Additional info on psychiatric drug withdrawal
June 4, 2007 by giannakali
A reader passed this link to me. It’s a very good brief synopsis about psychiatric drugs and withdrawal from them. Mind, a UK based organization, puts out the information and it sounds like you folks in the UK can possibly find local support groups associated with Mind.
There is a part of the page that talks about people having the right to refuse drugs. Unfortunately, in the US, even though this right is claimed it can be taken away from you at any time. Forced drugging happens all the time. I imagine it’s probably the same in the UK, but I don’t know. I bring this up because if you are simply having withdrawal symptoms and not relapse others may interpret it as relapse and you could be coerced to take drugs. You need to be careful. The best way of doing this is going very very slowly and stopping if uncomfortable symptoms pop up, until they pass.
Support is so important in this process so that someone you trust can offer their more objective perceptions about whatever condition you might find yourself in. What is most important is not rushing. Be patient. Prepare yourself for a withdrawal that could take several years if you are on many drugs. And for added safety add good diet and nutrition to nourish and heal your brain and body. There are some suggestions about this here and here.
A supplement regime is helpful too. A good multi-vitamin, minerals, magnesium, vitamin C and fish oil is a good place to start. Other supplements may be helpful as well and often finding what you need is a research project–if one is lucky they may find a good alternative health care provider, but that is often hard to find. I’ve found most of my care online with very careful research.
One suggestion I’ve made before is a resource on the web–Alternative Mental Health. They offer information, testimonials, a list of practitioners and a yahoo support email group.
And for my own brief description on what I’ve learned about withdrawal and how I am doing my process see here.
I imagine the whole Mind website is worth perusing as well, but I have not done that yet.
Gianna,
Thanks for the link to Mind. I’ve added it to my helpful resources listings at my site.
Gianna,
Thanks for the link to Mind. I’ve added it to my helpful resources listings at my site.
Just read your withdrawal for beginners post… The link below includes a spreadsheet that is helpful in calculating dosages when tapering. Here’s a description….
“Here’s a spreadsheet my hubby created to use when tapering. All you have to do is enter the current date, the current dose you’re on, the percentage you want to taper, and the number of days of each taper cycle. It will calculate everything else for you.”
http://www.paxilprogress.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22916
Mike
Just read your withdrawal for beginners post… The link below includes a spreadsheet that is helpful in calculating dosages when tapering. Here’s a description….
“Here’s a spreadsheet my hubby created to use when tapering. All you have to do is enter the current date, the current dose you’re on, the percentage you want to taper, and the number of days of each taper cycle. It will calculate everything else for you.”
http://www.paxilprogress.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22916
Mike
Exception note for Diet. Many people with mental illness have a gluten allergy and don’t know it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celiac_disease
old time book(before the pesent day huge rise in mental illnes) in a library that I can’t source said up to 30% of schizophrenics have gluten intolerence.
http://www.fabresearch.org/view_item.aspx?item_id=635
This is the first case in which, in an undiagnosed and untreated coeliac patient with psychiatric manifestations, the (99mTc)HMPAO SPECT demonstrated a dysfunction of frontal cortex disappearing after a gluten-free diet.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=9408073&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum
Exception note for Diet. Many people with mental illness have a gluten allergy and don’t know it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celiac_disease
old time book(before the pesent day huge rise in mental illnes) in a library that I can’t source said up to 30% of schizophrenics have gluten intolerence.
http://www.fabresearch.org/view_item.aspx?item_id=635
This is the first case in which, in an undiagnosed and untreated coeliac patient with psychiatric manifestations, the (99mTc)HMPAO SPECT demonstrated a dysfunction of frontal cortex disappearing after a gluten-free diet.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=9408073&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum
Yes, Mark, you’re right. Gluten is one among several potential food allergies that can lead to mental health symptoms. In another post I talk about doing an elimination diet to figure out what you might be allergic to. Besides gluten the next big offender is cows milk products. A book I’ve recommended before, “The Mood Cure” goes into detail about how to do an elimination diet. You can probably also do a search on the net and get instructions on how to do one to rule out all possible food allergies. Thanks for bringing that up!
Yes, Mark, you’re right. Gluten is one among several potential food allergies that can lead to mental health symptoms. In another post I talk about doing an elimination diet to figure out what you might be allergic to. Besides gluten the next big offender is cows milk products. A book I’ve recommended before, “The Mood Cure” goes into detail about how to do an elimination diet. You can probably also do a search on the net and get instructions on how to do one to rule out all possible food allergies. Thanks for bringing that up!