Drug Withdrawal
When the body is physically addicted to a medication or substance sudden reduction or stopping of it causes drug withdrawal. This is likely to result in significant, though in some cases only minor, adverse effects. For example nausea, headaches, sweating. It will also make the person have intense cravings for the drug.
A well known example of this is trying to quit smoking. The brain is used to having a regular dosage of nicotine. When the person stops smoking they will get severe cravings for cigarettes (or another source of nicotine). They may experience other adverse effects.
Discontinuation Symptoms
When reducing or stopping a medication or substance that is not physically addictive there can still be adverse effects. However, when the person stops taking it they do not have intense cravings for the drug itself. They may want to take it though in order to reduce or stop the adverse effects.
It can also be hard to work out whether the effects are a result of discontinuation. Or if they a return of mental health issues that the medication was treating. Usually if adverse effects are completely new for the person. For example blurred vision or extreme restlessness, then it is likely that these are discontinuation symptoms. If the person is re- experiencing previous mental health symptoms then it is likely a return of their pre-existing condition.
Tapering
If you have been on a drug for a long time. Or if you were taking a large dosage. Then you will find that it takes longer to come off it. Tapering is where you slowly cut down the dose rather than stopping the drug ‘cold turkey’.
Half-life
The half-life is the time it takes for drug levels to be half the highest level in the blood stream. It isn’t the amount of time it takes for the medication to leave the body entirely. This is a common misunderstanding. This is an ongoing process. The levels in the body drop to one quarter after twice the length of the ‘half-life’.
For example, Sertraline (an antidepressant) has a half-life of 25 hours. So if you took 100mg of it, after 25 hours there would still be about 50mg going round the body. After 50 hours if would be 25mg and after 75 hours it would be 12.5mg. It will continue like this until it is completely gone from the body.
Severe, long-term harm (caused either by the medication or by discontinuation) is relatively rare (but an under-reported problem).rnrnMost people can discontinue medications relatively quickly with few problems but why risk it?
Consider more:
u003cdiv class=u0022pageu0022 title=u0022Page 12u0022u003ernu003cdiv class=u0022sectionu0022u003ernu003cdiv class=u0022layoutAreau0022u003ernu003cdiv class=u0022columnu0022u003ernrn1. Have you had experienced any adverse effects when stopping medication?rn2. Do you think tapering is a good strategy for stopping medications?rnrnu003c/divu003ernu003c/divu003ernu003c/divu003ernu003c/divu003e