Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Hey yâall, Hope everyoneâs getting by okay, all things considered! Got something really cool to share. I recently sat down to be interviewed by Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring, a psychiatrist (and overall great person) with a âspecialization in identifying and treating psychiatric adverse drug reactions,â and the videoâs now up on his YouTube channel.
Please watch it if you're interested and consider subbing to his channel if you havenât already. Loads of helpful content and resources over there for folks who are going through some psych drug-induced hard times!
He also has a drug tapering program that's very much worth a look and you can find more info about that here:
taperclinic.com/
And I'll see yâall soon on my own channel. I know itâs been a while, but thereâs definitely more to come. Much love!
13 - 8
Hey yâall, just wanting to check in real quick. Iâve been abroad most of this year, and am currently on a solo trip in Albania (great country!). Got here just in time to see the dang National Historical Museum closed for reconstruction â until 2028. Oh, well. They gotta do it sometime.
That is some very lovely scaffolding though. I donât know much about scaffolding but it just looks very new and blue and nicely done. Good to see it before itâs all covered up in renovation dust.
Itâs kinda surreal to be in another country where I donât know anyone. Donât know the language or the local culture. Thousands of miles from the nearest Walmart. (Not KFC tho! The colonelâs everywhere.) But itâs very freeing too. Very different from the life I used to live. Couldnât have imagined ever being able to do this during my 5-year taper. Itâs not the easiest thing in the world now, but itâs manageable.
If youâre reading this, or even just skimming it, hopefully it can make you feel a little better about your own future. Make you feel less perma-trapped in the psych drug withdrawal hellscape.
It can take 40 forevers for some of us to reach a point where things have gotten dramatically better but there are reasons to stay hopeful đ
I learned a new Albanian word today and I think itâs a great one to wrap things up with. When I was at the local market this morning, the clerk sneezed and I reflexively said âbless you.â Then I decided to step out of my own head and culture for a moment, and away from my social nervousness and awkwardness and propensity for being disturbingly silent, and asked what an Albanian would say after someone sneezes. âShĂ«ndet,â they replied. (pronounced âshuhn-detâ)
Just looked up the English translation of the word. According to Google Translate it means, âHealth!â
So yeah⊠What a great word to end on. May we all have some shĂ«ndet! May we all have some health đ
Much love from Albania đŠđ±
20 - 21
Do you have the full cooperation of a prescriber while coming off psych drugs? If youâre already off the meds, just choose the best answer for your experience while discontinuing them.
Please expand on your answer if youâd like. Itâs not always as simple as âyesâ or ânoâ or âkinda but not really.â The third poll answer in particular leaves a lot of room for elaboration.
I had the full cooperation of my now ex-psychiatrist for the first 1.5 years of my 5-year taper, then lost his help for reasons I think I touched on in my old âLosing a Loved One While Coming off Psych Drugsâ video. He didnât fully know what he was doing while he was helping though and was making the reductions too fast. So cooperation doesnât always smooth out all the bumps in the road of psych drug withdrawal.
After losing his help, I had to rely on various family docs to pick up psychiatryâs slack. They definitely didnât know what they were doing â but they at least did something. They kept me supplied with prescriptions.
It would have made an enormous difference in my quality of life while tapering if Iâd had the help of knowledgeable and fully cooperative prescribers. While it may or may not have shortened the length of the taper itself, it wouldâve been slightly less hellish and undoubtedly wouldâve set me up for a shorter and less turbulent post-taper period.
Thank yâall for responding to all these polls! Much love.
11 - 45
Do you value your psychiatric diagnosis? (Or diagnoses, if you have more than one)
Personally, I grew up valuing mine and saw them as a key part of my identity. But all of that stopped while coming off psych drugs and seeing that the most severe psychiatric disorder âsymptomsâ went away during the taper and post-taper periods. Symptoms which had led to new diagnoses and treatments and erroneous self-beliefs. Really made me question everything Iâd been told for years as a young, dutiful patient of psychiatry. Psychiatry's voluntary absence during most of my 5-year taper sure didnât make things any better. Thatâs just me though. Iâm a little biased but please donât let that affect the sharing of your own views. Looking forward to hearing from all of yâall!
Note: I still see myself as very diagnosable. This isnât a âpsych drugs are bad and caused all my problemsâ take. But getting into the DSM and its subjectivity and reckless casting of an ultra-wide net would be too much for a post like this. You can check out âThe Book of Woeâ by Gary Greenberg if you want a critical, deep dive into psychiatryâs big book oâ labels.
14 - 18
Hey yâall,
I was planning to put another video out in the not-too-distant future, but there are some big life things happening right now and the vid wonât get done as fast as Iâd hoped. My dad passed away on Saturday and thatâs the most pressing thing at the moment. But however long it takes, there will be more content on the channel and the wait shouldnât be anything close to what itâs been for the last couple vids. Really appreciate yâall for sticking around and for the support and encouragement youâve given me over the years. Itâs meant a lot. And itâs been beyond meaningful and helpful for my own recovery to be able to return the favor.
Much love to all of you.
33 - 15
After finishing your psych drug taper, were you prepared for the difficulty of the post-taper recovery period?
Weâre not finished just because weâre off the meds. The post-taper period is yet another, potentially very difficult stage of the discontinuation process. It can present some familiar challenges, and some that are unique compared to what came before. Obviously we canât be fully prepared for whatever comes next after finishing our taper, but Iâm curious to know how many folks were aware of these challenges and how many were caught by surprise. As always, feel free to expand on your answer in the comments.
13 - 17
Did you start taking psych drugs voluntarily, or were you made to take them against your will?
Feel free to expand on your answer in the comments. It gets a little confusing when figuring out whether or not minors can legally consent to treatment. Laws vary by state (here in the US) and throughout the world. If you were a minor and unsure of the laws where you were living at the time, just choose the answer that best represents how the âchoiceâ was presented to you.
Talking about whether or not young people should be medicated is a whole other can of worms and too much to get into here.
And if thereâs another option that should be added, or even a better way to word the question, give your suggestions in the comments. I have no qualms about redoing the poll.
I replied to a question in the last poll by saying that this is kind of a complicated thing to ask. Who can consent and what it even means to give it are just some of the huge factors behind that. Voluntary isn't always... voluntary. And plenty of folks who consented to treatment feel duped once they realize how hard it is to come off the drugs. They'd love to have a do-over. So many cans. So many worms. But itâs still a very important question to put out there, even if it's tough to do it justice in a YouTube poll!
16 - 31
Hey yâall, there should be a new video up tomorrow (10-8-23). Probably will be available to watch around 9 am EST. Iâll make a note here if that changes. Sorry itâs been so long but Iâll see yâall tomorrow! đ
17 - 4
How old were you when you started taking psych drugs? (Answers stop at 40+ cuz I can't add more choices)
10 - 6
Happy New Year, everyone! Weâre all at different stages in our journey. Some are finishing up their taper, others are just beginning. While plenty of folks will continue to navigate the ups and downs of life post psych drugs and psychiatry. But hopefully 2023 will contain some high points for all of us, no matter where weâre at and what weâre going through. Much love to you all!
26 - 9
Welcome to the channel! I offer encouragement and hope to people who are coming off psychiatric drugs, while also sharing my own experiences and things Iâve learned along the way.
You can reach me at the following email address:
RussellBYT@gmail.com
Please be aware that at this time I can only offer one-on-one support through Coaching/Support Calls. An announcement will be made in a video and/or community post whenever more sessions are available for scheduling. Thank you for your patience and understanding!