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Long-term depression

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Jan 2, 2019 | Replies (563)

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@pankaj

@thankful. Thanks for your kind words. You have demonstrated the cardinal rule for treatment of mental illness: If you have attained remission and you are doing well on a particular drug/combination of drugs (as I am currently doing), don't make the mistake of tapering or tinkering with your drugs in the hope that you will become drug-free and your illness is "cured." Of course, this rule does not apply in the case of all mental illnesses. For example, if your illness is not severe, or if it not complex ( depression and anxiety being present at the same time, bipolar with anxiety etc.), you could consider tapering in consultation with your doctor. But this luxury is permitted only once: if your illness returns after tapering it means that it is chronic. In that case, you should immediately resume taking the medications. In many cases, you might require enhanced dosages of your previous medications or addition of new medications to achieve remission. Each relapse makes the illness more difficult to treat. But this time, be prepared to take your medications for the long term. This is not easy; it is natural to try to be drug-free. But that does not work in case of chronic illnesses. At this point, the most important thing--and also the most difficult--is to accept that you may have to take the medications for the rest of your life. But if you don't do that and again attempt to taper your medications, you are likely to suffer another relapse, which will be even more difficult to treat and more severe than the previous one. Sometimes you may suffer a relapse even while taking your medications. This happens when a drug that you are taking "poops out" (becomes ineffective) after several years of use [It happened to me]. That makes the treatment of your illness even more difficult. @thankful you have done the absolutely right thing by not trying to taper 1 mg Klonopin. If that has kept you well for 20 years, why tinker with it? If you are doing fine on 1 mg Klonopin, it is safe to infer that your illness is a mild one. But since you have taken the medication for 20 years, it is probably not a good idea to tinker with it. Regards.

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Replies to "@thankful. Thanks for your kind words. You have demonstrated the cardinal rule for treatment of mental..."

@pankaj- Thank you for your sage words! I am in total agreement with you on this.
I have noticed so many posts more recently that people are deciding on their own to either stop cold turkey taking the drug(s) they are taking or tapering on their own w/o the council of a physican (preferably a Psychiatrist) that I want to shout out STOP! This is harmful to you! I appreciate your words of wisdom and experience. May God bless you and all our dear friends that are suffering with these illnesses and bring joy into our lives especially during this Holiday Season. Jim @thankful