How far is reasonably pushing the boundaries with managing your own doses of AP’s Benzo’s etc?
I want to cut down on the doses and there is one drug left I have not altered my dose on, Amisulpride, which I am not sure whether to reduce.
The dose range is 800-400mg. I am prescribed 600mg and have the option to up it to 800mg, so I assume I can also drop it being given this kinda freedom.
I need to decide and no one I have to talk to about this
I am the wrong person to ask this as I always go to far. I wud tell your pdoc what changes in ur personality, that u hope to get out of a med adjustment. And ask if they think it wud b safe for u to lower the dose.
I tried calling. I got through once, and was told that I would be contacted on Tuesday, but nothing. Left messages.
I did drop the AP by 200mg yesterday. I just couldn’t swallow the second pill so I left it.
I think this may have been a mistake but I don’t know what to do anymore.
I just don’t think this is being managed properly, and I don’t want to be left on things ‘just in case’, because I am ‘TR’ or ‘I will end up in hospital’. It’s all lies. One previous pdoc just said that taking the precaution of meds permanently saves them money when I said about how expensive these things are for the NHS, his response was ‘Hospitals are much more expensive’ which is telling…
Well prevention is better than hospitalisation. Cost wise and personal health wise. However, if you feel you are over medicated or not being managed properly, then all i can suggest is the same as Imaillusion. Speak to your doctor about your concerns and let them coordinate a reduction in the dosage. At least then they can monitor you for any changes in your behaviour or cognition. I get your frustration at not being able to get through to someone, but keep persevering with trying to call them. You’ll get someone eventually.
You might b right about some docs leaving people on more because they care to much about the money. However the extra drugs cud b the one thing keeping u well. I wud keep trying to get through
I have worked out a plan of what to do.
Tremors or involuntary movements, I put up the Procyclidine
Anxiety, I put up Diazepam
Psychosis, I go back on the Abilify.
I told my mother I have done this now. She wasn’t happy but understands. She told me to go to the 800mg Amisulpride to compensate. I am going to try this. Feel some nausea, so need to get some paracetamol and that should be fine.
You should never spontaneously drop a psych med without tapering. Being given the option to go up a dose is NOT the same as being given permission to quit a med entirely! Depending on how long you’ve been on the med, you could get withdrawal or rebound symptoms! Please talk with your doctor first.
I tried the doctor but my case worker never got back or returned my calls. This was three days ago now.
The Abilify I was supposed to stay on the 5mg, but I have come down from 30mg (Doc instruction) as it wasn’t working out. The 5mg I hope wasn’t doing much, so stopped that now.
The procyclidine was a hang over from other drugs and may not need it anymore if Amisulpride doesn’t cause issues with restlessness. Should find out pretty quickly. I have only halved the dose so kinda taper but @ 50%.
The Diazepam nearly made me unconscious when I was on holiday with family and I drank alcohol. That has put me off it I do not want on these drugs. I have also halved to 15mg.
I will stick with the Amisulpride.
I know this isn’t the correct way to deal with things, but I nearly ended up collapsing on all these things and I am not standing for it anymore.
I’ve been on benzos for quite some time. I am able to drink perfectly fine. You just can’t take them during the same time period you’re drinking. So for example, if you are drunk, you can’t take the benzo that night, or at least not until you sober up. If you took the benzo already, you can’t get drunk, so if you intend on getting drunk that night, just don’t take the benzo, or wait like 6 hours I think (?). All it takes is a bit of planning.
Diazepam is known to be a b*** for withdrawals. You really cannot cold turkey drop benzos if you’ve been on them a long time, particularly a high dose, because you can seriously go into seizures and have to go to the hospital.
I have no idea what amisulpride is honestly I’ve never heard of it.
Also I cold turkey quit 10 mg of Abilify and my mood plummeted so badly I became extremely suicidal and harmed myself and had to go to the hospital.
Like I’m saying all of this because I’ve been where you are now a million times being 110% fed up with the meds and wanting to be off NOW and it has ended horribly for me EVERY TIME.
Tapering slowly can be so annoying because you just want it all to end immediately but it is soooo much better in the end and all around a far better and safer experience.
The good thing is I don’t drink much usually, but if I do I will skip the dose like you suggest. It’s just I was not happy with it happening and I read all sorts of stories on the internet about it.
I did try and come off the benzo before and got really bad withdrawals. The worst was nausea and anxiety, the paracetamol will cope with Nausea and I will try and keep calm. If not I will go back up.
Amisulpride is an AP used pretty much everywhere but the US.
Sorry to hear about your experiences with Abilify :-/ I hope your ok from that
Ah ok. Well I don’t know about amisulpride withdrawal in particular but quitting APs cold turkey causes rebound psychosis, which is where you experience a temporary massive spike in your symptoms, worse than they are even off meds, that winds many people up in the hospital, or worse dead because they aren’t acting in their right mind due to the psychosis and do something like jump in a river or whatever. Tapering prevents this.
I did eventually recover from the Abilify thing took a couple weeks for my mood to re-stabilize.
I have been here before, but even my pdoc says it’s trial and error. I think this time the key thing is I am not messing with the main tablet. I am hoping I can cope with the rest as this Amisulpride has made me very calm and mellow. I think this is going to support me and be a crutch whilst these things reduce.
I could be wrong but I have asked my family to tell me if things go south
Good luck just do your best to be safe 
I am glad to hear you got through this. Nothing about what we do with meds is perfect. We just have to try our best. I just had to make the decision.
I am not patient sometimes and impulsive, but I tried to get doctor approval, and the lack of response from public health has left me with that decision.
Sorry, you’re right in what you say, permission to go up doesn’t mean down as well :-/ as much as I would want it too.
I agree that’s extremely frustrating they aren’t getting back to you and sometimes we are left with difficult decisions like if the medications are giving us dangerous side effects.
I see a psychologist now. I have been told that this can help as much as AP’s, so I see her Monday and if she supports me, hopefully we can work on coping through this.
Thanks for talking through this with me here.
I prefer to make one change at a time so I know what’s doing what. I understand your frustration about all those meds. I take more I think but I have worked hrough them ome by one
I do all.this with my doctor’s approval.
In an ideal world this would be best, but I just need to clear out and hit reset. I know the action of each one, and hope it doesn’t result in going back on doses.
Time will tell. I think a lot of all this is unnecessary so I have high hopes this time.
For me it’s not so much the number of tablets, just the doses I am not happy with. I think I am still being prescribed a ‘keep out of hospital dose’, and I feel this has passed now with this new AP, so need to take initiative without response from MH team.