Withdrawal From Stelazine
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I have been on stelaine for 25 years with short breaks but I am trying to stop it and getting nasty withdrawal effects. I have reduced from 7mg to 3mg daily but have headaches anxiety and sense of unreality. I fell perfectly rational and know it is not the ill ness returning. I am seeking advice from someone who has managed to get of this drug or for any tips. I am planning to cut down 1mg per month but am already apprehensive about this.

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Re: Daughter4 (# 84)

yes, I was very similar. 30 years of Stelazine and only 1mg per day but still horrific withdrawal symptoms when the doctor took me off them Six months later another doctor suggested I start taking them again and instant cure from day one.

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Re: Buster (# 14)

How did you fractionate ( cut up the pills?) Did you use a liquid version?

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DrJoey,

I am so grateful for Stelazine, it has utterly saved me from a life of confused misery. I live a normal life because of it. I do not take it on a regular basis and despite its known benefits for me it has been hard to get it prescribed. I am not overly impressed with the newer antipsychotics and suspect the drugs companies needed something new to sell and have sold the doctors a lemon with most of it. I am worried now that should I have an episode of confusion again my stock will not be enough and it might not be available.

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My mom took Stelazine for over 50 years when a dr took her off. She had horrible withdrawal for over two years and they can not find anything to help her. She took Stalizine for anxiety. She has bad insomnia and calls me every morning feeling like she is going to die. She feels better during daytime hours but starts worrying about the night. Anyone else have these issues? Anyone have suggestions? Her anxiety is all consuming.

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Did you ever try getting a pill cutter and taking .5 mg? That's what I did and now I've been completely off of Stelazine (generic Trifluoperazine) for a month. So far, things are basically normal (slight headache but am hoping that disappears). Good luck!

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I have been taking Stelazine for nearly 30 years and recently tapered off then completely stopped (at the suggestion of my psychiatrist). I have never regularly taken more than 3 mg per day, so in that sense, my experience may be different from others. I was initially prescribed it by a psychiatrist for anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms, including a feeling in my forehead of a "band" around. A trigger was often someone being intrusive and disrespecting my boundaries. That's just some background. Over the last ten years, again under the supervision of my doctor, I went down by 1mg at various points in time. I had been on 1 mg for the last few years prior to quitting completely. I took .5 mg over the last few months. For the most part, going Stelazine free has been uneventful; I have felt fine. In the last couple of days, however, I have had either a headache or a slightly uncomfortable feeling in my forehead, but I am hoping this goes away. I had this feeling earlier in my tapering journey, i.e., going from 2 mg to 1.5 mg, etc. I have been completely off Stelazine for about a month now, so I would think any unwanted reactions would no longer occur. We shall see...I did want to address the woman who wishes to have a baby. I am the mom of a 17 year-old daughter. I took 2 mg/day regularly throughout my pregnancy, and she is completely normal. Perhaps you could work toward reducing your dose, then see if your obstetrician might be more willing to endorse your staying on Stelazine. Good luck!!!

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Oh really! I beg to differ. I have suffered through 6 months of torture after being taken off just 1mg Stelazine for 30 years. Doctor has put me back on them and every symptom has disappeared overnight.

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I have been off for 5.6 months now. I feel good and alive, but I have a restless tongue and chattering teeth still. I also continue to have a dryish mouth and tardive dykensia. I'm not sure. The only thing that really freaks me is the clouds seem somewhat different; unreal. I lost a lot of weight (16kgs). The next project is to get off dothiepin. All is good.

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one other thing was a dry mouth for amonth or so from stelazine withdrawal

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Stelazine has been discontinued here in Australia and i suppose around the world. I have been taking it for 25 years and recently the doctor gave me some other medication I did not like due to side effects. I went back and was given Seroquel. I googled it and did not like the side effects. So I did not take it and went cold turkey. Over the next 7 to 10 days i produced more saliva than i thought humanly possible. I felt a bit spaced out with red eyeballs, felt dizzy when changing direction quickly at work, restless tongue while awake, and chattering of jaws & teeth. I was drinking 4-5-6 liters of water a day and had some anxiety but not like it was broken. I sleep most nights. Not as bad as i thought. It's been 3 months now feeling better every day. Not all the way there yet but getting there. One good thing is i am starting to feel alive again and losing weight. I think if you want to get off medication you should have the right to try, but if you start feeling unwell again medication may be the answer. If Stelazine had kept being produced i would have gone to my grave taking it but it did not happen and i don't like change. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

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I am in Canada and have been told by a doctor that Stelazine will be no longer available because it is on old drug. He gave me escitalopram to replace it. I felt so ill for the first couple of weeks I stopped taking the new drug. Does anyone have any idea how long the panic attacks and severe anxiety will last after discontinuing the Stelazine? I am barely functioning these days.

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That's what you think. I was on just 1mg a day for 25 years and every time I tried to discontinue it I would get panic attacks on the third day. Have been off Stelazine now for 4 months but am still suffering withdrawal as far as I am concerned.

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I was on just 1mg of Stelazine for 25 years for panic attacks. A doctor told me just to stop taking them. Ever since (3 months) I have had severe anxiety attacks, feeling quite ill all of the time, with crying episodes for no apparent reason. Pretty much any time anyone asks me how I am. No-one ever mentioned withdrawal and I am even considering starting taking them again to find relief.

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I was on 5 mg of olazapine for two and a half years.But the doctor stopped the medication because of some swollen parts of my body. He changed my drug to 10 mg of Tfp which only lasted for five month due to muscle stiffness and the doctor changed my medication to stelazine.I have been on 10 mg of stelazine for the past 2years now. How do I get off it and how do I combat the withdrawal symptoms. Pls

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Hi I am going off stelazine too as you said about the name its Triluoperazine...it should tell you on your old Pkt of stelazine hope you get this. Cheers Jeannette.P.

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You will find that if you take vitamins and look after your health in other ways the withdrawal symptoms will not be so strong. Also yoga and meditation will help.

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Thank you Vermon for your answer.
Before withdrawing from the medicament I went to a psychiatrist he advised me to reduce the medicament by 0.5 MG every month. But, as a precaution I decided to reduce it at the same rate of 0.5 mg every 45 days. I am now at the rate of 1 MG daily and I intend to reduce it to 0.5 MG starting from next 1 Otober 2016.
Initially I took this medicament only for excessive anxiety and for sleeping only for few hours (from 2 to 3 hours) .
Should I reduce the daily rate to 0.33 MG every every 45 days or continue at the same rate of 0.5 MG every 45 days.
I am now in perfect and only complaining from the loss of weight.
It is worth noting that since last from the first week of June 2016 I started stop eating rice and white wheat and reduced the daily quantity of potatoes and took 1 tea spoon of sugar in only one cup of tea instead og 5 tea spoon daily in three cups.
I also greatly increased the quantity of vegetables and fruits and take only one banana instead of 2 daily in addition I take grapes peaches orange and lemon and citron.
I feel perfect well and in excellent health now

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My mother was on stelazine in the 60's during pregnancy. They told her it wouldn't hurt the baby. As a child I would experience outta the blue weird feelings of being watched....feelings of being surrounded when no one was there.....at age of 6 i developed facial twitches.....would strain my ears by grimacing my face hard and hear what sounded like thunder in my brain....this would relieve pressure in my brain....in the early 70's I was one of the first patients on Ritalin for Hyperaction........took 3 years.......not good years....mother was diagnosed as paranoid schitzophrenic....has bipolar and pneumanic disorder as well..........does it hurt the baby?? my guess is YES.......how exactly?? I don't know if my problems are drug related or would've been anyway due to mothers problems....good luck......

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I read what you said with a certain sense of sadness. Suppressing what comes from the unconscious solves nothing. I believe that there is much more going on in the so called disease called schizophrenia. It has taken me years to get close to the point that I can at last kick stelazine, a loathsome drug into touch that I was forced to take. As soon as I was able to I refused the other junk they wanted me to take. Unless you have personally been through what your Mother went through then with all due respect you know nothing about it. I am sure you are happy that she has a "normal" life but that does not mean she is happy about it at all. The word we use for what we call illness is dis-ease. When the unconscious reacts whether in a physical way or through the mind something is very wrong with the way we are living. I do not believe I experienced an illness I experienced a wake up call. I do not believe that much of what I experienced was in my imagination, I believe it was real. When I look at the insane world I live in it seems that many people are delusional precisely because they see the world as you do. I do not believe it was a breakdown. I believe it was a breakthrough.

Few people tell the people close to them exactly what they went through- they are afraid of judgement and the patronizing remarks about what a better life may be. There is only one way to really, really deal with what is given nonsense labels and that is to work through it, be guided by it and come out the other side. Use instincts to work out to come off the poison they forced you to take and reading what other people say and then forming your own opinion is part of it. One day you will be free as I am and if you do not deny what you experienced, learn from it, understand it. Not only will you be free of the drugs but amazing possibilities far beyond a normal life will open up as they have done for me.

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I used to take Stelazine many years ago and finally realized I didn't feel any better on it, plus it made me sleepy all the time. After having taken it for several years, I decided to go off of is slowly, without telling my doctor. The main side effects were a headache that felt like a band around my head, which lasted for like 2 weeks. Also, I had extremely vivid dreams, very colorful, like visions or hallucinations. I'm sure the unconscious material in my brain that had been repressed by the medication was coming up. I also felt very anxious, high levels of fear, which I had to ride through like waves. These symptoms lasted several weeks at their height. However, it was totally worth it because I felt alive again, like I would rather feel all these things than be so drugged out by the medication. I have been drug-free since 1982, and so happy I never took any more of these drugs. Talk therapy, yoga, meditation, spiritual pursuits,etc have been my answer instead.

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