I am when I'm not taking my medication (I become very self-destructive and negative). But something needs to change because I'm not happy like this either.

 

[steppenwolf]

Cold turkey is the only way I know of. Be prepared to hide in a room owning your pain, fear and misery and avoiding all human contact for at least some months, so no one else has to worry about the kind of person you are without meds. It really works. Sometimes.

 

[LittleJem]

Can you try cocaine with the medication and see if it helps give time off?
I know someone with bpd who also sniffs and it helps her…
I think I also mean it's probably dangerous to come off the medication

 

[justkatie]

Being genuine here and there's no real evidence to show this to be effective but I was taking 5HTP (an amino acid you can buy in basically any large shop) as I was told it might help regulate my moods. I found after two months that it was making a difference to me mentally.

Not suggesting this as a definite solution, just something I found helped me.

I was talking about it to a colleague of mine at the time who tried it with his son who has ADHD and he found it helped him a ton too.

Purely anecdotal here I know, just some of my thoughts :)

 

[Hvergelmir]

The first two recommendations are "Quit cold turkey" and "Try cocaine to cope". It sounds like a very toxic mix.

The first step ought to be to consult a doctor. Wanting to cut down on meds due to unwanted side effects, is not a strange request.
Doing this without professional help, ought to be a last resort. If you can't get professional support, thoroughly read up on the meds and get a thorough understanding of them. Then determine what you really want to cut down and establish a strategy to do so. (This could be cold turkey, but it ought to be a very deliberate decision, and compared to alternative strategies.)

 

[Regen]

I understand that well, because I have been taking medication (antidepressants) for almost 30 years and have tried without it from time to time. In the end, I never felt well without it, so I was always grateful to start again. But currently I have successfully stopped using it.

If you want to stop, do it much more slowly than the psychiatrist recommends! And don't put pressure on yourself. Try reducing or discontinuing slowly. If you can handle it: good. If you have big problems then don't be mad at yourself or anything else, just deal with them.

It is a chronic illness, other people with chronic illnesses also take medication throughout their lives. It's not weakness or a lack of willpower to take them again.

I had accepted taking medication for the rest of my life. I have tried many different medications over the last few years in the hope that they will work even better. But of course there are always side effects and disadvantages...

I started a very good support group three years ago. I have been doing schema therapy for many years. I have discovered meditation and mindfulness for 1.5 years. And all of a sudden and without me planning it, early summer was the right time to stop. And I know it will be for longer this time. But not because quitting is easier this time, but because after so many decades I have suddenly reached a different level of healing. What I'm trying to tell you is: try it. And if it doesn't work, take it again. Then the right time just isn't there yet, but that doesn't mean it won't come one day.

By the way, I have ADHD, BPD, chronic depression.

All the best for you!

 

[Unspoken7612]

The first two recommendations are "Quit cold turkey" and "Try cocaine to cope". It sounds like a very toxic mix.

The first step ought to be to consult a doctor. Wanting to cut down on meds due to unwanted side effects, is not a strange request.
Doing this without professional help, ought to be a last resort. If you can't get professional support, thoroughly read up on the meds and get a thorough understanding of them. Then determine what you really want to cut down and establish a strategy to do so. (This could be cold turkey, but it ought to be a very deliberate decision, and compared to alternative strategies.)

Quite right - two of the worst pieces of advice imaginable. Talking to a doctor and slowly titrating down is the only sensible course of action.

 

[Leiot]

BP Type II here - you don't want to cut your meds cold turkey. Bad things can happen. One of the meds I'm on you can actually go into withdrawal and it can mess you up bad.

It sounds like you could use a medication review. I had one a long time ago and found out that half of the meds I was on was to counter the side effects of the other half. And it's not just psych meds that can interfere with things.

I was on something that caused me to pack on weight - can't remember which one - but I'm on lamotrigine & lurasidone now.

My concern about 'illegal' drugs is that there's no quality control or consistency. We have a real problem where I am with meds being laced with fentanyl and then someone ODs. Marijuana is legal here but it's not regulated very well. In contrast, I bought a vape in Las Vegas that had a lab sticker on it that showed the THC down to four decimal places.

I went off my meds a few months ago. I thought I did it right - I slowly tapered off and tracked my mood and didn't see any adverse effects. That worked for about a month then the depression & cycling took off. Bad. So I got with my shrink and went back on them. Things are better. Not great, but better.

Hang in there and call your doc.