Antidepressant dosages are being hacked by people to prevent withdrawal

Antidepressant dosages are being hacked by people to prevent withdrawal.

People using psychiatric medications are being assisted by a patient-led effort to modify their dosing schedules so they can gradually wean themselves off the medications without experiencing any negative side effects. Now that a Dutch company that offers kits to assist people in doing this is ready to establish an English-language site, UK regulators and doctors are raising safety concerns.

Some people find it impossible to discontinue using some antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, such as valium, since they have significant mental and physical adverse effects unless the amount is dropped very gradually.

The issue is that these medications aren’t offered in pills tiny enough to allow for tapering. This has led to some patients disobeying conventional medical advice and using do-it-yourself techniques to lower their dosages, such as crushing pills and dissolving them in water or cracking open capsules containing tiny beads and counting them out. People who want to quit taking antidepressants are given several options to try by the UK mental health organisation Mind, although it is advised that they first seek guidance from their doctor or pharmacist.

Personalized “tapering kits” with carefully weighed out tablets in clearly labeled packets that gradually drop over several months are made by Maastricht University in collaboration with a Dutch medical organization called Cinderella Therapeutics to make it easier for people to trim their dose. The website advises users to follow medical advice and must first obtain a prescription from a doctor before doing this.

Since 2014, the organization has been sending out these kits, and as of now, it has given them about 2000 tapering kits for 24 different prescriptions. The majority of these were intended for residents of the Netherlands, although some kits were also supplied to the UK. Although the website is in Dutch, an English version will debut the following week.

Although the majority of medical organizations advise individuals not to purchase medications online, such acts are legal in the Netherlands. Despite the fact that prescription-only medications can be imported for personal use, the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency advises against self-medication because it could be dangerous. “We will get in touch with our regulatory colleagues in the Netherlands to conduct the required research,”

Signs of withdrawal

Antidepressants are being used by a growing number of people; for example, 1 in 10 adults in the UK. Antidepressants can be helpful and even life-saving for many people, but some find it difficult to stop using them when they are ready.

Some claim that the adverse side effects of quitting are intolerable. According to a New Zealand research, 55% of persons who stop using antidepressants experience withdrawal symptoms.

James Moore, a 46-year-old father who stays at home with his children in Rogiet, England, says, “I felt like I had been ran over by a bus.” When he stopped using the antidepressant mirtazapine, he experienced headaches, nausea, and lightheadedness.

Others who stop using antidepressants describe negative side effects including panic episodes or issues with memory and focus. According to Moore, a former activist for mental health, “I know of folks who have taken their lives because the withdrawal symptoms have been so severe.”

Doctors typically urge patients to gradually reduce their dosage and warn of short-term withdrawal effects in information pamphlets that drug manufacturers include with the medication. However, even if people do that, some still experience issues once they stop taking the lowest amount of medication that is offered. Even though it might not be, some patients are told by their doctors that it is a relapse.

One remedy that is frequently suggested is to take one pill every other day, although this strategy causes medication levels in the blood to fluctuate from day to day because several common antidepressants, like venlafaxine and paroxetine, are broken down by the body within hours. Instead, individuals have started exchanging online advice on how to reduce their drug.

Tapering assists

When Moore attempted to break his pills into tiny bits, he discovered that the dosage was too unpredictable, and his withdrawal symptoms reappeared. “I was functioning one day and would be in bed the next,” he claims. He is currently in charge of an initiative to get drug makers to provide their products in substantially lower doses.

According to UK physician David Healy, people’s experiences with stopping taking antidepressants might be very different. By providing liquid versions of their medication that they can measure out in little doses, he assists individuals with severe symptoms. These preparations don’t have as much availability as their pill equivalents.

Moore just switched to a liquid form and noticed that his symptoms had lessened. However, Healy claims that because these liquids are more expensive than regular pills, the majority of GPs decline to recommend them.

About 80% of users are able to entirely quit taking their medication, according to an unpublished survey by the charity, according to pharmacist Paul Harder, who creates the tapering kits for Cinderella Therapeutics. 10% more of it is decreased, but the remaining 90% resume their normal dosage. He claims that while most users taper off the service after two months, some can take up to seven.

According to Tony Kendrick of the University of Southampton in the UK, switching from antidepressants to fluoxetine (Prozac), which is readily accessible in a liquid version, is an additional alternative for some patients. But some people think they are unable to change.

Kendrick is researching methods to assist medical professionals in distinguishing between antidepressant withdrawal symptoms and indications that a patient’s depression or anxiety is relapsing. According to him, withdrawal symptoms frequently emerge very soon after the first dose is missed and go away once the user resumes their regular dosage. It typically takes weeks or months for a relapse.

An Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry spokesman declined to comment.