I would be a dangerous one to speak to on that note right now. I'm totally paranoid about meds atm.

I've been sitting here wondering if I should just try to detox off of everything, even ibuprofen, and all of it, and see what happens.

well, it's just that, my meds don't seem to be helping, and I've got serious weight gain and am now pre-diabetic...are these meds helping at all or just hurting?

Plus, being now as heavy as I am, I'm depressed about it which makes me feel worse.

I is not always good to go med free with out the advise of your doc. You may not be 100% stable but stoping all your meds could make it worse. Sometimes it can take as much as 30 days for meds to have there full effect. Talk to your Doc. Good luck.

Yeah, that's very serious to me. The part about weight and how it affects self esteem and mood----I don't know why it's so important to us, yet seems like such a footnote to them.

I do know that there are meds available that either won't make you gain, or they will actually cause you to lose some lbs. So, there are other options for that.

Talk to your doc about it. Go in with a plan. If you do want to go off meds (can't say either way good/bad idea) then you're going to need a shitproof support network, therapist and back-up PRN meds in case something goes wrong.

Go in with a list of coping skills you use WELL and often, a list of what you're willing to take-and why, a list of the people you have IRL and on DS that you can turn to. It's also helpful to let them know your self- medication habits. If you tend to drink a lot when manic- then that's something you both are going to have to keep an eye on.

Also bring a Crisis Plan to talk about. What will you do when you don't sleep for two days? How will you deal with it without meds? Or will you take a sleeping pill to help knock it back- that sort of thing. Each of your red flags would be personalized just for you- and that way your doc can see that you're prepared and not just running scared.

Maybe you should think about going Med-Light instead of med free. Try that for a month and see how it goes. Being med-free is A LOT more difficult than I think people realize (not saying you, just in general) because there's no pill to back you up anymore. There is no safety net.

Luckily your choice isn't Med All The Way or No Meds Ever Again. There's no law saying it has to be one or the other.

Sorry that was long! (((hugs)))

I don't have a very big network of friends and family to turn to... I have my fiance and I have my kids. We're the only ones here...and my fiance tends to get very frustrated with me when I'm feeling really down.

Perhaps I do need something, but it's just not in my current cocktail. I've come to terms with the idea of meds for life, but they just don't seem to be working. Just causing more problems.

Thank you so much for your replies....any more ideas?

Oh, yeah! Evelyn is SOOOO right!!!! There are tons of psych meds that you can go off of suddenly and the effects don't seem that strong in an obvious way, but with Paxil, it's rough coming off of those, really rough, even if you taper, but cold turkey, OMG, that could easily be an ER trip right there.

I wouldn't do anything w/o consulting with my pdoc first. I will continue to take my meds as long as it's what my pdoc thinks it's what I should do.

Thanks guys.

I dropped 10 pounds after lowering my abilify, in like a week