America is about to go Psychotic!

Dropping “cold turkey” off any medication, most especially mind altering medications, can often be MORE DANGEROUS than staying on the drugs. Tapering off very, very, very slowly- over months, not just weeks, has proven the safest and most effective method of withdrawal from this type of medication, thereby giving the body time to readjust its own chemical levels.

I wrote this article on how to safely wean off of anti-depressants and the Compleat Mother web site published it today!

I wrote it out of deep concern that with all of the current talk in the media because of recent Congressional hearings into the psyche profession/pharmacuetical scam regarding the side effects of antidepressants, families may feel justified in stopping medications "cold turkey".

The patient taking these drugs must wean off of them very slowly in order to do it safely.

In the article I posted a variety of web based resources to enable the consumer to help themselves or a loved one to come off the meds with a minimum of de-tox symptoms.

One of the most disturbing facts discovered about these drugs in my research has been the realization that for many patients anti-depressants are harder to come off of than the most hard core street drugs. The anti-depressant patient can expect to experience all of the typical de-tox symptoms that any junkie or addict feels when detoxing from any illegal drug, and for some, the detox will be worse than what is commonly felt by the street drug user.

The more people who are aware of these facts in our society, the more we will be able to understand those around us who have stopped taking the meds and are having a common and even predictable response to drug withdrawal, of which the most disturbing symptoms are Mania and Psychosis.

I am grateful for honest hearted Congress people who are peeling back the layers of lies and propaganda that have befuddled our society as these anti-depressants have wrecked havoc on the families of America.

I am now to the point that when I see a bizarre headline in the news about something strange that has happened in terms of a crime or weird behavior, I automatically think, "I wonder which anti-depressant that person was on".

I pray that we as a society will face this issue head on and realize that drug therapy for psyche patients should be dumped into the dregs of quack medicine where it belongs and replaced with the more humane nutritional approaches of orthomolecular medicine (treating mental illness with nutrients), natural healing, whole foods nutrition, exercise, homeopathy, and herbal healing.

Psyche patients don't need a chemical lobotomy....they need nutrition, rest, time for recovery from traumas experienced, and good sleep.

Jenny Hatch www.NaturalFamilyco.com

of which the most disturbing symptoms are Mania and Psychosis.

In January of this year I went to the doctor to see what was available to aid me in my attempt to quit smoking. The doctor perscribed Wellbutrin and told me to give it about a month to feel it effects. For those who might not know Wellbutrin is an anti-depressant that has a side effect were it makes a smoker not get the rush from cigarettes and also makes them taste bad. Sounds good huh?

Well after about a month of taking this drug I had what is know as a substance induced mood disorder with manic features according to the DSM IV. Again, for those who don't know, (and I was one that didn't know at the time) the characteristics of a manic episode are:
-inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
-decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
-more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
-flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
-attention is easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant items
-increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)

At first this all seemed pretty fun. My self-esteem was way up there. I could go days on very little or no sleep at all. I talked to everyone strangers and friends alike. I called distant friends and talk and talked. I talked to every cute girl there was and got a 19 y/o girlfriend, I'm 38 and married 15 years. I also began doing all the drugs I could get my hands on.

This episode lasted for 4 months and ended with the destruction of the first floor of my house and being taken away by police paddy-wagon to the state mental hospital.

I nearly lost my family, my job was adversely effected and I caused about $100K of damage to my house and it's contents.

These drugs can be very dangerous indeed.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It just sickens me to think of people like you, and the millions of others; men, women, and children who have also suffered from the mania, or will suffer when they try to come off the meds. I have read that the numbers of children on antidepressants is right now today in America one out of six. And the number of adults on antidepressants have been estimated to be one in three.

I will pray for a healing of your life and family. I was able to make it to the other side because of a wonderful, patient husband, educated professions, and well written books, articles, and information. Thank Goodness for my psychiatrist, Peter Breggin, Ann Blake Tracy, and the other authors who have heroically and courageously written the books.

I'd rather be addicted to cigarettes that experience manic-depressive hell. But I am grateful you made it through without killing anyone or yourself. Give you mind some time to balance out. It took me years to rebuild reality after experiencing the psychotic break. The shame and embarassment were huge. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was just so horrible. I was picked up by the police in my underwear.

The analogy I have come up with is reality being a sort of brick wall, and when one becomes psychotic or even just manic, that reality smashes the wall into individual bricks. The job of the person healing from this destruction is to carefully and consistently rebuild the wall.

You are already leaps and bounds ahead of the average psyche drug user in the sense that you KNOW it was a drug reaction. My greater concern is with the many people in our society who have no clue they are experiencing a mental side effect from the drugs.

Take Care!

Jenny Hatch

Hope you can find the peace and normality again, for me I used my break as an opportunity to discover how to make it so my mind would never break again.

Sleep is the key, as well as proper nutrition. It was a real revelation to me to realize that I could NOURISH my brain, just as I could nourish any other part of my body with nutrients. I also try to protect the imput to my mind, keeping things positive and not overly focusing on the things I can't control or change in my life.

It has been a real education, but the scriptures have taught me that God gives us weaknesses to keep us humble, and he also has the ability to make our weaknesses our strengths.

I pray you can find the strength.

Jenny

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