Bipolar Support Group

Am really suffering from a desire to give up my meds.

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Currently thinking I do not have Bipolar Disorder (was diagnosed with Bipolar Mixed States) at all. ie I am a fraud!!! ie nothing wrong with me at all. Just neurotic.

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Am on Seroquel 300xr and 50mgs at night. 250mgs of Lamictal after waking up.

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If anyone has given up their meds would you please let me know how you got on?

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Am travelling, (from Australia) to the US ie Los Angeles and Las Vages on the 7th March so will not give up meds until I return home on 23 March, ie withdrawal. And sure do not want to be "off my head" while away.

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Hey would be interested in meeting some folks or folk from MDJunction, well if they want to.

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Would like to hear how anyone has got on after giving up their meds.

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Tar,

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JennyWren

Post edited by: jennywren, at: 02/10/2010 05:19 PM

I went off my meds in 1995 and I've regretted it ever since. I never fully recoved and now I'm on 4 times as much meds. I went psychotic, wandering around outside for a day and a whole night not knowing where I was. My Dad found me and took me to the hospital. I too didn't think there was anything wrong with me. It made my illness worse and I could never go back to work. So be careful.

I do not recommend stopping your meds. If you have your mind made up about it, then wait until after your trip. Also taper off of your meds slowly. Talk to your pdoc and get a plan to taper off.

If you go off of them suddenly, you greatly increase your chances of having an episode right away or so I've read.

Please reconsider stopping your meds. Stopping could cost you a lot, maybe even your life.

I end up in the hospital, I check myself in.

In my younger years of bipolar I went on and off medication frequently and I was still fucked up off medications. My life was a ruins. Completely devastated, depressed, suicidal, psychotic. I was even looking through my blinds and watching for people who I thought might be watching for me. Paranoia. Wild good time manias. Depression. Anxiety. Despair. All the stuff I loved when I was young. I loved destructiveness then.

If I went off my medications now, I'd have to figure that I wanted to ruin the life I am living. I got to keep it together for my family. I got kids and a wife. No thanks. I had enough destructive behavior in my younger years. I don't do stupid shit anymore--not that what your doing is stupid; it would just be stupid for me.

More power to ya, brother, if you can go off your medications. Maybe you can live without them if you live alone. Maybe that would be the only way.

my best to you,

jim

I'm with the dog on this one. Consider the impact that going off of them could possibly have.

I ended up where I started...out of my mind and suicidal. And then I had to start the med ride all over again. yuck. It's definitely worth it to me to just deal and stay on them.

Jennywren, So many times I say to myself that I don't have bipolar and that I don't need my meds, but when I try to go off of even one med I become symptomatic. Then I say to myself.....it's the meds that's causing me to feel the way I do. It's all so hard to know because I do remember a time when I didn't need to be on several types of medication and it was at a time before I was diagnosed with this bipolar stuff.

I take seroquel, lamictal and geodon as well as thyroid medication. I have wanted to go off of the seroquel so badly, but the problem is that I don't sleep. I have tried to go off of it be not taking it for a couple of nights and then I begin to feel sick from lack of sleep and symptomatic with what I think are bipolar symptoms. I am somewhat confused at times as to what to do. I went for another opinion regarding the bipolar and the result was the same.

I am married and I have a 13 year old daughter. I don't want to end up with a severe depression or mania due to my not taking my medication even though I think at times that I don't need my medication.

Whatever you decide....be careful. I agree that if you do it you should taper one drug at a time with the help of your doctor or whomever prescribes your medication. I have heard that there are places where you can admit yourself to wean off of your medication with professional help nearby if that's what you really want to do. I've even thought of it myself just to see if my symptoms are from the bipolar or if they are from my chemistries being so affected by the medication. Anyway, I wish you well in whatever decision you make.

I would think long and hard about your decision to stop taking your medication. I have never just stopped taking a med cold turkey since I have been diagnosed as bipolar without having another med to replace it. I took myself off of Zoloft and put myself immediately back on Cymbalta. I suffered Brain Zaps for a couple of days but it was well worth it in that I stopped my hypomania right away. Stopping your meds all together could trigger an episode that you cant avoid and may lead to worse things down the road. If you are really serious then you should either check in inpatient and have your meds weaned down or have your pdoc do it for you.

I say don't do it. Simple

I would say don't do it. Don't even think about it. I know have never tried going off my meds yet, I haven't even thought about it. I'm much happier on my meds.