Venlafaxine beads can be sprinkled on a spoon of yoghurt to make them easier to swallow so that they don’t irritate your throat. Weighing tiny amounts requires special scales and a draught-free environment. You would take one of these quarters for each of the next four doses. This means that even if the quarters are not perfectly cut, you will take the right amount in total.
You’re most likely to get symptoms if you take an SSRI such as Paxil or an SNRI such as Effexor. The symptoms aren’t usually harmful but they can be unpleasant and include flu-like symptoms, nausea, and anxiety. If you’re considering going off your medicine, talk to your doctor so they can help you come up with a tapering schedule that works for you. They can also help you manage your symptoms and ensure you don’t have a relapse as you transition off. As dire as some of these symptoms may sound, you shouldn’t let them discourage you if you want to go off your antidepressant. The antidepressants most likely to cause troublesome symptoms are those that have a short half-life — that is, they break down and leave the body quickly.
What Does Antidepressant Withdrawal Mean?
Feelings of anxiety, irritability, and fatigue are common symptoms and don’t necessarily indicate that your depression is coming back. Discontinuing an antidepressant can increase the risk of relapse of anxiety or depression. The long duration of Prozac withdrawal symptoms may also increase the likelihood of the person mistaking them for returning symptoms. One of the studies in the review found that out of 95 people who abruptly stopped taking fluoxetine, 67% experienced withdrawal symptoms.
How to taper off your antidepressant
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People who are experiencing discontinuation symptoms after coming off medication should make an appointment with their doctor. You may be tempted to stop taking antidepressants as soon as your symptoms ease, but depression can return if you quit too soon. Clinicians generally recommend staying on the medication for six to nine months before considering going off antidepressants.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of withdrawal, consider these tips. In most cases, this will lead to the amount of the drug in your body fluctuating and make withdrawal symptoms more likely. Fluoxetine stays in your body longer than other antidepressants and could be taken on alternate days. You should speak to your prescriber about whether you should do this or not. Although rare, some people have experienced severe reactions when discontinuing antidepressant medications. If you or someone you know has any of the following symptoms in response to reducing or discontinuing antidepressants, seek medical help immediately.
- However, the example you follow will depend on your individual needs.
- Knowing possible side effects of getting off your antidepressant can help you be prepared.
- Prozac withdrawal symptoms can range from mildly bothersome to severe and incapacitating.
- Doctors and professional organizations often say that antidepressant withdrawal symptoms are self-limiting and typically resolve within a couple of weeks.
- While many of these dissipate over time, sexual side effects may continue even after you have stopped taking the drug.
- If you’re experiencing withdrawal from antidepressants, it can be helpful to learn more about what causes this to occur, common symptoms (and how long they last), as well as ways to cope.
Timeline of discontinuation symptoms
Your prescriber or pharmacist can advise you on how best to do this. If uncomfortable symptoms develop with your first dose reduction, or at any further reduction, stop the reduction. Go back to the last dose at which you felt comfortable and wait until you feel ready to try again. This might mean you need to use a more gradual taper, reducing by smaller amounts like 10% or even 5%. This resource aims to help you avoid getting any withdrawal symptoms, or get the fewest possible.
Prozac can be an effective treatment for depression, but other antidepressants can help. If you need to stop taking Prozac, there are ways to do this safely and effectively. They can minimize the risk of experiencing withdrawal by gradually tapering off of your medication. It’s also important to know that antidepressant withdrawal can be misdiagnosed, potentially increasing the amount of time you take this type of drug or taking it at higher-than-necessary doses.
The two phases of SSRI withdrawal are acute and protracted withdrawal. However, those who take the antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin) may also experience weight loss. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
However, withdrawal from Prozac typically lasts longer than it does for drugs with a shorter half-life. Discontinuation symptoms can be very similar to the anxiety or depression symptoms that prompted you to take the medication how to wean off prozac in the first place. If you have been taking antidepressants for many months or years, it’s best to taper more slowly (again, at a rate you find comfortable).
It can take several weeks after beginning fluoxetine for the symptoms of these conditions to improve. For adults with depression who have achieved remission, the American Psychological Association recommends psychotherapy to help prevent relapse. The average amount of taper time is two to four weeks, but it varies based on two important factors. “Some people tell us that being on an antidepressant doesn’t fit with their treatment ethos, and others just don’t want to have to remember to take a pill every day,” Dr. Coulter says. If you don’t like the antidepressant you’ve been taking, share those concerns with your doctor so you can work together to determine a better option.