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| Background | PROJECT ANSWER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Home ~ Intro ~ Background ~ Withdrawal Symptoms ~ How To Minimize Withdrawal Symptoms ~ Analogy ~ Resources | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Basically, if you stop taking antidepressants cold-turkey without approval from your physician, you're going to be in a world of hurt. Antidepressants are already a very volatile drug without the interference of someone not educated in medicine. It's absolutely critical that you continue taking your medication until your physician decides you're ready to come off of them and even then he/she will probably have you taper off of them gradually, certainly not cold-turkey. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| It can be extremely dangerous to stop using antidepressants cold-turkey. What you can expect is for your brain to backlash. This backlash can last anywhere from six weeks to six months. Over the course of your treatment your brain has built up a slight tolerance and dependency to the new-found serotonin. When you stop taking SSRIs suddenly, your brain is going to have an even more severe shortage of serotonin than before you started your treatment. This will lead to exacerbated depression symptoms likely worse than your original symptoms. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| A significant number of people on antidepressants don't even realize that antidepressant withdrawal exists and think that the symptoms that occur when they stop their treatment is depression relapse. This causes more people than necessary to revert back to their antidepressant program. Unfortunately, many doctors prescribing antidepressants also have no knowledge of antidepressant withdrawal. | According to Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., author of The Antidepressant Solution and Prozac Backlash, "Studies have shown that as many as 78 percent of patients have withdrawal reactions when they stop their antidepressants, depending on the particular drug." Symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal are numerous and are not limited to the following: symptoms that mimic depression, that mimic anxiety disorders, irritability and aggression, confusion and memory problems, mood swings, hallucinations, dissociation, symptoms that mimic the flu, the mimic gastroenteritis, dizziness, headache, tremor, and sensory abnormalities. |
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