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kBillingsley
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27 Mar 2012, 10:51 pm

Before I was on drugs, my anxiety was an excellent means to drive me to my goals. Just before I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, my psychiatrist put me on Zoloft to help get rid of the anxiety that enveloped me for about a month or so (this was before I knew anything about autism, and admittedly thought it synonymous with cognitive retardation) in the summer and periodically persisted into the school year. I now suspect that the anxiety was brought on by a massive paradigm shift that I thought I could handle, but obviously could not. The drugs worked great for a couple of months, but I began to notice something unsettling: I no longer got panic attacks during tests. Further on, I started to feel less and less interested in the order on which I base my life. I then began to lose all of my interests and was not gaining any new ones. It would seem that my loss of the anxiety so common to AS, the anxiety that I was so used to and never appreciated, came with some undesirable ramifications. I now find it hard to get up in the morning because I do not fear the consequences of failing in my education. I can no longer bring myself to pay attention in classes that I do not like. I now start electronics and mechanical projects that I would carry out to the end before the medication, but never finish them: seriously, I have like ten or so projects just gathering dust in my garage. I want my anxiety back, but can anyone tell me if it is safe to quit your drugs like that?



Kail
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27 Mar 2012, 10:54 pm

Anxiety is power. Cortisol is weakness.



Kail
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27 Mar 2012, 10:55 pm

what goes up must come down...

nothing is bad in moderation.



cozysweater
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27 Mar 2012, 11:06 pm

This is really something you should be talking to your doctor about. Apathy is not the lack of anxiety, this may be something else. Like depression.



Kail
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27 Mar 2012, 11:06 pm

I might get shot...



nat4200
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28 Mar 2012, 12:15 am

Redacted



Last edited by nat4200 on 21 Apr 2012, 1:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sweetleaf
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28 Mar 2012, 12:27 am

I thought Zoloft was for depression, not anxiety...I mean I have heard anti-depressants can sometimes help anxiety, but that is not their typical use. I would talk to the doctor about getting off of it if you don't like how it makes you feel. But if you don't go that route or want to do something about it before then you can slowly quit taking them though I am not sure quite what is recommended for that one...but there may be more info on that if you look up more info on zoloft.

But typically just gradually reducing the amount is what happens, because depending on how long your on a drug and what drug it is...its possible if you just quit all the sudden you could get dangerous withdrawl symptoms......as your body/brain can get dependent on it and thus depriving it all the sudden can have some either unpleasant or dangerous effects. So that is why its recommended you quit with the guidance of the doctor.


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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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28 Mar 2012, 12:51 am

With some anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medications, it is sometimes important to step down from it in phases.



Jtuk
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28 Mar 2012, 1:38 pm

cozysweater wrote:
This is really something you should be talking to your doctor about. Apathy is not the lack of anxiety, this may be something else. Like depression.


yep, could be depression. talk to your doc, your dose might be too high.

Jason



nirrti_rachelle
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28 Mar 2012, 2:11 pm

You can have my anxiety if you want.

What you're experiencing does sound like depression. Or maybe with the recent change of seasons, your brain is trying to adjust. The anxiety might also have been masking other issues which is why they're showing up now that it's being treated.


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Ecl713
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28 Mar 2012, 3:37 pm

Without anxiety.
I lose order and routine.
Without order and routine nothing gets remembered, nothing gets done, I making a fool of myself, and my world starts to crumble into chaos.
So I agree with the premises.
But you want off the drugs you should slowly lower the dosage over a long period of time.



paddy26
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28 Mar 2012, 3:41 pm

I know what you mean. I'm not as anxious as I use to be and kind of miss it because it made me more proactive but maybe not being anxious all the time can be beneficial long term.



kBillingsley
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28 Mar 2012, 3:55 pm

nat4200 wrote:
kBillingsley wrote:
I now find it hard to get up in the morning because I do not fear the consequences of failing in my education.

^ Wow, this is a problem I've been experiencing rather recently! (not education, but same conceptually) However while I've been coming out of a something like a phase of depression, I have not been on antidepressant medication (but I've only really been better and experiencing this for the last few weeks - maybe 2-3 weeks).

How long have you been experiencing this?


Since the beginning of my senior year, about six months ago.



kBillingsley
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28 Mar 2012, 3:56 pm

Ecl713 wrote:
Without anxiety.
I lose order and routine.
Without order and routine nothing gets remembered, nothing gets done, I making a fool of myself, and my world starts to crumble into chaos.
So I agree with the premises.
But you want off the drugs you should slowly lower the dosage over a long period of time.


Oh yeah, of course. Quitting completely and without any sort of discussion would be irresponsible. Thanks for the advice.



kBillingsley
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28 Mar 2012, 3:59 pm

nirrti_rachelle wrote:
You can have my anxiety if you want.

What you're experiencing does sound like depression. Or maybe with the recent change of seasons, your brain is trying to adjust. The anxiety might also have been masking other issues which is why they're showing up now that it's being treated.


'The Dirty South' nice. Yeah, it could be seasonal, but it has been going on all year, so I think that seasonal cause is pretty much ruled out. Plus here in Texas we have no seasons: there are hot days and cold days, and sometimes they happen to be the same day, but there are no seasons.



kBillingsley
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28 Mar 2012, 4:02 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
I thought Zoloft was for depression, not anxiety...I mean I have heard anti-depressants can sometimes help anxiety, but that is not their typical use. I would talk to the doctor about getting off of it if you don't like how it makes you feel. But if you don't go that route or want to do something about it before then you can slowly quit taking them though I am not sure quite what is recommended for that one...but there may be more info on that if you look up more info on zoloft.

But typically just gradually reducing the amount is what happens, because depending on how long your on a drug and what drug it is...its possible if you just quit all the sudden you could get dangerous withdrawl symptoms......as your body/brain can get dependent on it and thus depriving it all the sudden can have some either unpleasant or dangerous effects. So that is why its recommended you quit with the guidance of the doctor.


Totally. I would really like to quit drugs altogether; I never intended to be drugged my whole life (though I am not opposed to the idea for others, but I feel as though I can survive quite well without them), they were just supposed to be a patch job until I finished therapy.