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 it.
It's usually recommended that a course of antidepressants continues for at least 6 months after you feel better, to prevent your condition recurring when you stop. Some people with recurrent illness are advised to carry on taking medicine indefinitely.
For people with chronic or severe depression, medication may be needed on a long-term basis. In these cases, antidepressants are often taken indefinitely.
If you've only been taking the med for a few weeks, you may be able to reduce it in about a month. Someone coming off antidepressants after 10 years, or a higher dose, might have to gradually reduce their dose for several months.
About 73% of patients discontinued antidepressant treatment after 24 weeks.
Specifically, weight gain seems to be a common long-term risk, especially the medications that affect serotonin levels. This could be because serotonin is associated with an increase in appetite. There is also a risk of higher blood sugar levels and diabetes with taking antidepressants long-term.
Hardest-to-Stop Antidepressants
However, discontinuation symptoms are more likely with antidepressants that stay in your body for a shorter period of time, especially those that affect both serotonin and norepinephrine, such as duloxetine (Cymbalta) and venlafaxine (Effexor).
Ultimately, these withdrawal symptoms will improve with time, but they can be unpleasant for days and possibly even weeks. In time, the brain readjusts and people should experience a return to their normal state.
So do antidepressants work as a permanent cure for depression? No, they do not, and the reason for this lies in how they work. While they cause changes in brain chemistry, this effect is only temporary. When you stop taking the antidepressant, your brain chemistry will return to its previous state.
“Even though they say your meds are 'non-habit forming,' you can still have serious, debilitating withdrawals when you try to get off of them, and there's no telling how long they will last.” — Matthew A. 3. “I didn't know antidepressants could affect your libido.
You are feeling better, and you and the doctor agree that it is time to stop. You have been taking the medicine for at least 6 months after you feel better. You are having counselling to help you cope with problems and help change how you think and feel. You are not worried about the depression coming back.
It's usually recommended that a course of SSRIs continues for at least 6 months after you feel better, to prevent your condition coming back when you stop. However, if you've experienced previous episodes of depression, a 2-year course may be recommended.
During long-term SSRI therapy, the most troubling adverse effects are sexual dysfunction, weight gain, and sleep disturbance.
Pharmacologists have generally believed that any withdrawal effects from antidepressants were tied to their elimination half-life, a measure of how long it takes for half of the drug to be metabolized and eliminated from the body, Fava says.
Summary: It can take nine months or more for people who have used antidepressants for the long term to find relief from withdrawal symptoms. Researchers address the common symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal and steps to take to help improve symptoms.
Your washout period may be a few days or weeks and is sometimes determined by how long the medication stays in your body. Moderate switch. A moderate switch may include tapering the first antidepressant and then immediately starting a new medication when you've finished, or doing a washout period of just 2 to 4 days.
The most effective antidepressant compared to placebo was the tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline, which increased the chances of treatment response more than two-fold (odds ratio [OR] 2.13, 95% credible interval [CrI] 1.89 to 2.41).
Can antidepressants cause permanent changes to the brain? Antidepressants can cause changes in neurotransmitter levels and brain function; however, these changes are typically reversible once the medication is stopped.
Benefits of natural remedies
When experiencing withdrawal symptoms or antidepressant discontinuation syndrome, increasing physical exercise or changing the diet to include more fresh food may help ease symptoms by making a person feel reinvigorated and less lethargic.
If the antidepressant you use works for you, your doctor may reduce your dosage first to see if that helps. Emotional blunting is one of the main reasons people stop taking their antidepressants. For most people, when they stop their antidepressants, they are able to feel emotions again.