Withdrawal

[Sls]

 Hi all I am three weeks into withdrawing from Trileptal I was on 225 mg  75 mg in the a.m. and 150 in the p.m.( I have been taking Trileptal for 13 months)  I'm at week three and I'm down to about 50 mg in the a.m. and 50 mg in the p.m. this drug  does Car withdrawal no matter what the Drs say  it is exhausting I feel anxious and irritable ,sweaty ,  insomnia here , has anyone else had withdrawal symptoms? 

Also drugs have withdrawals I am convinced for myself I'm so exhausted from it all and I feel for all of us that have to go through this,  it has been my decision to go off of it because I feel like it's making me depressed I'm not a bipolar patient , yet I was giving it I have anxiety and OCD. 

 Not to mention the fatigue I feel from it, usually I can only go till like 1 or 2 pm and I'm totally exhausted I'm really trying hard to make changes in my life my diet and also find some other homeopathic remedies to see if they will work time will only tell I just keep telling myself this will pass  I pray a lot about it I try to think of the positives of coming off of it I can hear better I can definitely see better speak better than most of all think better it's amazing how the staff may impair certain individuals this is been my case but I'm so sensitive to meds as it is . 

 I have with you this year from Cymbalta Wellbutrin  XL Clonzepham three times a day gabapentin and Lamatical  if you're wondering why when I was very sick they kept trying different things I didn't have the ability to say no I just wanted to feel better it's been a very rough road .. 

thank you , Sls

[Yuna]

I have had withdrawal symptoms from Trileptal if thats what you are asking. Yes Trileptal does cause a physical withdrawal I am certain (which is clearly different from "rebound withdrawal" -return of bipolar symptoms).

However Trileptal withdrawal is easy compared to other withdrawals so it by itself should not be a problem. I've had miserable withdrawals from Ambien, gabapentin, Klonopin, etc. Trileptal shouldn't be a hard withdrawal.

 

And of course the doctor denies it can do this. Just like the doctor denies Ambien causes withdrawal... hmmmm don't ya love this stuff?

Edited March 14, 2017 by Yuna

[Blahblah]

On 3/10/2017 at 3:03 PM, Sls said:

Not to mention the fatigue I feel from it, usually I can only go till like 1 or 2 pm and I'm totally exhausted I'm really trying hard to make changes in my life my diet and also find some other homeopathic remedies to see if they will work time will only tell I just keep telling myself this will pass  I pray a lot about it I try to think of the positives of coming off of it I can hear better I can definitely see better speak better than most of all think better it's amazing how the staff may impair certain individuals this is been my case but I'm so sensitive to meds as it is . 

I have with you this year from Cymbalta Wellbutrin  XL Clonzepham three times a day gabapentin and Lamatical  if you're wondering why when I was very sick they kept trying different things I didn't have the ability to say no I just wanted to feel better it's been a very rough road .. 

thank you , Sls

Sls: It is a rough road for us here, I hope it gets better for you! I believe most all meds cause some sort of withdrawal especially if you were on a fairly high dosage for more than 3 months.

You mention also going off of Lamictal, Can I ask you how that withdrawal was? How long were you on Lamictal & what dosage? I ask because my pdoc wants to taper me off and I already feel weird taking 25mg less. Yet I had the most horrible withdrawal from Cymbalta & benzos (like Klonopin) are up there too. With Cymbalta it felt like brain shock sensations every 30 seconds with the nausea, fatigue, sweating, anxiety, irritability. Nightmare.

[Sls]

Hi , I was only on lamtical 75 mg to 150 mg it made me so angry and irrational , irritable that I was doing dishes and almost threw them st my family lol ? 

I was taking it for about 3 weeks this stuff made me also high as a kite because I was also on Clonzepham 3 times a day with this I stopped cold turkey that is what my physc doc said to do so my withdrawal was not as bad but I had horrible nightmares of being abused by a family member who had abused me , you sound like you are sensitive to withdrawal too, I hope you can look when you feel bad as you go through this that there will be an end insight. 

Since this withdrawal I have more energy I am laughing again and I can see without blurring and hear better .

thank you for responding to my post it really encourages me to move forward..

[Sls]

13 hours ago, Yuna said:

I have had withdrawal symptoms from Trileptal if thats what you are asking. Yes Trileptal does cause a physical withdrawal I am certain (which is clearly different from "rebound withdrawal" -return of bipolar symptoms).

However Trileptal withdrawal is easy compared to other withdrawals so it by itself should not be a problem. I've had miserable withdrawals from Ambien, gabapentin, Klonopin, etc. Trileptal shouldn't be a hard withdrawal.

 

And of course the doctor denies it can do this. Just like the doctor denies Ambien causes withdrawal... hmmmm don't ya love this stuff?

Oh love it , of course I am being cynical, the Clonzepham withdrawal was the worst for me I thought I was going to end up back in the hospital, I cried  daily and shook for about a month my husband just held me and rubbed my head . Keep in mind this was after I had tapered down for 2 months from this drug. 

I am still having withdrawal from Trileptal as of today it has been 2 full days of no Trileptal I have insomnia I only slept 5 hours last night , and I have terrible diarrhea, and a stomach ache with a sore throat . I have heard this drug can cause flu like symptoms, I am on my way though and it is worth it to me to move forward no one can do this but me , what is rebound withdrawal you mentioned I have never heard of this ? Also thank you for sharing your experience with me it means a lot to talk to others who have actually been through this ..

[notloki]

I think the general population does not have these problems but there is no doubt a few who are sensitive to changes. I have not trouble switching or stopping meds. Recently I did a cold switch between benzos, doing 3 mg Klonopin one night as usual and the the next night did 30 mg Valium and no Klonopin. Both being long acting benzos they both did some of the tapering of doses on their own. I experienced no discomfort and just had to get used to Valiums greater sedating qualities. Stepping off Lamictal, 300 mg, having been on it years was easy provided I 1) Followed the manufacture's reverse titration schedule and 2 ) not making changes up or down of more then 75 mg. I used to switch between TCA's pretty easily, doing it without a taper. I suffered a day or 2 being out of sorts then I was fine. Effexor did give me 5 days of shocks if I stopped it cold. I found Ativan stopped the shocks so I avoided even those 5 days. Prozac works as well.

I do know what it is like to have a doc not believe you about a side effect. My neurologist refused to believe changes of more than 75 mg of Lamictal gave me insomnia for a week. Fortunately my psychiatrist is the sort that believes you when you say whatever med is causing whatever side effect helped me out with some additional sleep meds short term.

[Yuna]

9 hours ago, Sls said:

Oh love it , of course I am being cynical, the Clonzepham withdrawal was the worst for me I thought I was going to end up back in the hospital, I cried  daily and shook for about a month my husband just held me and rubbed my head . Keep in mind this was after I had tapered down for 2 months from this drug. 

I am still having withdrawal from Trileptal as of today it has been 2 full days of no Trileptal I have insomnia I only slept 5 hours last night , and I have terrible diarrhea, and a stomach ache with a sore throat . I have heard this drug can cause flu like symptoms, I am on my way though and it is worth it to me to move forward no one can do this but me , what is rebound withdrawal you mentioned I have never heard of this ? Also thank you for sharing your experience with me it means a lot to talk to others who have actually been through this ..

When I use the phrase "rebound withdrawal" I refer to the fact that bipolar symptoms get worse up cessation to the drug. This is different from a "physical withdrawal". So bipolar getting worse is simply not on its own "physical withdrawal". Those are other symptoms- sweating, rapid heart, shaking, vomiting, etc. This is not a clinical term, but it is a rather obvious differentiation of symptoms. 

 

As far as the Trileptal causing a physical withdrawal of sorts, this simply shouldn't be long difficult affair, you should feel better within 3 days. I was on 600 mg of Trileptal daily for 5 years straight before I noticed withdrawal (I had tapered off it the year before, no withdrawal symptoms). 

Grab a sleep aid for the insomnia and ride it out. 

edit: are you sure its the trileptal and not something else? 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2017 by Yuna

[Sls]

12 hours ago, Yuna said:

When I use the phrase "rebound withdrawal" I refer to the fact that bipolar symptoms get worse up cessation to the drug. This is different from a "physical withdrawal". So bipolar getting worse is simply not on its own "physical withdrawal". Those are other symptoms- sweating, rapid heart, shaking, vomiting, etc. This is not a clinical term, but it is a rather obvious differentiation of symptoms. 

 

As far as the Trileptal causing a physical withdrawal of sorts, this simply shouldn't be long difficult affair, you should feel better within 3 days. I was on 600 mg of Trileptal daily for 5 years straight before I noticed withdrawal (I had tapered off it the year before, no withdrawal symptoms). 

Grab a sleep aid for the insomnia and ride it out. 

edit: are you sure its the trileptal and not something else? 

 

 

Good question! I was on vacation 3 weeks ago and I got some kind of virus, they gave me a prescription for it , I thought I was over it but my sore throat and stomach issues began again yesterday ?.. 

When it comes to the sleeping issue , I will ride it out , thank you for explaining the rebound withdrawal.. I did go thru sweating, shaking, vomiting stage already. 

You my doctor said " There are no withdrawal issues with Trileptal " I am thinking they fail to realize that each person is different, I am not a spiteful person today , I do think though that these doctors need to do a trial on themselves regardless of whether they have a certain disease so they could understand how it feels to go on and come off the meds , there empathy would be more than they have or give empathy to them . 

[Sls]

21 hours ago, notloki said:

I think the general population does not have these problems but there is no doubt a few who are sensitive to changes. I have not trouble switching or stopping meds. Recently I did a cold switch between benzos, doing 3 mg Klonopin one night as usual and the the next night did 30 mg Valium and no Klonopin. Both being long acting benzos they both did some of the tapering of doses on their own. I experienced no discomfort and just had to get used to Valiums greater sedating qualities. Stepping off Lamictal, 300 mg, having been on it years was easy provided I 1) Followed the manufacture's reverse titration schedule and 2 ) not making changes up or down of more then 75 mg. I used to switch between TCA's pretty easily, doing it without a taper. I suffered a day or 2 being out of sorts then I was fine. Effexor did give me 5 days of shocks if I stopped it cold. I found Ativan stopped the shocks so I avoided even those 5 days. Prozac works as well.

I do know what it is like to have a doc not believe you about a side effect. My neurologist refused to believe changes of more than 75 mg of Lamictal gave me insomnia for a week. Fortunately my psychiatrist is the sort that believes you when you say whatever med is causing whatever side effect helped me out with some additional sleep meds short term.

I agree with the speaking to my pharmacist they are very helpful, I am happy to hear that you have the ability to switch meds more easily. My body is so sensitive I can drink half of a bud light and feel it . 

Insomina is the worst though, I live in Florida I hate to say this but time and time again it is extremely difficult to find a physician that cares or has the ability to give treatment for all age groups. 

[Yuna]

On 3/15/2017 at 9:00 AM, Sls said:

Good question! I was on vacation 3 weeks ago and I got some kind of virus, they gave me a prescription for it , I thought I was over it but my sore throat and stomach issues began again yesterday ?.. 

When it comes to the sleeping issue , I will ride it out , thank you for explaining the rebound withdrawal.. I did go thru sweating, shaking, vomiting stage already. 

You my doctor said " There are no withdrawal issues with Trileptal " I am thinking they fail to realize that each person is different, I am not a spiteful person today , I do think though that these doctors need to do a trial on themselves regardless of whether they have a certain disease so they could understand how it feels to go on and come off the meds , there empathy would be more than they have or give empathy to them . 

Some doctors are more full of shit then a big bucket of steaming shit. :| Trileptal certainly does cause a withdrawal (as a I pointed out not to bad compared to other withdrawals).

See if you were on something else that you stopped at the same time. Even something as simple as a coffee habit, or an ambien, or a gabapentin habit, or some other med which could be contributing. 

[DopamineSick]

The thing that kills me is that, even if an antidepressant doesn't work, I end up stuck on it because I already feel too shitty to want to have to go through withdrawal symptoms and feel even shittier. Right now, I'm on Effexor and it isn't doing a damn thing for me, but my doctor makes no mention of getting me off of it. There are just so many shitty aspects to mental illness. My depression is mainly treatment-resistant. I have read that MAOI's can work in 50% of treatment-resistant cases. But the thing is, I would have to completely get off of the Effexor before starting an MAOI....another road block. Besides, my doctor probably doesn't want to be bothered with MAOI's because of the "risks."

It's kind of hard to try new medications when you can't get off of the old ones. Seriously, why not just put me on fucking opiates at this point? The way things are going, I'm not going to survive much longer anyways. Opiates actually kill my depression, whereas these garbage SSRI's and SNRI's and AAP's don't. Physical dependence? OK. Who cares? I already have that anyways. It's becoming a matter of life and death. 

There's no incentive for pharmaceutical companies to invent novel antidepressants when we get stuck on these drugs because of the physical dependence/ withdrawal. And it seems like psychiatrists are content as long as you're not actively suicidal, and that's just not good enough for me. I want to actually live, not white knuckle it through each and every day.

I'm also on gabapentin and I don't think it does a goddamn thing for me, but I'm scared to stop taking it. I'm just so sick of all of this. I just want some relief and it's nowhere to be found. 

[Blahblah]

10 hours ago, DopamineSick said:

The thing that kills me is that, even if an antidepressant doesn't work, I end up stuck on it because I already feel too shitty to want to have to go through withdrawal symptoms and feel even shittier. Right now, I'm on Effexor and it isn't doing a damn thing for me, but my doctor makes no mention of getting me off of it. There are just so many shitty aspects to mental illness. My depression is mainly treatment-resistant. I have read that MAOI's can work in 50% of treatment-resistant cases. But the thing is, I would have to completely get off of the Effexor before starting an MAOI....another road block. Besides, my doctor probably doesn't want to be bothered with MAOI's because of the "risks."

It's kind of hard to try new medications when you can't get off of the old ones. Seriously, why not just put me on fucking opiates at this point? The way things are going, I'm not going to survive much longer anyways. Opiates actually kill my depression, whereas these garbage SSRI's and SNRI's and AAP's don't. Physical dependence? OK. Who cares? I already have that anyways. It's becoming a matter of life and death. 

There's no incentive for pharmaceutical companies to invent novel antidepressants when we get stuck on these drugs because of the physical dependence/ withdrawal. And it seems like psychiatrists are content as long as you're not actively suicidal, and that's just not good enough for me. I want to actually live, not white knuckle it through each and every day.

I'm also on gabapentin and I don't think it does a goddamn thing for me, but I'm scared to stop taking it. I'm just so sick of all of this. I just want some relief and it's nowhere to be found. 

Thank you thank you thank you for this post. I could've wrote this myself, I'm in the same position, wanting some real relief. The doc just keeps adding more & more meds (when most aren't really working) and they eventually will be a bitch to get off of them the longer we're on this crap. Pdoc doesn't want to do MAO's or TCAs or stimulants ( I so agree with everything youre saying here, especially the bolded parts!) This surely can become an issue of life & death for many of us here.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Blahblah