posted about 4 years ago
I'd caution you to think very carefully about dropping out. You are likely to have considerable problems trying to get funding again, and will have to work extremely hard to persuade a new supervisor and funder that they should take you on. To be honest they may wonder why you didn't pick up on your concerns in time before. And yes, you could have similar problems in a new PhD.
I am one of the rare people who won funding again after walking away from a first PhD. But I left the first PhD for medical reasons - developing a progressive MS-like illness at age 22, combined with a funding council (EPSRC) who would not support a switch to part-time study. I retrained from scratch as a historian, picking up new BA and PG Masters, then started a history PhD part-time. I expected to self fund throughout, but applied for funding for my second year onwards, from AHRC. I won it, but think I was very very fortunate, given my prior history. I did have to declare my prior funding on my second funding application form.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.