Discontinuation syndrome how long does it last

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Contact afpserv aafp. Want to use this article elsewhere? Get Permissions. Read the Issue. If you and your doctor have decided it's time for you to stop taking your antidepressant, it's possible to avoid discontinuation syndrome altogether. Even if you're tempted to, the key is to not quit all of a sudden, but instead to taper off your medication.

Tapering means gradually decreasing your dose over an extended period of time. How you'll do this will depend on how long you've been taking the drug, how high your dose is if you're on a low dose you'll be able to taper off more quickly , and any other factors your doctor may consider. Sometimes, even if you are slow and deliberate when weaning yourself off an antidepressant, you still may experience symptoms of discontinuation syndrome.

One possible way to get relief is to take a dose of Prozac fluoxetine along with medications like Zoloft sertraline and Lexapro escitalopram that you are trying to taper. Your symptoms will likely go away within a few hours. And because of Prozac's long half-life, it will help smooth out the taper. Ask your doctor about this option if your symptoms are bothersome. If you were on a very high dose of Paxil paroxetine or Effexor venlafaxine , you may need to take repeated doses of Prozac. Benadryl diphenhydramine is an over-the-counter allergy medication that has been reported to help with discontinuation symptoms too, though it has a sedating effect.

After you discontinue your antidepressant, you should have a follow-up appointment with your doctor so they can evaluate your mental health and make sure any discontinuation symptoms have gone away. Frequent follow-ups may be necessary at the beginning of your transition to make sure that you haven't relapsed. So make sure you keep your appointments and let your doctor know if you think your depression or anxiety is coming back.

If you haven't been exercising regularly, make it a point to start when you discontinue your antidepressant. This may be difficult as your depression can easily sap your motivation but it is possible, and it will make you feel better. Start small and slowly and set reasonable expectations. For example, consider committing to a minute walk two days a week.

Make it social and enlist a walking buddy to help keep you accountable. One way exercise boosts your mood is by releasing feel-good endorphins and it gives you an outlet to relieve stress, all of which can help keep your depression at bay as you taper off and eventually stop your antidepressant. Everything feels more challenging when you're dealing with depression. Get our free guide when you sign up for our newsletter.

Gabriel M, Sharma V. Antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. Bhat V, Kennedy SH. Recognition and management of antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. J Psychiatry Neurosci. Wilson E, Lader M. A review of the management of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms. Ther Adv Psychopharmacol. Exercise benefits brain function: the monoamine connection. Brain Sci. Hall-Flavin DK. Many of us are suffering beyond human imagination. Shame, shame on you for being so dismissive regarding the severity of discontinuation syndrome.

That term in itself is so degrading. Call it what it is, withdrawal. I was polydrugged for eight years and ended up sicker than I was when I started. I ended up taking additional drugs to address the horrific side effects of these drugs.

I was never given the opportunity to taper off and was forced to go cold turkey. I was also forced to cold turkey from prescribed benzodiazepams that was ongoing for over seven years. Something is very wrong with this picture. Today, the severity of withdrawal symptoms has taken my life away and I am a shell of what I was. Why not address the problem of over-prescribing psychiatric drugs? Benzodiazepams should not be prescribed for over two to four weeks, Why not address appropriate tapering according to The Ashton Manual?

Many people have considered suicide, like myself due to horrific side effects from withdrawal that are ongoing for many months and years. Our gaba and glutamate receptors have been compromised and need to be rebuilt and healed from most of these drugs which is only done by total cessation.

Many have reported that this is worse than heroin or opiate withdrawal. Most of us are not addicts but are physically dependent. We placed too much trust in our psychiatrists and providers who should have been educated enough to know better. Many doctors and hospitals continue to be uneducated regarding these topics and this needs to stop. Some people require medication in order to safely function. However, the promiscuous prescribing and treatment with these drugs needs to be examined in order to safely prevent the horror of withdrawal that can be life threatening.

After experiencing serious cognitive decline at age 30! In short, I became physically and cognitively disabled with severe symptoms which have been confirmed as iatrogenic in nature caused by my psychiatric medication, taken exactly as prescribed.

I wonder how many others like me are out there, not even aware that their symptoms or disability are iatrogenic in nature? This needs to change, Harvard. Stop diminishing the devastation caused by these drugs. They are permanently injuring people, in many cases they are having fatal consequences. We know the facts have been understood and suppressed, particularly with respect to class benzodiazepines, the older class — this is how I was initially injured.

The U. Which is what happened to me. What happened to me had serious life threatening implications. They nearly killed me. That you geniuses have been recklessly prescribing both classes, interchangeably in a therapeutic capacity is one thing — but you are also treating the adverse effects of one, with the other. For all your perceived wisdom, all the fancy letters after your name, the prestige of your institution — you facilitate and are complicit in — quackery. And you hate it now that a light is being shined upon your chicanery.

Want to earn my respect? Stop treating those harmed with contempt. Then address them both. Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath? These drugs are neurotoxins.

They are toxic to the brain. Shame on you. Shame on Harvard for continuing to lie to patients about the severe and debilitating withdrawal of not only antidepressants but all psych meds.

For some the withdrawal, which is a sign of brain damage CAUSED by the meds, can last years and cause a multitude of horrendous debilitating symptoms such as akathisia!

This is not rare or happens to just 1 in There are tens of thousands or more anecdotes that need to be taken seriously. THAT is evidence-based medicine. I cannot believe that this article was posted in when there is so much overwhelming evidence of the damage that these drugs do and of their severe withdrawals. Dear God. Whose paying you off? There are millions completely disabled by these meds! You need to start listening and stop writing.

What a disappointing article. They were very painful to stop and it lasted several months. I know now I was lucky it only lasted several months. Probably the most surprising part was after a few months off, not only was doing fine, I was doing better. I lost weight, my emotional state was, if anything, improved. I am disappointed to read an article downplaying this horrible process most patients experience without informed consent, while praising these drugs that often barely beat a placebo rate, if at all.

My 42 year old son took antidepressants for 12 years. He was diagnosed with anxiety after the birth of his first child. Maybe just talking with someone who could reassure him. Doctors are tapering patients too fast He went into withdrawal from hell. Nine days after restarting Zoloft he shot himself. How the hell many people have to tell what happened to them from this evil drug, before something is done about it?

How many people have to die? I continue to have PSSD six years after 3. I should never have been prescribed the drug. I also developed oromandibular dystonia from an SSRI that continues episodically to this date. I took Zoloft for 16 months in and since then have had PSSD post-SSRI sexual dysfunction , extreme emotional numbness, inability to feel love or infatuation, and other nasty side effects which have persisted long after the drug has left my system.

SSRI not only have terrible withdrawal effects but can also cause permanent damage to ones body. I myself suffer from PSSD, emotional numbing and cognition problems after 5 months sertraline, my life felt apart because of it. I never was warned about the terrible side effects these medications can cause. I would have never taken them if i knew.

Recognize PSSD!