Getting Off Antidepressants
Monday, November 30, 2009 at 2:02PM |
Posted From HealthyPlace.com http://www.healthyplace.com/depression/antidepressants/getting-off-antidepressants/menu-id-68/
|
|||||
|
When abruptly stopping antidepressants, some experience side effects from antidepressant withdrawl. Antidepressant discontinuation symptoms and what to do. Antidepressant Discontinuation SyndromeAs bad as her panic attacks were, 27-year-old Melissa Hall says that going off the antidepressant medication she originally took as treatment was also a nightmare. Although she followed a doctor's advice and tapered off the Paxil, she says she experienced severe dizziness, nausea and electric shock sensations, which left her virtually incapacitated. "I didn't work for two months," she says. "I just laid on my couch waiting for the dizziness and nausea and everything to go away." When doctors didn't have answers for her, Melissa turned to the Internet, where she found hundreds of postings by people experiencing similar symptoms as they discontinued Paxil, reassuring her that she was not alone.
Millions of people, perhaps as many as 10 percent of the American population, have taken serotonin boosters, which are often used to treat depression, panic disorder and compulsive behavior. Many of them have no problem discontinuing use, but others experience side effects of varying degrees. And as patients like Melissa attempt to discontinue use of various antidepressants, some experts worry they are not getting enough information about how to deal with potential withdrawal side effects. Despite anecdotal reports, there have been very few studies on the subject, and experts can't say how many people may experience some form of withdrawal. "We see withdrawal symptoms that can be so severe," says Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of Prozac Backlash, "that patients feel held hostage to the antidepressant." Washing Out of the BodyShari Loback was prescribed Paxil for chronic headaches by her neurologist, who she says never warned her about problems associated with getting off the antidepressant medication. No Iframes "I was so dizzy and sick, and sometimes I would get out of bed and I would just collapse because I couldn't get up," Loback says. Other patients report experiencing balance problems, flu-like symptoms, hallucinations, blurred vision, irritability, tingling sensations, vivid dreams, nervousness and melancholy. While different SSRIs work similarly, by adjusting the amount of serotonin in the brain, they each have a varying half-life, which is the amount of time the drug stays in the body. The SSRIs with shorter half-lives, such as Paxil, wash out of the body most quickly, which can cause a jolt to the nervous system. In contrast, withdrawal effects may be less disruptive with Prozac, which has a longer half-life and remains in the system longer. "Prozac is less likely to cause acute withdrawal," says Dr. Robert Hedaya, psychopharmacologist and author of The Antidepressant Survival Guide. "Withdrawal symptoms take longer to hit, but that doesn't mean you won't experience them in four or five weeks." Compounding the problem, some experts say, is that many patients who go off the drug mistake withdrawal symptoms for a return of the original symptoms they were using the drug to treat. It is then very conmon for patients to restart the medication. "This is chasing one's tail by medicating withdrawal side effects," says Dr. Glenmullen, which often results in needlessly prolonging exposure to the drug. The product insert for Paxil warns that "abrupt discontinuation may lead to symptoms such as dizziness, sensory disturbances, agitation or anxiety, nausea and sweating," and also mentions "withdrawal syndrome" as a rare adverse event. Dr. David Wheadon, vice president of regulatory affairs at SmithKline Beecham, the maker of Paxil, says anecdotal reports show that withdrawal side effects "happen very rarely." After growing concern about these withdrawal symptoms, drug companies renamed these phenomena "antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. Wheadon says these symptoms only occur in about two out of every 1,000 patients who discontinue the medication in what he calls an "appropriate" way. Even then, he says, the symptoms are mild and short-lived. But Melissa Hall - who was ultimately able to get off the antidepressant - says her symptoms were far from mild or short-lived. "Even though I had found people on the Internet that were going through the same thing," she says, "no one knew how long it was going to take."
SOURCE: ABC News article, Aug. 25, 2002 |
|||||
