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@jakedduck1

@lisalucier
Lisa, I have to disagree with your comment about the Pharmacists statements you quoted. It is my opinion that particular Pharmacist is passing the buck by sending these people back to their doctors some of which may be giving wrong advice to their patients. Just because they are doctors it doesn’t preclude them from making mistakes. In fact according to research by John Hopkins Hospital over a quarter million people are killed each year from medical mistakes, and sadly that figure is on the rise. Doctors to often are giving patients inaccurate information like the person who was given three different diagnosis’s about her eye problem I read here today. Doctors prescribe the wrong medication which kills many people every year. I was nearly one of those statistics myself. Some years back a doctor accidentally (I hope lol) wrote a prescription for the Anticonvulsant Phenobarbital, however he wrote a lethal dose down. Had I not been somewhat familiar with medication dosages no telling what could have happened. Hopefully the pharmacist would have caught the error. But they are not infallible either. But my main reason for writing was to talk to
@patricia1955
regarding her discontinuing some medications.
1). It has been my experience that tapering multiple meds at one time is a risky endeavor. I ended up in bed for three months doing that. I was sicker than a dog.
2) Taper off off SLOWLY and I can’t empathize that enough. SLOWLY AND EVENLY. Don’t cut your dose in half or take it every other day or 3 days at one dose and 6 days for another dose. Remember, SLOW AND EVEN. This is especially true the higher your dose and the longer you’ve been on a particular medication.
3) I have read about a number of people here were given Xanax which is another Benzodiazepine, one Benzodiazepine is hard enough to get off of let alone two.
I’m not saying you have to come off every drug as slowly but I’d definitely go slow with Benzos.
But just because a doctor or Pharmacist gives you a t dose and timetable doesn’t mean they are always right.
Hope everyone titration

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Replies to "@lisalucier Lisa, I have to disagree with your comment about the Pharmacists statements you quoted. It..."

@brightwings
Confusing post huh. Sorry about that. Got a bit confused. Guess you figured it out. Your quick at finding things.

Hi, just want to clarify that according to what I looked up, Effexor is not a benzodiazepine. It's a SNRI antidepressant (serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor.) At higher doses, it includes dopamine. But no matter what, it obviously is very difficult to withdraw from it. My heart goes out to all of you!

Also, it's been interesting to hear about taking out the beads from the capsule. I would suppose that each bead has a certain amount of medication in it but maybe they just are the same. We can't deny that this method has worked well for some people.
Cathy

@cathy615

Hi Cathy, Thank you for setting me straight and informing me and the other members of the group of my misrepresentation. My error should never have happened especially since I know better. Please accept my sincerest apologies if I mislead or frightened anyone in the group.

Hi Jake,
Please don't feel bad or apologize. There is so much confusing info regarding everything related to our medical needs. It is hard to keep track.
Have a great day and thanks for your support! Cathy

@jakedduck1 . ..I agree!!
Very well said.