IMPORTANT WARNING!
Some prescribed drugs must NOT BE STOPPED SUDDENLY
For antidepressant withdrawal and safe, slow reduction in dosage, a huge breakthrough is the Royal College of Psychiatrists have included, on their web site, detailed information about titrating the dosage, the use of liquid medication and other advice. They also warn about possibe withdrawal effects. This is a vital contribution towards patient safety, we have been begging for during the past 20 years.
https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/treatments-and-wellbeing/stopping-antidepressants
So if you are reducing any medication that may have caused dependence, study the information available and if possible get support from a health professional. Tapering has to be done very slowly, with safe advice and with understanding of the risks.
An organisation making efforts to signpost useful information and web sites is:
International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal https://iipdw.org/
Dependence can be due to changes in receptors in your brain or hormonal system, caused by:
antidepressants benzodiazepine, steroids, pain killers and similar drugs.
Laura Delano make a compelling appeal to why you can live again, even after years on psychiatric drugs.
To Go to her organisation - click here - Her blog posts have appeared in the 'New Yorker' and 'Mad in America"
https://withdrawal.theinnercompass.org/
Withdrawal advice is poor from medical authorities and the pharmaceutical industry.
Patient groups and forums are the best place to find sensible advice.
Antidepressants:
Liquid Prozac and possibly other drugs may help reduce slower for people having a difficult time.
Tranquilisers and sleeping pills - benzodiazepines and Z drugs,
The late Professor Heather Ashton (some of us refer to as an angel) carefully developed a Benzo withdrawal protocol which has helped many thousands of people. You may need to find support from your doctor if you are lucky enough to have an enlightened, well educated doctor.
This is a link to the Ashton Manual provided free worldwide yet our own BMA failed to make it availabel and we have begged them for years to provide this for doctors. We thank Ray Nimmo for his work on https://www.benzo.org.uk on behalf of millions of sufferers of involuntary addiction to benzodiazepines.
Do not stop any drug suddenly that has been found to cause dependence - painkillers with codeine (morphine) antidepressants that may be called something else and not even referred to by the prescribing doctor as an antidepressant. (do your own research before attempting to suddenly stop any drug) and of course the drugs that followed the barbiturates in harming millions of people, benzodiazepines/ tranquilisers/ sleeping pills.
This is the comment in a medical paper
Some advice from the UK's NHS (National Health Service)
Advice from an independent patient centred organisation Rxisk.org
For information on Withdrawal from psychiatric medication click here
I advise anyone interested in official reports of adverse drug reactions (ADRs)
to sign up for alerts from the regulatory agency in your country. Warnings about risks may be seen in one country but not shared in others, so be wise and study the drugs you are offered before assuming they are without problems. Many issues occur long after a drug is licensed.
In the UK we have pharmacists who regularly report on findings from ADR Yellow Card Reports and you can read their Re:action data here: http://yccwm.org.uk/index.php/reaction/
Independent pharmacists produce valuable information about medicines safety and warnings
They produce journals in French and English - https://english.prescrire.org/en/Summary.aspx
The Journalists at Préscrire kindly invited me to speak at a conference in Paris. The English version of my talk (given in French) For my talk content click here: published in English entitled
"Listening to Victims' Voices"