Multiple medications, long term effects

[RogerP]

Hi. I've been treated for just about everything now, depression, anxiety, bipolar II, borderline personality disorder. I was finally diagnosed with cPTSD 2 years ago.

Throughout the late 2000s I was in the "care" of psychiatrists. As a result I spent 2½ years on an overdose level of clonazepam, and for six years had all of the SSRI and SNRIs, several "mood stabilizers" and several other drugs that I can't remember pushed on me ("well, if you won't follow my suggestions we can't treat you anymore").

Ever since, my balance is off, I fall, I have extreme PWS from the benzodiazepines, I still suffer from depression and anxiety, Parkinsonism, etc., in some cases more profoundly and more often than before.

It's been over ten years now. Most of the time I can manage to exist functionally but SAD makes it all worse. I'm in my sixties now and all of the symptoms are increasing and worsening. Does this sound familiar to anybody? I don't have anyone to ask here, we have a brutally primitive health care system and the stigma around mental health issues is as bad as ever.

What kind of a doctor can help diagnose the cause/effect of these drugs?

TIA

[TheBigBlue]

I can't offer medical advice, but I want to say this sounds very familiar from what I have read about various medications and what others on this forum have written about.

Long-term use of certain psychiatric medications - especially benzodiazepines - is known in the medical literature to be associated, in some cases, with persistent withdrawal symptoms and neurological effects.

Trauma itself can also profoundly affect the nervous system and body over time, which often gets missed or misattributed in care.

What stands out most to me is how long you've been carrying this without adequate explanation, validation, or informed follow-up. That alone can be deeply destabilizing. It makes sense to wonder about cause and effect and to want answers, especially as symptoms change with age.

If it's possible, a neurologist or internist who is familiar with medication-induced movement disorders and trauma-related autonomic issues might be better positioned to help untangle this than psychiatry alone. And you're absolutely not wrong for questioning a system that hasn't given you clarity or relief.

I'm really glad you spoke up here. You're not alone in this, even if the healthcare system has made it feel that way. 💛

References:
1. Benzodiazepines & long-term / protracted withdrawal: There is documented evidence that long-term benzodiazepine use can lead to persistent withdrawal symptoms in some patients.

Ashton, H. (2005). The diagnosis and management of benzodiazepine dependence.
Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 18(3), 249–255.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16639148/

2. Drug-induced parkinsonism is a recognized neurological condition described in the literature.

De Faria Sousa B, Espinosa JB. Drug-Induced Parkinsonism: A Structured, Mechanism-Informed Approach to Identification and Management. Cureus. 2025 Dec 2;17(12):e98340. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41487741/

3. Trauma can produce long-lasting autonomic dysregulation affecting fatigue, balance, and physiological stress responses.

Porges, S. W. (2011). The polyvagal theory.
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma.

[Teddy bear]

Thank you, Roger, for sharing, and thank you, TheBigBlue, for an excellent and deep answer.

I would just like to add that I have been on aripiprazole monotherapy for five years already. Previously, I was on a mix of various medications, which my body tolerated even worse.

My dream now is to get off aripiprazole, though I'm not sure whether it's feasible.

I also have some symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), which seem to exacerbate with any stress or retraumatisation.

I am from Russia, and it's difficult here to find a good trauma-informed psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

In my personal experience, I focused my complaints on the physical side effects (to avoid them being confused with my primary symptoms) to advocate for changing the medication, switching to a single drug, and, ideally, discontinuing it entirely.

Also, I was initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Sending hugs