45 years of elavil stopped cold

[judon]

Hello Folks ,I am here to ask for some helpful information for my Mother .She is having a very tuff time nowadays and i cannot understand why. Mom took Elavil 50mg. each night and a half of a darvon to help her rest for 45 years .and was doing fine! ,,until about a year and a half ago whe had a lot of trauma in our large family of 12 children ,and she was having trouble sleeping(imagine that all us kids)  Anyway she went to her medical doctor and he stopped her Elavil cold !   said she was on it too long ,and put her on Prozak first then Zoloft ,,and shortly after that she had to go in the hospitol she was in hell ! Horrible thoughts of suacide, terrible depression ,,all of it..  All of a suden she supposedly has Anxiety disorder ..so now she is on klonapin,cymbalta,remeron ,ambien,xanax,and darvon , and is not getting any better!!!!  ,My question is.... Do you think the stopping of the Elavil caused this traumatic experience ?  The side effects of all  these drugs are unbeleivable ,and could they play a part in her not getting better? I realize you only can give me your opinion but most times the people that live this is know  better than any doctor ,,especially the doctors these days ,,any feed back will be greatly appreciated ,,thanks ,Don

[judon]

Thank you all very much ,This information is helping her greatly !  I have shown her the responses and she now has hope and understands what it was that has terrorized her .I think the reality of not being terribly sick is giving her the outlook of releif ,,HOPE something we all need ,,this doctor should be removed from practice so he does not hurt anyone else ,,  I thank you all and hope you know that sharing this is  going to make a wonderful older  lady smile again! ..God Bless ,,and my family thanks you too,,  sincerely, Judon  

[nursegirl6572]

OMG...I couldn't agree more with the advice you have received.  You need to seek a second opinion for your mom immediately.  As abby said...the elderly are VERY sensitive to these kinds of drugs....and need special care when d/cing them...or starting them.

She is on WAY too much medication, which has made her worse. The combo of those medications can cause HUGE problems for your Mom.

Get a new doctor right away and hopefully this mess can be undone quickly.  I bet if she was put back on her prior medication regimen (Darvon and Elavil)....she would get much better fairly quickly.  That would be an excellent starting point anyway.  Really, at her age...it should have never been stopped.  It was working for the most part...and the risks of making the changes outweighed the risks of just maintaining her regimen.

So sorry this happened to your Mom.  It just infuriates me when a doctor decides to cut a med that someone has been on forever without tapering them.....makes me soooo mad.

Let us know how she is doing!

[abby10]

Your mom needs to come off these drugs with a taper. The elderly are very sensitive to some of these drugs and they build up higher levels in their systems. In the state of Maryland all complaints go the Maryland Board of Physicans. I like the way the doctor says to just stop after 45 years!

Google the word benzodiazepine and see what it says about the elderly and these drugs.

Good luck,
abby

[judon]

Thank You very much ! I really appreciate you sharing this experience with me .You have given me hope that she is going to get better .This has been a  1year and 6 months hell we hope to end ,Mom is 82 years old and to steel any time from her is a sin ..I beleive the Doctor that did this should be barred from ever practicing again and i am going to write the AMA ,,..I do not know if it will do any good but i am going to make his life hell for a while ,,see how much he likes it . I am going to see her today and i think this will give her hope ,the shrink she was seeing told her she would never get better ,,she couldn't  buy a break until we realized what the w/ds from elavil could do .any one else wishing to share this horrible experience please do so ,,all information will help her .thank you all  and God does bless you ..thanks again,, Don

[Jade59]

I missed the fact she was taking Darvon too.  Eliminating that has alot to do with how she is feeling as well.  45yrs is a long time to take a painkiller every day, then stop.  

Your poor mom :(

[Jade59]

Yes I do!  I was on Elavil from 1980 til 88 and stopped it cold not knowing any better.  At first I was fine then slowly over the next 2mos I thought I was in hell too.  Started to cry at work one day because the anxiety and depression was insane and ended up in the behavioral unit of a hospital.  I don't think I stopped crying to for two solid months.  It took quite a few more months to feel better, but eventually I did.  

Your mom is on way too many drugs.  She most likely needs to get off everything and have the doc treat her for w/d from the Elavil, only.  There are drugs made specifically to treat withdrawal.  

Good luck!  I do know what your mom is going through.