Four Challenges with Antidepressant Tapering Methods
The problems related to antidepressant tapering may seem complex and unwieldy, but can be simplified within the following 4 parameters:
1. Inadequately trained physicians, errors, and omitted steps in diagnoses
Physicians are licensed to prescribe, but not trained in antidepressant tapering. There is an absence of such training — it is just not given in medical school. Additionally, physicians are advised by NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, to ensure that an accurate diagnosis must include determining that there is no physical illness or other physical factors that may need attention BEFORE prescribing an antidepressant or other types of medications. Despite the advice so issued, doctors often hastily prescribe medications based on a short interview with their patients in the office, with no testing and no exhaustive physical examinations given to the patient. This could result in a misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment that will not resolve the person’s symptoms.1
2. Using band-aid solutions that only provide temporary relief
Physicians most often prescribe medications without any real effort to clarify and address root causes, Antidepressant drugs are not a cure, and can only dampen (suppress) the unwanted symptoms. In some extreme and rare cases, this temporary measure may be necessary. However, in the main, experience and studies show that there is actually little to no long-term therapeutic value inherent in prescribing antidepressant medication. The most common outcome will be that a person’s suppressed symptoms will eventually return and then intensify.2 This is the point where a physician may increase the dosage, not knowing what else to do. At some point when antidepressant tapering is introduced, without proper guidance, preparation, and support, the usual result is agonizing and unbearable. This could answer why many antidepressant weaning attempts may fail.
3. Antidepressant tapering and titration side effects
Another layer of confusion that occurs during a course of prescribed antidepressant meds is the extensive list of side effects that these drugs can throw into the mix. In fact, these antidepressant side effects commonly cause a person to decide to discontinue their medication. Each person presents a highly unique profile, often overlooked in the initial prescribing decision. It may be that a person was prescribed antidepressants to help with sadness after the loss of a spouse. However, their medication may now be causing insomnia or panic attacks that were not present before their prescription. A person may decide to abruptly stop the antidepressant to relieve these drug side effects. However, stopping medication all at once can result in disastrous consequences. A summary of the most common side effects connected to antidepressant medication can be found below.
4. Antidepressant weaning symptoms vs erroneous diagnoses
Quite separate from the return of original symptoms that may never have been properly diagnosed or given treatment, there are also symptoms connected with the process of antidepressant tapering itself. A list of some symptoms commonly experienced during antidepressant titration (especially when done too abruptly or without preparation and guidance during the process) is given below. There is perhaps no real way to articulate the amount of suffering and confusion that a person can face during such a crisis.
Antidepressant Tapering Symptoms
Titrating off antidepressants can generate a wide range of reactions, commonly including:
- Brain “zaps” (paresthesia) 10
- Tinnitus
- Dizziness
- Stroke-like paralysis 21
- Anxiety
- Confusion
- Headache
- Increased depression, including severe depression leading to suicidal thoughts
- Panic attacks
- Muscle pains
- Muscular spasms
- Emotional disturbances such as unusual spells of crying, hostility, deep despair, etc.
- Vomiting, nausea
- Insomnia and disturbed sleep, nightmares, or unusual dreams
- Hypomania 11
Antidepressant Side Effects
Some side effects associated with antidepressant medications include:
- Movement disorders such as akathisia, Parkinson-like disorders, tardive dyskinesia 12
- A lowering of sodium levels in the blood results in seizure, coma, confusion, etc.
- Suicidal thoughts or attempts
- Life-threatening skin complications such as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome 15
- Reduced blood-clotting capacity, abnormal bleeding 18
- Sexual dysfunction in both males and females
- Heightened risk of respiratory infections
- Excessive perspiring
- Mood swings
- Emotional numbness, deadness
- Risk of dehydration
- Unusual weight loss or weight gain
- Feeling nervous, shaky, increased anxiety 16
Inpatient Antidepressant Weaning
If one can imagine the difficulty of applying a plaster cast to one’s own broken leg, one may begin to understand the agonies of attempting unassisted antidepressant weaning. While suffering depression is obviously different than a broken limb, depression is a serious health issue that requires competent and attentive medical help to overcome safely and successfully. Adding the process of coming off these drugs can be simply too much to bear alone.
For persons with heightened sensitivity, even minute changes during antidepressant tapering can be difficult to endure. We are here to help even the most difficult of cases and have done so successfully in our inpatient treatment facility for many years.
Weaning off antidepressants is for some, best done in an inpatient facility that can deliver the needed level of clinical care. With competent and knowledgeable help and medical oversight, you can achieve a successful and health-restorative outcome.4
For well over 15 years, Alternative to Meds Center has specialized in providing gentle, safe, and properly managed antidepressant withdrawal.
Antidepressant Tapering at Alternative to Meds Center
Methods used at Alternative to Meds Center include Amino therapy, stabilizing neurochemistry, toxin removal, therapeutic sauna, metabolic testing, allergy testing, targeted IV supplement therapy, and a clean organic diet.
Spiritual psychiatry, counseling of various genres, art and music therapy, equine-assisted therapy, yoga, Reiki, education components for sustained wellness, mineral baths, ionic foot baths, nebulized glutathione, classes on stress relief techniques, therapeutic massage, cranial-sacral therapy, trainer-led mild exercise classes, outdoor activities, guided peer support, are some of our protocols that provide real relief and healing.
A staff of over 40 amazing medical staff and caregivers provide care with compassion 24/7 for our clients. Many of the staff have had their own personal experience with medication tapering and recovery and authentically understand the processes and the challenges and sensitivities of our clients who are tapering from antidepressants.
Contact Alternative to Meds Center
Each client-assigned team of care staff programs the person for their unique needs and is based on testing done at the start. We investigate the underlying conditions and root causes as an integral part of developing the client’s specific step-by-step program. Antidepressant tapering treatment is delivered in a collaborative manner, with daily and weekly patient-care team meetings to track progress and be able to quickly make the micro-adjustments that are so essential to a successful antidepressant tapering program.
Alternative to Meds Center provides competent, attentive care for clients who wish to regain natural mental health without needing to rely on pharmaceutical drugs for the rest of their life. We invite you to contact us at the number listed on this page.
The programs offered at Alternative to Meds Center have helped thousands of clients with antidepressant titration in a comfortable, safe, and nurturing facility and could be the exact antidepressant tapering help that you or your loved one have been searching for.
As Greenslit & Kaptchuk observe in their 2012 article published in the Yale Journal Of Biology & Medicine, “public controversies and medical uncertainties concerning antidepressants have become the norm.” 17
A schedule of how slow or how fast really needs to be individually tailored. Assessments and testing done prior will help determine the way forward. While math may certainly be involved, the process also has to take into consideration the length of time a person took antidepressants, whether failed attempts at tapering antidepressants have transpired, the client’s age and current health, including nutritional deficits that need correcting, and intensity of symptoms. While general guidelines are important, there is no “best” or cookie-cutter approach. The first thing to do is to gather enough information to design the tapering plan that will garner the best results for the individual, and closely monitor their process so that incremental changes can ease the process as it goes along.2
