Advice needed- what to share with prescriber?

[[Ze...]]

My current prescriber knows that I am tapering, however I haven’t been explicit in terms of sharing my most difficult symptoms for fear of misdiagnosis or being pressured to go on additional psych meds, both of which have happened to me in the past during this process. The issue is the current prescriber wants me to cut 10 percent every two weeks and hold to stabilize. Due to a botched initial much too fast taper and other factors I’m experiencing sxs that are right on the edge of what I can remain functional with. I feel that right now there’s just no way I can cut this quickly and strongly feel I need to hold in order to stabilize. A recent hold of two weeks showed improvement in my symptoms, and when I made a 2 percent reduction of K those same symptoms that I felt improving came right back.

 

To press on or to hold? To be honest with the doctor or not? Struggling with these questions. The sxs I’m concerned with sharing with the prescriber are rapid mood swings, misperceptions and neurological type symptoms that affect movement and speech.

 

Does anyone have any experience with how to wisely approach a situation like this?

 

Peace be with you all.

 

Z

 

[[Pa...]]

It makes me crazy when our doctors don’t listen to us, these symptoms are real and they’re telling you to slow down and you’re listening, but will your doctor?  It does absolutely no good to taper rapidly, it only invites more pain on the way down and when you’re off the drug.  What do they think, that we want to stay on the drug, that we’re stalling, why are they so determined to micromanage this process?  Does he/she want to put you in a position where you can’t work, can’t take care of your responsibilities?  Okay, enough ranting, sorry.  .

 

By the way, I’d use that angle when pleading your case, your doctor putting you in a position where you could lose your livelihood might make them reconsider.  You could talk about poor sleep, cog fog, some of your physical symptoms, I’d stay away from the mental and emotional. And use your recent example of improvement by holding, you’re the one making the progress, learning what works, what doesn’t, your doctor should be learning from you with an open mind.  Oh crap, I’m ranting again. 

 

Is your doctor aware of this guidance? 

 

Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance

[[In...]]

My current prescriber knows that I am tapering, however I haven’t been explicit in terms of sharing my most difficult symptoms for fear of misdiagnosis or being pressured to go on additional psych meds, both of which have happened to me in the past during this process. The issue is the current prescriber wants me to cut 10 percent every two weeks and hold to stabilize. Due to a botched initial much too fast taper and other factors I’m experiencing sxs that are right on the edge of what I can remain functional with. I feel that right now there’s just no way I can cut this quickly and strongly feel I need to hold in order to stabilize. A recent hold of two weeks showed improvement in my symptoms, and when I made a 2 percent reduction of K those same symptoms that I felt improving came right back.

 

To press on or to hold? To be honest with the doctor or not? Struggling with these questions. The sxs I’m concerned with sharing with the prescriber are rapid mood swings, misperceptions and neurological type symptoms that affect movement and speech.

 

Does anyone have any experience with how to wisely approach a situation like this?

 

Peace be with you all.

 

Z

It's your body. Unless your doctor has medically-approved research justifying their recommendations--and they won't, since no such research exists--I would do what you need to do to make sure that you can taper at the speed you want to. After all, you are going to have to deal with the consequences, not them.

 

I was lucky because my doctor simply prescribed my benzo for my taper. But if they wanted me to follow a taper that exceeded my body's ability to heal itself (i.e., made things worse and risked causing long-term damage), I would have told them I could no longer taper because of work/life/etc.; basically, whatever I could say to get them to butt out, since there's no tests they could perform to determine whether their recommended taper is working, nor is there any research that they could point to say that their way is the best way to taper.