Psychotropic medication discussion thread

Edward Long4:

Milligram. I didn't catch what you were trying to say there. You left me hanging! What was it? Go ahead, spit it out. Honestly, Seroquel is such a lifesaver for me. It’s been doing wonders, and yeah, I'm still on it. Does it make you gain weight? Oh, absolutely. No question about it. It hits pretty hard at first, honestly... like, you're just sitting there wondering what happened. But eventually? You get used to it. It becomes part of the routine. Jumping in on what my colleague with the Zoloft was saying... if that's the case, you've officially become a total loose cannon. 😁 Look, I’m just wired this way, alright? It's built into my DNA. There is absolutely zero chance of anyone forcing anything on me that I haven't explicitly signed off on. Not happening. I won't budge! Man, I am just so thirsty all the time... constant dry mouth. It’s driving me nuts. My psychiatrist was actually telling me the other day how much her patients rave about the combo of Effexor and Zoloft. Honestly? To me, that sounds like the perfect mix. But then again, I’m also tossing 100mg of Seroquel into the mix on top of that. So yeah... I'm basically stuffing a massive amount of chemicals into my system at this point.😁

I’d ask you how old you are, but honestly, I’d feel bad. I don't want to be that annoying old lady asking all the nosy questions, you know? 😂 Look, I gotta ask—because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re basically swallowing a pharmacy every single morning. Seriously. Have you even thought about cutting back on all that stuff? Like, have you tried just sticking to psychotherapy instead of being totally medicated out? Sorry if that sounds blunt, really, but seeing how much you're juggling with all those pills... it makes me wonder why you aren't trying to slowly taper off one thing or another. Just a thought. 🙂

Anyone else dealing with something heavy here? Specifically those of you who managed to get off your meds only to have your therapists drag you right back onto them. Like I said before, I haven’t touched my Zoloft in, what, a month? And now the jitters are back. Insomnia, too. That weird, suffocating feeling... like I can't catch my breath. Hmm... though, honestly, I was only on Zoloft for about three months. Am I just overthinking this or am I actually losing it??? As far as the Zoloft goes, man, the constant yawning it gave me was just unbearable. I really don't want to end up back on any kind of pill because of that. Maybe I should just try to handle this on my own? Part of me is terrified that if I do, I'll just spiral right back into those panic attacks. 😢

Anthony Lopez8 said:It definitely caused some weight gain for me, though nowhere near as much as what I experienced with Zyprexa. To be honest, none of the antipsychotics really hit the mark for me, but if I had to choose, I found Seroquel to be slightly more effective than the others.

So, I’m just scrolling through here seeing everyone complain about how much weight they put on from all these meds... honestly, I actually lost like 25 pounds. Like, seriously, I dropped so much that my doctor actually got spooked—he might have even taken me off the Zoloft because of it, who knows? Maybe. I was basically eating like a bird. I hit 143 lbs at 5'9", which sounds crazy now, but then I ended up at 152... and honestly? I think I'm better off where I am now. 😍

Edward Long4 said:Anyone else dealing with something heavy here? Specifically those of you who managed to get off your meds only to have your therapists drag you right back onto them. Like I said before, I haven’t touched my Zoloft in, what, a month? And now the jitters are back. Insomnia, too. That weird, suffocating feeling... like I can't catch my breath. Hmm... though, honestly, I was only on Zoloft for about three months. Am I just overthinking this or am I actually losing it??? As far as the Zoloft goes, man, the constant yawning it gave me was just unbearable. I really don't want to end up back on any kind of pill because of that. Maybe I should just try to handle this on my own? Part of me is terrified that if I do, I'll just spiral right back into those panic attacks. 😢

Don't let fear get the better of you. If those symptoms happen to resurface—heaven forbid—you always have the option to seek further help.
It might be worth considering a course of Prozac, particularly if you've previously found relief from those debilitating panic attacks.
Look, there are solutions and medications available for just about everything; the real catastrophe would be if antidepressants and antipsychotics didn't exist at all, because then we'd truly be in trouble.
People have always struggled with these kinds of shadows, even back when they had no idea what was actually happening to them. There was just this profound, quiet suffering in the dark. Nowadays, we have everything laid out for us—instant access to the internet, endless forums, modern medicine, and specialists who can actually put a name to the pain.

Yawning is the least of our concerns here; it’s merely a lingering side effect that follows once everything else has already gone wrong.
It’ll pass. If you’re truly that opposed to medication—though I fail to see the logic behind such a stance—perhaps you could try Prozac instead.
You really ought to look into psychotherapy, and for heaven's sake, start taking some B vitamins—they are absolutely essential for stabilizing your nerves and regulating your appetite.

I find myself wondering if anyone else has truly sat down to consider the implications of what was just said. Is it even possible to grasp the full weight of this situation without looking at the broader patterns? When you strip away the noise, aren't we left with a reality that most people are simply too distracted to acknowledge? It seems to me that we are constantly dancing around the core issue, much like how one might navigate a complex legal battle in a high-stakes federal court, rather than addressing the fundamental truth standing right in front of us. Does it not strike you as odd that we continue to follow these established paths when the results remain so consistently underwhelming?

Edward Long4 said:So, I’m just scrolling through here seeing everyone complain about how much weight they put on from all these meds... honestly, I actually lost like 25 pounds. Like, seriously, I dropped so much that my doctor actually got spooked—he might have even taken me off the Zoloft because of it, who knows? Maybe. I was basically eating like a bird. I hit 143 lbs at 5'9", which sounds crazy now, but then I ended up at 152... and honestly? I think I'm better off where I am now. 😍

Is it really considered "normal" for Zoloft to cause weight loss? And then, on the flip side, we’re expected to just accept that antipsychotics are going to make you gain weight? It seems like a rather convenient way to dismiss significant side effects, don't you think? 😁

redranger2 said:Don't let fear get the better of you. If those symptoms happen to resurface—heaven forbid—you always have the option to seek further help.
It might be worth considering a course of Prozac, particularly if you've previously found relief from those debilitating panic attacks.
Look, there are solutions and medications available for just about everything; the real catastrophe would be if antidepressants and antipsychotics didn't exist at all, because then we'd truly be in trouble.
People have always struggled with these kinds of shadows, even back when they had no idea what was actually happening to them. There was just this profound, quiet suffering in the dark. Nowadays, we have everything laid out for us—instant access to the internet, endless forums, modern medicine, and specialists who can actually put a name to the pain.

Yawning is the least of our concerns here; it’s merely a lingering side effect that follows once everything else has already gone wrong.
It’ll pass. If you’re truly that opposed to medication—though I fail to see the logic behind such a stance—perhaps you could try Prozac instead.
You really ought to look into psychotherapy, and for heaven's sake, start taking some B vitamins—they are absolutely essential for stabilizing your nerves and regulating your appetite.

I'm against meds because, ugh, I've taken enough of them in my life to last several lifetimes. Seriously. I'm also against them because doctors basically gave me wrong diagnoses and prescribed stuff like Helexe (like I mentioned before), various pills, Sulpiride, Xanax, and they literally destroyed me and turned me into a lunatic😠. And every single med I ever took had side effects, which is why I'm terrified of them... once bitten, twice shy, right? Plus, my heart is racing just thinking about it... damn... I've got enough on my plate dealing with this illness without having to worry about my mental state too... so I'd much rather go the psychotherapy route than deal with drugs... I have a total phobia of medication😍

Hey, fellow forum member Mili... just wanted to reacher out and say you aren't alone in this "swallowing everything under the sun" club. Honestly, I feel you. :S 😁 Right now, my daily lineup includes: Rytmonorm 2x1 (300 mg), Isoptin 3x1 (40 mg), Warfarin 1x2 (3mg), and Diane 35 (birth control) 1x1... plus I used to be on Zoloft, and I still take Diazepam as needed, so yeah, just imagine what that cocktail does to you 😁 Basically, I’m popping about 10 pills a day, and don't even get me started on the Colospa retard for my gut—that's 2x2 because I deal with IBS, so I have to watch every single bite I eat... and then there's all that :P Sometimes I seriously feel like a walking pharmacy! There was even a point where I was taking 32 pills a day. My current doctor literally stares at my charts in disbelief. Back then, I was on a massive rotation of Atyrazole for my thyroid, then Corderon, Atenolol, Ormidol, Praxiten, and the portal... eventually, I just snapped. I grabbed the whole bottle and tossed the whole thing. Of course, my ex—who was a cardiologist, by the way—just called me crazy... and I shot back, "You're the one who labeled me insane and pumped me full of all this junk!" Eventually, I saw a nutritionist, fixed some things with my diet, did some psychotherapy, and most importantly, found a *real* cardiologist who actually figured out the root cause of my arrhythmias, which ended with me on the operating table... so yeah, that's why I'm terrified of meds. I've taken way too many, and look how that turned out... 🙂 Talk about giving him a piece of my mind..

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Edward Long4 said:Anyone else dealing with something heavy here? Specifically those of you who managed to get off your meds only to have your therapists drag you right back onto them. Like I said before, I haven’t touched my Zoloft in, what, a month? And now the jitters are back. Insomnia, too. That weird, suffocating feeling... like I can't catch my breath. Hmm... though, honestly, I was only on Zoloft for about three months. Am I just overthinking this or am I actually losing it??? As far as the Zoloft goes, man, the constant yawning it gave me was just unbearable. I really don't want to end up back on any kind of pill because of that. Maybe I should just try to handle this on my own? Part of me is terrified that if I do, I'll just spiral right back into those panic attacks. 😢

I find myself feeling quite perplexed by this entire situation. My impression is that the physicians initially misread the situation entirely, misdiagnosing you with a nervous disorder and prescribing antidepressants when, in reality, the issue was a serious cardiac condition. Now you bring panic attacks into the equation, which leaves me wondering where exactly the doctors fit into this narrative. Regardless of how the pieces align, you should certainly pursue psychotherapy.

redranger2 said:"Quote"

I find myself feeling quite perplexed by this entire situation. My impression is that the physicians initially misread the situation entirely, misdiagnosing you with a nervous disorder and prescribing antidepressants when, in reality, the issue was a serious cardiac condition. Now you bring panic attacks into the equation, which leaves me wondering where exactly the doctors fit into this narrative. Regardless of how the pieces align, you should certainly pursue psychotherapy.

You clearly haven't been reading my previous posts, specifically the ones on the heart surgery thread. Look, back when I was 20 and dealing with arrhythmias... I was full of life, looking great, honestly. No one would have ever guessed I had a broken heart. So, for five years, they just kept pumping me full of all that crap, telling me it was all in my head, that I was just imagining things... and thanks to them, I became a "mental patient" in their eyes, right? Just a joke to them. Until I finally passed out from atrial fibrillation... and then a real cardiologist finally realized I'm basically a walking time bomb (thoracic aortic aneurysm, atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia). That's when my actual fight for survival really started...

Edward Long4 said:You clearly haven't been reading my previous posts, specifically the ones on the heart surgery thread. Look, back when I was 20 and dealing with arrhythmias... I was full of life, looking great, honestly. No one would have ever guessed I had a broken heart. So, for five years, they just kept pumping me full of all that crap, telling me it was all in my head, that I was just imagining things... and thanks to them, I became a "mental patient" in their eyes, right? Just a joke to them. Until I finally passed out from atrial fibrillation... and then a real cardiologist finally realized I'm basically a walking time bomb (thoracic aortic aneurysm, atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia). That's when my actual fight for survival really started...

Auuuu, honey, you were absolutely screwed over. 😢
To go that long without anyone uncovering the actual diagnosis makes one wonder what kind of medical professionals we're even dealing with here.
It’s a relief you made it out alive, and now that you have your treatment plan and regular checkups in place, things should stabilize.
Just stay strong; the worst part is behind you. 🙂

Uh... I see quite a lot has been written here.
First off, responding to Victoria, I’m 30 years old. Sometimes when I look at the pile of medication sitting in my box, I honestly find myself wondering: good grief, how much stuff am I actually taking?!
Well, your boyfriend is lucky he's just on Diane.😉
In the beginning, I was only on Effexor, Norbell, and Seroquel. Looking back at my condition then... three pills seems reasonable. Now, I'm up to five.🙄
But if I'm being honest, I suppose I have a bit of a pill addiction, though I don't tell anyone. I tried Lamictal the other day and didn't feel a thing. Maybe it's just my metabolism or something, but it feels like I truly need high doses to feel anything at all. When I was going through detox at the clinic near Sakoman, they couldn't quite manage to get me clean—the protocol says patients should be treated for 16 to 20 days max. Mind you, I was on a higher dose than everyone else, but that's just how it was. I was getting 300mg of morphine three times a day; they even considered giving me more, but Sakoman said even that was pushing the limit. Any other addict taking 300mg of morphine would probably be delirious😁 combined with the morphine, of course, plus the Seroquel and Phenobarbital... anyway, they had already worked out a plan whereI would still have to take morphine at homewhich is kept locked in a pharmacy safe until the withdrawal symptoms subside. Can you imagine that?!
I'm not going to stop taking every single pill, though. If one works for me, why wouldn't I take it? Some people argue that you'll just end up becoming addicted to everything... please. The worst thing is being hooked on Methadone, Helex, or Xanax—all those benzos. But becoming addicted to an antipsychotic? I've never heard of such a thing. I swallow plenty of pills, sure, but at least I don't touch alcohol. Not even a beer, nothing at all.
If anyone here has actually struggled with an addiction to an antipsychotic, please let me know. In my personal experience, nothing compares to the agony of methadone withdrawal.

Oh, I forgot to mention that since starting Zoloft and Effexor, I've been eating like a bird... sometimes I don't even feel like eating, even when I haven't had anything at all.

Looking at this thread, I see people way older than me who are way too young to be dealing with this many pills.
I actually started on Helixim when I was just 14—almost 15—and within a few months, I was already on Haldol and some pretty nasty meds.
Now I’m turning 19, and my daily routine includes Olandix 20, Akineton 4 mg, Haldol 4 mg, Cymbalta 60mg, and Prazosin 75mg.
The plan is that I'll probably switch from Olandix to Seroquel soon.

Anyway.

Eric Mitchell55 said:Looking at this thread, I see people way older than me who are way too young to be dealing with this many pills.
I actually started on Helixim when I was just 14—almost 15—and within a few months, I was already on Haldol and some pretty nasty meds.
Now I’m turning 19, and my daily routine includes Olandix 20, Akineton 4 mg, Haldol 4 mg, Cymbalta 60mg, and Prazosin 75mg.
The plan is that I'll probably switch from Olandix to Seroquel soon.

Anyway.

Forgive me, but
who else is actually taking pills at 14 years old? 😲 😲Back then, I was mostly just hanging out with my crowd, grabbing beers and trying to act grown up.😁

Kenneth Scott41 said:Forgive me, but
who else is actually taking pills at 14 years old? 😲 😲Back then, I was mostly just hanging out with my crowd, grabbing beers and trying to act grown up.😁

Hey, if you head over to a major children's hospital in Washington, D.C., you’ll find kids even younger than fourteen dealing with all sorts of stuff.🙂
Mental health issues don't care how old you are.
For me, the hallucinations started when I was fourteen—actually, a little bit before that, really—but my parents didn't think it was time to see a psychiatrist until then.

Eric Mitchell55 said:Hey, if you head over to a major children's hospital in Washington, D.C., you’ll find kids even younger than fourteen dealing with all sorts of stuff.🙂
Mental health issues don't care how old you are.
For me, the hallucinations started when I was fourteen—actually, a little bit before that, really—but my parents didn't think it was time to see a psychiatrist until then.

Man, that sounds heavy. I deal with hallucinations too, though they aren't quite as intense; I've sort of grown accustomed to them over time, I guess. I take Zoloft to manage it... what about you?

Kenneth Scott41 said:Man, that sounds heavy. I deal with hallucinations too, though they aren't quite as intense; I've sort of grown accustomed to them over time, I guess. I take Zoloft to manage it... what about you?

Like I mentioned a little bit ago, 😁
I'm on Olandix, Prazosin, and Haldol from the Associated Press, plus Cymbalta from the Ad, along with Akineton to stop my muscles from cramping up and my jaw from locking.🙂

redranger2 said:Auuuu, honey, you were absolutely screwed over. 😢
To go that long without anyone uncovering the actual diagnosis makes one wonder what kind of medical professionals we're even dealing with here.
It’s a relief you made it out alive, and now that you have your treatment plan and regular checkups in place, things should stabilize.
Just stay strong; the worst part is behind you. 🙂

Look, like I said, I didn't exactly look like someone suffering from massive heart issues, and let’s be real, I don't look great now either. And when my heart would hit 200 beats per minute during tachycardia? They’d just shrug and go, "Oh, it's probably just stress, blah blah blah..." So for five years, I just swallowed all that crap because what did I know? Believe it or not, they ended up sending me to a psychiatrist. Then I spent three weeks dealing with thyroid stuff, and then 😁 my heart kept racing again, and they blamed *me* for not taking my thyroid pills! It's insane how many mistakes they made. Anyway, thank God I finally went into fibrillation, because that's the only reason the cardiologist finally ordered an ultrasound. But get this—to make the story even more ridiculous—once they saw the results from the stress test, they sent me straight for a coronary angiogram. So, after two catheterizations, two aortographies, and one coronary angiogram, they actually messed up my vein. And the nightmare didn't end there; they kept pumping me full of all those drugs like they were trying to knock me out until I lost my mind, just so they could toss everything in the trash and send me on my way... so yeah, that's the short version of the whole mess and why I'm so terrified of medication. 🙂

Hey everyone,
I’ve been reading through the forum and I completely relate to what you all are going through. My own story is long and would take quite a while to fully recount here. To summarize: I have been on Paxil since 2004. My dosage fluctuates depending on how things are going. In 2006, I lost my father, and in 2007, my mother. I managed to pull through those losses and keep moving forward. Around that time, my neuropsychiatrist put me on Lamictal and Valium due to some erratic EEG readings. For the last two years, my results have been fine. I stopped taking the Valium, and currently, I am at half my usual Paxil dose along with 100mg of Lamictal. The hardest part is the mere thought of tapering off the Paxil. I want to get off it, but... I tried once before and, honestly, it was a nightmare. It feels like flashes of light in my brain. If I blink, there's a flash; if I turn my head, there's a flash. It is genuinely maddening. My psychiatrist noted: "patient attributes their condition to the tapering of Paxil." That pushed me back to a half tablet, and I have been stuck there for two years now. It's exhausting. Part of me thinks about just locking myself in the house and attempting the taper again. But... I'm afraid. I feel like the specialists at GSK haven't even begun to grasp how terrifying this side effect actually is. On the depression forums, people constantly mention this "electric shock" sensation. Does anyone have any advice?

Honey, I should probably just send you some damn cigarettes 😁 ... haha, man, if only! :P I’ve been married for 16 years now and my son is already 15 🙂. I moved through all those life milestones in a heartbeat 😁 😁 ......but about those meds of yours—honestly, I think you could clear them all out in a year or so, just toss the whole lot in the trash 🙂. You just need a little bit of willpower and some actual drive 🙂)

Hey there, I don't find myself popping into this thread very often.

I’ve been struggling with panic attacks and general anxiety.

My psychiatrist originally put me on Clonazepam, but after a while, it started causing memory gaps—not to mention making me feel incredibly sedated and just plain confused. I tried scaling back the dosage, but honestly, it was the same story, so I had to stop altogether. Then I gave Normabest a shot, but that just triggered intense restlessness—like, I couldn't even sit still—and after using it for a few days, the panic attacks actually started coming back.

It’s been about six months since I last took Ativan, and I’m considering trying it again. My doctor is still pushing the Clonazepam, but there is absolutely no way I am putting that stuff in my mouth ever again. 🙂
The logic they use is that it builds dependency more slowly, even though I was able to quit Ativan the first time around without any real issues.
It’s actually been seven years since I last touched any of those.

Look, I’m not looking for some pill that helps me escape reality or anything like that; I just need something occasionally to take the edge off those fears before they escalate into full-blown panic attacks after a few days.

I’ve been on Zoloft for two and a half months now. It’s helped quite a bit, really, but I still get these clusters of two or three terrible days every so often, and I just want to minimize that suffering.

So, my questions are:

- Has anyone else had bad experiences? Because when I read through the warning labels—mentioning things like hallucinations or psychotic reactions—it honestly chilled me to the bone.

- Is there any other decent anxiolytic out there besides Ativan (Xanax)?