Was on a variety of antidepressants/antianxiety meds years ago, in my mid 30's into early 40's. Finally got myself to a point where I realized I didn't need them but I couldn't get off them for the reasons detailed here. I asked my family doc for help and he prescribed me one with a different half life, just three pills (I think it may have been Prozac? I remember thinking it was an old-school one) I took one every couple of days for a week, and it got me past the withdrawal without a problem. Been pharma free ever since. It is interesting though that I had to ask to be taken off of my meds (that in retrospect, were just covering up the effects of some very obvious issues in my life), no one ever said, hey, you sure you still need those? I would have remained on them forever, probably.
I had similar experience in the late 70's. Prozac - pkrescribed by a young General Practitioner - saved my life. Knowing now what I did not know then, I suspect Prozac got it's bad rap because of Big Pharma.
I relate to that - as much as I hate taking any kind of pharmaceutical - especially now, having learned so much! - in retrospect, when that doc first gave me whatever it was (I think it was Zoloft) it kind of saved me too. It gave me space to breathe and realize that I wasn't actually dying of some horrible disease. I just wish that it had started a conversation and turned into getting me the help that I needed. I am very thankful that I found a path to health without it, I'm sure that not many do.
Another excellent article that upsets my head. When I realized the meds were killing me and no one could really even explain to me how they were interacting and what really was causing what, I went to my doctors and asked for help getting off them so we could see what was underneath it all. I was fired as a patient for noncompliance. My psychiatric provider told me "The next time I see you will be in the suicide ward at the mental hospital." Which pissed me off enough that I made SURE I didn't end up there. I found a nurse practitioner who would keep prescribing for me as I told her to, and had no clue to do this, and I started withdrawals on my own.
If I had known it would be two years locked in my house alone to do it, I'm not sure I'd have had the guts. " a joint effort between the patient, a prescriber willing to manage the taper, a therapist providing psychological support, and the patient’s family and social network." Must be nice.... My mom is the only family who supported me in this, and there was none of the rest of that list. None. I "managed the taper" based on how I was feeling. Me, some cats, and locked in the house. If I got out once a month for groceries it was a good month. Some months were not good.
I did a LOT of detox, supplements etc to clean out all the chemicals as fast as I could stand it, did elimination diets to figure out what I was reacting to, learned a LOT, have log files from hell, and survived it and came out fairly intact.
It's been 15 years, I can still feel the damage sometimes, as a matter of fact at my alt med provider yesterday I told her that what I'm fighting with right now feels like the meds again. The receptors are still not working correctly, and a year of heavy stress that I'm coming out of stirred it all up again. I suspect I will be damaged by the meds for the rest of my life.
After over 20 years of drug induced bipolar disorder, I walked away. It was a difficult journey, slowly decreasing the drugs I had been on for so many years, but I did it! You can too. Faith in God replaced the medications. Always trust in the Lord
A Fourth Step Promise from Alcoholics Anonymous’ Big Book states:
“When the Spiritual Malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically [and emotionally].” How?
By taking in external support, we find internal support for taking The Hero’s Journey into The Wound and learn to integrate the non-nourishing emotional charge that gave rise to the Wound. How? By feeling.
The Medicine for The Wound is in The Wound - it’s not in a pill.
Pssst- the Spiritual Solution is simple and hard work - and it is FREE.
..."Their brain has been physically restructured by the medication."...well, if that doesn't scare you half to death, nothing will. Thanks for further convincing me that the ghouls called doctors are pretty much useless as they do not understand the drugs they prescribe. The very fact that they always tell us we will be on this drug or that for life is extremely telling. That is not a cure or health. It is slavery for profit.
I was on Cymbalta for 10yrs following my son's death. I stopped feeling anything at all & decided I wanted off. It made me suicidal withdrawing from it. I had to take the capsules apart & count the little tiny "beads" of medicine. Every few days I took out about 3-4 more than I took out the last time. It took me a few months, I had been on the max dose, plus another "milder" antidepressant to finally get off of it & then I had to wean off the other one which thankfully didn't take as long. I haven't touched psych meds in 10yrs now.
Another real life example of this is Stevie Nicks. It was easier for her to break her cocaine addiction than to get off the drugs a psychiatrist put her on. That took three years.
The people still have to be willing to read it. In the era of experts, we have been trained to outsource our critical thinking, to those who know better. To come back from being told you are too small to figuring out how your body works, it is very difficult for a person to all of a sudden to go from "I am too small to figure this out" to being an empowered being who knows better. And those who say they can help are those who have stake in the system. MAHA can publish the information, but they can't make people read it. The system has to collapse from within, something that takes time as the collective consciousness does not happen overnight.
Are you familiar with Kelly Brogan's work? It's highly relevant to this post. She is a psychiatrist that has stepped away from traditional medical practice entirely. She writes extensively about psychiatric drugs, their harms, and how to withdraw from them...and has a program to support folks doing that difficult work. You might be interested in reviewing one or more of her books.
Kelly's a terrain doc. Here is one of the interviews Tom Cowan did with her, of which he's done several. (She also presented during one of the units of his New Biology course):
Thank you ! This is very helpful! So hard for new counselors raised in college that teaches the drugs heal the broken brain is still going on! It's these drugs that are breaking the brain!! Doctors also specially physic docs...drugs are the healer not food issues, food that heals and disciple in behavior those has no side effects except living better lives without all the damaging side effects of drugs being pushed in us!!
God bless the ones that are spreading truths! -- in recovery for 3 years off all those meds took 2 years to detox and I'm still relearning skills of emotional strengths and yes, God of Bible has been my stay of life and sanity! Yes, Christians have been fooled in this area of drugs for emotional help...such a lie! And, Yes, the birds do sing so sweetly now! The flowers are radiant with splashes of golden hues and all the colors of the rainbow! 🦋
I practiced psychiatry for 8 years before leaving it for integrative medicine - mostly homeopathy, with some other holistic therapies interwoven. I have detoxed dozens and dozens of people from psychotropic medication. Nearly all are able to come off, but it is sometimes quite arduous. I have found that a constitutional homeopathic remedy and herbal nervines can be of great assistance, but the most important ingredient, which Unbecoming alludes to, is patience.
Indeed. "A person on psychiatric drugs — antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilisers — faces a problem that is not comparable. Their brain has been physically restructured by the medication. Stopping it is not a decision. It is an ordeal that can last months or years, that can produce symptoms worse than anything that brought them to psychiatry in the first place, and that the entire medical system is designed to interpret as proof that the drugs were needed all along." Though brain neuroplasticity is possible. As someone who has followed these issues closely, I find this quote hits hard and is unfortunately very accurate. When people are on psychiatric drugs — antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, or mood stabilizers — their brain physically adapts and restructures around the medication. Stopping isn't just a simple choice; it can become a long, brutal ordeal lasting months or even years, often producing symptoms far worse than what originally led them to seek help.What makes it even more frustrating is how the medical system is set up to interpret those withdrawal symptoms as proof that the person 'needs' the drugs forever, leading to more prescriptions instead of proper support for tapering.That said, I do believe recovery through neuroplasticity is possible, especially for people with high cognitive reserve — like a brilliant mind such as Sakharov. A strong, well-exercised brain may have a better chance of rewiring itself successfully after the drugs are gone. Still, it's not easy or guaranteed, and it demands enormous patience and the right approach.This is a serious reality that more people need to understand before starting these medications.
In the early 1950s, psychiatry first became dependent on pharma drug treatment when chlorpromazine was introduced by a company known at that time as Smith-Kline, or Smith Kline and French. The drug is based on an insecticide that had been used on crops but was discontinued because it was too sensitive to sunlight. Many patients have described the drug's effects as like a "chemical straitjacket." The drug's class is "phenothiazine," and the pharma cartel have produced many competing brand-name drugs based on alterations of the same chemical. Since chlorpromazine has been used for several decades, its list of side effects has grown to several pages. "Sudden and unexpected death" is one of phenothiazines' most alarming side effects, but it's still widely used in psychiatry. Psychiatrists routinely tell their patients that they won't get well if they don't take the drug. They have to prescribe pharma's psychiatric drugs in order to protect their medical licenses from revocation by state medical boards.
RE: "One university researcher told Breggin that a finding of irreversible receptor loss “could be used against Eli Lilly in lawsuits” — and then confirmed that he receives funding from Eli Lilly for his own receptor research."
Ah yes, it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!
Was on a variety of antidepressants/antianxiety meds years ago, in my mid 30's into early 40's. Finally got myself to a point where I realized I didn't need them but I couldn't get off them for the reasons detailed here. I asked my family doc for help and he prescribed me one with a different half life, just three pills (I think it may have been Prozac? I remember thinking it was an old-school one) I took one every couple of days for a week, and it got me past the withdrawal without a problem. Been pharma free ever since. It is interesting though that I had to ask to be taken off of my meds (that in retrospect, were just covering up the effects of some very obvious issues in my life), no one ever said, hey, you sure you still need those? I would have remained on them forever, probably.
I had similar experience in the late 70's. Prozac - pkrescribed by a young General Practitioner - saved my life. Knowing now what I did not know then, I suspect Prozac got it's bad rap because of Big Pharma.
I relate to that - as much as I hate taking any kind of pharmaceutical - especially now, having learned so much! - in retrospect, when that doc first gave me whatever it was (I think it was Zoloft) it kind of saved me too. It gave me space to breathe and realize that I wasn't actually dying of some horrible disease. I just wish that it had started a conversation and turned into getting me the help that I needed. I am very thankful that I found a path to health without it, I'm sure that not many do.
Another excellent article that upsets my head. When I realized the meds were killing me and no one could really even explain to me how they were interacting and what really was causing what, I went to my doctors and asked for help getting off them so we could see what was underneath it all. I was fired as a patient for noncompliance. My psychiatric provider told me "The next time I see you will be in the suicide ward at the mental hospital." Which pissed me off enough that I made SURE I didn't end up there. I found a nurse practitioner who would keep prescribing for me as I told her to, and had no clue to do this, and I started withdrawals on my own.
If I had known it would be two years locked in my house alone to do it, I'm not sure I'd have had the guts. " a joint effort between the patient, a prescriber willing to manage the taper, a therapist providing psychological support, and the patient’s family and social network." Must be nice.... My mom is the only family who supported me in this, and there was none of the rest of that list. None. I "managed the taper" based on how I was feeling. Me, some cats, and locked in the house. If I got out once a month for groceries it was a good month. Some months were not good.
I did a LOT of detox, supplements etc to clean out all the chemicals as fast as I could stand it, did elimination diets to figure out what I was reacting to, learned a LOT, have log files from hell, and survived it and came out fairly intact.
It's been 15 years, I can still feel the damage sometimes, as a matter of fact at my alt med provider yesterday I told her that what I'm fighting with right now feels like the meds again. The receptors are still not working correctly, and a year of heavy stress that I'm coming out of stirred it all up again. I suspect I will be damaged by the meds for the rest of my life.
The system is broken.
You are a brave lady. Hold the line!
Thank you. It's not easy. But I'm still managing it. Keep me in your prayers :D
After over 20 years of drug induced bipolar disorder, I walked away. It was a difficult journey, slowly decreasing the drugs I had been on for so many years, but I did it! You can too. Faith in God replaced the medications. Always trust in the Lord
A Fourth Step Promise from Alcoholics Anonymous’ Big Book states:
“When the Spiritual Malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically [and emotionally].” How?
By taking in external support, we find internal support for taking The Hero’s Journey into The Wound and learn to integrate the non-nourishing emotional charge that gave rise to the Wound. How? By feeling.
The Medicine for The Wound is in The Wound - it’s not in a pill.
Pssst- the Spiritual Solution is simple and hard work - and it is FREE.
10-18-85
Amen.
..."Their brain has been physically restructured by the medication."...well, if that doesn't scare you half to death, nothing will. Thanks for further convincing me that the ghouls called doctors are pretty much useless as they do not understand the drugs they prescribe. The very fact that they always tell us we will be on this drug or that for life is extremely telling. That is not a cure or health. It is slavery for profit.
Coming off Prozac was the hardest thing I have ever done.
Holistic healing has been my foundational approach ever since!
I wrote a book about my healing journey.
https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Journey-Healing-Partum-Psychosis-ebook/dp/B002KAO6V2?ref_=ast_author_mpb
Thanks for this wonderful article!
I was on Cymbalta for 10yrs following my son's death. I stopped feeling anything at all & decided I wanted off. It made me suicidal withdrawing from it. I had to take the capsules apart & count the little tiny "beads" of medicine. Every few days I took out about 3-4 more than I took out the last time. It took me a few months, I had been on the max dose, plus another "milder" antidepressant to finally get off of it & then I had to wean off the other one which thankfully didn't take as long. I haven't touched psych meds in 10yrs now.
Another real life example of this is Stevie Nicks. It was easier for her to break her cocaine addiction than to get off the drugs a psychiatrist put her on. That took three years.
A real MAHA movement would make this information mainstream.
The people still have to be willing to read it. In the era of experts, we have been trained to outsource our critical thinking, to those who know better. To come back from being told you are too small to figuring out how your body works, it is very difficult for a person to all of a sudden to go from "I am too small to figure this out" to being an empowered being who knows better. And those who say they can help are those who have stake in the system. MAHA can publish the information, but they can't make people read it. The system has to collapse from within, something that takes time as the collective consciousness does not happen overnight.
Well said and I agree.
My statement was reactive. Even though I know better, I still spend too much time criticizing our current state of ignorance and corruption.
Real change is human revolution. When people change and realize their inherent potential, no system breeding confusion for profit will stand.
May we all bow to each other out of deep respect.
Are you familiar with Kelly Brogan's work? It's highly relevant to this post. She is a psychiatrist that has stepped away from traditional medical practice entirely. She writes extensively about psychiatric drugs, their harms, and how to withdraw from them...and has a program to support folks doing that difficult work. You might be interested in reviewing one or more of her books.
https://a.co/d/03PIVMlt
Kelly's a terrain doc. Here is one of the interviews Tom Cowan did with her, of which he's done several. (She also presented during one of the units of his New Biology course):
https://drtomcowan.com/blogs/podcasts/3-kelly-brogan?_pos=1&_sid=b926a5967&_ss=r
I’m not really, thank you for the pointer, I will check out her work.
Thank you ! This is very helpful! So hard for new counselors raised in college that teaches the drugs heal the broken brain is still going on! It's these drugs that are breaking the brain!! Doctors also specially physic docs...drugs are the healer not food issues, food that heals and disciple in behavior those has no side effects except living better lives without all the damaging side effects of drugs being pushed in us!!
God bless the ones that are spreading truths! -- in recovery for 3 years off all those meds took 2 years to detox and I'm still relearning skills of emotional strengths and yes, God of Bible has been my stay of life and sanity! Yes, Christians have been fooled in this area of drugs for emotional help...such a lie! And, Yes, the birds do sing so sweetly now! The flowers are radiant with splashes of golden hues and all the colors of the rainbow! 🦋
Praise the Lord.
I practiced psychiatry for 8 years before leaving it for integrative medicine - mostly homeopathy, with some other holistic therapies interwoven. I have detoxed dozens and dozens of people from psychotropic medication. Nearly all are able to come off, but it is sometimes quite arduous. I have found that a constitutional homeopathic remedy and herbal nervines can be of great assistance, but the most important ingredient, which Unbecoming alludes to, is patience.
Gosh I could tell you some stories. psycho-the-rapist or psychotherapist? It is a matter of opinion.
Indeed. "A person on psychiatric drugs — antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilisers — faces a problem that is not comparable. Their brain has been physically restructured by the medication. Stopping it is not a decision. It is an ordeal that can last months or years, that can produce symptoms worse than anything that brought them to psychiatry in the first place, and that the entire medical system is designed to interpret as proof that the drugs were needed all along." Though brain neuroplasticity is possible. As someone who has followed these issues closely, I find this quote hits hard and is unfortunately very accurate. When people are on psychiatric drugs — antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, or mood stabilizers — their brain physically adapts and restructures around the medication. Stopping isn't just a simple choice; it can become a long, brutal ordeal lasting months or even years, often producing symptoms far worse than what originally led them to seek help.What makes it even more frustrating is how the medical system is set up to interpret those withdrawal symptoms as proof that the person 'needs' the drugs forever, leading to more prescriptions instead of proper support for tapering.That said, I do believe recovery through neuroplasticity is possible, especially for people with high cognitive reserve — like a brilliant mind such as Sakharov. A strong, well-exercised brain may have a better chance of rewiring itself successfully after the drugs are gone. Still, it's not easy or guaranteed, and it demands enormous patience and the right approach.This is a serious reality that more people need to understand before starting these medications.
Before starting aka informed consent. Usually in absentia. Eg during convid.
In the early 1950s, psychiatry first became dependent on pharma drug treatment when chlorpromazine was introduced by a company known at that time as Smith-Kline, or Smith Kline and French. The drug is based on an insecticide that had been used on crops but was discontinued because it was too sensitive to sunlight. Many patients have described the drug's effects as like a "chemical straitjacket." The drug's class is "phenothiazine," and the pharma cartel have produced many competing brand-name drugs based on alterations of the same chemical. Since chlorpromazine has been used for several decades, its list of side effects has grown to several pages. "Sudden and unexpected death" is one of phenothiazines' most alarming side effects, but it's still widely used in psychiatry. Psychiatrists routinely tell their patients that they won't get well if they don't take the drug. They have to prescribe pharma's psychiatric drugs in order to protect their medical licenses from revocation by state medical boards.
Meditation. Holotrophic breathwork.
Dynamic meditation.
RE: "One university researcher told Breggin that a finding of irreversible receptor loss “could be used against Eli Lilly in lawsuits” — and then confirmed that he receives funding from Eli Lilly for his own receptor research."
Ah yes, it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!
Indeed
https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/mortgages-create-beliefs?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web