For me. Like my hubs pointed out. No chemical works on me any more short of a horse tranquilizer.

I have had to do the deal with trauma during withdrawals. That is why I push as hard as I can as soon as doc hands you something to take med wise, you best jump on how to learn to heal and start trying. Don't sit around on your ass and think wow, I feel better and try to just go on like that. Rude awaking coming.

You will learn drugs supress many emotions and may feel you do not need to act quickly. Bad idea.

Also, you may think you have gone further than you thought while on meds healing. So once you are all the way off you get smacked with even more unaddressed emotions.

I am speaking from experience and not blowing hot air out of my ass. Though right now as I am completely off one of my meds now the withdrawal symptom for me for Zoloft is simply put RAGE.:angry-fla

I had been dealing with withdrawing from Xanax during healing. Stopped to withdraw from Zoloft. For a couple days I had to up my Xanax to 8-9mg a day to control the rage or someone would get hurt.

Today I am on my old reduced dose of 2 mg Xanax daily since I have removed all the children from the home this weekend to work on controlling it, and the extra emotions I did not know were there.

So when do you come off? Soon as you can IMHO. I am back to very strong Chamomile tea and Spearmint tea with the low dose xanax. Once the Zoloft withdrawals are done kicking me in the face I will return to cutting Xanax. I plan to be drug free soon and hope to just be sipping tea to ease tension like normal people.

Xanax is useless to me as it no longer controls panic and fear, I had/have to learn to control it on my own. Self control does not work when my trauma shows at my door, but the intensity of panic would send me to the hospital at those times; so having the amount of meds needed to control it is better to have on hand instead of being in ER being shot up with dope. My dose has been reduced on the xanax from 10 mg a day to 2 mg a day. You must go off slowly for safety/health reasons. So when he shows up I can take 3 mg (used to take that 3x a day everyday and 1 mg in the night after nightmares) and calm enough not to go to hospital. But not calm all the fear and panic away, just enough to avoid ER. I have learned it is pointless to try and numb it, you need to feel it to work through it.

Will I be able to bust through that one? :dont-know But if that is the only thing I can't control I am not going to bitch, even if I find all the rest still a pain in the ass.

So take it long enough until you are able to start to look at your issues. Once you can with out losing your mind, being suicidal..., start cutting. Because they will not be throughly pulled apart until you do not have mood and emotional altering drugs in your system.

For me I feel like I am in the home stretch. Every drug that has been removed and the more I educate myself the closer I am to recovery, and sometimes you will feel like you are having to start all over again, I know I do. Then you must look back at what you have done and recognize the accomplishments and see you have come a long way. I know I am rambling again, ya'll should be used to it by now! Any way my opinion and experience.