Desperately Wanting

[Mixedracedude]

Hi peeps,

37 year old male here. Desperate to get off PRISTIQ (100MG per day) and Xanax (1 mg per day) and Diezapam (10MG per day). Made the mistake of not researching into the drug more properly and blindly listened to the first psychiatrist I visited who prescribed me these meds. I feel like I'm trapped and I can't do anything. I feel like I am in a prison. I don't know what to do and I'm really desperate to find a solution with the least amount of withdrawal symptoms due to the nature of my work (work in advertising so it's long hours and a lot of using my brain to put food on the table). Would truly appreciate any advise. Based in Malaysia as well so there's a very bad stigma on mental health here in Malaysia. I've had people look at me in disdain when they catch me taking my meds and finding out am on antidepressants. I just really need help as it's becoming a ironic situation where am depressed that am on antidepressants.

 

[janemariesayed]

Hi peeps,

37 year old male here. Desperate to get off PRISTIQ (100MG per day) and Xanax (1 mg per day) and Diezapam (10MG per day). Made the mistake of not researching into the drug more properly and blindly listened to the first psychiatrist I visited who prescribed me these meds. I feel like I'm trapped and I can't do anything. I feel like I am in a prison. I don't know what to do and I'm really desperate to find a solution with the least amount of withdrawal symptoms due to the nature of my work (work in advertising so it's long hours and a lot of using my brain to put food on the table). Would truly appreciate any advise. Based in Malaysia as well so there's a very bad stigma on mental health here in Malaysia. I've had people look at me in disdain when they catch me taking my meds and finding out am on antidepressants. I just really need help as it's becoming a ironic situation where am depressed that am on antidepressants.

Hi there @Mixedracedude and a very warm welcome to our community here. I'm glad you found us and decided to chat.

It seems that it is the culture that is making you feel bad about taking depressants. It is like it all over the world really, except it is worse in some countries. They are more accepting of it here in the UK of late, and even our two Princes are advocating it. There is becoming more and more help as the years go by.

Don't feel bad about the meds that you are on. Don't let it depress you. If someone asks why you are taking meds just give them a smile and walk away. It is not really their business and nothing to do with them. I really dislike it when people just want to be nosey to be judgemental.

About giving up these meds, speak to your doctor first! Does he not think that you still need to take something? To come off a medication safely you have to do it in a certain way or it can have an adverse effect on the brain, which is what you don't want.

Don't feel bad about yourself being depressed. You are one of the so many millions suffering from it across the globe. Being a sufferer doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't mean that you are stupid or nasty in any way. Try not to care about what other people think. I know that is easier said than done but persevere and do come on here and chat with us and tell us how you are feeling.

 

[XmasCarol52]

Hi peeps,

37 year old male here. Desperate to get off PRISTIQ (100MG per day) and Xanax (1 mg per day) and Diezapam (10MG per day). Made the mistake of not researching into the drug more properly and blindly listened to the first psychiatrist I visited who prescribed me these meds. I feel like I'm trapped and I can't do anything. I feel like I am in a prison. I don't know what to do and I'm really desperate to find a solution with the least amount of withdrawal symptoms due to the nature of my work (work in advertising so it's long hours and a lot of using my brain to put food on the table). Would truly appreciate any advise. Based in Malaysia as well so there's a very bad stigma on mental health here in Malaysia. I've had people look at me in disdain when they catch me taking my meds and finding out am on antidepressants. I just really need help as it's becoming a ironic situation where am depressed that am on antidepressants.

Hi and welcome please dont ever be ashamed because you are on meds.I have to take about five of them because I do have restless leg too.People can be so cruel when it comes to a mental illness.Just know that we are all family here and care about you.I often wonder how people would feel if we made fun of a physical illness,we wouldnt it is just that i get so sick of the mental illness jokes .We cannot help it if our brains chemicals are not working right.I know how you feel.I sometimes get into trouble because of my yelling i live in senior housing and no matter how many times I tell my land lady it is from my bipolar and anxieties she just wont listen. She comes back with people have physical illnesses around here she treats me like my illness is nothing.When you think about it mental illness is also a physical one because it effects the brain.

 

[janemariesayed]

Centuries ago, if someone suffered from a mental illness it was thought that the person was possessed by demons. I think that is why some people still in today's society think that it is bad. They don't understand mental illness or anything to do with the mind. I still feel as though it is shunned upon at times, but I try to do my best to ignore it.

 

[XmasCarol52]

They use to lock people up with a mental illness it is a good thing they do not do that now,Although way back in 1986 I was sent to the mental health clinic for two weeks it was just plain awful,I had to go to groups which I absolutely hated one time I was suicidal and they put me in this small room I had to be watched all night and yes they had to go with me to the toilet I couldnt go because who can go when someone is there watching you,My shrink yelled at me said I was only looking for attention needless to say he is no longer my shrink his name was Maran but i called him Moron,nobody liked him at all. We had family night and yes there was even a group for that who can go to groups when u r agoraphobic? They even yelled at me one time because I refused to go to one of the groups at night duh i was very anxious and depressed,they even held up the group until i came but guess what I didnt go,you should have seen what happened after the group it was bed check when they came in my room I wasnt in the bed i was near the window the nurse didnt see me I did not say one word they came back and there I was saying hello made her look really stupid,good I am glad she was mean anyway.. I would never go to a mental clinic again.Oh by the way we had no tv's in our rooms it was in the mess hall,after 11 at night we had to shut it off even if you couldnt sleep,I hated it there.The people there had no compassion at all for the mentally ill.None what's so ever

 

[janemariesayed]

In ancient Egypt, people who suffered from any kind of mental illness was sent to stay at a Temple where Imhotep Priests would chant over the victim. They would be given all kinds of herbal medicines. The Temple was considered as the safest place for sufferers so they could be protected by its sanctuary. They could stay there for a few years or more until they were better.

You must have been at pretty high risk if you couldn't even go to the loo by yourself. That must have been awful to have to go to a group as well. When I was having this therapy set up, they mentioned that the place I'm going to does group therapy and I told them I would never attend if they sent me to that. I told them my problems were personal and I would just clam up and not speak, let alone attend a second sitting. Thankfully I've got one on one therapy now.

It sounds like it was an awful place to be, rather than a place to recover. I'm so glad you are away from it now, it sounds more like a prison than a sanctuary.

People, (some) don't accept mental illness, they think unless you actually have a bit missing from your brain then there is no excuse. They are still living in the dark ages I think!

 

[XmasCarol52]

I absolutely hated groups one time I got kicked out of one because of my mood disorder one minute i would laugh then the next I would cry.I had a f mood swings for crying out loud.Once the first group I went to the closed and locked the door all I could think about is escaping.,there was no need to lock the door,Get this one ,one time I was so mad I actually stood up in the group and told them that the groups were a waste of time and we shouldn't have to go to them if we didnt want to,nobody said a word or stuck up for me I was so mad because I knew they all felt the same when the group was over one guy approached me and told me I actually made him feel better he agreed with me,I just didnt see why we had to go to groups anyway.It should have been up to us whether we wanted to go to those groups or not.How can they expect an agoraphobic to go to a group let alone sit in front of abouta dozen people?I will never go back there again no matter how bad it gets.

 

[janemariesayed]

I don't blame you for not wanting to go back there it sounds like it was a hindrance to your recovery instead of a help. They have a group session on the day I go to my therapy. While I am in the waiting room waiting for my shrink, all the group is sitting there waiting too. I hate being in the same room as them all, even though it is for only ten minutes. They are all chatting about themselves and you can see from a mile off, one of them is the pack leader with the rest of them hovering around her. At first, I thought she was having one on one therapy and taking her family with her, then I realised that it was a group therapy session they were all going to. So that group seems as if they focus on the one who is out of herself and enjoys the limelight while the others probably don't say much. How would the group therapy help them I don't know. I'm just glad I have one on one.