What is the tapering process like after 18 months on antidepressants?

Zyprexa is an antipsychotic medication typically prescribed for various types of psychosis, schizophrenia, and depression.
At lower doses, it can also act as a sedative—sort of like taking a few mild tranquilizers without necessarily making you feel completely wiped out or drowsy.
It’s usually not the first line of defense for depression, but it definitely provides some support.

Also, honestly, I don't think 15 months is nearly enough time to even consider tapering off an antidepressant.
Here's why: once you finally start feeling like yourself again, you HAVE to keep up the treatment to maintain that period of remission. It's absolutely vital if you want to prevent those depressive symptoms from crashing back down on you.
It's much better to stay on the medication longer than to mess around and end up in a bad spot later on.😉

enter said:Furthermore, I don't believe fifteen months provides sufficient time to consider tapering off antidepressants.
Why? Because if someone starts feeling better after a certain period, treatment MUST continue to maintain remission. It is absolutely vital to prevent those depressive symptoms from crashing back in.
It’s better to stick with the medication longer than to face a disaster down the road. 😉

I believe every case is unique. Some people stay on antidepressants for two or three years, while others decide to return to therapy and take them indefinitely because they simply feel better that way. It varies.

Megan Morales5 said:electricdriver78, thanks for explaining that, it makes things a bit clearer regarding what she went through... I was wondering though, how do you say "anxiety" in English?

What’s the actual difference between anxiety and depression, specifically when it comes to the symptoms?...

Honestly, props to you for pushing through, those symptoms sound incredibly tough to deal with...

There’s definitely a good reason to get back into therapy—it's all about what's going on up there in your head...

Anxiety is just "anxiety" in English...

As for the symptoms, they probably vary from person to person, but I think there are some core traits that stay the same...

For me personally, depression feels like constant irritability, having zero motivation to even get out of bed in the morning, everything just looks dark and hopeless, nothing seems to have any purpose, I tend to overeat, and I just feel like crying constantly...

Then there's anxiety—which for me usually pops up after a long bout of depression, often triggered by stress, where I just feel this restlessness I can't quite explain and this nervous feeling like something terrible is about to happen... for me, it's usually the fear that someone close to me will fall ill with some horrible terminal disease, and then I start cleaning or grooming obsessively just to try and soothe that feeling... it becomes a sort of OCD...

So yeah, that's the short version of it...

I’m honestly just baffled by how people take these kinds of medications without even bothering to understand what they’re actually doing to them. 😕Isn't that a bit irresponsible?

Enter, how are you supposed to know when the ideal time to taper off is? When you say 15 months isn't enough...

electricdriver78, thanks for the reply. It’s the same story with my mother—she was always such a polished, put-together woman, hitting the salon three times a week and always fully dressed and made up from head to toe 😁but now, you can barely find her looking decent past late afternoon. She'll be unshaven, still in her morning robe under the blankets, just disheveled, staring at the TV for hours... though I don't think she’s actually watching it, she’s just... staring... and she used to be so vibrant, so active. Now, you can't do anything to help her... plus, her moods shift so incredibly fast... it's exhausting. While she was on the pills, everything seemed fine—actually, she even picked up new hobbies and bought all sorts of gear for them, which is just sitting in a corner gathering dust now. She went on one trip and had more energy than the entire group combined... I guess when people that high-energy finally hit rock bottom, they just sink straight through the floor. 😢

Megan Morales5 said:It honestly surprises me how people just take these kinds of medications without even bothering to figure out what they’re actually treating.😕 Isn't that a little irresponsible?

Anyway, how can you tell when it's the right time to stop? When you say 15 months isn't really enough...

electricdriver78, thanks for getting back to me. It’s exactly like my mom... she was always such a put-together woman, you know, hitting the salon three times a week and always perfectly dressed from head to toe...😁 but now I'll find her late in the afternoon, still in her morning robe and unshaven, just staring at the TV for hours without even really seeing it... she used to be so vibrant and active, too. And you just can't get through to her... her mood swings are just so sudden and intense. While she was on the medication, everything seemed fine—she even picked up a new hobby and bought all this gear for it, but now it's just sitting in a corner gathering dust. She went on one trip and had more energy than the whole group combined... I guess when those high-energy people finally hit a wall, they just crash completely...😢

I feel so bad that things are this way...

She probably needs therapy—if she won't take pills, would she be open to seeing a counselor?

You have to stay persistent...

My dad (and my mom and sister too, though they've been in treatment for a while, just like me) has PTSD, but for him, the symptoms looked like this: work, work, and just constant work...

It became almost manic; he was working nearly 80 hours a week and only sleeping about three hours a night...

all just so he wouldn't have to think about anything, especially what we went through during the war...

For ten years, he wouldn't hear a word about therapy—telling us, "I'm not crazy, why would you want to drag me to a psychiatrist or any of that nonsense... I don't have nightmares like you three, I don't have flashbacks..."

He was old school... but the three of us were relentless. My mom talked to her own doctor and therapist and explained exactly how he was acting, and they both told her he HAD to slow down—otherwise, he was going to drop dead one day. No one can work that much with that little rest... you just eventually hit a breaking point...

Now, Dad sees a psychiatrist and takes his meds, works less, rests more, and isn't so on edge... he actually laughs and enjoys life again...

It took us ten years to make him realize there's no shame in asking for help...

I know it's incredibly tough dealing with "old school" types... but just keep trying...

don't give up...

It turned into this absolute mania—he was clocking nearly 80 hours a week...

And her 😢 though let’s be honest, some women probably wouldn't even complain if their husbands showed these kinds of symptoms 😉 electricdriver78 was on medication before, but she isn't anymore because... how do I even put this... she just couldn't stomach the reality when she first started, and if she ever went back on them, she says it feels just like being a junkie 🙄 My heart mostly goes out to my old man. I have my own life and we don't live under the same roof, but he doesn't even recognize the woman he's loved his entire life anymore. I suppose it might help knowing your family is going through the exact same thing—as paradoxical as that sounds. It means you can actually understand what's happening. It’s honestly a miracle your dad physically endured it without catching some random illness that hits when your immune system tanks from sleep deprivation. You're right, though—my mom is very old school. I don't know how old your folks are, but she was born in 1949, which makes her old enough to opt out of certain things on her own, yet still too young to just give up entirely...

Megan Morales5 said:it's tough.. 😢 even though some women wouldn't even complain if their husbands showed these symptoms 😉 electricdriver78 was on birth control before, but she stopped because... how can I even put this... she just couldn't handle the reality when she first started, and if she were to take them again, she says it feels just like being stuck in a rut 🙄 I mostly feel for my dad; I have my own life and we don't live together anymore, but he doesn't even recognize the woman he's loved his whole life. I guess it helps knowing your family is going through the same thing, as strange as that sounds... it means people truly understand you. It’s honestly a miracle your dad managed to stay physically healthy without getting hit by one of those common illnesses that attack your immune system from lack of sleep. You're right, my mom is definitely old school—I don't know how old your folks are, but she was born in 1949, so she's old enough to tune out certain things but still too young to just give up entirely...

man.. such a nasty situation

mine are only about 52 and 53, but they act "old" in certain ways

I honestly don't know how he hasn't gotten sick yet

he had some polyps in his colon that had to be removed—thankfully it wasn't cancer... but they told him he needs regular checkups because you never know, plus his thyroid was acting totally haywire so he had to take that radioactive iodine treatment

luckily they warned him that all this stress isn't helping him at all
it probably played a part in everything too—I don't know how much of that is actually true, but I'm glad they gave him a scare

I can only imagine how hard it is for your dad to watch the woman he loves struggle like that... 😢