Withdrawal From Stelazine (Page 5)
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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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HI Buster, thanks for your reply. I am determined to get off the stelazine in order to have my baby. I take the 2mg and i have started staying without it for four days. I felt fine but just a little anxious. I went to my doctor and asked for advice on the best way to stop it and he said go ahead and just stop since i am only taking the 2mg. But i am going to take the 1mg maybe for 1 month and then every other day or two days and then stop and see how it goes. Am i going about it the right way Buster please share your advice.

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Cindy, after I posted a reply I reread your post again and I realized I forgot something. You are concerned that if you plan on going off the stelazine for 3 months to have the baby you might get sick again. This is true unfortunately. You would. Stelazine doses have to be decreased very slowly over a long time or else the mind cannot adjust fast enough to the change to stay stable. See my other post which shows the decrease rate which worked for me. Never cold turkey go from 3mg per day to zero per day. It can't work. If you see my decrease schedule I used and then decrease according to that every 2 months eventually you'd be off of it. But you have to keep the mind in a good space the whole time too.

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Cindy, hi. See my previous email about how to decrease doses. In addition if the mind is going in a bad direction immediately switch what you're thinking about to something else. Anytime you hear voices do not pay attention to them even if it seems like some of it makes sense. Just totally disregard any of those type voices. If you wake up in the middle of the night because of some dream don't try to figure anything about the dream. Just immediately forget what was in the dream and switch the mind to something else. There are alternative medications to stelazine but I'm not sure which are safest for pregnancy. Always go forward positively and never look back to the past.

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i have been on stelazine for anxiety,hearing voices for the past 3 yrs now. I am generally on the 2mg but sometimes my psychiatrist would increase the dosage and give me 5mg. I have been doing quite well over the yrs but i lack the zeal to socialize. I have tried getting off this medication twice but every time i do so after one week of getting off it i get very dizzy and i find myself going back on it. I really would like to have a baby and i would like to get off it as i don't know if i take it while i am pregnant what effect it will have on my baby. My doctor says it is a relatively safe drug to take although it cannot be taken during the first 3 months of pregnancy. I know i can go through with this but i don't want to get sick again in the middle of pregancy. I want to have a health baby. How do i go about doing this can anyone share some advice?

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I was on strong doses of stelazine for a few yrs, up to 100mg per day, but I've now been successfully off of it for about 6 yrs now. The solution was a tricky one. Every time I'd try to cut back my mind's imbalance came back. The smallest dose tab of Stelazine is one mg, but it was not possible to cut back in one mg increments, even over an extended period of time. Fortunately Stelazine stays in the body for a week or two so if I took 5mg one day and then 4mg the next day it would average out ok and in effect it would be as if it was 4.5 mg per day. I had to keep track on my calendar because keeping track of it all got complicated. Every 3 months I did a decrease of amount. After I was down to 5 mg per day I had to get into get into the fractional average amounts per day after that. Then I went to 4.5 mg per day for 3 months, then 4.0 mg per day for 3 months, then 3 2/3 per day for 3 months, then 3 1/3 per day for 3 months, then 3 per day for 3 months, then 2 3/4 per day for 3 months, then 2 1/2 per day for 3 months, then 2 1/4 per day for 3 months, then 2 per day for 3 months, then 1 4/5 per day for 3 months, then 1 3/5 per day for 3 months, then 1 2/5 per day for 3 months, then 1 1/5 per day for 3 months, then 1 per day for three months, then 5/6 per day for 3 months, then 4/6 per day for 3 months....etc, you can see the pattern. The increments I cut down every 3 months had to get smaller as I got closer and closer to zero. This is because the mind has to adjust to increasingly subtle layers of conciousness opening up as dosage decreases. In the end it worked. Learning about yoga meditation and the philosophy behind it helped too. I had to keep marking my calendar every day to keep track. If you have questions let me know.

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I have spoke to my doctor and psychiatrist. They just told me to reduce by one mg a month but didnt offer any other support

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Stelazine contains the active ingredient Trifluoperazine, this is most commonly used as an antipsychotic medication.

What you are experiencing is a very common effect from try to stop any type of medication that you have been on for a prolonged period. You may also experience rebound symptoms.

You have been on this medication for a very long period of time, it is probably unwise to try and stop by yourself, have you spoken to your doctor about an effective means to get off of it?

https:/­/­rxchat.com/­wiki/­Stelazine/­

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