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46 Comments
- bigd063, on 07/09/2009, -1/+15DO NOT quit cold turkey if you have a heavy benzo habit - taper down slowly over a couple weeks. Severe withdrawal from benzodiazepines like alprazolam (zanax) can cause seizures, hallucinations, delirium, and in some cases death. You have to give yourself time to adjust. Unlike opiate withdrawal, benzo withdrawal can be fatal. It is similar to alcohol withdrawal syndrome and a detox facility is the safest way to proceed. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_withdr ... Shame on you Chordonblue for suggesting something so wreckless and dangerous.
- inactive, on 07/09/2009, -0/+9it's ironic that this article pops up on digg today. im currently addicted to Klonopin & Xanax. But my doctor cut my Xanax off today , which is maybe a blessing in disguise?? I feel horrible , i can't sleep or eat. I feel short of breath , my heart is racing & i feel worthless. I called the emergency room because i had a panic attack today , but no doctor ever called me back. I can't take more of my Klonopin , because then i will run out.... The only thing that makes me feel better is beer & pot. I'm trapped in a self created + doctor enabled hell. I feel 2 X worse than i did before i started the stupid Benzos.....
- Afrochu, on 07/09/2009, -2/+11Just masturbate before you go to bed.
- dankestnater, on 07/09/2009, -0/+8Don't forget to smoke a blunt first.
- RiotHeart, on 07/09/2009, -0/+8Buried for inaccuracy. A real pill popper wouldn't want to write 10 paragraphs, let alone 10 pages
- MrSparkle666, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6This is very similar to my experience with antidepressants. They no doubt improved my life and general well being while taking them, but in retrospect it seemed that it just made it easier to ignore my problems and become content with mediocrity. Since I've gone off of them I've changed my diet and started meditating to try to address my serotonin deficiency by more natural means. Although my life is still a bit of a roller-coaster of emotions, I now feel much more fulfilled.
Good article. It's rare to read such a balanced and well reasoned account of an expereince with SSRIs. - inactive, on 07/09/2009, -1/+7Stop editing your posts you *****.
- inactive, on 07/09/2009, -1/+7Anti depressants not ecstasy. Just saving you the click.
also it's ten pages. Sure I'd read ten pages on paper, in comfort, but on the web on a pc monitor, no chance.
No matter what you say, print media isn't dead, it's just in a different place than it used to be.
Also how did this get to the front page... - calicheese23, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6***** SSRI's. Just like any other drug, a temporary solution. You will build tolerance and the dosage keeps getting increased. The effects will wear off and you will still end up taking pills that aren't doing anything and giving up your money.
Took them for 9 years. You can fight depression by looking at your eating habits and diet, exercise, and look at your current job and relationships. - fragMasterFlash, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5Seriously, I'd have to pop some serious pills before clicking through all 10 pages of that mess.
- ZachiusMaximus, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5bong rips, blunts, just as long as marijuana is entering your lungs. how did we lose sight of the natural substances given to man?
follow the money
even if you don't like weed, take some friggin st. johns wort. I read somewhere that in Europe it is prescribed 50% by doctors for depression, but in the states everyone just resorts to the lab made pills that can't be good for you. - dafragsta, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5By page 6 it's still all ***** rainbows and puppy dogs. I want this ***** now.
"My life was an anxious suckfest. I took the drugs, everything was better. Then I quit. Things got ***** again."
The funny thing is that her downward spiral sound identical to her experience before the drugs. I was expecting a tale of side effects and ill health. For someone professing self-awareness, she seems decidedly oblivious. - smokestack, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4dugg twice if I could..
I have such a tolerance at this point that 10mg of xanax is nothing to me, and I have tried to cold turkey it, over weeks.. it only made me so anxious and paranoid I couldn't answer the phone or door.. let alone actually go out in public..
I only wish a gradual detox was an option here, but all of the facilities for that around here are so backed up it takes over a month to get a preliminary appointment, and even then you don't get to see even a real doc. - Topkill, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Damn articles from the future, Digg you're too cutting edge for me.
(edit)
Seriously, stop editing your posts, way to ruin me making fun of you for typing October 9, 2009 at first.
(/edit) - IUseAShovel, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4While being one of the most verbose articles I've ever read online, I dugg it for describing the struggle of getting off antidepressants.
- yocouchdigga, on 07/09/2009, -2/+6you're not a doctor and your advice sucks.
- Bangaarang, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3I quit Hydrocodone cold turkey, holy ***** ***** did that suck but I was seriously addicted and abusing the ***** out of it so its a good thing I finally got off of it.
- inactive, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3good has never been the deciding factor for front page material.
- theyerb, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4While the title was a bit misleading, it was an interesting read about one woman's experience with an antidepressant. I enjoyed all 10 pages.
- nwaites01, on 07/09/2009, -1/+4Also burying article.
Only on page one,
But a real pill head isn't strung out on anti-depressants, I mean just saying.
OKAY, read the entire article, the woman stays on 20mg of Citalopram for like 5 years and talks about how it affected her life, claiming some memory loss and "No anxiety" she bitches and moans and for some reason, tries to present her self in someways like someone who is addicted to valium like substances (benzodiazepines).
To take this to an extreme to show contrast, the articles title and even her presentation to some degree is like "Confessions of a Heroin addict" and then you read the article and its like "I squirt 4ml of saline into my mouth every day" with no mention of heroin.
Also, before some ***** moron posts, physical dependence does not(even with opioids, benzodiazepines, and stimulants) at ALL mean addiction. Someone is going to suggest pot as an an anxiolytic, etc.
She even claims that she knew someone who took 5mg of prozac and couldn't stand. The likelihood that this claim in particular is fabricated is pretty high. First, when you start off with an SSRI, it takes several days to take effect, sometimes even a few weeks. Also, 5mg for a first time patient even if it could be felt at all, wouldn't cause anything like this. - Zaxcomp, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3Long read, not terribly well written to be honest.
Hardly the "pill popper"-story she makes it out to be, especially compared to the "rest of America" she draws in quotes about. The article as a whole, comes to a no conclusion, just sudden shifts from anti-pills, pro-pills, back to anti-pills, to "I dont know if I'll take anti-depressants in the future, but I'm glad they are around, I guess?"; a sad end for what could have been a vanguard piece (especially with her citations) against the Big Pharma anti-depressant marketing. Makes you wonder if Elle magazine has vested interest in advertising dollars from the pharmaceutical industry. - yocouchdigga, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3and if you get up and you're horny, rub one out before starting the day.
the cycle has kept me from caving in to my ex for two months; it works. - JordanTW90, on 07/09/2009, -3/+5This is a resume for the author, not an article.
- uknowwhoibe, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3Do you?
- diggopolous, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3WOAHHHHHH! ***** you and ***** your ignorant advice. Your wife was extremely, extremely lucky she did not have a lethal seizure. Benzo withdrawal is serious business and demands a taper under CLOSE physician supervision.
- srs2000, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3I would give you some advice... But.. Honestly... Nothing can help you.
Xanax is one of the worst meds to be addicted to and then quit cold. Welcome to hell week. I hope you don't have to work or go to school or take care of anyone for the next week or so...
Years of morphine.. norco/vicodin (hydrocodone), fentanyl, etc were easy compared to xanax. - Chordonblue, on 07/09/2009, -1/+3Really? So the advice our DOCTOR gave my wife and this guy's doctor cutting him off was wrong, huh?
Let's be more specific: By 'cold turkey', we could also mean 'cool turkey' - back down on the meds more slowly. Of course you should see a doc first - sorry I didn't allow for common sense.
The point is, no one should stay on these meds long term. Getting off of them ASAP should be the main goal. How you do it - only you and your doctor should decide. - diggopolous, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2no
- srs2000, on 07/09/2009, -0/+2Pills have different effects on different people.
I for one have written some extremely long winded ***** on pills.
and ***** calling someone who takes an anti-depressant a "pill popper" -- I'll leave that term to people who take lots of pills for no medical reason. - CrackHappy, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1Dude - it's called an adverse reaction! Those can happen pretty close to immediately if your body simply can't handle the chemical in the drug! I had something similar happen to me with Lexapro when I tried it. I got very very dizzy and was having trouble forming words for a few hours after taking it, and those symptoms started within 15 minutes of taking the pill.
- gianthorse, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1***** that.
- reeds1999, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1Drug Dealers make money selling drugs. Whats new?
- diggopolous, on 07/09/2009, -2/+3Obviously going off the pills also makes you a blabbermouth. This bitch does not shut up! 10 ***** pages? Does she get paid by the word?
- srs2000, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1Well then you really don't know what the ***** you are talking about.
I've taken 10k+ vicodin in the past 5 years. After about 6 months I lost all of the effects associated with people getting high off them. All they did for me was take away the pain from having about 2 feet of titanium in me. No one could tell if I were on vicodin.
And you sound like a ***** idiot. All pills have zero actual benefit and are just psychological? That is exactly what you are saying. Go be a douchebag elsewhere. - uknowwhoibe, on 07/09/2009, -1/+2To someone addicted to something, cold-turkey is NEVER the right way. You have to work your way off whatever it is that you're addicted to.
Don't give out advice as truth without specifically stating that it's your opinion. - tubeguy, on 07/09/2009, -0/+1Better living through chemistry!
- skipvt, on 07/09/2009, -1/+1I thought this was going to be an article about Rush Limbaugh.
- uknowwhoibe, on 07/09/2009, -1/+1Probably because it's well-written and thought-out.
It's a good read, provided you have the time to do so. - smokestack, on 07/09/2009, -1/+1wrong thread
- IPrintAll, on 07/09/2009, -1/+0So as long as the mysterious men in white coats declare "prescription" and with a magical wave of their pen turn addiction into "medical use".
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
This logic kills me. A person who is prescribed several Vicodens a day, in my opinion, is just as useless as a heroin addict. They ALWAYS have that ***** water bottle with them so their intestines don't crack and they bleed out. They always have that half in, half out, I'm going to drool on myself and pass out look to them.
An addict is an addict no matter what magical incantations some ***** in a white coat place on them.
Maybe. just maybe, "addict" isn't quite the bad word you think it is. - subterfu9e, on 07/09/2009, -3/+2Try 2 weeks for it to kick in.
You should definitely feel the effects @ 4. - foohookups311, on 07/09/2009, -4/+3I agree.... Effexor will ***** with your mind harder than pot or alcohol. The problem is that the doctors give this ***** out to easily now. Cut that ***** cold turkey, it will suck for a few weeks but at the end of the day you will be happy you did.
- Chordonblue, on 07/09/2009, -9/+5The best advice I have for you is this: Cold Turkey it. My wife was on Effexor, Xanax and other stuff for more than 10 years. Finally, 4 months ago, she quit. She went through three weeks of Hell: couldn't sleep, the feeling of bugs crawling all over her, brain 'zaps', etc. But the symptoms eventually went away. And she was able to sleep again - a normal, not drug-induced sleep.
All this stuff does is throw a blanket on your emotional state. Sure, it might calm the anxiety and fear, but it also lowers the natural emotional highs you used to get too. If it's used at all, it shouldn't be used long-term. At some point, you need to get to the center of why you took the stuff in the first place.
Believe me, as someone who went through anxiety attacks himself - without meds - I know how hard that can be. But when you come through the other side, it's worth it. - atai1638, on 07/09/2009, -6/+0Man that is a long-winded article...as illogical as a woman speaking
- otbeverly, on 07/09/2009, -17/+10First! ... LOL.
10 pages? I'm not reading all that.
Also, October 9, 2008 ... WTF, Digg? - inactive, on 07/09/2009, -9/+1tl;dr
Also, second.
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