Feeling like Hell

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Anyone, I'm going to be off my Wellbrutrin this next week and jumping off...the reason I'm posting as that I'm having terrible anxiety, panic, depression, and DR/DP really really bad. I feel like I'm going out of my mind. I'm also tapering off the Klonopin very very slowly. I won't be off that until the late summer. People have told me that A/D withdrawal isn't as bad as benzos, but it feels like it. I can't wait to get off this drug, it will be the first time that Iv'e been off an A/D in over 13 years. I never tried to taper off my a/d ever before and I have taken tons of them before through the years.

 

I'm having all the basic benzo type w/d effects hitting me. Can't sellp, eat, shaking, scared, aniouxs, chest pains, hard to breathe, everything! Going crazy, it feelslike. Also, I'm as dumb as a dornail too.

 

HELP!! Will it last as long as with a benzo? it just feels like benzo w/d, but in slightly less intensity too.

 

Chrsitine

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Bump

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hello Christine,

 

I saw your question and put together some information that may be helpful. I am the type of person who seeks to know what is happening and why, it brings comfort to me. I hope it does the same for you.

 

REMOVE DRUGS ONE AT A TIME

 

"Your Drug May Be Your Problem, How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications." Fully revised and updated edition, by Peter Breggin, 2007.

 

Chapter 8: How to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs

 

Remove Drugs One at a Time

 

“Many people, perhaps yourself among them, take several psychiatric drugs simultaneously. Today, polypharmacy – – the practice of prescribing more than one or two drugs to the same patient at the same time – – is quite common and encouraged, especially by physicians presenting in drug company – sponsored symposia. Frequently patients received an antidepressant and a tranquilizer, a stimulant and a tranquilizer, or an anti-psychotic and an anticonvulsant. It is no longer unusual to find children and adults simultaneously prescribed at least one drug from every single major drug class discussed in this book. Such cocktails, if combined with a physician’s failure to recognize withdrawal reactions and to monitor patients carefully, these patients vulnerable to experiencing severe distress. Such cocktails vastly increase the toxicity of each drug and produce dangerous, unpredictable adverse reactions and complicated withdrawal reactions. Patients taking multiple drugs often endure a chronic state of mental confusion, dulled and unstable emotions, and cognitive problems, including memory deficits.”

 

"You can withdrawal from several drugs simultaneously, but this is a risky strategy. It should be reserved for cases of acute, serious toxicity. In addition, since drugs taken together (such as neuroleptics and anti-Parkinson's) often have some similar effects, withdrawing them together can make withdrawal reactions worse. Also, because some drugs suppress or increase blood levels of other drugs, your healthcare professional should be well informed before making recommendations concerning simultaneous decrements for more than one drug. If you intend to withdraw simultaneously from two or more drugs, you should do so under the active supervision of an experienced physician or pharmacist."

 

"When you take two drugs, your brain tries to compensate not only for the effects of each one separately but also for the effects of their interaction. The physical picture gets even more complicated with each additional drug. The increasing complexity goes far beyond our actual understanding, creating unknown and unpredictable risks during both drug use and withdrawal. In cases of multidrug use, withdrawal is like trying to unravel a thick not composed of many different strings – – without cutting or damaging any of the strings. In this analogous situation, you would have to proceed quite carefully indeed, gradually disentangling one string and continually adjusting the others in response to the ongoing process."

 

"It is usually best to reduce one drug while continuing to take the others. The process begins a new once you've eliminated the first drug completely and have gotten used to doing without it."

 

I hope this is helpful,

Summer

 

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Hi,

I would suggest that you only taper off of one medication at a time as posted by summermeadow.  It is generally suggested to wait at least 6 mos. post taper of a med. to begin a taper off another med.  I wanted to let you know that I also got off of welbutrin.  It was not awful at all.  It is not the same as many of the withdrawl syndromes that are common with other antidepressants.  I did wait 6 mos. post taper to get off of it though.  Just want to reassure you not to anticipate the worst when you do decide to get off of it.