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About three months ago, I was prescribed Lamotrigine for General Anxiety Disorder. I have had no other issues aside from my anxiety. As would be expected, my dosage was gradually increased. However, after about four weeks something just didn't seem right. I ended up stopping at 75mgs per day. I continued that dosage for about a month. Sometimes, I'd wonder if my vision wasn't quite right. About four weeks ago, I was out on a walk with my son and realized that I could barely see more than twenty feet ahead of myself. Something just was not right about my vision. If I tried focusing on something, it would almost feel like I could go cross eyed. I did some reading on other people's experienced with this medication, and was alarmed to find a lot of information on vision issues. I decided to taper off the Lamotrigine. There were a number of medical sources saying to reduce by 50% per week. I figured going with 25% per week would be safe. I also met with a doctor, who confirmed that 25% per week was super safe. About four or five days after decreasing my dosage, my eyes began to feel immense pain. Especially my right eye. It felt like the most intense sinus pressure, or a migraine, or some incredibly severe tension. The issue with not being able to focus became much worse. I saw an eye doctor, and also had an eye exam done. I was told both times that my vision was completely fine. They did mention that I had really dry eyes, and I'm currently using a heat compress that they had recommended for treating this. However, the eye pain has been constant. I have barely been able to interact with my family, work, or even read. At times I can hardly look at the page of a book, it is so incredibly difficult to focus on. Yesterday, I was in such terrible pain that I could barely handle being awake. Now, I have a constant ringing in my ear. My ears also feel very clogged, almost like sinus issues. I'm honestly not sure how much more of this I can handle. Does any of this sound familiar to any of you? I could sure use some peace of mind. I am pretty concerned that I have permanent hearing issues, let alone that my eyes will never feel normal again. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Hi everyone So here's a little background: I have been taking Klonopin daily for 4+ years now. The dosage at first was 1mg a day, increased to 2mg a day, then 3mg a day, back down to 2mg. I was on 2mg a day for the majority of the time using Klonopin. At the beginning of 2018, I discussed with my psych that I want to VERY slowly taper off Klonopin completely, since I feel my anxiety and panic are not as bad as they were, especially with being on Prozac. He agreed, so we tapered very slowly. I would make 25% to 33% reductions every visit. So far I have made it down to 0.75mg a day. That's huge for me! My anxiety is still close to nonexistent, but I do worry about one thing. When I do eventually get off Klonopin completely, will my anxiety and panic come back even though I have been having mild symptoms from tapering that do, eventually go away? Looking for answers from people who have gotten off benzo daily use and successfully remained (mostly) anxiety-free. Thank you very much.

So I am currently following the Ashton manual taper schedule for getting off 4mg alprazolam a day and am between stage 5 and 6. I am on 1.5mg Xanax a day and 40mg Valium a day. Anyone else thing this is a high dosage of diazepam? Despite taking 40mg at once, I still don't feel much of any effects, no sedation or memory impairment, no memory loss or blackouts, no ataxia and no 'feeling high'. Is this abnormal for being on such a high dose of diazepam? The pharmacist literally was so hesitant to fill my monthly prescription for diazepam because it was for #120 tablets and said they've never seen someone prescribed such high dosage of diazepam. Pharmacist wanted to call my doctor first, but ended up filling it anyway after I showed her the Ashton taper schedule I was following. All the pharmacist asked was for me not to take it all at once, but my doctor said it was fine to take all 40mg at bedtime so that's what I do. Anyone else have experience using Valium to help taper off Xanax or other short acting benzodiazepines? It has been going surprisingly smooth so far, and I'm thankful I have a psychiatrist who is willing to allow me to take it at my own pace, giving me an extra week at the same dosage before decreasing the alprazolam. I am excited to get off Xanax but at the same time sad because of how much it helped. But I guess it's for the better because I wasn't using it as prescribed anyway. Would love to hear from anyone who has tapered off xanax, using a taper schedule or not.

I'd like to start by saying that I'm tapering off of Seroquel XR. I have a diagnosis of bipolar I, anxiety and panic disorders, and BPD. I'm down to 37.5 mg of Seroquel IR 2 times a day and originally I was on 600 mg ER for stability and 800 mg when manic. Just FYI: I was accidentally sent a 3 month supply of iR so since I'm tapering off, I switched to using it rather than paying for more XR. My taper was 1 week at 300 mg and 2 mg Abilify and then a week at 150 mg Seroquel and 5 mg of Abilify. That where I am now until this Wednesday when I'm supposed to keep the Seroquel as-is and up the Abilify to 10 mg. I'm not sleeping well at all even with Using either Ambien or Trazadone. My doc gave me both to try and get at least some sleep. Today I finally had a meltdown. Ive been trying too just keep my shut together with the bare minimum of leaving the house. I get up around 3 am and can't go back to sleep. I don't take more sleep medicines--should I? I'm so lonely until the dog gets up and I color. I fell apart largely because my husband puts too much pressure on me to do what he wants to do rather than leaving me alone. He doesn't realize how shitty I feel and how when he tries to push me too far it makes things so much worse. I don't like resting all day. I miss my normal activity level. However, if I don't put my foot down and tell my husband that I'm not going, he has no problem with me running myself ragged. I just don't understand why he can't just let me deal with how shitty I feel by just caring for our daughter (he's known this medicine change wasmcoming for a very long time) and not trying to include or guilt trip me into going out. In the past I've gotten really depressed and somewhat manic in situations like this. I wish I could just lock myself in a room until this is over! I'm so irritable and have days that are so long that I think about everything that's happened and feel like I can address all of them right now. I cried for a good hour or so and told him how badly I've been feeling. I thought it was obvious, apparently it isn't. I'm just trying to hold it together and not end up in the hospital like my pdoc has warned if things get too bad to manage at home. I think I just needed to vent more than anything. Ugh.

(Caveat: I am NOT currently trying to taper off of any meds nor do I necessarily recommend coming off of your meds) What psych medications had the worst withdrawal or most difficult taper for you? I'm wondering because this is something I am considering very carefully as I begin to start a course of 1-2 medications again. In my experience, I was on Cymbalta the longest (for 2-3 years) and the withdrawal was acute for me (included the brain zaps, flu-like feelings, anxiety, crying spells, etc) My friends had a HELLISH time coming off of Effexor and/or any Benzos....Most of the other meds I've only been on trial periods of a couple months (due to side effects) ecause I am scared of dependency. I believe that Serotonin effects the entire body in hundreds of unknown ways, far beyond up/downregulation of receptors and neurons. I read somewhere that SSRIs change genetic coding. I dont know if other drugs do (or don't) cause this to some degree, but serotonergics seem to have particular widespread effects that may never be fully understood. Your experiences?

Since tapering down to .75mg/day (properly with no withdrawal) I have noticed my dissosiation symptoms gradually become obstructive the past month. Resuming 1.5mg/day has made me realize how much the med helps; it is worth going to see the p-doctor every 3 months. I don't consider myself to be overly anxious or prone to panic, so tapering down is easy for me to do. I am glad that I went down from 3mg to 1.5, but lower than 1.5 is not enough to have a benefit for me at this time. Doctor told me sometimes the demand changes, and a lower dosage can be just as well.