Aren't we all a little crazy?

Not really sure what defines crazy I guess it depends on the person, but some people seem to think if you are medicated for some type of mental issue you are riding the crazy train.

Well then consider me the conductor.

I'm sure I have mentioned at some point or another that I have pretty bad anxiety, when I'm not medicated that is.

I have been taking anxiety medication for about 9 years now.

I have always had terrible anxiety since I was a small child, but it wasn't until my Sophomore year of HS that we really knew it was actually a chemical imbalance that could be causing this.

While I know many people see things like anxiety and depression as something that someone can just "get over" but actually if you don't truly suffer from it you have no idea.

What led me to getting on medication?

My anxiety was at a point where it was so bad I was physically ill.  I was always a small person but I started to lose even more weight that I didn't have to lose and always had an upset stomach.  I would have bad anxiety attacks before cheerleading competitions where I would end up in tears and couldn't even tumble in the warm up rooms.  I rarely slept and if something triggered my anxiety sometimes I wouldn't even be able to eat for days.

I finally couldn't take always feeling sick and having stomach issues anymore and my mom took me to the doctor.  After talking with me and a couple of questions my doctor said he thought we should try an antidepressant and this could help with not just the upset stomach and sick feeling but the anxiety too.  (Don't worry he told me if I was crazy we would be having a different conversation in a whole different place, so there!)

I was a whole new person for the better, medication changed my world.  I felt normal I could do things like watch the news without getting that sick feeling in my stomach, I could even go to sleep at night without my TV one.  That was huge.

Which finally brings me to my point of this post, while medication was a life changer for me and a great thing I have finally decided maybe it is time to give things a go medication free.  I can always go back to it if needed but I am now going through getting weaned off the medication.

The kind of medication I take you can't just stop taking it, if I even miss a day it makes me very sick like vomiting, horrible headaches, dizziness and just awful.  Take your worst hangover and multiply it by 50.

So in order to be medication free I have to have my dosage cut in half for a few weeks then skip every other day for a week or two then eventually stop taking it all together.

I didn't know what I was in for y'all!

 I mainly wanted to write this post in hopes that it could help someone else that might go through the same thing.  The withdrawal symptoms are AWFUL.  You experience horrible headaches, upset stomach, dizziness, brain zaps (you will know), nausea, and irritability.  Some people I have heard experience hallucinations, nightmares and are super emotional thankfully those were the ones I didn't have.

While searching for some remedies to these symptoms I came across some helpful sites that suggested vitamins.

I didn't go looking until day 5 of the terribleness because I kept thinking it would pass but I do feel it helped so much.

If you go through this it helped to take a daily vitamin, a vitamin B complex and Omega 3 fish oil.  I also bought some ginger root for the nausea but I only took it one day.  By day 3 of taking the vitamins I was feeling much better.

I am now on week 3 with my dosage cut in half and feel fine again but next week I will start taking it just every other day and we will see how that goes.  I have continued taking the vitamins so hopefully that will help.

It is tough but you will get through it and hopefully in the end it is worth it and by no means does taking medication make you crazy.  I actually can think of quite a few people who I think should really consider giving it a go.

Any one else have a similar situation? I would love to hear about it!