i think it really depends upon the person and their unique situation as to whether drugs can help or not. I found the Zoloft/Prozac kind aggravated my dissociation, however Effexor worked well and wasnt too sedating (hate older sedating antidepressants as well) until i doubled the dose and got an allergic reaction. Even if you take natural remedies you can still end up living amongst the pill bottles, and it does get a bit tiresome balancing them all out but if it keeps people from suicide then thats a positive in my book. It would be nice if there was a miracle drug/technique for PTSD but obviously thats not going to happen until they invent that Men-In-Black memory zapper (now how useful would THAT be!). I still think the prevalence of prescription drugs in society today is a damning indictment. What i see as the cause of this drugged society is the lack of social support networks and the individualisation of mental illness. As well as the big bucks to be made in meds!

I went down hill on Zoloft and Wellbutrin. Effexor helped stabilize me last year. I weened myself off of Seroquil and Paxil. Still on Effexor.

I was taking 20-30mg of paxil for years. It helped immensely with the panic attacks...I definitely noticed that they are worse since I quit taking it. I tightly control my environment to compensate for the lack of meds, however, when I do have a problem my symptoms run rampant. I like my doctors, even trust them but the bottom line for me is that I do not trust the pharmaceutical companies at all. I watch the news, and it seems that every time I turn around they are finding some sort of new dangerous side effect.

I didn't see anyone in this thread warning of the dangers of suddenly stopping medications, so I will share my experiences. I once had a hard time getting in to see a new doctor to get my prescription refilled and ran out. I began to feel as though I had a tornado in my head, I could not focus and became emotionally unstable. Within days I was in the hospital following an "attempt". The doctors said it was common, and that I should never quit a prescribed medication for my condition without close observation by a psychiatrist. I only took small doses to get off the medication...step down...and never took it again. I am wretched at remembering to take my meds, and I think some of my instability in the earlier years was due to the fact that I kept forgetting to take them when I got busy.

Ugh, that is not good New. I have one more of my pills for tonight, then I am out until Friday because I can't get in to see my doc on time for the next perscription. I'm expecting to be very sick and miserable.. maybe I should make sure someone checks on me... hmmms...

bec

Bec, do you know what the half life of paxil is? I know when I was on a huge dose (100 mg daily) of prozac I had no withdrawal symptoms even though I quit it cold turkey, because prozac stays in your body for so long. It left my body gradually.

If it doesn't have a long half life then that really sucks for you, in fact that can be dangerous, I think you could even get suicidal ideation from going off too quickly. Friday seems really far away, close to a week. Can you call the pharmacy and get them to call in a prescription to your doc? I've done that before. If not, yeah definitely have someone check on you if you can. I hope you will be all right.

I'm on Zoloft, low dose, only 25 mg a day and no you can't call in prescriptions like that unless you have one to begin with! my doc only gives me two months at a time so, i need a new one as my refills are done. Yeah this might be fun.. not. And I have no idea what the half life of this stuff is

bec

Hell, just being weaned off the Zoloft was ugly. It was cut 25 mg at a time. Last step off of the last 25 mg was when the baseball bat met the walls (Would love to forget that). Having someone keep check may be a very good idea. But after a month of being off I finally was getting my head back straight. Bad bad doctor on that call bec!

I looked up Zoloft. It has a 26 hour half life, which means it takes about 5-6 days to get out of your system. So, it might not be so bad for you in that case, bec. It's about 5 days now until you can see the doctor. So you might be able to manage, although it's obviously not an ideal situation!

Can you call the doctor for a new prescription and then get him/her to send it to the pharmacy? Again, my doctor will do this. Your doctor must suck, god...

Paxil on the other hand has a significantly shorter half life by comparison, which is probably why it feels worse for people coming off of that drug.

Many years .... many meds ... found out there was no such thing as the magic pill ... But if others are getting a benefit then how can I judge their value on my experience alone. ... There is currently a lot of study being done right now on a drug called propranalol ... it's been in use for years for heart medication but they are seriously looking at the properties it has to suppress memory ... please google it ... and read what seems to be a miracle drug for PTSD .... maybe it really is a magic pill .... but I am understandably cynical after all the meds I've tried ... Meds only ended up being a great danger to my existance , which is proof enough how benificial they were in my case ... Thanks for welcome , Thanks for the Forum .... It's a good thing ... Mate

Hey Desi, we had chatted a little on this a while back, may be worth a read if you like. Propranalol