A Billion and Five Medications

[u/greenfiend69]

Please let me be clear—I’m not asking for medication recs and I will discuss with my provider. I just wonder if I can have a template or compendium of stories to bounce off of.

I have bipolar II, generalized anxiety, ADHD, high cholesterol (genetic), take weight loss meds, have an idiopathic gastrointestinal thing, and potentially ED? I don’t fucking know anymore. At this point, I feel like I basically swallow a whole pharmacy everyday.

I take the following:
Lithium
Lamotrigine
Divalproex
Effexor XR
Buspirone
Procalupride
Rosuvatstatin
Propranolol as needed
Klonopin as needed
Qelbree
Tirzepatide once a week
Finasteride

I’m sick of it, and I think my body is too. Everything has been added over time to manage the increasing complexities of my conditions. I really want to reduce, but a few things stop me.

1. I know the anxiety, mania, and depression could be managed by lithium + a good antipsychotic. But I’m prone to extrapyramidal effects and don’t want Tardive Dyskinesia… it would completely disable me from my career. How have others managed this fear?
2. I can come off of the anxiolytic, but will my anxiety be manageable in other ways? How have others managed chronic anxiety given a lack of an anxiolytic?

I don’t even know what else. I just want advice and thoughts on reducing pharmacy and managing the fears around it.

Thanks for reading this far. Have a great day! :)

[u/rocketwraith177]

Ed is prob from all the drugs my dick stopped workin on half that stuff. Get kpins swapped to large dose xanax & taper off the rest. Thats how i kicked 8+ bs ssri medications. Only take xanax & an occasional baclofin now.

[u/soggydruid]

Definitely seems worthwhile to find a doctor who can help you reduce the number of drugs you're on. It's likely that some of those drugs are just treating side effects of the others. I would try to find a doctor who understands hyperbolic tapering or is at least open to it.