Josh, medication IS a trial and error approach. In the initial stages of PTSD, you want to be medicated, even with the side effects, it is better than nothing. It gives you some room to breathe, some space around you to look at the wider picture. As you begin your healing process, you then start looking at what you really have medication wise, and what you can live without. If you have two meds doing basically the same thing, you look at getting rid of the worst withdrawal wise, as you have another to cover it and ease some of the withdrawals.

During the inital stages of healing though, medication, something... is really essential. As you progress, you cut things out. You learn to cope without them, and as you ask, yes they do block the healing process from you really feeling what you need too in order to heal. But coming off them too soon can certainly be worse for you.

You will know as you learn, as you educate and practice techniques upon yourself to cope in stressful and anxious situation. As you do this, the medications are still at play, so you then look at cutting them down progressively and exposing yourself to stressful anxious situations, so you learn to cope without the medications.

If a medication though was making you have suicidal ideation, then that needs to be addressed, because as you heal, the suicidal ideation is something you will get just facing your past, let alone having it because of a medication already as a pre-existing factor.

If a tranquilizer works for you at the moment, and doesn't give you nasty side effects, then stick with it. As you heal, get rid of it. I don't personally see why anyone would need two medications to do the one thing. I know doctors say one to balance out the other, but if that where the case, then there should be one alternative that does the job, not two medications to achieve the one outcome. When a doctor begins telling you that you need one to balance out another, its only going to get worse in the long term, because when your body grows immunity to them, what next? Another drug to balance out the two???