Me, myself and getting sober

[StuckinLA]

Me, myself and getting sober

Oh Space,

I was a firefighter and trust me, you don't want any of us waking you up.

Now a nice harmless fire alarm at your office, where we pull up in the truck and you get to stand around outside the building in the warm sun... That works a lot better--less darkness, less smoke, less coughing, and a lot more breathing.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Me, myself and getting sober

mmmmm. A firefighter. yum. oops. sorry. Why is that so sexy? I know a couple of firemen. They are NOT sexy.

And yes, your point is taken LA. Puts a damper on the image... A simple systems test followed by all the rest...

[StuckinLA]

Me, myself and getting sober

It has to be the suspenders!

Oh and the other reason we shouldn't wake you is we are not pretty in the morning :H

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Me, myself and getting sober

:H

[redhead77]

Me, myself and getting sober

Bebe, I'm so happy you are going to the doc with the list! Be demanding and specific. If he says they've done some of those labs already, make sure to ask for them again if it's been a while. Make sure to ask about specific results if anything is abnormal. Can you get copies of your tests?

So it seems the general consensus is nobody wants to woken up by a goat or a rooster. Except I do remember a poster around here who would have loved having a goat wake him up. Wait, no, he had a thing for sheep.

I think the appeal of firefighters is what they do is often heroic. Some of them are in pretty good physical shape too. You can't help but appreciate a hot hero. :H

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

The firefighters I have met arent actually sexy hunks but I still cant get the image out of my head. It is the hero thing, the strong masculine guy coming to the rescue, its the whole knight in shining armour thing.

I just had a takeaway for my tea and it has made me feel sick, I should have stopped eating halfway through it, and knew I should have, but instead went and pigged out and now I just feel gross.

Nothing else to say very much at all, dont feel like drinking tonight at all, but opened a can of lager anyway and it taste vile so I have poured it away. Feel ready for b again, I hate this waiting until its a decent time to go to bed its bloody ridiculous.

[MusiciansMallet]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hi Spacebebe! Sorry it took so long to respond to your PM about this thread.. i've been camping! Sorry if some of this may be redundant, as I just read your PM & came here & posted. And please PM/post any updates to any tweaks in your medicines. Also, I put this together pretty quick, so if I left anything out; I?ll repost with additional information and/or respond to any additional info you may want to give me.


First- as i'm sure your doctor has told you (or should have told you), the most important thing is to withdraw one medicine at a time & ALWAYS titrate down with ANY medication that acts on the central nervous system (& all the meds you're taking do in fact act on the CNS). However, i'd recommend trying to reduce and/or withdraw any of these medications on your own first at no more than 10%-20% dose reduction (depending on the drug), dropping your dose every three days to every two weeks (again, depending on the drug & its mean half-life). The reason being, sometimes psychiatrists will withdraw you at UNSAFE levels (especially when it comes to antidepressants.. its amazing how unaware a lot of them are of some of the potential SE & w/d symptoms, at least w/ the many psych doctor's i've seen). Although, I see you?re in Europe?so your healthcare isn?t as privatized & made into a business as it is here in the States.


Second- the reasons for which you?re taking some of these medications (some of them obvious, such as HRT or campral/acamprosate) is integral to how you should withdraw them, or if you should withdraw them at all. For example, the diazepam (valium, trade name)- is this taken daily? Or as needed for panic attacks? This has a severe impact upon how to reduce this medicine.. Dosage and length of use is also very important (you will have to reduce your dose less often while titrating downwards if you've been on a drug longer to avoid potential abstinence syndromes).


Third- I put the medications in order below from which ones you should consider withdrawing from first. You should most certainly start with the easier medications first than the harder ones (such as codeine, if you?re on higher doses of that; or taking diazepam daily).


Finally- please do not take my recommendations as medical advice, but as mere suggestions; I am not your doctor, obviously. And I don't have your complete medical background nor am I aware of your personal circumstances or other mitigating factors.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Citalopram
If you're looking to cut out some of the medications, I definitely suggest starting with this one. Although, it can cause minor stimulation during the day, so this may cause some additive drowsiness, of which you're already experiencing. Withdraw no more than 20% every 3-10 days if possible to avoid abstinence syndrome (yes, even SSRI antidepressants have withdrawal, ugh).. Although, you may withdraw more quickly at higher rates if you're aren't feeling any adverse symptoms after a few weeks. But do not stop this drug abruptly. If you do abruptly stop, don't be fooled by not feeling any adverse symptoms right away; the onset of abstinence symptoms/withdrawal is delayed. Although, i'm sure for those of us who've been alcoholics (not me) & addicts (me) & who've experienced withdrawal; SSRI antidepressant withdrawal is CAKE. Anyway- also, be careful with concurrent use of this drug with higher intakes of alcohol, as SSRIs & alcohol are renown for inducing blackouts.

My only concern here is that you stated you have had depression lately; use care in withdrawing this medication and be attentive to any increase in depression. If you notice a relapse in depression or an increase in your current depression, either STOP titrating downwards or resume your previously prescribed dose. However, among SSRIs like citalopram, exasperated (and paradoxical..) depression is not unheard of. But, generally speaking, if you have always had depression (and not as a symptom of another mental disorder; which, of course, addiction/alcoholism can cause, even years after abstinence), you may want to be on some sort of antidepressant?especially if your depression is severely interfering with your quality of life and/or your ability to cope & manage. There are subtle differences between different SSRIs, even though they still act on 5-HT receptors by increasing serotonin levels; different SSRIs have varied levels of efficaciousness at different subtypes, which can cause more or less SEs, or more or less effective treatment of depression depending on your situation. It is actually quite common to switch between different SSRIs before discovering one that is best tolerated.
You have to just weigh the pros & cons- what is more impacting on your life? The depression? Or the SEs from your medication treating your depression (i.e., feeling ?flat?)?

Also- in regards to your depression: I don't know how long/when you started HRT, but if you are on hormone replacement therapy for menopause, some side effects do include depression (although uncommon), along with headaches (more common). But, if you've been on HRT prior to these symptoms started, you can consider this a moot point.


Risperidone
WARNING... do NOT discontinue this drug abruptly (unless transitioning to selective dopamine antagonist that acts in the same area of the brain, as you did before); it?s an atypical anti-psychotic & will cause symptoms such as psychosis/delirium in some patients! It also has a known additive/potentiating effect on fluoxetine (prozac) in double blind studies- and prozac is an SSRI antidepressant just like citalopram; so one could rationally deduce a likely similar interaction between these two drugs.

Reduction no more than 10%-20% dosage, every 3-8 days (whatever you can tolerate) if you'd like to get off this drug. If you?re only being prescribed this medication for sleep, gabapentin may do this job (depending on how you react to it); and some OTC meds may assist. Although, risperidone can have anxiolytic effects, but reduction in anxiety is probably ridiculously negligible compared to even low dosages of diazepam or campral or even alcohol (since you?re drinking as of now, although, I don?t recommend this for anxiety whatsoever) Unless you are diagnosed with any additional mental disorder (other than depression) & are taking the risperidone for this as well, then DO NOT DISCONTINUE this medication without consulting your doctor!

If you do suffer from depression on a consistent basis; you may want to at least continue on this drug or citalopram. Although risperidone is not an antidepressant in and of itself, if depression is merely a symptom of another mental dysfunction/disorder you may have (whether you know it or not) it may be helpful.


Acamprosate (Campral)
As a slight GABA-A agonist & glutamate stabilizer; this can (paradoxically) sometimes cause insomnia as a SE, although it is generally well tolerated. Withdrawing from this medication may be preferable if you are still drinking, as its main use is after cessation of withdrawal, mostly as a neuroprotective (since alcohol withdrawal causes excitotoxicity- i.e., brain damage; although, alcohol consumption also causes neurotoxicity, i.e., brain damage....)- However animal studies have shown this drug does reduce alcohol intake; so if you notice increased drinking if you decide to withdraw this medicine, please re-continue use!

If you decide to withdraw this medication, I would still keep your prescription to take as needed if you are to hop back on the wagon.. or in case you notice a substantial increase in your alcohol intake. According to medical literature, patient studies, & animal studies; no withdrawal occurs from acamprosate. I would still highly recommend only reducing your dose no more than 20%-30%, but you can reduce it by 5%-10% just to be safe. Reduction of dose should occur every 2-10 days, it does have a relatively long half-life (as long as 33 hours).


Codeine (Co-codamol)
This, of course, is used for pain.. if you have no need for it; you may reduce your dose by 10% every 3-6 days (codeine is a relatively short acting drug, w/ a short mean half life). If you continue on this medication, use caution! It contains acetaminophen (Tylenol) & will can cause liver problems- especially if you're drinking (and SSRIs can cause elevated liver enzymes as well; I am not sure about risperidone). Opiates & opioids are my expertise (GABAergic drugs, like barbiturates, benzodiazepines, alcohol, baclofen are a close second), so if you have any questions definitely PM me again!


Diazepam (Valium)
I really can?t say much on this, as I do not know if you?re taking this daily or not; what doses (although I know you did say it was a small amount). But I will say this: if you don?t have to take it; don?t. And even more important- if aren?t taking it daily, don?t start. You think alcohol withdrawal is traumatic? Try benzodiazepine withdrawal or barbiturate withdrawal. These drugs are extremely more efficient at agonizing GABA-A receptors and are much MUCH more likely to cause delirium tremens and PAWS (post-acute-withdrawal-syndrome) which can last for years, and in rare cases even indefinitely (I am a recovering opiate & heroin addict; & I would pick heroin withdrawal hands down over withdrawal from even a mere 50-60mg/day of diazepam (or any equivalent dose of a benzodiazepine or barbiturate) after one or more year of use). However, taking it for panic attacks for example (which isn?t daily) is much safer than daily use. But, being dependent upon?or previously dependent upon?alcohol means you always risk moving to daily use if it?s available to you, since these drugs act upon the same receptors (although alcohol also has some secondary effects on dopamine and suppressing glutamate activity). Of course, if you?re taking diazepam off label, for use as muscle relaxant or an anticonvulsant, this is a whole different ballgame.

So, you may want to expand upon this if this is medication you?d like to withdraw.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Most of these medications have a depressant effect on your central nervous system, aside from citalopram (and sometimes campral), or they all at least induce drowsiness through some mechanism or another (especially diazepam--err, valium--and codeine; along w/ the risperidone of course, but risperidone's pharmacodynamics act in different areas- mostly blocking adenosine receptors--which is where epinephrine & norepinephrine bind to). So, its no wonder you're experiencing dilibating tiredness; although, as you said you're experiencing increased depression- tiredness is certainly a symptom of this. And also, if you're using HRT for menopause, this can complicate a lot of things: both the medication & menopause itself.

Anyway, if you have anything to add/expand upon if you need further help- please do so!

Good luck!

[MusiciansMallet]

Me, myself and getting sober

(also- it is good to list your goals, intentions, questions, etc for your doctor- but, be careful. At least w/ the culture here in the US; some doctor's will be very off putting if you seem as if you're questioning or rivaling their opinions/views/knowledge, etc. Thus resulting in the doctor "shutting down" & being less responsive to you in the future. so, don't be TOO firm. Even though, I definitely believe the patient SHOULD be firm and the doctor SHOULD listen w/o offense, but in the real world it doesn't always turn out this way. But if you're confident in your doctor's ability to listen.. by all means be firm!)

[Bruunhilde]

Me, myself and getting sober

Shit this is too funny, so I had to go quickly and respond although I have alot to catch up with that I haven't read yet....

spacebebe01;1344257 wrote: Maybe because its called the big banG theory, sorry Bruun I just couldnt resist, I am sad I know, please dont take offence. or my dogs will get out. Ohh dear me it gets worse,,,, Ive gone and forgotten what I was going to say now, Oh yes I know, I love your picture Bruun but I need to make a few adjustments, Im not sure about these goats having to be fire fighters, where would we get the uniforms to fit them, and, I like roosters, I have never met one but I like the idea of a rooster outside my window at 7am going cock-a-doo-daldoo, rather than my alarm clock making its horrible noise. So we can have it all your way apart from firefighting (how would they do that) goats and roosters. Why dont people like roosters? OOoops sorry it was your dream anyway, so you can have it all your way, you can even have a proper man fire fighter all to yourself

x

Laughed out loud at the banK/banG thing and your putting my goats into firefighter suits or just letting them off the hook entirely. If they don't have fire duty, then instead of eating all the dry brush/grass that fires love, and also goats like, they'll be eating my clothes and shoes and bits of my house on the hill. The rooster thing is all about the crowing at o'dark thiry in the morning. Makes roosters dinner after too many hours of that racket. LOL I am getting a hair piece ladies, by the way, so that firefighter will have to deal with it. Loved everyone's commentary on the firefighters and roosters. LA, you're right about I'd rather let you guys/gals do the tough stuff although it might be good for me to go in the building and singe my hair off because then I'd have a heroic reason to be bald.

Bought the whole season of Big Bang last night.

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hi MM, and thank so much for all your time and knowledge, I hope you had a good camping trip, its sounds exciting, being in the middle of nowhere living in nature, what did you eat?

A few of my med questions have now been answered, I have stopped the serequel, even tho I stopped it slowley it wasnt fun, and has made me quite scared of taking risperadol, I havent taken it yet, dont know whether to, Im trying to manage on the citalopram so will see how that goes for now. I am diagnosed bipolar so do need some of these drugs to control my symptoms.

And yes I think my general practitioner doctor is quite open to talk about things but cant overule the psychiatrist who as a consultant isnt open to talk, when I saw her last week she compleatly derailed me off what I wanted to say with questions and it wasnt a good consultation for me at all..

I have altered the times I take gabapentin and moved it later in the day to try and aviod the tiredness, so far no difference but I will continue anyway.

And my co codamol, if I could get the codiene without the paracetamol/tylenol then my liver might well be safer but who knows what would happen. I take this everyday, have done for I dont know how long, get it on a free script when I ask for it and have no intention of stopping it. I do take it for pain but accept their may well be some addiction to it there. My biggest worry is the parecetamol but the doc says I have the stongest codiene percentage he can give.

Its the same gp doc that gives me the valium and he only gives me a very limited amount every now and again, because of this I do only take then when I really need to or want to.

I was reading you post on your own thread MM and wanted to say that I have a few views on things their, #1 is that people with anxiety driven to alcoholism/addiction, or anxiety being the driving force behind this, I have a friend well he was my husbands freind so I have known him most of my adult life, and he has about the worst anxiety I have ever seen, it is painful to watch him go though the agony he goes through every day because of it. He has been surrounded by alcoholics and drug addicts all his life within his family and friends but has never once turned to either to resolve his anxiety. I have asked him about this and he says he just doesnt know why, I has never appealed to him to drink or take drugs and then as we all got older his anxiety got worse but so did our addictions, but we started to seriously mess up our lives and die, he still lives with crippling anxiety. What I am trying to say is, I think maybe anxiety is a driving force for addiction, but not a cause.

When I met my husband I drank more than him, probably took more drugs than him, I was 23 he was 22. It was strange because he was actually more messed up than me but kept staighter. Anyway we stayed together, had two kids, he started having panic attacks and eventually got prescribed ad's and was told not to drink on them, so he didnt drink for a year, despite the fact that at the time he was working as a night club doorman in a very drinking culture. Then he found cocaine and combined it with drink and was diagnosed as schitzophrenic (sp?) and eventually died. What I am trying to say is that I dont think there is one thing that is an addict, John had taken every other drug with me including heroin, it was only when he took coke he went totally mad and died, I took loads of coke and then just stopped bacause I was sick of it and the lifestyle and it didnt bother me again but I coulnt stop drinking. Its a one drug thing.

Right Ive gone way of now what the hell am I talking about, this is why I need my own thread, I can just let loose with whatever shit I need.

My drinking,... is still daily, athough yesterday I bought lager and couldnt drink it, it tasted so bad, it was as if it had been opened around a week or more before. Even when I treid the next can later on it was just as bad so got binned. I dont really know what else to say about my drinkg, I could probably just stop without much discomfort, but that is my comfort.

Last night I had no sleep at all, no other drug has done this to me, in fact nothing has done this to me other that stopping drinking, that is the only time I have ever not been able to sleep all night, opps in case anyone missed it I started topa 5 days ago. I have never watched "The IT crowd" before and I am now on season 3. I dont think this will be an ongoing problem for me as oversleeping has aways been my main problem, its probably just a one off.

I had a delicious dinner tonight, the best one I have cooked in a long time, it was only fajitas, and extras but it was great.

My other problems are :- apart from sleeping, laziness, lack of motivation, well my dogs, they are moultng everywhere, since my back went I havent been able to take them out and now they desperately need to get out, and I dont know what, the amound of hair they are loosing they should be bald, maybe Im only noticing it this year because they are stuck in with me. And

The dresses.. I have got to get a move on with them tommorrow

If anyone has managed to read through this then thank you xxx it is really to remind me what I need to do

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

Bruun X posted I had a choice last night to watch big bang or the IT crowd, do you know it, its an english thing but I think you would like it if you could get it. I stream it on i player, can you do that?

[MusiciansMallet]

Me, myself and getting sober

Fist off i'm short on time, so i'll address most of what you've said. But, If you're diagnosed with bipolar, you certainly would need at the least citalopram; but SSRI medications are very poor in treating this mental disorder.. although risperidone is most certainly more effective in treating this. If anything, i'd replace the citalopram with the risperidone (via a slow wean off of the citalopram). Your depression & sleep issues are probably more or less symptoms of bipolar. But, again, you'd have to weigh the pros & cons w/ risperidone- is the cure/treatment better than dealing with symptoms of bipolar? This is something you'd have to decide, hopefully w/ help of your doctor.

And thanks for your compliments, by the way. And yes, i read your full post... so thanks for the kisses, :H

What I am trying to say is, I think maybe anxiety is a driving force for addiction, but not a cause. First, addiction is addiction; no matter what substance one is dependent upon- be it alcohol or heroin. And I agree. Although, i'd say anxiety can be a mitigating factor for addiction in genetically predisposed individuals, but certainly not the majority of the world's population who aren't predisposed to addiction disorder. And certainly self-medicating & drugs/substances such as alcohol or other illicitly obtained drugs are worse than dealing w/ the anxiety (at least in my opinion), even if this means no prescribed medication, which are preferably diazepam (valium) or alprazolam (xanax). I have panic attacks and generalized anxiety as well, although i am not medicated for it. But my medication butalbital, which is a barbiturate, certainly assists w/ this. As does baclofen at my current doses.

Then he found cocaine and combined it with drink and was diagnosed as schitzophrenic (sp?) and eventually diedWOW! I am so sorry to hear about the death of your loved one. There is severely increased cardiotoxicity (toxic/damage to the heart); neurotoxicity (toxic/damage to the brain); & increased hepatic (liver) & renal (kidneys) toxicity w/ this combination. Concurrent use of both ethanol (alcohol) and cocaine causes a reaction in the body to create a new substance: cocaethylene.

The toxicity of the areas I mentioned above w/ cocaethylene are SEVERELY higher than cocaine & alcohol taken together (assuming cocaethylene was not created by the body via concurrent use). This is VERY dangerous. And if he was diagnosed w/ schizophrenia, cocaine will severely exasperate this disorder & make it worse (cocaine psychosis- i.e, staying up 2-3 days straight using cocaine--or amphetamines, which is called "amphetamine psychosis" obviously--is indistinguishable with paranoid schizophrenia).

I do take it for pain but accept their may well be some addiction to it there. My biggest worry is the parecetamol but the doc says I have the stongest codiene percentage he can give.

What is your daily dose of codeine? The higher end doses (per pill) are 30 mg and 60 mg in all of western Europe, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, here in the states, & basically in all of the west. And also, what mg count of paracetamol is in each pill? (if its anything like here in the US; the bottle should read, for example: 30mg/500mg. The 30mg obviously referring to the codeine & the 500mg obvious referring to the paracetamol)

I hope you had a good camping trip, its sounds exciting, being in the middle of nowhere living in nature, what did you eat?

The camping was fun! thanks for asking -- & we took our own food & put it on ice, but also fished.. it was just a total b*tch having to start a fire in the morning for coffee & food (having to wait an hour at least until the fire got hot enough!)

[StuckinLA]

Me, myself and getting sober

Space, I was just going to pop in here and make another joke about firefighters, or say something about watching whole seasons of comedy shows.

But man, so sorry to hear about your husband. Obviously I have no idea when that happened, so maybe these condolences are very belated... Anyway, wanted to be sure to send some love :l

I watch a lot of TV, too. When I'm drinking I'll go through whole series in a matter of a week or 2, sometimes so drunk I don't even remember 1/2 of it. Or when trying to get sober, when I can't even focus enough to stare at a wall. And then sometimes I just put music on and it seems like so much work to turn off the music and try to pay attention to a show. Comedies are great for that, though...

I don't really know what I'm saying. Enjoy the TV. Don't beat yourself up over the takeaway the other night. I know it feels awful afterwards, but I still think it's better to indulge in some shitty fast food sober than to get wasted. And, for me anyway, getting wasted usually meant getting a bunch of hamburgers from McDonald's anyway...

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

Thanks for the condolences, I should have said it was five years ago, but I was trying to make some kind of point about how addiction gets us, I think, in fact Im not sure what I was going on about now.

NO, No no more jokes about heroic hunky firefighters coming equipped with their hose to rescue fair maidens :H

oh okay then carry on and make as many as you like

MM, Im glad you took food camping, but why no little gas burner, I need my morning coffee and always take one. I had visions of you foraging for food and coming back with some half eaten carcass that something had left behind. I have never fished tho and that sounds so cool, catching fresh fish then cooking it on the fire, yum.

My cocodamol is 30/500, I didnt know they did 60. But then Im ok on this. My doc did once suggest reffering me to the hospital regarding my back and said it was them who could issue an MRI? scan, so I was sitting nodding, then he said the first thing they would do tho is stop the co codamol and maybe also the gabapentin so I then said no no we wont go that way, lets just leave it at this for now.

The reason Im worried about taking risperedol is because of that bloody serequel I was taking, that is a bad drug, or it was for me and I never want to go through that again, it all started off well, it was like a great off switch, you know take one at night and off to sleep straight away no problem, it was after a couple of weeks I think that the problems started although I do find it hard to say much about the whole experience because I cant even bloody remember most of it I was so out of it. my anxiety went throught the roof, I was having panic attacks, and because risperadol is in the same class of drugs I worry the same thing will happen. The psychiatrist tells me it wont, but I dont really believe her. I also put on a stone in weight in a matter of weeks, how did that happen I was too done in to cook and eat. I cant believe this shit is being prescribed for sleep, that is ridiculous. Ive got no clue how long it is taking me to get over it fully, i did titrate down as slowly as I could bear by slicing bits off the pills, but this week for the first time in I dont know how long I have started to feel a bit better.

[MusiciansMallet]

Me, myself and getting sober

spacebebe01 wrote: MM, Im glad you took food camping, but why no little gas burner, I need my morning coffee and always take one. I had visions of you foraging for food and coming back with some half eaten carcass that something had left behind. I have never fished tho and that sounds so cool, catching fresh fish then cooking it on the fire, yum.That's why god invented caffeine pills! oh wait, i'm an atheist! :H (taboo in the US!) -- but well, ehh, you need to know how to season your fish well; especially since we're not catching something like salmon.. just your run-of-the-mill fish-stock.. We basically just fished to supplement what we brought. I was just saying "no food/water/wood/electricity" to note that its in the butt-f*ck of nowhere (unlike campgrounds)... And a gas grill!?!? that's heresy!! heh heh

My cocodamol is 30/500, I didnt know they did 60. But then Im ok on this. My doc did once suggest reffering me to the hospital regarding my back and said it was them who could issue an MRI? scan, so I was sitting nodding, then he said the first thing they would do tho is stop the co codamol and maybe also the gabapentin so I then said no no we wont go that way, lets just leave it at this for now.

They rarely prescribe the 60 mg, at least here in the US. B/c codeine tends to induce very high histamine reactions, ya know- the itching SEs & such (I couldn't even take it in the throws of withdrawal, not that it would've helped much w/ my heroin & fentanyl tolerance at the time- but the doses i'd need to take.. well even smaller doses around ~100 mg, would give me horrible hives; & endless itching; worse than any other opiate i've taken; & i've taken a lot of different kinds). Usually, if more than 180 mg of codeine is needed daily, most doctors will switch to slightly more potent opioid- usually propoxyphene (or "Darvocet" -- although, i believe its no longer prescribed outside of the US b/c of heart-problems it causes, due to its activity as a local anesthetic- all local anesthetics will cause cardiovascular problems); OR, low doses of hydrocodone. And wow-I am assuming they referred to a pain clinic??? That is pretty reckless to stop both gabapentin & codeine- especially if you have legitimate pain! I was on gabapentin for a month, around 1000mg/day; & two day quick ween gave me some very uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms! I had to resume it & reduce over a month (felt absolutely no adverse effects doing it that way). I don't see HOW they could just have you stop taking it though for just an MRI? Unless you were going there for long-term treatment, too? Oh well, the ignorance of some doctors amazes me.

my anxiety went throught the roof, I was having panic attacks, and because risperadol is in the same class of drugs I worry the same thing will happen. The psychiatrist tells me it wont, but I dont really believe her. I also put on a stone in weight in a matter of weeks, how did that happen I was too done in to cook and eat. I cant believe this shit is being prescribed for sleep, that is ridiculous. Ive got no clue how long it is taking me to get over it fully, i did titrate down as slowly as I could bear by slicing bits off the pills, but this week for the first time in I dont know how long I have started to feel a bit better.

You're right and you're doctor isn't. I'm not a doctor, but a doctor hasn't had experience with these drugs we're talking about ..They both most certainly WILL cause the same effects from withdrawal (and also, you withdrew too soon in my opinion); they're both atypical antipsychotics that act as selective dopamine agonists at a very dopamine-subunit receptors (basically "blocking" dopamine from binding to very small sub-TYPES of dopamine receptors, if thats easier to understand). They also block (or act as an "antagonist") at some adenosine receptors, which is where epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) bind to- this is how its thought that these types of medications induce sedation & sleep; reduction of anxiety (although not in your cause); and hypotension.

And I fully agree; antipsychotics are NOT adequate drugs to prescribe just for sleep, I could see if it was also for your bipolar and/or to treat manic episodes; but, there are better alternatives- try trazadone (if you haven't already; & if your doc is willing to prescribe it)- it is an older atypical AD, similar to tricyclics; but the doses used for sleep are way lower before any of the AD effects take hold (and also then subsequently you don't risk withdrawal- i'm Rx'd 200mg/night, higher end dose for sleep- and i'll go back and forth between 200mg to 0mg without any problems). Also- melatonin & other MT1 & MT2 receptor agonists (like the prescription ramelteon, or Rozerem brand name) are effective too. These are preferable over GABA agonists like benzodiazepines & the newer Zdrugs or "nonbenzodiazepines" like Ambien- since withdrawal much worse that risperidone (err, risperdal rather- i just have a habit of usually calling drugs by their actual chemical name rather than their trade name).

And thanks for making it through all of my posts :H
As I am sure you all have found out, or WILL find out, I can be overly thorough & long winded