Author Topic: Stopped taking my medication  (Read 3224 times)

Jo78

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Stopped taking my medication
« on: June 17, 2014, 01:15:45 PM »
Hi everyone

I stopped taking one of my medications last Thursday (Pregabalin for neurological pain) I've only been on it for 6 weeks and had a gradual increase to my max dose but last week it sent me into a very dark place and started to have suicidalthoughts so I stopped it there and then but the withdrawal has been worse and I've not been on it that long but obviously long enough to cause problems. My mood has been so low and feel so anxious and angry with myself all the time and shaking too. I can't even try to smile and I'm really hoping it's just withdrawal and it will pass but it is so horrible. I hate getting out of bed each morning and know I'm going to have to deal with another day of this.
It has doubled my depression and I just want it to stop!
Everyday is a challenge right now :(

Joanne x :(

Pip

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Re: Stopped taking my medication
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2014, 04:19:55 PM »
Go and speak to your GP and tell him / her exactly how you have been feeling.

Jo78

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Re: Stopped taking my medication
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2014, 07:41:12 PM »
I can't get to see my (or any GP!) until the 4th July x

Grace

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Re: Stopped taking my medication
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2014, 08:33:29 PM »
The 4th of July is a long wait ...... I don't know about your health system but there should be a way to get urgent help. The medication you have stopped should have been weaned off. There could have been a recurrence of depression before stopping the medication immediately, whilst this in itself gives bad side-effects.
I really hope you can find a way ..... at least a mental health nurse. I'm sure you stopped your medication hoping that you will feel better .... I'm really sorry for your suffering!
Grace

Pip

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Re: Stopped taking my medication
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2014, 05:16:21 PM »
It's ridiculous having to wait that long.

SteveW

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Re: Stopped taking my medication
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2014, 05:09:03 PM »
Grace is quite right about never stopping psychiatric medicine suddenly but Pregabalin especially so. You are probably quite right about Pregabalin causing suicidal thoughts. I read somewhere that one person in five hundred who take Pregabalin get suicidal thoughts or impulses, which is quite a lot of people. Withdrawal symptoms are usually inconvenient and unpleasant but with Pregabalin they can be dangerous. Pregabalin was synthesized as an anti-epileptic drug and there is a possibility that one withdrawal symptom may be an epileptic seizure, which trust me you don't want.

July 4th is a long way away, but my GP is exactly the same. Where I live we have a walk in centre and an urgent care centre. You end up sitting in a waiting room for two hours but they do see everyone in the end. It might be worth using Google to see if you have anything comparable.
Sometimes the light is shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange, trip it's been