Quitting Antidepressants: Withdrawal And Side Effects Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.

Going Off Antidepressants

Long-term users may find quitting harder than expected

If discontinuing an antidepressant makes sense, be aware of the risk of withdrawal symptoms and learn how to manage them. Getty Images she was taking could be to blame. So she asked her psychiatrist about quitting. He was willing to let her, but Carlson was thrown by what happened after she stopped taking the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). “I was thrown into such horrendous side effects — crushing fatigue, constant anxiety, headaches, GI problems — that I've been sick ever since,” she says. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Carlson’s symptoms are consistent with antidepressant withdrawal, something she says no one ever discussed with her. “I was always told ‘You’ll be on this for life.’ I didn’t get a lot of information about side effects — much less withdrawal — before I started taking the drugs.” Antidepressants are vital treatment tools for those with debilitating , but users can become dependent on them. “That doesn’t mean that antidepressants are addictive,” notes psychiatrist Michael McGee, chief medical officer of the Haven at Pismo, an addiction treatment facility in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and author of The Joy of Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide to Healing from Addiction. “People don’t experience cravings for antidepressants or take them to get high. It’s more a physiological dependence rather than an addiction.” Lots of factors can make you more or less likely to experience withdrawal — including the choice of medication, says psychiatrist Megan Schabbing, medical director of psychiatric emergency services at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. “As a class of drugs, SSRIs are pretty likely to cause withdrawal in general, and they’re also typically our first-line treatment for depression,” she says. “Within that class, though, there are certain drugs that have a shorter half-life, meaning they stick around in your system for a shorter period of time, and those are more likely to cause withdrawal — sometimes even if you miss just a dose or two.”
AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers > Withdrawal typically mimics the flu: The most common symptoms include fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, nausea and diarrhea, dizziness or vertigo, and difficulty sleeping. Patients may also have psychological symptoms like anxiety. Less commonly, you can experience hallucinations or a zapping feeling of electricity coursing through your body.
The good news is that these symptoms often can be managed. “If you’ve been diagnosed with depression, you shouldn’t not take antidepressants because you’re worried about withdrawal,” says McGee. Slowly tapering off the medication — reducing your existing dose by about 10 percent each month — can dramatically reduce withdrawal symptoms or allow patients to avoid them altogether. Your doctor can also prescribe short-term courses of other medications to treat remaining symptoms such as anxiety, , headache or nausea.
After Carlson began experiencing severe withdrawal, she found another doctor to help her taper off the drugs while also implementing healthy lifestyle changes such as a plant-based diet. She still suffers from exhaustion and other symptoms but says that slowly reducing her dosage over 10 months has been “easier than when I was initially taken off cold turkey. If I hadn’t tapered, I think I’d be in the hospital." AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. More on health AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS