Alternative to Meds Center

I wanted to write about my experience with Alternative to Meds Center. I came to ATMC for assistance in withdrawing from antidepressants. Before I came to the Center I was experiencing extreme adverse side effects from Prozac and was unable to work, socialize or even get out of bed. I had no idea what was going on and thought I was going crazy and would never be well again. When I went to my doctor for help, my doctor continued to increase my dose and then added benzos to help offset the side effects of the Prozac. My doctor had no answers for why I was feeling this way or experiencing any of these symptoms. I eventually came to realize on my own that it was the Prozac that was affecting me so badly. My doctor then told me to go ahead and go off cold turkey. I knew better and attempted to taper myself off the medications, way too quickly, which in turn created more symptoms and side effects. I was desperate and scared.

I called an addiction hot-line hoping they could point me in a direction that would help me withdrawal from this medication. The woman on the phone told me she knew of a great place and had someone call me back. I received a call back within two minutes. Diane called me and told me about the Alternative to Meds Center and she explained why I was having some of my symptoms. She put my mind at ease immediately. Finally, someone who could give me some answers and knew what I was talking about and going through.

I got on a plane two days later and arrived at ATMC. The house was beautiful and my driver was very reassuring. I was very scared to be so far away from home and felt desperate to return home. I quickly went to a staff member who shared with me that he knew how I felt and explained his story to me and how he was able to safely withdraw from his medications.  I felt very reassured. I continually went to different staff members who had no problem dropping what they were doing to explain what was happening and what to expect. This was a very important piece of my recovery.

I was taught how anti-depressants worked and the importance of nutrition, not only for recovery but for the rest of my life. I helped in the kitchen with a fantastic cook who taught me various ways of healthy cooking, not to mention his innate ability to cheer me up and pull me out of a pit. We had various speakers come in who only enhanced this program.

The entire staff at ATMC was incredible. I cannot express this enough. Each and every staff member had something helpful to offer me, even if it was to get me out in the community and talk about regular life and not to focus on withdrawing. I asked for regular counseling sessions and my counselor never hesitated to talk with me. He helped me find support groups for when I returned home and never judged me or my feelings. This meant a lot to me. The owner/founder was also very involved and encouraging. He knew what we were all going through and it made this program even more helpful. I am so grateful for the program he has started and continues to improve upon.

The doctor I worked with was incredibly helpful. He not only offered me information about my complications but he was compassionate and listened with interest in what I was saying. The blood tests and food allergy tests were also very extensive and informative and put some “science” into what I was experiencing.

I would recommend this center for anyone who is considering going off psychotropic medications of any kind. This is definitely a serious endeavor and should not be done on your own. The side effects and withdrawal symptoms I experienced at home were torturous and I wish I had not tried to taper off by myself. But I was glad I could go to ATMC to get help with this traumatic experience. They helped me in so many ways and I am forever grateful. Always remember to ask questions and seek help. It takes a lot of courage to ask for help.

I am someone with strong convictions and am not someone who would write a testimonial if I didn’t believe in what I was writing about. I feel it is important to say this and let folks out there know that they are NOT alone and there is help and hope. I searched endlessly trying to find someone who knew what was going on and how I felt and I found them.

Thanks to the entire staff at ATMC. I am so very grateful to ALL of you!!

Tracey

Denver, Colorado

When I came to Alternative To Meds center I was taking Lamictal, Geodon, Lorazepam, Ambien Cr, Levoxl, Estradiol, etc.

I was extremely depressed, suicidal, anxiety attacks and panic attacks to a point I couldn’t do my major job or function. During a fishing trip our boat capsized and I floated in diesel fuel until we were rescued. While at the center I was tested and found I had high levels of mercury. I’ve started the I.V. chelation therapy.

I’ve been here at the center for 2 weeks and I feel like I’m getting my life back, there is a sparkle in my eyes and a smile on my face most of the time. I have energy and feel some happiness again. My medications have been reduced at a comfortable rate so far. I couldn’t get myself off my meds but today I have hope. The food is very healthy to give me a whole body healing. And it tastes good too.

Tiki W.

My name is Jason. For twenty-three years I have been taking very strong narcoleptic medications to treat my Tourette’s Syndrome and O.C.D. [obsessive-compulsive disorder]. For my entire life, everyday I felt like I had to take these medicines or else! It was very hard to feel “normal” growing up amongst my friends because none of them had to take high-powered sedatives every morning.

Doctor’s had convinced me and my family that I would have to take these drugs for the rest of my life, which was very discouraging. Two months ago, I was introduced to The Alternative to Meds Center. Lyle, the director, was confident in the fact that he could safely taper me off my meds and implement a natural, holistic regimen. My first thought was that he was crazy. I haven’t lived a day in the past 23 three years without them, and vitamins were going to help? I thought it was outlandish, but I took a deep breath and went into it with an open mind.

After my taper was finished, the results were astronomical. For once in my life I did not feel like a zombie and no longer sedated. My personality turned happy, optimistic and positive… and gets this the Vitamins worked!!! I never thought this was possible… ever. My symptoms of Tourette’s and O.C.D. were gone and I was med free, thanks God!

A month and a half later, I entered the Sauna purification program. Upon beginning the program, the sauna I.C. decided to not allow me to take my vitamin packs. Once off them, my tourette’s came back full force, my mind was spinning out of control, and I was basically a mess. Bringing this to ATMC, they put me back on my vitamin packs and once again, my tourette’s was gone.

As far as I am concerned, this is a modern-day miracle. Being off my meds was a dream I’ve had for years, and Alternative to Meds Center had made that possible. I would recommend this process to anyone plagued with a similar situation as I have had. It really does work!!

- Jason G.

Over a year ago I started this journey hoping to get relief. I was very ignorant to the realities of prescription drugs. Not only their long term problems but their addictive nature and problematic withdrawal. Many places will detox you in rapid fashion. There is only one location that allows you to detox slowly or taper as it is called, from Rx drugs. I have been on 15 drugs in one year after withdrawing from Effexor too fast. I, in the process, became addicted to Klonopin which should be taken for 2 months maximum. They kept me on it for 1.5 years.

I am a college grad, & former Miss America winner… an over-achiever by very definition and my life deteriorated in a way I could never have imagined because of Rx drugs and my new found fears surrounding them. With psychological support and supplementation, I am now drug free and headed to fight my addiction and heal my wounded family and self. While I don’t agree with certain elements, I do feel that programs like this are necessary and worth fighting for. Your family is saved from seeing the withdrawal and you are able to get off meds the right way. So I know I have done the right thing, my life has been changed. I am finding myself again.

-Anonymous.

Our family learned of Alt To Meds on an alternative health blog after my daughter had been put on anti-psychotic and tranquilizing agents, and she was experiencing 18 adverse side effects from those agents rendering her non-functional and with much daily suffering.

She had been put on those meds after a college experimental hallucinogen experience in a bad set and bad setting.  The mental health folks treated her for “bipolar” by a non-board certified psychiatrist from India.  When I questioned his diagnosis, he replied that she was bipolar because “sometimes she is teary and sometimes she laughs”.  I asked him if he would cry if the person he dated gave him an overdose and then dumped him under the influence at a big camp-out party and then he found himself in a psych ward on meds that were making him sicker by the day.

I should have known better than to question the Big Oz shrink.  My daughter had daily refused their meds, told them the meds made her sick, questioned her diagnosis and asked to go home, which they did not tell me. She was pressured into taking the meds, and strong-armed to give blood at one point to assert their authority.  I did get her out under my home-supervised care after eight days, luckily.  I saw that her father’s fat insurance policy was the greatest risk to her health as the shrink was recommending involuntary commitment because she wasn’t “responding to treatment” and she was well-insured.

I was able to get through to her directly and caught her in a lucid moment in between their major tranquilizations of her and she and I were able to arrange her discharge.  Next, back at home, her family physician refused to help taper her off the meds because she felt she did not have expertise in psych meds.  Next, her outpatient psych nurse at the clinic near her college refused to taper her off the meds, but did reduce her Depakote, but doubled her Klonipin in spite of my daughter’s report that the Klonipin gave her the worst symptoms.

I spoke with the Alt To Meds registrar based on the recommendation of a former client who had contacted me off the blogosphere.  After my daughter and my experience with the mental “health” system, it was very scary to consider sending her out of state to a facility.  The registrar reassured me that their program knew how to get people cleaned up off psych meds and their supplementation approach for brain chemistry balancing made sense to me as a nurse and health educator.

My daughter dearly wanted help to get off the toxic meds and we were able to get her into their program a few days later.  That was very scary, to see her go because at that point she needed so much help in daily living skills.  She was very confused and easily became immobilized with uncertainty over the smallest details.  Coping with her numb brain and aching body was very difficult to see much less undergo herself.

The facility director, Lyle Murphy, was very helpful in looking out for my daughter’s well being throughout her stay.  Their psychiatrist expert verified that he could find no evidence of any mental disorder, or any medical disorder other than hypoglycemia and she was cleared for the tapering program.  This was a tough process, and my daughter does not believe she could have done this on her own.  She found great help from the supplementation and nutritious foods prepared at Alt To Meds.

After the traumatizing experience of the ER and psych ward, it was very difficult to find trust in any therapeutic facility, but I knew we had to get her off those psych drugs or she would have been on disability and her college senior year ended before it began.

My daughter got off all her psych meds and regained the brightness of her mind.  She is still recovering from the post traumatic stress of the events, but she gained greater inner strength as she felt her real true self return after the meds were gone.  Her mind is bright, her spirit is strong and she is now re-entering campus life.  This would NOT have been possible if we had not found a de-tox center, Alt To Meds.  I am happy to talk to any parent or person considering entering their program.

Realistically, family support is very important and the person undergoing the de-tox has a lot of work to accomplish, but the Alt To Meds provides a facility, structure and knowledgeable framework in which to accomplish a de-tox experience.

I don’t want to sound corny, but I am and will long remain, truly grateful to the staff, director, medical personnel and registrar at Alt To Meds for creating a safe haven for my daughter to regain her mental health and wellness.

Cheryl

Yes, we are grateful for Olivia.  She’s a very bright, sensitive and talented young woman.  Today she was drawing as we talked on speaker phone.  She’s not done art since her father and I divorced when she was seven, although her high school art projects were brilliant.  I hope that it’s gratifying for Lyle to see an individual recover under his very eyes, and he can now see the real Olivia.  The changes in her since this all happened also seem to be for the better, she’s more open, more accepting, more grateful and much much wiser.  The other clients there at Alt 2 Meds call her “raven”.  She says the Vets are good at labelling and she likes her name.  My raven.  I called her River when she was young, but Raven is perhaps more targeted.  She’s always had this very watchful, aware quality, and the birds association with intelligence is also fitting.

Yes, words do not completely express what her recovery means to me.  It would take poetry and song to speak the language of heart and spirit required for the totality of meaning for this experience to a mother’s heart.  As I said on the phone, this means my life, her life, her sister’s life, and unborn generations.  My lineage for seven generations into the future, no less.

Love, Cheryl
(Olivia’s mom)

Since becoming staff here at the Alternative to Meds Center I have seen huge accomplishments by our clients. Clients who used to stay in the house all the time are now coming out of the house and going to all kinds of sports events and outings and actually are having fun doing it. They no longer have that nervous look on their faces when they are out in public and seem to be at ease. It is really nice to see people come here and clear the fog from their heads and live a happy and healthy life without being on medication.

I am so happy to be a part of a team that is part of something even bigger.

Julie Rosenau
Supplement Specialist
Alternative to Meds Center

The things I have succeeded to do to stop the medication:  I am leaving [Alternative to Meds Center] in three weeks.  I have succeeded in being in meetings. And doing things that help my concentration.  I’m doing sports.  I play tennis.  I do yoga 4 times a week.  I go swimming once a week.  I think sport activities help the problems in my mind and the problems in my body.

-N.E.

1.) Feel hopeful
2.) No longer afraid of the night. I’m able to go back to sleep if I wake up early.
3.) Finally am getting relief from absolutely constant anxiety.
4.) Around people who understand where I’m at, what I’ve been through and sympathize.
5.) There are people around me who know how to help me – I no longer feel there’s no help.
6.) Learning to express how I feel and what I need, even though the fear is great.
7.) Feeling well enough to get out and walk places.
8.) Realizing I’m not alone.