KC, regarding the A/D's, as Steve said please do not quit them cold turkey. They alter your body chemistry and if you suddenly quit taking them it can have some very, VERY severe effects. I discussed getting off of them with my doctor and she had me cut back 10% every 2 weeks. Yes I had to do a lot of pill chopping! But the slow weaning allows your body to adjust to the lesser amounts. I was honestly really afraid to stop completely, even though at the end I was only eating a crumb of a tablet a day I was concerned I would spiral back into depression and anxiety attacks. No worries though, I was perfectly fine and have been ever since (and that was around 7 years ago at this point).
I have a coworker that did quit them cold turkey. He did not talk to his doctor. He had started gaining weight and decided it was because of the A/D's and so he just quit them. He immediately fell into deep depression again, so he resumed taking them. This really highlights just how unpredictable A/D's can be, when he started taking them again they had zero effect, he continued to spiral downward. He became suicidal and long story short, he was in a mental hospital for 6 months undergoing numerous treatments including shock therapy. It took them that long to find the right combination of drugs to get him back on a fairly even keel. Even after he got out of the hospital it was another year before he seemed like his old self again.
So please, do not make ANY changes to A/D's without talking to your doctor first.
