The Congo Civil War, or Congo Crisis, was a complex political tumult that began just days following Belgium’s granting of Congolese independence in 1960. Lasting four years, the associated violence claimed an estimated 100,000 lives including the nation’s first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, and UN Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld, who was killed in a plane crash as he attempted to mediate the crisis. Escalating with the secession of the southernmost province of Katanga, the conflict concluded five years later with a united Congo emerging under the dictatorship of Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.
On June 30, 1960, Belgium negotiated post-colonial mining rights in declaring an independent Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Yet within days, soldiers of the Congolese army mutinied, demanding increased pay and the removal of white officers from their ranks. When Belgium intervened militarily, more soldiers rebelled. Many of these soldiers gravitated toward the radical nationalist Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba.
Then, dominated by Belgian business interests, the mineral-rich Katanga province under the leadership of Moïse Kapenda Tshombe seceded from the DRC with Belgian support. Congolese President Joseph Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba asked and received a peacekeeping force from the United Nations (UN).
The conflict also became the site of a dangerous Cold War “proxy” contest between western powers led by the United States and the Soviet Union-led Communist bloc. Under pressure from western nations and in exchange for UN support, President Kasavubu purged his government of radical elements including Prime Minister Lumumba. The ultra-nationalist Lumumba, though supported by the Congolese, was viewed by Western business leaders as an obstacle to their continued investments in Congolese diamond mines. Fearing Lumumba was secretly a Communist, the United States was particularly adamant about his removal from power.
Lumumba responded by firing Kasavubu as both leaders claimed control over the country, and Army Chief of Staff Joseph Mobutu in turn orchestrated a military coup d’état which ousted the two leaders. Mobutu’s government was supported by western governments. The Soviet Union and other Communist nations supported Lumumba who ultimately was killed by Katangan rebels.
With his chief rival removed, Mobutu pledged nominal support to President Kasavubu and the two led the successful effort to end the Katanga secession. UN forces eventually recaptured all of Katanga province. In 1964, a new rebellion began in the Eastern Congo when armed fighters (“Simbas”) began to spread across the region. Ironically, Moïse Tshombe, who had led the secessionist Katanga province, was made prime minister with the mandate to defeat these rebels and end other regional revolts. The Simbas were defeated in November 1964.
One year later, Mobutu seized power from President Kasavubu after having persuaded Western leaders that he was the most effective leader in the fight against communism. Kasavubu and Tshombe were exiled as Mobutu set up a one-party dictatorship, controlling the nation until 1997. Nonetheless, for the first time since independence, all of the country was ruled by one government.
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You’re not stupid, you’re doing what you’ve been advised to do by medical professionals. I’m guessing they didn’t tell you what to do if you have a serious negative reaction to the meds because they almost never do this. So you’re just doing your best with info and circumstances that are far less than ideal.
If you’re keeping it together then you will probably be able to taper down on the meds over the coming few days or a week, give or take. A pharmacist or doctor should be able to give you better advice on this.
The bupropion manufacturer claims that there are minimal side effects if you stop cold turkey and that you don’t need to taper down. I don’t believe that to be true but there doesn’t appear to be any major concerns with tapering down fairly quickly.
If you’re doing an emergency taper, my general advice is to drop the dose by half each day until you’re at the point where you’re down to a quarter of a pill or if you’re noticing that you’re getting bad withdrawals, at which point you can either go back up on the dose somewhat or you can plateau for a couple of doses before you continue tapering down.
If you’re on a high dose or you’ve been on antidepressants for a long period then it’s almost certainly going to need a more gentle taper, but you’re probably on a fairly low dose and you haven’t been on them for long so that’s unlikely to be a concern.
With regards to escitalopram, that can be harder to withdraw from. I went cold turkey from a high dose due to necessity. Wouldn’t recommend unless it’s urgent. You might need a more gradual taper with this one but tbh it really hasn’t been long enough to warrant this unless you’re a very rare case.
My guess is that it’s probably the bupropion that’s causing you trouble. My hunch then is that tapering down on the escitalopram more gradually should be fine if the bupropion is the cause.
Glad to hear that this isn’t going to really screw up your plans for the next week or two.
General advice moving forward with meds:
Go one at a time in future and if your prescribing doctor tries starting you on two meds at the same time, tell them that you aren’t willing to do that again.
You could ask the prescribing doctor if you can try going back on one first to see your response, then trying the other later to see which one is the cause of the problems. Though if you’re done with taking these meds and you’re not interested in trying them again, that’s understandable.