A recent New York Times article, “Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit,” helped me understand why getting off antidepressants was so difficult.
Highlights of Story:
- The New York Times analyzed U.S. federal data and the results of the first rigorous, long-term trial of withdrawal from antidepressants (McMaster University, New Zealand). The McMaster study shows that some people’s withdrawal symptoms were so severe they weren’t able to stop taking them.
- In the U.S. antidepressant prescriptions have doubled since 2010 and tripled since 2000. Current figures show that 15.5 million Americans have been on antidepressants for at least 5 years and white women over 45 (1/5 of the adult population) account for 41 percent of antidepressant users.
- Many patients have a hard time coming off antidepressants because their doctors don’t know how to help them do it. There are no guidelines to develop individualized strategies for quitting, so it’s easier and more convenient for doctors to keep their patients on the meds.
- The New Zealand study concludes that MICRO-TAPERING causes the least severe tapering side effects. Making small reductions over many months helps minimize side effects and prevents discontinuation syndrome.
My Tapering Experience:
This article features Victoria Toline who weaned herself off antidepressants in nine months. If I had followed a similar micro-tapering schedule, my withdrawal symptoms would have been much less severe.
My doctor didn’t know anything about micro-tapering when I started coming off Effexor XR in 2015. I went through traumatic withdrawal symptoms because my seven-week taper schedule was way too fast.
When my dosage was decreased by half in just five weeks, I had to call the EMTs because I was about to fling myself through a window. I don’t think this would have happened if I had followed a more gradual taper schedule.
Just a day after I flipped out, my doctor tried the Prozac “bridge” method to treat my tapering symptoms. Prozac (which has a long half-life) is supposed to “bridge” the effects of tapering off Effexor xr (which has a short half-life). In my case, bridging with Prozac didn’t work.
I went back to the previous dose of Effexor and finished tapering in just seven weeks. That’s when my doctor cut me loose because she wasn’t prescribing anymore. But, my withdrawal symptoms of brain zaps, a head shudder/tic, dizziness and heightened anxiety continued in full force.
I couldn’t find a primary care doctor who knew anything about tapering side effects, so using the Psychology Today Directory (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists), I found a psychologist who helped me deal with the heightened anxiety which is the most common side effect of coming off Effexor XR.
It took two years for my withdrawal symptoms to completely subside, but even in the first few months I knew I was getting myself back, and that was incentive enough to keep going.
CONTACT JANE to tell me about your tapering experience:
- What made you decide to get off antidepressants?
- How long was your taper schedule?
- Did your doctor tell you about tapering side effects?
- What were your tapering symptoms?
- Did “bridging” Effexor with Prozac work for you?