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The Road Back Future
Events Ireland June
27-29
How
to Get Off Psychiatric Drugs Safely
Copyright Notice
Forward
A Note
From James Harper, Founder, The Road Back
Table of
Contents
Part One
Chapter
1.
The Road
Back Basics
2.
The Four Simple Steps
3.
Suggested Nutritionals for The Road Back Program
4.
Things
You Need to Know
5.
Things to Be Aware Of
6.
General Pre-Tapering and
Tapering Instructions
7.
Daily Journal
8.
Graph Your Success
9.
Pre-Taper For: Benzodiazepines, Anti-Convulsants, Anti-Anxiety & Sleep
Medication
10.
Pre-Taper For Antidepressants,
Antipsychotics, and ADHD Medication
11.
How to
Taper Off Benzodiazepines, Anti-Convulsants, Anti-Anxiety and Sleep Medication
12.
How to
Taper Off Antidepressants, Anti-Psychotics and ADHD Medication
13.
Once
Off All Medication
14.
What to Do If You Have Already
Started to Taper Off Your Medication
or Quit Cold Turkey
15.
How to
Taper Off Multiple Drugs
16.
What You
Can Do If You Have Never Taken Psychiatric Drugs
17.
Science
Behind The Road Back Program
18.
Additional Taper Reduction
Schedules
References
Additional Testimonials
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As you read this chapter several nutritional products are described.
The supplement company that has
manufactured these products for the past 2 years has closed.
The Road Back has taken this into their own hands and has manufactured all products. You can order from TRB Health.
Click
here
To purchase the book How to Get Off Psychiatric Drugs Safely,
click here.
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Chapter Eleven
How to Taper Off
Benzodiazepines, Anti-anxiety, Anticonvulsant,
and Sleep Medication
Now that you have completed your pre-taper program, you are
ready to start the reduction of your medication.
Not knowing what each of
you may have experienced personally, I do know that the vast majority of people
who are ready for this step tell me that they have some trepidation starting the
taper, as they have had terrible side effects when they have tried to quit
before.
Now, as incredible as this might seem, this step should be
the easy part of The Road Back Program!
The Taper
The safest method to reduce medication:
If you have tried to taper off these medications before and
suffered withdrawal side effects, I suggest that you at least start the taper
slowly. Reduce the medication by 2% every 14-days for three reductions
and have success, and then move on to the next method for reducing the
medication.
I have been told by some people that the 2% reduction every
14-days is far too long. When I asked them, “How long have you been trying to
get off the medication?” the answer was usually a few years without success.
This is where, slow, and steady wins
the race every time.
Again, if you had a problem in the past with tapering off
medication, definitely use the 2% reduction schedule. Have success reducing the
medication at least 3 times, see for yourself that you can do this and still
feel well, and then you and your physician should decide if you should reduce
the medication.
Make sure you work with the prescribing physician before
changing the dosage of your medication.
Ask your physician to write a prescription to accommodate a 2% reduction. You
will need to use a compounding pharmacy to fill this prescription.
* It is important that the compounded drug be identical to
the drug you are currently taking.
* Changing to a generic drug may not act the same, and withdrawal side effects
can begin.
* Switching from one drug to another because it has a longer half-life will
create withdrawal side effects from the drug abruptly stopped. Avoid this
altogether.
* Unless the pharmacist can assure you that the medication is
exactly
the same, avoid this method of compounding.
* Only reduce the medication 2% every
fourteen days.
The 2% reduction is based on the original dosage of the medication. The 2%
reduction is based on milligrams.
* Never skip any days of taking medication.
* Always take your medication at the same time each day.
* If you take your medication more than once each day, make
sure the total reduction of the medication is no more than 2%.
* Take each supplement at least ˝ hour apart from the drug,
but ideally, 1 hour apart. It is much better to take the supplements 1 hour
after taking the drug, instead of before the drug.
* Continue with your supplements and “super foods” at the same
times and amounts established during the pre-taper.
* Take each supplement at the same time each day.
* Continue taking your “super foods” and supplements at
least 45 days after you take the last dosage of your
medication.
* Remember to keep your Daily Journal filled out each day and
keep taking all the supplements exactly as you did at the end of the pre-taper.
The next method to reduce medication:
Until now, the problems encountered by most people attempting
to get off any of the medications have been withdrawal side effects and the
availability of the medication in a dosage that would allow a gradual reduction.
Several of the drug inserts will suggest reducing the
medication every 3-days. With that rapid reduction suggested, and large drops in
the medication, only one result would happen - suffering.
To survive in this world, sometimes we need to change the
environment or change ourselves to live in the environment.
The environment we have been dealt regarding available dosages
has been a constant problem with tapering.
Either the drug manufacturers needed to make their medication
in dosages that would accommodate a gradual reduction or a solution needed to be
found that would allow for the large reduction while averting withdrawal side
effects.
With these medications, it is not always possible to compound
them to exact dosages without altering the drug structure, and with some of the
medications being prescribed as a time release, large reductions are the only
option.
Therefore, for survival, we need to change the environment and
change ourselves, as well. In this case, it was improve The Road Back Program to
accommodate medications that could not be gradually reduced by a small
percentage.
The Road Back Program has and always will be a work in
progress. However, at the writing of this book, the program has made a giant
stride in handling the environment or better stated; the problem of available
dosages supplied by the drug manufacturer.
This breakthrough includes benzodiazepines, antidepressants,
antipsychotics, sleep medications, ADHD medications, and even medications
prescribed in a time release form.
With your pre-taper complete and the Daily Journal kept
up-to-date throughout, you will know which supplement caused each positive
change and handled which side effect.
You will be using that information during the taper phase of
the program to handle any withdrawal side effect, if one begins.
Taper Procedure:
- Keep taking all supplements exactly as you did at the
end of the pre-taper throughout the taper process.
- Keep your Daily Journal up-to-date each day.
- Compound medication for a 2% reduction.
- Reduce medication by 2% every 14-days, at least during
the first 3 reductions.
- Reduce the medication at the lowest possible amount,
using the drug manufacturer’s available tablet or capsule.
- Reduce the medication every 14-days.
- Make sure you have at least 7 consecutive days of
feeling very well before reducing the medication again. If this requires you
to reduce the medication every 21-days, do that.
- Never skip any days of
taking medication
Tapering can be this simple.
What to Do if Side Effects Begin
It is important to know what to do if side effects begin while
tapering off the medication. Withdrawal side effects can happen, but addressing
them early and knowing what to do will usually make them short-lived and keep
them mild, as well.
In this book, mentioned several times is: “With little, to no
side effects,” but if you were to purchase a $250,000 automobile, it would still
come with a spare tire, just in case!
If a Withdrawal
Side Effect Turns On During the Taper:
Do not reduce the medication again until the symptom goes
away. This usually only takes a few days, or less, and then you can resume the
taper.
Do not start making wholesale changes to your daily
routine.
Proceed with the following steps, in the order presented.
Once the withdrawal side effect is eliminated, give yourself 7-days, and then
continue with the taper.
- Review your Daily Journal and look for changes you
might have made to your routine. If you located a change, go back to exactly
what you were doing before the change and all should be well shortly. Give
the withdrawal side effect 7 days to go away. If nothing is found, move to
number 2.
- Usually, the withdrawal side effect will be a side
effect you had before doing the pre-taper. Review the Daily Journal and
locate the exact step of the pre-taper that eliminated the side effect.
Increase that supplement slightly when you take it during the daytime or at
bedtime and this should handle the side effect quickly.
Once the side effect is gone, wait 7 days before reducing the medication
again.
If the side effect is not eliminated, this needs to be looked at a few
different ways before taking any new
action.
Do you still rate yourself at a 7 or higher on the 1-10 scale for anxiety,
sleep and other feelings? If so, keep taking the slight increase of the
supplement that handled the side effect previously for the next 7 days and
then continue with the taper as long as you remain at a 7 or higher rating.
- Each supplement used with The Road Back Program has a
specific purpose.
Using a supplement a little differently is sometimes needed to overcome
withdrawal side effects.
Begin taking the Body CalmSupreme every 4 hours during the day if you are
not already doing that.
Once the side effect is eliminated or reduced to the point of you rating
yourself at a 7 or higher once again, wait 3 days and then reduce the Body
CalmSupreme back to no more than 1 capsule every 4 hours.
Make sure you keep taking all other supplements exactly as established
during the pre-taper.
If you have fallen below a 7 rating, proceed to number 3.
- If you found that number 2 handled the side effect and
the same side effect begins again with the next reduction, 1 day before you
reduce the medication, increase that supplement slightly and stay on the
increased amount for 4 days after you lowered the dosage.
This approach should help prevent the side effect from ever being present
with all future reductions.
- If number 2 did not fully eliminate the side effect,
you will need to give yourself a little additional time. Stay at the
increased amount of the supplement that you increased doing number 2, and
relief should come within 7 days.
- Sometimes there is just a bump in the road as you
taper off a medication. There is no rhyme or reason for withdrawal side
effects to begin. You might have decreased the medication 6 times with ease,
and after the seventh reduction a withdrawal side effect begins.
This usually goes away using the steps above, but sometimes it just
persists.
There are two solutions. Reducing the medication once again or increasing
the medication back up to the last dosage you were doing well with, are the
two options.
If you are going to increase the medication, give yourself at least 14-days
before doing this. Give your body a chance to adjust. However, if the
withdrawal side effect is unbearable, do not wait the 14-days, but complete
steps 1-4 above and then proceed with this option.
Increasing the medication back to the last dosage should be the first choice
from the two options.
There are times when reducing the dosage does handle the withdrawal side
effect. For whatever reason, your body is reacting to that certain amount of
medication, and nothing you do will get rid of the side effect except to be
on a different dosage, whether a higher or a lower dosage.
If you went back up on the dosage of the medication to get relief, and
withdrawal side effects started when you returned to the previous level, the
answer is usually to reduce the medication again rather quickly and get to a
new lower level. This new level would be just under the dosage you were at
when withdrawal side effects started with the taper.
Make sure you consult your physician about this and keep him or her well
informed as to how you are doing and
what you are doing.
Once you are off the medication, make sure you keep taking
the supplements for 45-days.
Read the chapter, “Once Off All Medication” and follow the
ending program completely.
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