Hi there…. I have three copies of the book mentioned above. Would it be ok to send you a copy? I've given out about 30 copies to friends and doctors and would love to send you one.
Or at least let me take pictures of the lexapro section and send you.
From what I've learned that is way too fast (usually 6 months for every year you've been on anti depressants, but I know this seems outrageous for people, yet it is the harm reduction and safest route).
Majority of people are rushed off within 6 months by drs and then told it's their underlying condition coming back when they start having symptoms that are withdrawal type (which can be extreme anxiety and mood stuff which feeds into the thoughts, oh ok, I must stay on these and can't come off).
So let me send you the book or we chat over direct message and send you the lexapro info.
Since drug manufacturers don't make pills in smaller doses which obviously doesn't help the weaning off process, marketing ploy (the typical cut in half, in half again and go to zero 'strategy' told by prescribers, is again very dangerous and zero scientific backing…..they just don't know what else to do).
People get scales to shave and weigh their tablets to make reductions( especially important getting to lower doses by a hyperbolic method is the more safe approach than stairs telling with same dose reduction each time. With hyperbolic you make 5-15% reductions of the current dose all the way down not original dose.
I use a compound Pharmacy up in Arlington, Texas, Pharmacy solutions, Nick Miller is the lead pharmacist and does an incredible job (and we've talked through the book and he's trying his staff with it now).
This enables me to make small reductions with syringes for my medication because I need very small reductions to maintain functionality.
They also are usually options to make your own suspension vehicle… I need to see if this is an option for Lexapro itself, but I know a lot of the medication's a suspension vehicle of maple syrup and water mixed together provide a way to keep the cost down and still be able to use a syringe and taper and small reductions. This is usually favored by people more than trying to shave and weigh their pills and then weigh it on a scale, which is more cumbersome(but it becomes a routine and you get used to it if this is what people want to try).
The scales that are used are on Amazon… Here's a link if people are wanting to try this route. (so we all understand, I get zero kickback from the link.)
https://www.amazon.com/Gemini-Digital-Weighing-Silver-GEMINI-20/dp/B0012TDNAM?tag=hydsma-20&source=dsa&hvcampaign=beautym&gbraid=0AAAAA-byXLqAASP0XYFbigK-FDCaiKHjb&gclid=CjwKCAiApY-7BhBjEiwAQMrrEcovZcScT0xaGVuTmy6rDxZRajENiXrQUdC2IucDfXQmVkQU8kAE8BoC_1IQAvD_BwEIt explains hyperbolic in the book (and I get zero kickback from this book, it has saved my life and peoples that I know after a failure of the typical approach by med professionals in the beginning for my ordeal).
Specific medication Facebook groups offer a lot of support and most of all they've done all the research and understand what can and cannot be done when it comes to tapering each medication type. The moderators understand the hyperbolic approach for most of the main support groups as well as the tapering style types,… There are a lot of other small smaller support groups for each medication, that might not have the knowledge and background to understand the tapering options. This is where the maudsley deprescribing book comes in handy now because it's got all the relevant, credible research backed info in one place.
Surviving in antidepressants website is also a very good resource. However, it can be a bit overwhelming for people at times to navigate. But it has all of the relevant info to keep people safe tapering off these medication's.
It also is where the Doctor Who wrote the deep prescribing guidelines, Dr. Mark Horowitz, who went through all of this after being negligently tapered to quickly off his Lexapro, he took for 20 years, where he first gained support and learned all the information that people had gathered over the years. This combine with his background in microbiology, and he's a psychiatrist himself, provided all the framework for the book.
Again these guidelines are to mitigate some of the more severe symptoms and keep people functional in their lives, while tapering and successfully getting off and staying off. Too many people come off quickly and then have rebound symptoms and again as mentioned before, I told this is your underlining condition and they get back on. This yo-yo of on off can also be problematic and it's not talked about enough. More and more coming out and being shared and with all the support groups created, the medical industry is finally starting to realize a lot of what has been done up till now has been very dangerous.
I'm in no way anti-med, but when you start to understand the background, and how these things are marketed, (to keep people taking them), and the lack of guidelines to take people off of them… It's been quite the overwhelming learning experience, with many repercussions affecting my health. Now I'm getting a lot better and sharing all that I've learned along the way the last five years.
I'm giving a lot of details so that if anyone else is reading this thread, it can be helpful!!
Please, if anybody else needs to reach out, I'm always available over direct message.
On the ketamine side, yes, it can be addictive, and just remember that all the stuff doesn't work in isolation of the rest of the body. Too often people think oh it's just affecting what it needs to in my brain and don't understand that there's far reaching implications for anything ingested. And the lack of informed consent and quick dismissal of the info on the drug label… It just leads people to believe these things are a lot safer than they are. So do your research ahead of time if possible and work through all possible options, with the medication, your last resort(which should be how the standard approaches, but we all know that's not the case!!).
