12th January 2008
Hi Inhguy
I was chuckling to myself as I read of your determination to not use drugs to get off drugs. I chuckled because I really gave the psychiatrist agita over this issue. Four sessions in a row, he wanted me to use different meds and four sessions in a row, I refused. I had handed him a writen letter the first time I saw him as I knew I was too emotional to speak much and stay on track. The letter stated my problem and included a brief history as well as a firm statement that I would not in any way switch meds around. I was on what I was on and I would come off what I was on. Plain and simple. By the fourth session, he told me he thought the clinical social worker might be of more help to me. Man, he was so very correct about it! Through her, I learned so much.... drug-free ways of coping with the withdrawal, and, more importantly, concrete knowledge that helped me understand why I was where I was and how to change it. One of the biggest lessons taught by her was hypnosis that led smoothly into self hypnosis. I practice it continually today in all areas of my life.
I don't condemn or argue with anyone who choses a different path than I did. I was already on a blood pressure med (Toprol XL) and believe that helped me. However, every med the psychiatrist offered came from the classes of drugs I wanted to get off of.... opiates and benzos. Every opiate and benzo has withdrawal that stinks... I just decided I would only work from where I was. As long as I kept making progress, I did not not see a need to alter my plan. if I started failing, I would have revisited the issue.
If your plan is working for you thus far, stay strong and stick to it. I have a suggestion for you to fill the time in this period of funk. It is a skill I learned in coping with depression, but helped me in withdrawal. A long ago, practical psyhiatrist suggested that I wash the back deck in slow, circular motions. It was a task that was rote in nature, but it gave me something meaningless to focus on and allowed my mind to relax a bit involved in the activity. I got lost in the motion and did relax. Nothing I could make a mistake in. Just washing the back deck. Like sweeping the garage or kitchen. Just rote activities that do not stress us at all. Calm motion.
Wishing you well during this time.
reach
I was chuckling to myself as I read of your determination to not use drugs to get off drugs. I chuckled because I really gave the psychiatrist agita over this issue. Four sessions in a row, he wanted me to use different meds and four sessions in a row, I refused. I had handed him a writen letter the first time I saw him as I knew I was too emotional to speak much and stay on track. The letter stated my problem and included a brief history as well as a firm statement that I would not in any way switch meds around. I was on what I was on and I would come off what I was on. Plain and simple. By the fourth session, he told me he thought the clinical social worker might be of more help to me. Man, he was so very correct about it! Through her, I learned so much.... drug-free ways of coping with the withdrawal, and, more importantly, concrete knowledge that helped me understand why I was where I was and how to change it. One of the biggest lessons taught by her was hypnosis that led smoothly into self hypnosis. I practice it continually today in all areas of my life.
I don't condemn or argue with anyone who choses a different path than I did. I was already on a blood pressure med (Toprol XL) and believe that helped me. However, every med the psychiatrist offered came from the classes of drugs I wanted to get off of.... opiates and benzos. Every opiate and benzo has withdrawal that stinks... I just decided I would only work from where I was. As long as I kept making progress, I did not not see a need to alter my plan. if I started failing, I would have revisited the issue.
If your plan is working for you thus far, stay strong and stick to it. I have a suggestion for you to fill the time in this period of funk. It is a skill I learned in coping with depression, but helped me in withdrawal. A long ago, practical psyhiatrist suggested that I wash the back deck in slow, circular motions. It was a task that was rote in nature, but it gave me something meaningless to focus on and allowed my mind to relax a bit involved in the activity. I got lost in the motion and did relax. Nothing I could make a mistake in. Just washing the back deck. Like sweeping the garage or kitchen. Just rote activities that do not stress us at all. Calm motion.
Wishing you well during this time.
reach