I am hoping to start coming off my AD's in 2 weeks. Can anyone give me any advice please?

[TheOriginalFAB]

I have been on AD's this time for 5 1/2 years. I hadn't registered that it had been that long as I have been on 2 types during that time.

See, you're doing it again! Stop worrying about something that hasn't happened yet. Oh FAB, you've got yourself in a right pickle before you even know whether MIL can have the DCs. Even if she can't have them at her house, or yours, is there anyone that would come to the docs with you, so that you can be seen and they sit in the waiting room with your DC?

See what you can arrange and then start worrying.

I am a worrier and It is very annoying but I also know what PITA my kids can be.

So far DS1 has been a total nightmare and the consequences we use at the moment is to bring their bedtimes forward by so many minutes (at least 10) and he is going to bed 100 minutes early tonight. He doesn't care though .

I feel okay though, kind of in control.

I am seeing the GP next week. Can he refuse to let me come off the tablets? I have decided to up my dose of Agnus Castus as I know it works and I haven't been taking the full dose so hopefully that will help with the withdrawal from the AD's and I will continue to take them as they really help with the PMT I get. I also bought a roll on de stress natural product today and that helps knowing I have got it.

The dd is being a pita but I am staying calm and quietly praising ds1 for ignoring her when she is tryingt to spoil the game he is playing with ds2.

Well no one can force meds down your throat unless you've been sectioned, but if your gp has fact based objections it may be wise to listen

Hmm, I am not going to be forced to stay on them any longer though of course I will come off them slowly.

Definitely talk through the pros/cons from both sides, if you can. I would really like to stop one of my MH meds (bad constipation/sleepiness etc), but I also don't want to nosedive/become unwell.

It is no pain, no gain though.

The tablets are not helping me, they are causing me health issues and I want to be drug free again.

Original fab - I was on ADs for about 8 years and in that time was on many different ones till we found ones that were right for me. I also went on duloxetine and put on a stone in three weeks. I went back and said I was refusing to take these any more as I didn't need to feel crap about my weight on top of feeling crap about everything else. So I was put on something else. My psychiatrist told me ADs are 'dirty' drugs, not highly targeted so effect a lot of systems in the body with every person reacting differently, you just need to keep changing till one works for you. I'd go back and demand a different AD.

As for coming off, after 8 years I was both wary and over confident that they were no longer having any effect. I was very wrong. Despite going very slowly it had dramatic effects leaving me sobbing at work with what felt like electric jolts running through me, feeling panicky and also back to crying for what felt like no reason. I was basically all over the place again. I ended up chopping my tablets with a knife into smaller and smaller pieces rather than dropping from 10mg to zero in one go, and it took a while, but eventually got there. So my advice is go really really slowly! And stay in close contact with yr GP so they know about all the effects you are having. It was hard to work out whether I was getting depressed again or was just having side effects of withdrawal but decided they were side effects so persevered and it turned out I was right, but the two weeks after my final fragment of tablet were sheer hell. Plan for a bit of a rough ride and don't try to come off over Xmas perhaps? Better to try when you have nothing big to cope with for a few weeks I would say. Hope this helps a bit.

I am just so stressed at the moment after a difficult time with the children's school and I just want to space to be on my own. My inlaws were having the children for a couple of days but now they aren't and I was so looking forward to some time with DH on our own.

PermanentlyOnEdge absolutely agree with you about the going really really slowly advice, if possible and you are determined to come off, even better if you can get your AD in liquid format then you really can take it mega slow.
Having said that NOW maynot be a good time to think about it, you really need to be in a good place to embark on coming off them.

Being on them is putting me in a bad place though.

I agree with strawberry you don't sound in the right place to come off them. And I'm not sure you should blame them for everything. I'm worried that you are seeing coming off ADs as too much of a solution.

It has only been a week since I started this thread and I was in a much better place then. I feel scared of the future at the moment.

Anyone you can chat with about how you're feeling, TheOriginalFAB - DH, family, friends?

I'm embarrassed.

I have had to tell my children's school some personal things about dc3 and myself this week and was told off/criticised so am feeling ashamed, embarrassed and worried.

Oh no :( That's the last thing any parent needs :(

I wasn't told off for the things I had to tell thembut for shouting at my children. I think. The head wasn't clear. I have been so stressed since and just dreading going back to the school. I wish I didn't let things get to me so much.