Medication Withdrawal

Hello,

I am a 34 year old male with a long history of anxiety and depression.  I have seen many Psycologists throughout my life.  I am fortunate enough to be able to go back to school for one year full  time.  Since I left a negative workplace I was feeling better but not perfect.  

I had moved my medication down to 100mg of Bupropion and .5mg of Clonazepam for six months.  
Now about ten days ago I stopped both.  I feel anxious and out of it.  How long will these feelings persist?  I wanted to see if the medications were causing anxiety and some moodiness.  I just got tired of taking the meds and wanted to test the waters without them.  What is a fair amount of time till all the meds are out of my system and am 100% on my own?  I am open to suggestions as well.. I've heard of vitamins and foods to ease the transition.  Do these work?
Thank you.

[oa21]

hey mike,
i used to take xanax tapred off of it in about 2 weeks..that was way too fast..but i found this web site..probably the best place for info on how everything works and how to get off of it. i stil have anxiety specially when iam stressed but i find that a good jog and a magnesium vitamin pill help.
the website is "http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/index.htm" check it out. oh and if you wanna naturally take care of ur anxiety try herbs like "kava" "valerian" "chamomial" or st. johns wart..
good luck...

[MeganK]

Anyone know anything about getting off Paxil Cr? I am doing it w/o doctor supervision as they don't listen to me anyway! I suffer from severe anxiety. I am starting St. Johns wart to help. I am open to suggestions.

[whereismike]

Thank you for your comments.. the benzo.org site was helpful.

[Mark TX]

I tapered off my lithium and wellbutrin fairly quickly six months ago and suffered no noticeable side effects.  I was still taking 1.5-mg of klonopin daily, so I well may have masked any withdrawal symptoms with the benzo.

I'm now tapering off the klonopin... at my own pace... and watching for adverse side effects.  I'm feeling it... but it's quite bearable.  You may want to do a little Googling to find out more about the risk of seizures, etc., or check out some of the posts from Ryan on this board.  He can often clarify things that you might be unclear about after reading other material.

I can't give you any recommendation on how best to proceed at this point.   But I can certainly understand your desire to test the waters.  I came to that same conclusion after several years of suffering on medication.  I've learned a lot in the process...  including that I knew very little about the drugs I was taking, how to take them properly, and the potential adverse side effects or consequences of improper dosaging.  I also was unaware how psychologically dependent I'd become on the klonopin.  It wasn't till my GP told me bluntly that I was 'addicted' to these little pills that I realized what a problem they had become.  So at the very least, this 'experiment' is proving very valuable to me.... whether or not I ever decide that medication is the best route in the future.


mark

[whereismike]

Yeah the Benzo to me is like oil.  When I stopped it I feel my engine grinding with anxiety.  I tapered off in a reasonable fashion but looking back I wish I'd done it much slower.  1.5 of Klonopin ... yeah that stuff does the trick .. I must say.  Tomorrow I'm gonna see my Psychologist and I'm sure he'll roll his eyes.  I may want to try something different like Cymbalta... has anyone had any luck with it?  
What do I have to do to get off medications? Win the lottery, live at a Spa and get pampered, do yoga, work out, eat right, meditate, acupuncture, etc .. sorry it's just frustrating.