Posted by ST on July 25, 2004, at 23:40:20
In reply to why do i feel blank when i taper off . . ?, posted by sageblue on July 23, 2004, at 19:53:01
Hi you two,
Over the past ten years I have gotten on and off many drugs. I was on Depakote and usually two ADs at a time. Right now, my pdoc and I are experiementing with my "just" being on Wellbutrin, but this has been my experience:
Coming off ADs I've always gone through a period of increased anxiety and/or feeling totally loopy - or blank. Like I have absolutely no thoughts in my head. Once my brain and body get the drug totally and completely out of my system, I return to a base level. I used to think that without ADs I suffered from anxiety. Come to find out, I simply go through feelings of anxiety when coming off an AD - it is a side effect of withdrawing. At least for me. And I think the "blank" feeling is a side effect of withdrawal.
Coming off these drugs really does give us side effects. I've had a few pdocs who found it hard to believe I had withdrawal symptoms from coming off drugs. Other pdocs seemed to be knowledgable about how these drugs effect us when we taper.
After about 6 weeks without the drug, you should start to feel like yourself again. Again, it's different with everyone, but don't come to any conclusions about your diagnosis based on how you feel when you're tapering.
That's my two cents!Good luck~
Sarah> why do i feel 'blank' whenever i taper off of psychotropic meds? right now i'm tapering off of depakote, and feel like i can't concentrate as well, literally am not having as many thoughts. i just feel 'empty' in my head.
>
> i've felt the same way many times while getting off of an ssri, if i've been on it for a lenghty amount of time.
>
> does anyone have a theory about where this comes from?
poster:ST
thread:369749
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040724/msgs/370561.html