Guidelines for Withdrawing From Psychotropic Drugs

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Here are the general guidelines for withdrawal from psychotropic drugs:

Begin with 5-10% reductions. If on more than one drug, reduce only one drug at a

time. Check with someone knowledgeable about these drugs to decide which drug

to drop first. Most people will find 5% to be right for them. The goal is to

not be disabled by your withdrawal.

Most important part -- DO NOT WATCH THE CALENDAR! Don't count how many days have

passed. Instead, listen to your body. Your goal is to feel as well of better

than you did prior to the reduction. Until you can say this it is not time for

another reduction. You'll never go wrong doing it this way unless the

individual decreases you make are too large.

So, bottom line, ask yourself, " Do I feel as well or better than I felt prior to

beginning this particular reduction? "

If yes, then go ahead and do another reduction. If no, you need to wait longer.

It doesn't matter if it's been 10 days or 4 weeks. As long as you're not in

crisis, you're doing just fine. If you're in crisis, your reduction was too

large.

It doesn't matter if your reduction was 5%. Your body is telling you that it

was too much if you feel this way. An example of when this would happen for

sure is with the drug Risperdal. Most people taking this drug can tolerate only

small 2-3% reductions.

Just remember, your body will not lie to you. Trust it to guide you through the

withdrawal.

If you feel like you can barely function your reduction was too large. You

should never feel like you can't function. You will feel something but this

should begin improving after 4-5 days.

You will run into people who will tell you that you " have to " forge ahead even

when you are still experiencing withdrawal from the last reduction. This is

absolutely the wrong thing to do. Do not listen to this no matter who they say

says this. It is the advice of people who have hit a brick wall on helping

people. It is the advice of those who are feeling hopeless. There is no

justification for continuing to do something your body is not ready to do.

Would the doctor ever tell you to give up your crutches if your broken leg

wasn't healed? Of course not. The same wisdom applies here.

Again, these are general guidelines. More specific guidelines come from

assessing the individual. This is where the most success is found. The more

you can tailor to the individual, the more successful the withdrawal and

recovery will be. If you've taken only one drug you should have a relatively

uncomplicated withdrawal. But if you've taken more than one and several over

several years, you would be better served to have a withdrawal and recovery plan

tailed to you as an individual. You will run into many difficulties that can be

navigated with some guidance. This will save you trouble down the road.

Ideally, people would come here prior to beginning these drugs and we could

help them avoid ever taking them. But this is rare. Almost as ideal are those

who come here before beginning a withdrawal. But most of the time we get people

who have tried repeatedly to get off a number of drugs and cannot or are very

sick from how they were told to do it. It is more difficult to help people who

have already been battered by their experiences. But I know that most people

here would agree with me that it helps to have your situation looked at and

recommendations to be made for you. While there's no magic wand to undo the

damage done, some things can be mitigated making your experience better than it

otherwise would have been.

Diet is a huge factor in withdrawal and recovery. If you're not eating a

clean diet of whole, fresh foods (if you don't know what this is please ask)

devoid of sugar, caffeine and chemicals. Today it is easier to eat organically

than it has been in a long time. There are many more local farms in most

places, the majority of which are organic. There are also numerous farmers'

markets. These prices are much better than those in the supermarkets. If you're

not eating well you will be limited in your recovery healing.

The best advice I can give you other than the withdrawal advice is to never

act out of desperation and never act from your emotions. You'll make it worse

every time by doing this.

I hope you find this helpful.

Regards,