I have been taking meds for a few years now for my PTSD and I am becoming increasingly anxious about the long term effects of drugs.I feel toxic, in otherwords. My doses aren't very high(Epival 500mg, Paxil 20mg, sometimes Ativan) but I made an appt with someone I know is a Homeopath and she says she has had success with PTSD. Does anyone know for sure if homeopathy meds can help? I feel that the weight gain and loss of libido really bother me and I want to feel clean?!...not toxic! Anyone have answers?

Hey dshanks -


Well, a couple questions. One why the Epival? Is it to level your mood swings if you have them, or is the doctor using it as an anti-convulsant? If for an anti-convulsant then the question is how much risk is there in you having a convulsion which can be fatal if bad enough. If for mood stabilization, there are alternatives.


It is imperative that you do not stop Epival abruptly!! You must work with your doctor on this if you chose to stop it. I am very pro-consumer choice in medication management because I was a psychiatric nurse for years and rx medications like those you are taking (ARNP's can rx meds in the USA). Also, I have an irreversible and disabling side effect from taking a certain psych med called Levalur I think is the name. So its your body. Some of these meds as you point out can have severe side effects.


I have stopped taking meds for both the specific reasons you mentioned . . . weight gain and lose of sex drive. Being fat was not worth the benefit of the med for me . . . although I know of one patient I treated who choose to be overweight rather than depressed because she was bed ridden when depressed.


Neither of your dosages on your meds seem too high but the bottom line is how it makes you feel in my book.


As far as the Homeopath goes, my doctor is a homeopath and she found all the answers the MD's didn't. All of them. She is the only one who helped me. Personally, and this is just my opinion, I believe in them.


I personally have not had much help from their homeopathic remedies because I was allergic or too sensitive to them to take them. But I know that for some people they work really well.


Lastly, I am concerned about you. Please, please, do not stop any of your Epival or Paxil without talking with your doctor. The consequences could be very severe and even fatal with the Epival and Paxil can have rebound symptoms if not tapered properly. I don't mean to scare you but just work with your doctor. If the doctor is worth anything he/she will understand. If not I'd go to another doctor.


As far as homeopath for PTSD you do understand that no meds homeopathic or traditional will make the PTSD go away but can treat the sx, right? My experience and understanding is that homeopathic preparations can treat sx which occur with PTSD with varying degrees of success just like regular meds. The benefit of homeopathy is that it is natural. A big plus in my opinion.


I want to warn you that some MD's are extremely anti-homeopathy. I contacted a shrink once who wouldn't treat me 'cause I was taking a few herbal supliments.


Anyway, if you feel toxic and are gaining weight I totally sympathize with your wanting to taper off your traditional meds and try homeopathy.


Would some other members please comment because this is an important issue for dshanks, and I don't want her to get hurt. But I want her to get the right treatment and feel better.

Please let us know how it goes . . .

Thank you so much for your opinion and your expertise on this. I take the Epival for mood stabilization, not epilepsy and I do plan on tapering off gradually,going down to 250 mg for a few days then every second day as well as for the Paxil. I don't know how my doc is going to respond but I am pretty sure he will support me and tell me what to do. I just don't feel right and I work out a lot and cannot lose the extra weight I have put on. I thank you so much for your support and I wish I knew for sure this stuff will work. I am tired of feeling like I am toxic

Please be careful when coming off of meds. It can be dangerous. You really do need to be under Dr care when doing this. I came off Cymbalta cold turkey and went through hell. Later I found out I actually could have gone into a lot of problems, and could have died from it.

Please be careful..... I do understand the need to come off, and total agree if that's what you want. Just use caution.

Dshanks, if you feel it is toxic for you, then yes, naturopath's can help. Alternative medicines are simply often more expensive than pharmacological. As you can appreciate yourself, they prescribe you a drug, then another to stabilize the side effects of that drug, then another to treat something else, then a reaction occurs there, so they remove one and introduce another two, and it goes round in circles. I agree with you, I cannot stand medications. I would rather go get acupuncture or the like if I was that bad, as that assists with treating anxiety. Not all naturopathic options work, again, it is not one blanket approach and you must find the right thing that works for you. The aim though is to remove the toxicity from your system, and regardless which approach in naturopathic procedures works for you, you do achieve that goal.

Hi D,
I hate medications too and really want to get off of them. Every time I go to my Psychiatrist he wants to increase the Risperdal. I don't even take that medication, but he thinks I do.

Every time he tells me he wants to increase the dosage I start to cry. He knows I don't like taking all the crap he prescribes. I told him I want to quit taking my medications as apposed to adding more, which he did last time. He added Trazodone for sleep because Ambien wasn't working. I haven't taken the Trazodone and won't.

I have an appointment with him tomorrow and I will simply tell him I am sleeping OK now and decided not to take the Trazodone.

I feel toxic enough just taking Ambien every night. And as needed: Adderall, Valium, and Darvocet. I do not take the Wellbutrin, Risperdal and Trazodone he prescribes me.
I like this doctor but he thinks I HAVE to take these medications. I think I made this about me. Sorry!

I meant to sympathize with you in that I feel toxic too. It sucks and I don't know what to do.

Peace
Tammy

She Cat is right. This is something you should not be doing yourself. Seizures can be and are fatal. Abrupt withdrawal from the anti-seizure med can have unpredictable effects. These are extremely potent and powerful drugs. Never forget that.

Even a rather benign sounding drug like Paxil can have severe rebound which as a friend told me was a living hell. If you just tell your doctor that you cannot tolerate this toxic feeling and you will taper yourself if he/she doesn't he will be professionally required to help you. Otherwise you could sue his ass into a living hell if something happened.

I can tell you how he/she will respond when you tell him/her. She/he may not show it but they will be pissed.

Just pick up the bloody phone, call his office and he/she will tell you how and what dosage to use.

PS If you think you can taper off gradually by splitting the pills . . . NO NO NO. Many of those pills are timed released and if you split them you actually dramatically increase the short term blood level of the medication.

I'm telling as a professional, an RN who dealt with these questions daily for years . .. do not do this. You could kill yourself or seriously hurt yourself.

Please please please . . .

I take my meds for "quality of life"....Ive tried to come off some and found that all it did was make life harder with all the anxiety,depression,etc. If you know that ur quality of life will definately get better then I would consider it, but lliving with a few "drugged" feeling isnt all that bad...I grew up craving them.

I used to be on a combonation of MANY anxiety drugs...Prozac, Risperdol, Topamax, BuSpar, and Ativan...ALL AT ONCE. (And I haven't even listed the various meds I take for chronic IBS--also related to the anxiety and PTSD.) I have since come off of everyhing and try to take the Ativan only when I REALLY need it. But, I'm starting to go downhill a bit, and my doctors want to put me back on meds. I'm a fairly small person, and I think that because of this the side effects take a huge toll on my body. I also wish to get pregnant sometime soon (as stated in one of my recent posts), so I wanted to take some time to prepare my body and mind for when I wouldn't be able to take all of those meds. Right now I'm struggling to keep "sane" w/o the meds, but I'm not sure if I can do it :-(

Anyway, I totally know what you mean by feeling toxic. Last year when I was filling out my information before a doctor's appointment, I didn't have enough room to list all of my medications and had to ask the receptionist for another sheet!

I'm starting to think I'm the only person with a decent psych here! Mine, has me on ONE drug. That is it. She straight up told me if she could, she'd prescribe exercise and diet long before any pills. She doesn't want to increase them either. The only reason I'm on what I take is to stabilize me for exposure therapy. As for my IBS, diet and probiotics. Non of my therapy and medical team want me on actual medication if they can help it. Wish I could beam my team to you guys!

bec