I have. But why do you want to taper off? Are you trying to get off antipsychotics completely?
Great happy for you! What meds were you taking before? And how did you taper, do you remember?
Yes because it makes me very exhausted during the day and I sleep more than enough which interfere with my active life. What were you taking and how did you taper it in dosage and by time?
Iāve taken so many different meds I donāt know. But Iāve always gradually increased the new one while tapering off the old one over about a month
Ah ok I thought you tapered off completely from antipsychoticsā¦
No way. Before I was on them I was receiving messages from God, bunnies, and crows. I was getting visits from Satan. No thanks! I still am being followed everywhere etc but at least Iām not like before.
I tried twice, both under guidance of my pdoc. First time, I reduced my geodon by 20 mg every 4 weeks. It was wildly unsuccessful. A few years later O got a new pdoc. He and I analyzed everything, and determined I was trying to reduce by too much, too quickly. Geodon only comes in capsules, and nothing lower than 20 mg. So he wrote me a script for liquid geodon, and I reduced by 10% each month, and if I felt any symptoms I immediately stepped back up for another week. I started at 60 mg morning and night. Took about a year, but I was successful. When I got down to 5 mg morning/night, I had to go more slowly. My doc thought I should be fine just stopping once I got down to 20 mg, but I really wasnāt. I am glad I was able to work closely with him, and glad I was able to afford paying out of pocket for the liquid geodon. Insurance refused to cover it. Said there was no medical necessity to reduce that slowly.
I tapered off slowly enough, but a short while after reaching zero, I relapsed.
However, after 2 relapses (one quitting cold turkey, and one quitting gradually), my negatives have dramatically improved.
So Iād say it paid off, even though I take meds again (AP and AD). My negatives used to be very debilitating.
Continuing the discussion from Coming off medication:
Looks like I misremembered. I started at 40 morning and 40 evening.
So the second time before you planned to stop you had symptoms? So didnāt stop it right?
Sorry to ask but what are negatives?
Schizophrenia symptoms can be divided into 3 main categories:
- positive : hallucinations, delusions, intrusive thoughts
- negative : apathy, flat affect, poverty of speech
- cognitive : short attention span, weak memory
Thank you for the explanation!
I had been symptom free for 5 years before my first attempt to taper. I started having auditory hallucinations, so I went back on. I had been symptom free for 2 years before my second attempt. I did not want to try again, but I had no choice. My doctor saw I was developing TD, and told me I had to try tapering.
And did you also taper gradually at the first and second attempt?
Geodon withdrawal is a nightmare. Glad you got off of it.
And did you also taper gradually at the first and second attempt??
My first try, I tapered gradually. But it was not gradual enough. Mt second try I started September 2020 and finished July 2021
Thank you and none of them you had any symptoms before tapering, right?
Or better to say while tapering before reaching 0 you had no symptoms, right?