Coming off Geodon and update - V., Hi Kim, , and everyone

[Guest guest]

Hi to everyone

and welcome to new members.

Gosh, it's been so long. I can't believe its been 6 weeks since I

have touched based with everyone. My computer was down for 2 weeks

and " wow " I had tons of e-mail posts to go through once I was back

on line.

I couldn't believe all the new members. Welcome to you all!

I've been very busy these past 6 weeks and things will continue to

probably be this way for a while longer. I've been plugging into my

church activities in the evenings (every evening but Friday) during

the week. New groups have started and they have been a real source

of companionship, fellowship, learning, and a resource of spiritual

strength and encouragement for me. They even have activities for

the kids during the meetings.

As result of these new groups I'm finally starting to develop new

friendships. During the week I get together with some of the other

women in these groups. I talk a lot on the phone with others as

well. I have been so lonely and practically homebound for 2 years

since we moved to New Jersey and now God has answered my prayers for

friendships.

I've been spending long lengths of time throughout the day really

pressing into God through prayer, worship, and bible study in order

to have the strength to make it through each day. These 6 weeks

have been a real time of growth and learning for me. I feel so much

closer to God and have a greater sense of peace than I had before.

With the change in the season and Easter I've been out a lot,

shopping for cloths for my 6 and 7 year old kids, trying to get the

best bargains at different stores. For my birthday I asked for

money so I could buy new cloths for the spring and summer. My

favorite thing is to shop, especially when it's because I've lost

some weight.

Over the past 4 months or so I've lost quite a bit of weight and now

I'm a whole cloths size smaller. When I got to a low dosage on my

Geodon I really started to drop the weight. Funny thing is I've

decreased my exercise from 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, down to 1

hour a week 3 to 4 times a week and I still lost weight with hardly

any effort.

One of the reasons for decreasing my exercise was due to withdrawals

from the Geodon which had been very difficult and I didn't have the

strength to exercise as much. I'm down to 16mg of Geodon now. My

pounding heart and my pulse rate would skip beats, tightness in the

chest, achy head and neck, feeling fatigued, irritable, foggy head,

difficulty concentrating, and difficulty sleeping which was driving

me nuts. But things are much better now - I'll explain below.

Kim or if there is something that I'm doing wrong or needs

correcting concerning the changes I've made in regards to coming off

the Geodon please let me know and I will do what you suggest. I

I'm sorry for not consulting with you first. Maybe I'm allowing

myself to get too busy, because I have little time to be on the

computer now and I still have to stay off it in the evenings or I

get too over stimulated and this interferes with what precious

amount of sleep I do try to get. Anyway, I explain these changes

below.

At 16mg of the Geodon, I would feel okay except for the in between

time after my morning dose and before my evening dose of Geodon

starting around 3:00pm until 9:00pm. The withdrawals would be almost

unbearable. And this has been the case even when I was at 80mg of

the Geodon. I never made this connection of when I felt the

withdrawals the worst until about a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know why I never thought about this before, but it occurred

to me that maybe I should try breaking down the dose and spreading

it to 3 times a day to see if this would help that " in between dose

time " in the afternoon. And to think I may have been able to spare

myself all that misery many, many months ago when I hit below

80mg.

What a difference it made to do this. Now I actually feel halfway

decent throughout the entire day. No more pounding heart and

skipping pulse rate. Hallelujah! I'm able to help the nanny with

my kids when they come home from school now. I don't get as

agitated and irritable, I'm actually feeling pretty good now.

I can't believe the difference 3 doses has made. My kids probably

think their 43 year old Mom is nuts, because when I have my favorite

music playing I will actually start dancing and jumping up and down

all around the house. (Maybe I do need to increase my exercising

again.) I don't know why such a dramatic change, but I'm able to do

so much more now.

Right now I take 6mg Geodon at 9:30am, 4mg Geodon at 3:00pm, and 6mg

Geodon at 9:30pm around bedtime. Even though sleep is still touch

and go during the night, I've noticed that since I've spread it out

through the day my sleep is even a little bit better. I don't

understand this because my evening dose is 2mg less than before, but

I'm finding myself more relaxed when laying down in bed during the

night.

I can't do the 5% decreases anymore, it's too much on my body and

emotions. I'm planning to decrease by 1 mg every 4 weeks or until

my body tells me I can decrease. Is this okay? When I get to 10mg,

but that's a way off still so I'm not really going to worry about

that right now, but the decreases will be very small for me,

probably 5% or even less and take it much slower.

I use to push the 10% decreases, but not anymore. I allowed " family "

and " in laws, " who would try and push me to get off as quickly as

possible, to dictate my dosage decreases. I felt I had to " people

please " (to my detriment) and do what family told me. I'm in a

different place now where I feel the misery is not worth it.

I realized this through one of the support groups I was going to at

church, that I needed to do what was right for me and not let others

dictate my actions. So, I sat my husband down and told him I was

the one going through this withdrawal journey. I was the one who

had to go through the misery, not him or my relatives. I was going

to decide the pace I should take in regards to coming off these

Psych. Drugs.

Believe me, I don't want to have to go through the above mentioned

withdrawals if I can avoid it, and want to take it slow. I'm sure I

can't avoid the withdrawals altogether, but I can minimize them in

comparison as to what I was experiencing these past few months.

I felt such a weight and burden was lifted off of me when I came to

this decision to do things the way I felt was right for me. Since

the weather is starting to be nice again I want to be able to be

active with getting outside and doing things with my kids and

nanny. This means smaller decreases and waiting longer in between,

but at least I will be able to feel half way decent through out the

day and enjoy spending time with my kids and life in general.

This Geodon is a horrendous drug! Of course they all are! I found

one of my past journals and couldn't believe that I have been trying

to come off the Geodon for over a year now. I started at 120mg, but

praise God I'm now down to 16mg. I have moments when I feel so

awesomely good. I hang on to those moments to help me through the

rough times I experience from time to time.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get off the darn stuff, but I know I

will in time. Then I have the Klonopin to work on at some point. I

can't even, and don't even want to think about the Klonopin right

now. I just want to enjoy the times, now when I do feel good.

One day at a time and focus on the good times is what I've been

trying to do lately. This is a real change in my thinking. I use to

obsess and worry about how miserable I might feel in the future as I

get lower with the dosages. Now, I feel a peace I never had before

just being okay in the moment. God's grace and strength will be

there for me when I need it at those difficult times.

I've been at 16mg for quite awhile now, and I have been feeling well

for over a week. I think I'm going to wait another week or two more

before I decrease it by 1mg, is this sufficient amount of time to

wait? One question, when it comes time for me to decrease, should I

decrease that 1mg of Geodon from my 9:30am dose?

I know this has been a long post. For those of you who have read

it, thanks for the time. I'm going to try and stay plugged in to

the group more frequently than I have these past 6 weeks. I'll let

you know when I do plan to make that 1mg decrease and wait for a

reply. It's kind of nice to have a few positive things to say for a

change and end on this note.

Hugs,

V.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

It's great to hear from you and great that you are doing so well! I'm

glad you've found activities and people that are meaningful to you.

I'm especially glad that you've really started letting your body guide

you through the withdrawal. Truly, the more you can minimize the

withdrawal symptoms by going slowly and paying attention to your body,

the better it will be in the long-term (as well the immediate).

I'll let address your questions about how to make the next reduction.

We do have a lot of new members--can you believe we're up to 753

people now? More and more people are awakening to the fact that these

drugs, and conventional medicine in general, are hazardous to health.

Eventually, we'll reach a critical mass and this information will

become commonly accepted knowledge. It's exciting to think that one

day everyone will know how to become healthy, instead of laboring in

sickness and debility as we do under our current medical system.

Keep up the good work! It's always nice to hear from you.

Hugs,

Kim

--

KIM DENISE FINE ART

www.Kim.com

Fine Art Gifts

www.CafePress.com/Kim

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

It was good to read your post. You sound so much happier and more

fulfilled. I'm glad you're doing so well!

Hugs,

[Guest guest]

, It's been such a long awaited welcome to feel a little more fulfilled and happy. All the result of the changes in my post. Companionship, doing things with others, the change to spreading my dose to 3 times a day, and my increased discipline to pursue strength, peace, and comfort in my spirituality. It all seems to be making a difference. It's nice to have some postives in my life now, rather than feeling miserable and focusing on the negatives. When I count my blessings each day It helps me to keep a better perspective on my life. Thanks for your response.Hugs, V.emmaryllis wrote: Hi ,It was good to read your post. You sound so much happier and more fulfilled.

I'm glad you're doing so well!Hugs,