Re: The purpose of Buddie Blogs

[[ma...]]

This is suppose to be a Benzo Buddie Board and not a (all psych drugs are bad) board.

People have posted about getting off their antidepressants and all these "buddies" are helping support them with the w/drawal effects.  Some people have low serotonin levels and need the antidepressants for 6 months to a year or longer.  Antidepressants are not addictive, they do not change your personality, they just keep you alive, while you go to talk therapy.

Yet, look at all these people trying to get off of Lamictal or Zoloft and being encouraged to do so...

 

I know this is a forum and we joined voluntarily, but really why are we supporting people dumping all their meds, when we don't know their history.  This should be a BENZO BUDDIES support group only.

 

With all respect, this is my two cents

Mary

[[Pa...]]

Hi Mary,

 

We're a mutual support forum, yes for the withdrawal from benzodiazepines however; if a member has a desire to get off of their other medications and have the support of their Dr, then we'll support them all we can.  It's not our primary purpose certainly, but we offer our members the luxury of discussing their other medication issues as a service.

 

Please take the time to familiarize yourself with our community policies in regard to giving medical advice, hopefully it will help you understand our position.  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=25837.0  and http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=25835.0

 

Pam

[[...]]

I am here to chew the fat.

 

Mary,

 

You made some claims that just aren't true. While I understand you may hold a different position on AD's than I do, I think you are misinformed. You can't ignore the scientific studies that do indeed say a person's personality could be changed by AD's. There are black box warnings on many AD's that actually spell it out in quite simple fashion. This especially applies to teens and younger adults.  There are often serious consequences if people are put on these meds at this early age.

 

As far as AD's not being addictive. This is also a mistruth. Doctors recognize now that there is a discontinuation syndrome associated with many of these medications.  In the past, doctors sort of glossed over this notion, now many of them will admit that this indeed, dose happen to some.  You can type in SSRI discontinuation syndrome on google and get 101001010 hits.

 

I would not knock anyone for taking these meds because I realize for some it does save lives. I have very little experience with these medications, so I am not speaking from personal experience that any of these medications harmed me, but the evidence is out there, many of these medications have permanent side effects. I realize your situation might be different and the meds may have done wonders for you. I hope you don't feel that anyone was knocking you for taking the medication, if that happened, that is wrong. But on the other hand, for those of us who may adopt a straight edge, drug free lifestyle, it is not fair to come at us with misinformation.

 

You and I have always got along well here, and I am not trying to be mean, I just had to present the facts in a straightforward way. You can feel free to disagree and I will defend your right to disagree, I just won't agree with you.  I understand your concerns about maybe things getting off topic here, but alot of us were given other meds to come off of too. While I don't have extensive experience with AD's, I was given Trazodone to help me sleep. It was used off label, but an AD is an AD. I certainly did have to taper this medication and I am glad I am off it. If it didn't have addictive properties, I would have just been able to C/T it without any problems.

 

We are still buddies...Mary...we just disagree on this one.

 

P.s. You may wonder...if I didn't take these meds, why am I so vocal about this? I guess I should explain that a bit. We had one member on this forum, who still comes here from time to time, that was told there was no such thing as SSRI discontinuation syndrome, she was also told her meds were not addictive. Sadly, they were and she has been fighting that SSRI discontinuation syndrome for many, many months. I believe she finally found a doctor that understood what was going on, and is improving slowly. I hate that this happened to one person, and would never want it to happen to anyone else. I know I can't save everyone, but if one person reads this and it helps, I consider that a win.

 

TC

[[ve...]]

I can see some of both your points Mary and TC.    First, I agree that some folks may have low serotonin levels as Mary suggested.  That being said, it is possible to increase serotonin via natural methods, through foods we eat and there are precursors to serotonin that may also help with serotonin before one takes an antidepressant.  Antidepressants per se are not the primary focus of this forum as Pam mentioned.  However, some folks wish to taper off them and I believe we ought to support a medication free lifestyle if it is possible. On the other hand, I don't believe one ought to criticize an individual for choosing to use an antidepressant under doctor supervision.  I agree with TC that there appears to be some evidence that there are addictive aspects to some antidepressants, some seem to be more difficult than others to stop or even taper off.  While some antidepressants may help keep somebody alive in certain crisis circumstances, as Mary stated, there is another aspect to them where caution ought to be exercised,  as TC mentioned.  Several have warnings of actually leading to suicidal thoughts and some drug companies have been sued after teens and others ended their life shortly after taking them.  Like anything in life, antidepressants are not for everyone, yet I believe we ought to be tolerant of those who feel they are helpful to them in some way.  Ultimately, it may not be helpful to suggest to somebody who is taking antidepressants, to stop taking them.  I understand it may seem to Mary that a preponderance of posts lately are encouraging going off medications.  I believe that one ought to be as accurate as possible when providing the pluses as well as the minuses of these medications.

 

Best,

 

Vertigo

[[ca...]]

I have to disagree as well. Both of my cousins are on an A/D and if they forget to take one of their doses they become very ill, to the point they have to lay down on the couch until they take their medication. They are both on Paxil. Neither has been able to get off it. My hairdresser was on Celexa and tried to just stop taking it and became very ill. She had to reinstate and do a slower taper off and now she is okay. The point I am trying to make is that they are addictive and our bodies do get used to them and I would say most people cannot just "stop" taking them with no withdrawal issues at all. A/D, from stories I have seen here and seen in real life, have the potential to make people just as ill as benzos. Not everyone is affected badly by them, but there are many who are. I tried an A/D (celexa) for 2 days because my Dr thought it would help me and it made my benzo w/d symptoms that much worse, I wanted to rip my skin off is the best way I can describe it and crawl the walls. I was not depressed but he tried to give it to me to try and cover my benzo w/d symptoms    So it is a very personal choice, some they help but others they make even more sick.

[[dr...]]

Hello,

 

I just wanted to chime in on this one a bit.  The pharmaceutical industry knows very well that certain antidepressants cause withdrawals.  This is particularly true for Effexor, Paxil, and Lexapro.  The term "discontinuation syndrome" is simply a convenient euphemism the drug industry started using in order to avoid using that nasty word "withdrawal."  Antidepressants, particularly the SSRIs, and SNRIs, do in fact change personality.  This is because these drugs flatten affect.  You may be less depressed, but you also may very well go into a gray zone of indifference.  For tapering purposes,  psychiatrists will sometimes switch a patient over from one type of SSRI to Prozac because Prozac has a longer half-life and therefor is easier to taper from.  This is further acknowledgment of withdrawal problems.  I'm glad this forum supports discussion of other medications, since the knowledge and management of all meds taken may be crucial to successfully ending one's benzo nightmare.

 

Having said that, I am very pro antidepressant since it is an available choice.  I have seen antidepressants be helpful to people.  But I have also seen antidepressants be harmful.  I don't regret having taken Lexapro since it was an option for me to try to more effectively cope with Klonopin withdrawals.  But I must say that my experience taking Lexapro has been very negative.  I had horrible withdrawals with it and now have to titrate it.

 

Draftsman