How Do You Know When Its Time to come off psych Drugs?
 

Hello

I've been taking Wellbutrin for over a year now and although I feel fine 98% of the time I feel as if its working against my weight lost efforts. I don't have the drive or the will power that I used to have. I almost feel asif im a little sedated.

I did loose about 12 pounds earlier this year while on the drug but it took 4 months to do so and I got VERY frustrated with the slow lost and gave up.
IDK?

So, my question is for those that came off your psyc meds..how did you know it was the right time?

Nobody has any experiences that they can share with me? Has this question already been asked?

I think that might be a decision only you and your Dr can make together. It would depend on dosage, emotional needs, etc. Also, some meds you can't just stop taking. Some you have to be slowly weened off of.

Thank you for you reply. :)

You're welcome. :)

Being on meds, and the emotions, and weight loss. *deep sigh*

Just my thoughts, but I think you will need to work very close with your Dr., and very closely monitor you mental health, above, weight loss.

Your mental health, is most important, without that, it will be a struggle to do anything else. :hug:

Have patience.

There is always the possibility, that you might always need medication. Maybe, there is a better choice, of medication, that would be good for your mental health, and be more helpful with weight loss.

The thing is, if you need medication, you need it. Let's say you're diabetic, would you give up insulin? If you had bad food allergies, high blood pressure, cholesterol issues, gluten, what would you do?

The answers are there! It's up to us, to find them. :hug::D:carrot:

Thank you, and you have a good point. Now that I think about it, every single time that I came off my meds those same old feelings would come back (depression/mood swings/anxiety). These Emotions would effect my life thus sending me back to the doctor.

I just wish the meds didn't effect my weight loss. I feel like a pillow stuffed in a pair of pants sometimes :o :p

I'm going tomorrow to a local gym for a week trial. I workout at home and it gets boring, Maybe a different atmosphere will help boost my motivation.

Thank you for listening and :hug: back to you.

You might want to discuss other meds with your doc. Not all cause weight gain. That said, if you've tried a bunch & this one works, don't change. Your mental health is your #1 priority.

Also, do you have therapist? That could help so that eventually you can come off the meds. Then, maybe not. We're all different that way.

Hello, I was taking the generic type of 150 SR bupropion I experienced also, slower weight loss I was off it cutting the tablet in half and the withdrawal made me sickening and due to that alone as stressors I noticed differences of more weight loss going off the pill. I am medication freedom and doing stuff to keep busy like playing just dance on Wii, or riding my indoor bike, I think mostly the counseling is helping me get of the medication , plus going once a month due to busy life with kids and working at home. You need help from your doctor to get off it, was told is hard on body if you quit cold turkey find hobbies or anything keep you busy free thinking about food.

I can only answer from my own experience.

I will never go off my medication for my mental health problems. I have borderline personality disorder, social anxiety disorder, and dysthymia. I have dealt with these issues since age 7 (so for 30 years). I didn't start therapy or medication until my mid twenties. It took me a long time of dedicated hard work to be nice, normal, and functioning. I did dialectal behavior therapy and medication, and I still see a therapist and take medication.

Without going into all the ways I was very horrific in the past, to me the benefit of the medication and therapy far outweighs (no pun intended) going off the medication. I am not ready for that, and I know that.

My Dad had PTSD when I was a kid, and after ten years he was able to get off the meds and out of therapy. But that is Dad, and I am me. So you have to step outside yourself and evaluate you and your situation-- don't look at it from a weight loss point of view. Look at it from a mental health point of view. Is your mental health stable enough to go off the medication? Will you continue therapy or not(if you are in therapy)? If you find that you need to go back on the medication, are you going to be honest with yourself to do that?

If you feel you are mentally ready, talk to your doctor about doing so (because those withdrawal symptoms are awful) and you and your doctor can work together on that. Good Luck.

I don't think anyone one person can give you a date, time, and place to stop taking anti-depressants. It's like telling an infant what age to start walking... But I will share my experience and thoughts. Take it with a grain of salt, I guess. :)

I started taking medications when I was 8. In middle school (three years on meds at this time) they evaluated me to see if I was depressed, because I seemed normal in terms of mental development. After asking me a series of questions, it was mutually agreed among my mother, my teachers, and the person evaluating me that I had experienced trauma (surprise, right?). No one ever asked me if I needed to talk to someone or if I wanted help, which to this day I just want to storm out of the room screaming, "Nope Nope Nope!"

At age 18 I started to evaluate my life, a sort of 'what do I want in life' kind of evaluation. This came when the Lexapro that I had taken for years, my holy grail of medications, had stopped working (quite abruptly, might I add). I just kinda had the thought occur to me, "I really don't want to be that depressed girl anymore." After that I slowly weened myself off (which I don't recommend now that I'm an adult). I found someone to talk, I spent a lot of time combing through my past one year at a time starting as far back as I could remember. It seemed like I constantly found knots that I had been carrying with me for years and years, never really aware of it. With help, support and a lot of mental energy, I found a way to move past it.

I truly believe there are two types of depression; one situational (common) and one is a chemical deficiency of serotonin in the brain (rare).

There are people out there taking anti-depressants who are just like me, women and men of various ages with trauma that never got dealt with. Anti-depressants in this case tend to work as a wall, nothing more nothing less. It puts a block up so you don't have to deal with your issues or work past them. When you stop taking the meds, wall falls down and bad feelings come back. This might be your case.

There are people out there who have a chemical imbalance of the brain and never have a true way of pinpointing why they're depressed. It might be like having a weight on the other side of a seesaw, keeping you in balance. If you go off the meds, I imagine you would fall down back into depression. This might be your case.

Perhaps, you should evaluate yourself thoroughly and/or maybe talk it out with a therapist or a counselor (not a family physician, please!) and first see which of the categories you fit into? Then you can go from there and decide what's best.

When I first went off of medication there was a lot of forced optimism when it came to viewing life. I wasn't thinking the world was sunshine and rainbows but I did try to find a positive in everything. I purged myself of a lot of negative energy and people, and to this day I still get depressed like every other human in the world. Luckily, I have equipped myself with the 'mental tools' to fight off the nasty feelings when I get them.

(Longer than I wanted to, but my first draft of this post was nearing 2k :dz: )

Just try, see what happens, you can always jump back on right

Update,

Thank you for all the replies.

So I talked to my doctor (psychiatrist) a few weeks back and he suggested that I give the medication 3 more months ( I see him every 3 months for refills and his usual questions) and if Im still feeling good after three months then we would discuss weaning off my antidepressant ( 150 mg Bupropion, once a day). He did remind me that every time I do come off any meds in the past that my symptoms come back and I'm back on meds within 6 months. I told him 'well maybe third time is the charm' ;-)

And to answer a question from above (sorry, short on time ) I don't see a therapist because of financial issues but I have seen one before, and on my 2nd visit I was crying....so I know deep down inside I need to go back. Seeing a therapist is one of my goals for the next few months. Its so hard to juggle work/home/kids and then ME in life. Ya know?

I've also started watching my carbohydrates and eating mostly gluten free and I feel fabulous!. No cravings, no mood swings & my appetite has decreased tremendously. For three weeks now I've been working out 3 days a week ( never did join a gym, just got off my but and did my workout dvd's) I think I'm in what low-carbers call "ketosis". Anyways, my first week I lost 7lbs. I'm on my 2nd week now :-)

ok, just an update. Thanks for your interest.