Whats the right way to wean off antidepressants?

Two of the most common include reducing your dosage by 25% each week or taking a slightly longer approach and tapering the medication over the course of six to eight weeks. Remember that everyone is different when it comes to weaning off antidepressants. Some people can taper off an antidepressant—even one with a short half-life—in a matter of weeks without any significant symptoms. ecstasy withdrawal detox Others may have bothersome symptoms and require that the drug be tapered over a period of months. Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss…from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts.

1. These side effects may include sexual dysfunction, nausea, a loss of appetite, and sleep issues.
2. Several treatments and self-care practices may help those who wish to stop taking fluoxetine to do so safely and in a way that minimizes discomfort.
3. Guidance from England’s Royal College of Psychiatrists recommends gradual tapering, working with a physician to begin reducing the dose by as little as 10 or even 5 percent.
4. Nancy has a lifetime of experience with depression, experiencing firsthand how devastating this illness can be.
5. Specifically, the American Psychiatric Association recommends tapering antidepressants over the course of “at least several weeks.”

Talk to your clinician about the benefits and risks of antidepressants in your particular situation, and work with her or him in deciding whether (and when) to stop using them. Before discontinuing, you should feel confident that you’re functioning well, that your life circumstances are stable, and that you can cope with any negative thoughts that might emerge. Don’t try to quit while you’re under stress or undergoing a significant change in your life, such as a new job or an illness. If you’re doing well on antidepressants and not complaining of too many side effects, many physicians will renew the prescription indefinitely — figuring that it offers a hedge against a relapse of depression.

How to Quit Antidepressants: Very Slowly, Doctors Say

“If you’re doing a medication switch, your doctor will want to go over all your medications with you, just to be safe,” Dr. Coulter says. There’s no rule book for when to go off antidepressants, and the reasons to do so are as varied as the patients who use them in the first place. The first course of action, though, is to figure out why you want to stop. Then start a conversation with your doctor, who can work with you to determine the best course of action. Other research suggests that fluoxetine may be “particularly unproblematic” when people stop taking it because of its especially long half-life of 96–144 hours, which equates to 4–6 days.

What are the side effects of going off antidepressants?

While the drug leaves the body within a few days, it can take much longer for the brain to adjust. This is like the challenges long-term drinkers have reorienting their brain to the absence of alcohol. A. Some people just conclude, “I’m fine. I don’t need this anymore.” And they may be right. And some simply don’t like the idea of being on a medication indefinitely and just want to be free of that. Ideally, before they come off, they should speak with their doctor about it — not just stop on their own. “Very often, patients stay on an antidepressant with little thought given to whether they can discontinue the medication,” says Dr. Richard Schwartz, a psychiatrist at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital.

Of course, some people experience zero or very mild symptoms when an antidepressant is discontinued, so experts are still trying to understand all the mechanisms involved in withdrawal. When the drug is removed, the lower number of serotonin receptors creates an imbalance. “When you take the medication away and the receptors haven’t had time to repopulate, there will be a massive deficiency, leading to withdrawal,” Shapiro says. Antidepressants can offer health benefits, especially for major depressive disorder. But with 13 percent of U.S. adults currently on these medicines for a wide range of physical and mental conditions, withdrawal issues might eventually affect millions.

Discontinuation Syndrome vs. Relapse

These are all very different reasons and each one has important implications for what your experience of withdrawal could be like. Check in with your clinician one month after you’ve stopped the medication altogether. At this follow-up appointment, she or he will check to make sure discontinuation symptoms have eased and there are no signs of returning depression. Fewer https://sober-house.org/ than 20% of people on antidepressants undergo psychotherapy, although it’s often important in recovering from depression and avoiding recurrence. In a meta-analysis of controlled studies, investigators at Harvard Medical School and other universities found that people who undergo psychotherapy while discontinuing an antidepressant are less likely to have a relapse.

One of the studies in the review found that 40% of people who abruptly stopped taking fluoxetine still experienced symptoms 6 weeks after discontinuation. To help distinguish between withdrawal symptoms and a return of depressive symptoms, it is important to consider when the symptoms first occurred and how they developed. A doctor may consider tapering the dosage of Prozac to help avoid or reduce withdrawal. People can also try using self-care strategies, such as exercising, getting regular sleep, and having a healthy diet, to help minimize potential symptoms. A doctor may suggest therapy or counseling if the underlying condition remains after stopping the medication.

Going off antidepressants

Eventually Eliasberg tapered off all the drugs using a much more incremental schedule. “All told, it was a six-year journey until I was fully healed,” he says. Stopping an antidepressant can trigger debilitating physical and psychological ailments as the brain goes through withdrawal. “The emphasis has been on prescribe, prescribe, prescribe and less on the exit strategy,” one expert says. It’s important to know that antidepressants aren’t the only thing that combats depression.