I know antidepressant withdrawal symptoms are real. Why didn’t doctors? The Guardian, 30 may 2019

[anacleta]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... de-effects


something seems to move by withdrawal.

the voices of truth try to get out of the dome of medical ignorance and silence of pharmaceutical companies.

interesting that the doctor who made the withdrawal article pointed to the inadequacy of the current guidelines, did it because he experimented with the effects of suspension personally.

[omar90]

Sometimes I think Post SRRI syndrome will only get recognition when a prominent Dr or Psychiatrist experiences the condition.

Great that withdrawal is getting the attention it deserves, I went through a horror-show of a withdrawal after my Bupropion trial. But as you say in your other thread, we need to be getting our condition mentioned with all this coverage

[nasibi]

Still misrepresenting. It is not withdrawl.

[omar90]

Still misrepresenting. It is not withdrawl.

PSSD is a completely different syndrome to withdrawal and should be officially recognised that way.

Or are you saying that withdrawal should be termed something else?

[Snake]

Yep, withdrawal is one thing, but PSSD it's completely another story. They began to take it under consideration that ADs may cause prolonged withdrawal side effects lasting for months. Yet, nobody is discussing the possibility that it might be not months, but years or event permament what is called PSSD.

[sopgirl]

GPs spout utter tosh when it comes to taking SSRIs. I honestly think they forget basic pharmacokinetics when they prescribe them.

When I was in my early 20s I was prescribed citalopram. One tablet gave me my first ever panic attack within 3 hours. I didn't take another tablet. The GP attributed it to the drug not suiting me rather than my brain going haywire on a bolus dose of a new drug. I think it makes sense to taper ONTO them to avoid the anxiety.

A decade later and a GP tried to get me to take citalopram for PMS. I told her about my prior response and she said she was 'skeptical' that it was caused by the SSRI! (Seriously, I had NO history of anxiety before taking the damned tablet!) She prescribed sertraline and told me to 'take it before bed'. I knew that sertraline has a long half-life and taking it before bed was going to make bugger-all difference. If I was going to get panic attacks from flooding my brain with SSRI, 8 hours would still see 80% of it sloshing around. Taking a drug with a long half-life is a shock to the system; you are piling more drug if before you've got rid of the half the previous dose- it takes a long time to reach steady-state concentrations in the body. I avoided this by pill-cutting to get onto the drug gradually.

Similarly, I did a looong taper with pill cutting when coming off the drug and managed it asymptomatically. I am horrified that so many people I know are told, "Start taking the drug on alternate days for 7-10 days, then every 3 days for a week and then stop." It is madness. I find it disgusting that people are not put onto liquid forms, given and syringe and told to taper the amount gradually. Due to costs, GPs won't even mention the existence of liquid forms, and would rather see their patients go through a horrific withdrawal and pretend that it is all due to the patient's depression coming back. I had a friend whose confidence took a real knock when his GP told him that his anxiety was due to him 'not being ready to come off the drug'. Then he told me about how his GP suggested he come of sertraline and it was fairly obvious why he was anxious...