Cold Turkey
Copyright: rekemp
This comes directly from my journal, so it's personal and raw. Ha! And you thought I was already bearing the depths of my soul! Just wait...
Circumstance and idea have just aligned; I'm off Zoloft cold turkey. I didn't plan on doing it this way, but my prescription ran out, and my doctor wanted to see me before renewing it. I was feeling stubborn and thought "fuck it," I'm going for it.
It is ill-advised, I know. I've been off it five days, and I can tell. It's five days til my period -- also not ideal. I feel sad on and off, apropos of nothing, or because of a mildly poignant book or TV show. I have a strong need to be alone. That's the standard PMDD stuff. I even got so agitated yesterday, I went for a run which started out as a sprint and ended with hiking and sitting by the creek with the moss and the ferns.
There are some unusual symptoms -- maybe meds withdrawal. There's a weird, persistent backache and an odd spaciness like I'm a little high. It's particularly noticeable when I turn my head and my vision seems to wobble.
My immediate goal is to get through the next five or six days, take care of myself, and not lose it completely. My hope is, over the next few months, things will even out, and my coping skills will be enough that PMDD is manageable.
My core motivation for going off meds (aside from the stubborn, "you're not the boss of me" reason for the cold-turkey approach) is...a lot of things:
I don't like being dependent on them.
Maybe I would have more energy.
Maybe my memory would be better.
Maybe I'd stop gaining weight and having to buy new clothes.
I kinda hate to admit that last one, but it's there if I'm being completely honest.
One of my mantras, when I start to get all bogged down in PMDD thoughts about the world being no more than a confusing mess of meaningless drivel, is, "This isn't real; this too shall pass." But I'm not sure I believe it, even on my good days. Even then I wonder if we're all not just zombies who drank the capitalist Koolaid. It just doesn't bother me as much then. I need the mantra, true or not, to get me through the hard times. Otherwise, I might implode.
Sometimes the best you can get is, as Allie Brosh says,
Maybe everything isn't hopeless bullshit.
Image credit: Allie Brosh