I have been off antidepressants since September 2018 after being on various ones since 1998. In early 2018 I read an article on Mad in America website that changed everything for me. I too was caught up in the medical system that told me that my depression was similar to that of someone with high blood pressure who would need medication for the rest of their lives in order to keep it under control. It was never suggested that I change my diet. Instead I was repeatedly told I should stop trying to manage it on my own, so I was prescribed various doses of celexa, abilify, lamictal, lexapro, trazadone to stop the sadness and keep me numb. Needless to say I was on a never ending roller coaster ride. Fast forward to today, I have cut out processed foods and sugar. Just eliminating the sugar has helped tremendously. I think the antidepressants created cravings for sugar and/or the processed foods contained sugar and just set up the compulsion for more. So I continue to keep notes on foods that sustain me and ones that cause discomfort. I do have to be careful of trying to be perfect at this which might have been one of the issues that caused the depression in the first place. Looking forward to learning more tools for healthier eating and living!
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Hello, I am Ro Dann. I'm an artist, writer, former court stenographer, now I am an intern in an artisan studio 3 days a week making handpainted wallpaper, creating venetian plaster and other decorative arts. I went to a small school for decorative arts that only accepts students with a disability and my disability was depression. So I have my iatragenic illness to thank for getting me back on track with my career, back into the arts after taking a detour. I am over a year and a half off a cocktail that included 600 mgs. seroquel, lamictal, topomax, trazodone, klonapin, welbutrin and ambien. I got involved with taking psych drugs because of a sleep disorder, that I now understand was caused by a thyroid disorder. My psychiatric diagnoses at various times were mild mood disorder, primary insomnia (insomnia for no known mental of physical reason), bipolar 2/hypomania, major depressive disorder, major depressive disorder recurrent, bipolar 1, mood disorder, rule out bipolar disorder, and finally my only diagnosis is PTSD, and I chose that diagnosis, for purposes of billing. All the diagnoses except for possibly PTSD were wrong. (And mood disorder. Mood disorder can mean mood swings induced by medication or otherwise. I definitely had mood swings, it's just that they were induced by medication.) What was really happening: I had thyroid fluctuations causing extreme insomnia for several years, and when I first sought psychiatric treatment I was also suffering a reaction to prednisone, which makes many people manic, but I didn't figure that out for several years. Then, I had dependence on psychiatric drugs, which I figured out by trying to withdraw from them; that included, among other things, panic attacks and tardive dyskinesia (my hands shook badly for years. I am happy to report I have fully recovered from that). Then I had years and years of withdrawal. It took four years to titrate off the seroquel, and seroquel withdrawal caused major depressive disorder (I realized later. At the time I just knew I was very depressed and sick). Then it took another year to get off the remaining drugs which by that time were wellbutrin and trazodone. During withdrawal from antidepressants I experienced mild serotonin syndrome, causing delirium on-and-off for a weak, and following that I developed mild mania, which freaked my mental health care providers out. For me, mania was not that bad. Experiencing mania for the first time, as a side effect of withdrawal, made it very clear to me I had never been bipolar. Of course, becoming manic in withdrawal caused my then psychiatrist to try to tell me I was bipolar (again) and needed a mood stabilizer. But by then I had read Anatomy of an Epidemic and educated myself about side effects. I knew what I was experiencing was a side effect, listed in the product insert, and I was pretty angry that after spending all that time getting off medication and educating myself and *trying* to educate my mental health care providers--I was pretty outraged they were trying to push new drugs and a new diagnosis on me. For the mania I went back on klonapin, then withdrew from the klonapin, which caused severe depression, some panic attacks, and many months of extreme fatigue. That last bit I did on my own as I was thoroughly disgusted with psychiatrists at that point. It took about a year for me to feel well and start working part time. During withdrawal I worked a full time job, then became too sick to work for two plus years, then went to a 9-month vocational program in decorative arts, then worked at the Open Center part time (a holistic school), then was hired in the design studio for the school I attended, where I am now working part time. I also began volunteering on a holistic Facebook group that supports people in withdrawal from psychiatric drugs. Helping others makes me feel competent and useful. And I have learned about nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathy, functional medicine, orthomolecular psychiatry, and various spiritual modalities. I continue learning about herbs, oils, and immunology. It's been quite an education! It's been a long and torturous ride but it is finally easy to accept what happened to me and see the good in it. I'm still not completely healed and I'm still not earning enough to pay the bills, but I believe those things are coming, and I like who I have become. ...I'd like to start blogging, but I don't see the "start draft" option on the dashboard. In fact when I click the dashboard I find myself in a program I find pretty confusing. Thank you!
How do I upload a picture for my profile? How do I post new questions? Thank you
Robin,
Here’s a direct link to where you can add your post:
At the very top of the forum, click on the 3 horizontal lines, and then click on “my profile” to change your photo.
To add a topic, click on Module 1, underneath the forum heading for the Med Free Solutions Course and then to the right you will see “Add a topic”.
This forurn is called wpforo, if you ever want to google questions about how to use it.
Hi, just learning how to use the forum. Thanks.
thanks
asc