when cutting back and stopping anti depressant medication. What are the side effects?
115135
It really depends on the particular antidepressant. About.com is a good place to get an info sheets on individual medicines. If in doubt check with the doctor who is tapering your meds. Never quit cold turkey.
936454
i will tell you exactly what happens if you stop suddenly first you will feel really knackered your emotions are all over the shop vomitting and all kinds of ill sh1t because you need to be weaned off it as you are having cold turkey just stopping suddenly
998153
I'm not sure if taking anti-depressants "decrease" the lenght of life, however I DO know this.........if I wasn't taking them, my life expectancy would already be over, due to suicide.
70549
I am and have been for several years now. Over the past year, they have switched mine around so much that I have definitely had some of those effects. It depends on the kind though. As long as you keep your doctor informed, take them every day like you are supposed to, and never just drop them cold turkey, you should be ok. \n\nI was always very wired on Welbutrin and oppositly always tired on paxil. You may have to try a couple types before you find one that is perfect for you, but give them a couple months to reach full potency in your system. It is well worth the struggle once you start to feel like you are in control of yourself again! Trust me, I've been depress for almost 15 years now. I finally admitted it and got treatment a couple of years ago and it has made a world of difference. Make sure you have a good therapist to talk to as well. \n\nOff topic, I really like your avatar. I've seen it a couple times and it always stood out!
1097331
Have you stopped your medication AGAIN :>)
361638
I was on Zoloft for about two years, and just started cutting down on the amount of pills I took, and after a month, suffered no side affects
543632
This is a common side effect from several anti-depressants. Talk with you psychiatrist. There may be other meds that may offer the benefits you need, and not have such problematic side effects.  Keep taking the anti-depressants.  Depression can cause all sorts of other health problems is not treated.  Yes, one can go off the zoloft and after varying periods of time the libido is likely to return, but the depression is also likely to return.  When zoloft quit working for me ( after years of use at high doses) I had some success with an amino acid called 5-Htp.  I bought this book by a well respected Naturopathic Doctor:\n\nhttp://product.half.ebay.com/5-tp_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ774495St. Johns Wort can help if the depression is quite mild, but I ended up in the hospital due to the irregularity in dose strength, and the fact that I quickly needed something stronger.
1000160
The most commonly noted side effects associated with anti-anxiety meds are sedation, which is reported in approximately 1 in 2 people (one-half of patients), dizziness (one-third of patients), weakness, and unsteadiness. Other side effects include a feeling of depression, loss of orientation, headache, and sleep disturbance.\n\nLike all benzodiazepines, anti-anxiety meds can cause physical dependence. Suddenly stopping therapy after a few months of daily therapy may be associated with a feeling of loss of self-worth, agitation, and insomnia. If the medication is taken continuously for longer than a few months, stopping therapy suddenly may produce seizures, tremors, muscle cramping, vomiting, and/or sweating. Therefore, discontinuation usually is accomplished by tapering the dose.
78136
Talk to your doctor. If you want to come off it, then ask him to help you. It is important to follow a gradual withdrawal program as stopping suddenly can cause an array of troublesome symptoms, the most common being dizziness, which can last for days on end. Flu-like feelings, including nausea, headache and fatigue, are also common, as are intense feelings of anxiety, irritability or sadness.\n\nIt is important to recognise that when you withdraw from a drug, many of these symptoms can also appear. Some people experience alarming sensations of tingling or burning in various parts of the body; ringing in the ears; blurred vision; or flashing lights before the eyes. Some people even describe a feeling of shock waves pulsing through their arms and legs, as if they had been zapped with a jolt of electricity, a condition sometimes called lightning-bolt syndrome. This is what is known as "discontinuation syndrome" and should NOT be misread as some form of "relapse". Make sure that your doctor is fully aware of Discontinuation Syndrome. There is plenty of information on the web.\n\nAs for needing more...personally, I don't believe ANYONE needs to take antidepressants. These drugs are inherently harmful (in a variety of different ways) and do not cure ANYTHING. It is no different to smoking weed to feel more relaxed, or snorting coke to get high. Psych drugs disrupt the normal chemical operation of the brain creating a false sense of mood. It cures nothing. And the longer you take it, the more likely you are to suffer from many of the drug's seriously ill effects.\n\nSeek non-drug solutions. Check out http://www.alternativementalhealth.com or perhaps http://groups.msn.com/psychbusters/alternativehealth.msnw for more info.\n\nMike\n\n--\nDecoding Psychiatric Propaganda\nhttp://groups.msn.com/psychbusters
893810
It can be your missing pills - I stupidly tried to down my anti depressants 2 days ago and halved my dose - today I am having a really bad day xxx
818235
The best thing is for you to remain CALM.  Do you have any chamomile tea or any eucalyptus or any kind of mint in the house?  These two herbs are known for non medicinal calming. First of all, the doctor is an IDIOT for allowing you to run out of this medication(unless you did this deliberately(sorry, but doctors do not let patients normally go through withdrawal with this kind of medicine). Paxil is one nasty medication and you cannot go off it cold turkey.  It is one of those medications that you need to be weaned off of slowly. DO NOT take any other anti depressants. If you are alone and scared and physically in dire distress, you can either call a local hospital, a paramedic, or the police. Effexor is the lesser than either Paxil or Lexapro, but again DO NOT take EITHER of these.  DO NOT take any kind of sleep aid or alcohol. If you must go to a hospital, call your husband, then a family member, or a close neighbor to deal with your pets. They will be okay.  The most important thing right now is YOU and your health.
689616
No you should not stop..If you discontinue medication it will rise again.\n\nBut you may reduce the medication if ur BP is under 110/70
159357
This is really not the best place to ask this question. It is illegal for joe blow to give medical advice over the internet and it is dangerous to listen to these people. You really should talk with the doctor who prescribed the zoloft. Anything unusual happeneing while discontinuing a medication is important enough to involve your doctor. They know way more than yahoo!answer junkies.
782186
I dont know about the weaning off effects of antidepressants but you do need to do this gradually, not cold turkey, as you have experienced certain side effects.\n\nIt's much healthier to commit to a support group. I'm sure there are hotlines you can call for the nearest group that meets in your area.  Check those out.  \n\nYou may want to include some form of physical activity into your daily schedule, even if some days you will not carry them out.  Reward yourself when you do with something you like.\n\nThink of some of your positive qualities.  Write them down and stick them in places you can see to read back to yourself, then run them thruough your mind a few times a day, even if you dont feel like it.  You need reprogramming while depressing.\n\nBe selective about tv, stay away from news and others (eg, comedy sitcoms, talk shows, spy movies, ....), music, and be aware of other environmental noise elements so you can either avoid them or else minimise the effects.  Just as well, the Internet is not always so wholesome to be in (info overload).  Whatever it is, you need to examine your immediate environment and remove/minimise anything that bothers you a lot.  \n\nWhen you find yourself analysing stuff too much, find something else to do.  Change the way you walk home from work/school, take a dif route, even if it's longer.  You need to get out from the routine of doing things.  Modify your diet a little.  \n\nThese are just some ways you may reduce the effects of outward routine, so your mind may find dif channels to park in.  Nothing ever changes overnight.  Be patient with yourself and with others.  Laugh a little, cartoons are great for that.  \n\nBless you!   I wish you progress in bits and bites...(if you follow the plan, be sure you will fall right back to depress again, on some days, but, don't be too hard on yourself, get up again just as soon)
307233
Your body could have a withdrawal reaction and your symptoms could return. \n\nI have an aunt who wound up hospitalized because she tried to go off her medication all at once instead of easing off of them.\n\nI seriously recommend weaning yourself from the medication with the help of a doctor instead of going cold turkey - and only if you're ready to ease off the meds. If you are, that's GREAT! If you're not, there's no shame. Just keep working at it.
1074151
i had been on 11 different antidepressants before i took cymbalta and it is a very scary drug...did you know that the list of reall side effects for cymbalta is 21 pages long...\n\nYea the FDA is cutting serious corners.
74933
Each medication, depending on how many miligrams they were ingesting might cause a bad reaction if they go cold turkey.  Sleepiness and headaches are the most common.  You should seek your physician's help in stopping.