Chapter Sixteen

What to Do if You Have Already Started to
Taper Off Your Medication or Just Quit Cold Turkey

The key to handling withdrawal side effects once you begin to reduce the medication is: Put Control Back in the Process Again.

Roughly 80% of the people who begin The Road Back Program have already started to taper off their medication and are experiencing withdrawal side effects. The recommendations or suggestions offered in this chapter come from years of experience assisting these individuals.

First, it is not YOU. That may be difficult to grasp at first, but in time, you will come to understand it was not you; it was the withdrawal side effect.

The First Decision, Do You
These are your four basic options. Choosing the correct course of action will determine your quality of life for the next several months or years. Work closely with your physician before making the decision.

Understanding how you probably feel and the urgency you most certainly have, time is of the essence. Talk to your doctor. If you cannot schedule an office visit within one day, call and speak with the physician, but alert your physician now.

What to Expect With Each Option

 Stay where you currently are on the drug and try to handle the withdrawal side effects and then continue with the taper once they are gone?

If you remain at the new dosage that started the withdrawal side effects and do nothing else, the withdrawal side effects will probably continue. Usually, allowing additional time to pass will not stop the withdrawal side effects. For the few who experience some relief by just allowing time, the relief was minimal and usually new side effects began as more time passed.

 Depending on the severity of the withdrawal side effects, starting the pre-taper protocol for the type of medication you are taking should help. TRB Health has a In Withdrawal/Cold Turkey Package which covers all types of medication and can be purchased at www.trbhealth.com or by calling 1-866-810-3809. The time you have waited to begin the pre-taper nutritionals will usually determine how fast and how well you experience relief.

The normal response to starting the pre-taper nutritionals will be around seven days. You may feel some relief right away, but count on feeling the major positive changes around day number seven. Over the next few weeks, you should feel better each day.

Continue with the supplement protocol and once you have eliminated all or nearly all of the withdrawal side effects that were present, then, and only then, reduce the medication further.
If you have been off the medication for less than one week or quit cold turkey it is suggested that you go back on the last dosage you were taking, get the In Withdrawal/Cold Turkey package and start the supplements and program. Once stable you can resume your taper.

If you have reduced the medication or quit cold turkey more than 7 days ago, you are close to the point of no return regarding taking the medication again to get relief from the side effects.

If you go back on the medication the odds are high that the withdrawal side effects will not stop and a host of new side effects will begin. This information is not in the literature supplied by the drug manufacturer or medical journals. This data is based on communicating with thousands of individuals at this crossroad during the past years and what happened when they took a specific avenue.

The correct course of action would be to use the supplements in the In Withdrawal/Cold Turkey package and give yourself time to recover. You may not feel positive change for a few weeks, but relief should come if you just stay on the supplement program.

 

The problem most people encounter with using this option is not feeling relief soon enough so they jump to something else, switch to a different medication, and add an additional medication to try and stop the existing withdrawal side effects.

The additional medication is regularly prescribed for anxiety and sleep. Usually, between one to two weeks after the new medication is started, it will no longer provide relief, but will increase the daytime anxiety and insomnia.

Use this option with caution.

If you have already taken this course of action, follow the supplement schedule found in the package. Ideally, you did not begin a third medication to try to handle the side effects from the two you are taking. If you have added a third, just follow the pre-taper, but expect to spend a little more time to get rid of all of the existing side effects.

Suffer through the withdrawal side effects and hope for the best?

If the withdrawal side effects are very mild and you have been doing very well reducing the medication in the past, you might try doing nothing except remaining at the dosage where you currently are, wait until the withdrawal side effects stop then reduce the medication again further.

Some lucky people have “rolled a seven” and can simply reduce the medication without much problem and not suffer in the least.

 Begin taking an additional drug to try to mask the withdrawal side effects from the drug you are reducing?

As earlier described, this choice has an extreme downside. You may experience some temporary relief, but will usually lose such in a short time and suffer new side effects from the additional medication. More medications will then be added to try to combat all of the new side effects. You wind up on a cocktail of medications, all being used to try to stop the negative reactions from the other medications.

 

Avoid this option unless it is a life-or-death situation.

If you have already taken this route, follow the supplement schedule found in the In Withdrawal/Cold Turkey Package, get rid of all or the majority of existing side effects and then taper the medications one by one.

Deciding which option to take will put control and predictability into the process for you and your physician. No matter which option you choose, control and predictability will take place once you knowingly choose an option.

The attempt here is to remove the guessing of “what is behind door number 1-4.” 

The odds are extremely high that you will make it through what you are currently experiencing. Knowing what to do next is 99% of the battle.

 If You Quit the Medication Cold Turkey

If you found The Road Back after stopping a medication abruptly, you know what happens with that decision.

 There is always a solution.


Again, inform your physician about what you have done and share this information with the physician.

 Start the Cold Turkey supplements and give this and some time to work. It might take 14 days before you feel any relief, but the chances are very high that relief is obtainable.

Do not give up hope.