When to stop medication

[Matthias]

Hi everybody,

I've never really posted here before so I guess I'll just tell my story first. In January 2023 I developed a post-viral syndrome after an upper respiratory infection that left me with fatigue, agitation, muscle spasms, sleep disturbances, hair loss, urinary urgency, GI problems, the list goes on...if you can think of a TMS symptom I probably have it and many more. I went from perfectly healthy and living on my own to debilitated and having to move in with family within weeks. I languished for many months, finally discovered Sarno's work back in November and have been treating my condition as TMS, with what I would call moderate success.

Sleep has been a big problem for me throughout this whole experience, I can feel okay during the day but one night of bad sleep and all my symptoms return in full force the next day. Things have been better recently so I've decided to start getting off my sleep medication (it's not one of the addictive ones) and my God it's been much worse than I imagined. Any kind of stress makes my symptoms a whole lot worse, and any time I attempt to lower my dose I have the most stressful, restless, nightmare-filled sleep that leaves me feeling like I got hit by a train the next day.

So, I feel a little bit stuck at the moment. I feel like maybe I'm still not at a point where I can do without the medication, but Sarno did say to stop all physical interventions, and I'm sure the knowledge that I'm now dependent on medication just to get by is not helping with my condition. Should I just tough it out, quit cold turkey (like I said, it's not a benzo or anything so this won't kill me) and hope my body learns how to sleep naturally again? Or can I just keep taking it and wait until I'm well enough to stop in order to make things easier? I'd love to do the latter but at the same time I feel this is just giving in to the fear, which I know is not conducive to getting better. I've been agonizing about it a few days now which I'm sure has not been helping me, so I'm wondering what everyone else thinks?

 

[Cactusflower]

Sarno himself treated patients who had success with his lectures and a few phone calls and maybe a few visits.
He sent a percentage of his clients who he felt could recover but were not responding to his work, to psychiatrists he trained. They would deal with other associated symptoms like trauma etc. He did not seem to write much about these patients. I'm sure the psychiatrists may have assisted some patients with medications if needed.
What you describe sounds like your nervous system is still on high alert. Whenever the boat is rocked, it goes back to to panic mode. You can choose to do whatever you like. This is the way you begin to claim power over your symptoms. Figure out what YOU need. You, nobody else. Not what you think Sarno might have thought or what anyone else thinks.
Start talking to your Dr. when you feel you are ready mentally and emotionally to deal with reducing your dose. When you can steel yourself against any increase in symptoms temporarily, and be able to stay in the mindset that you'll be OK, and that you have the skills to self regulate and will be ok in a short time. Medication is simply a tool, it doesn't have to be a crutch, just a tool.
In the meantime, keep working on your mindset skills.
When you are ready, go for it, and be confident that this too will pass.
Sometimes things take a little while. That's no big deal. There is no timetable, there is no need to add a bunch of self-pressure.

 

[Baseball65]

I've been agonizing about it

That's the part that I think @Cactusflower is warning you about. We are all a little different. I once quit Benzo's cold turkey with no withdrawal symptoms because I didn't know I was supposed to have any...but when I tried kicking some other meds I got very sick and lost 10 pounds in a weekend (the hard way)

I feel like maybe I'm still not at a point where I can do without the medication, but Sarno did say to stop all physical interventions

OK... this is subtle BUT , you can compare the meds to all of the other crap we used to think 'helped' us stay out of pain...for me it was that damn wrap-around-your-boiler 'support belt'...that thing used to feel like The Great Universal Earth Mother lovingly holding me to her bosom...My pain was mostly gone but the thought of relinquishing it was really scary...scarier than stopping the meds (which never worked for me)
I was prolly 3-4 weeks into This deal, ready to go back to work, but I knew intellectually it was doing nothing.....but emotionally it was my pacifier...but I took it off and boy, did I feel 'wobbly' like a newborn colt trying to stand up for the first time...and then a week later I forgot I ever wore it for two years!
You will know. Sarno was of the opinion that PT, Back braces and even meds were placeboes of sorts, BUT he himself said the only thing he did during a gnarly TMS attack was to prescribe "a strong painkiller" and wait for it to end...
So, as long as YOU know that the meds aren't making the pain be there or not, that's the most important thing regarding your healing. Just like i never stopped working out... I stopped THINKING that exercise prevents TMS. I always worked out.. I did NOT always do their dumb 'core strengthening' drills, because they are based on the LIE that there is something wrong with you.

Your real inner self isn't affected by meds. Just don't booby trap yourself and create a problem.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Awesome advice from @Cactusflower and @Baseball65 for you, @Matthias! I advise reading both of their posts more than once. Perhaps even print them out. and read them before going to bed. Once you're in bed, try a short little meditation or visualization combined with a simple therapeutic breathing pattern, during which you have a little third-person talk with your brain, letting it know that it's time to sleep, and that it's okay if you sleep with relaxation and without fear because you are perfectly safe. Practice doing this while you're still using your medication and see what happens.

If you wake up during the night, there's no need to panic. Our normal "sleep cycles" are only about 90 minutes long, between which we can partially or even fully wake up. There's actually no such thing as sleeping deeply the entire night - unless you're medicated. If you are aware of being awake, just relax all your muscles, and repeat the breathing and the self-talk. It's all normal. It also can't hurt to remind yourself that a night or two of poor sleep is also no reason to panic. The panic is nothing more than your brain on TMS, trying to keep you safely fearful. Just gently say No Thank You