Antidepressant Or SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome

SSRI discontinuation syndrome occurs when, after taking SSRIs for a certain period of time, you suddenly stop taking them. The body is unable to adapt to the sudden decrease in serotonin. This leads to symptoms such as nausea, tremors, migraines, sleep disturbances, etc.

Before you continue reading, it is worth noting that this condition is not very common. Doctors and medical professionals prescribe medication under specific and precise guidelines to avoid precisely this type of side effect. However, SSRI discontinuation syndrome may affect you, even if you do not stop treatment abruptly. People may also experience the symptoms associated with SSRI withdrawal syndrome if they make changes in the dosage of the drug.

An interesting aspect of this syndrome is that when people are affected by it, they may feel as if they have had a relapse of the original condition they were taking the drugs for. This causes them to ask their doctors to continue treatment with antidepressants.

It is important for everyone to be aware of the side effects associated with psychotropic drugs. At the same time, those who use them must understand the importance of following all the guidelines and recommendations given by the doctor.

What is SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome?

Before we dive into SSRI withdrawal syndrome, let’s first talk a little about SSRIs. This acronym refers to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These days, these are the most prescribed drugs to treat disorders involving anxiety and depression.

Doctors tend to prescribe these antidepressant drugs over others, this because they are less likely to cause serious side effects. The symptomatology of drugs such as fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, sertraline and paroxetine is relatively less severe when compared to tricyclic antidepressants. These antidepressants tend to have side effects that affect the cardiovascular system as well as anticholinergic symptoms that can be quite severe.

While it is true that SSRIs are effective in treating certain clinical conditions, there is one thing to keep in mind if you are using such drugs: they can only help you if you take them properly, in addition to stopping their use. properly.

In those cases where you need to stop using a medicine, it is especially important that you do so gradually. You should never stop taking SSRIs abruptly. If you do, you may experience SSRI discontinuation syndrome. Now let’s talk about what this syndrome really is.

Why Do People Get SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome?

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter used for many different things. Some of the substance’s functions are the facilitation of communication between brain cells and the regulation of well-being, motivation, social behavior and memory. Researchers have found evidence that when someone suffers from depression, the serotonin level in the synaptic cleft is significantly low.

It is as if the brain was in a kind of hibernation, at least when we relate to this chemical compound. The low amount of serotonin is taken up immediately by the postsynaptic neurons. A study conducted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico tells us that what SSRIs actually do is block this uptake to promote a higher accumulation of serotonin in the synaptic cleft.

• When you undergo SSRIs that last for several weeks, your brain experiences certain changes. There are fewer serotonin receptors so this neurotransmitter stays in the body longer.

• If you stop taking this type of drug suddenly, many things will happen. First, you will not give your brain the ability to adapt to change. Essentially, you want to force it to change immediately.
• The other thing that will happen is that you will not only get fewer serotonin receptors, but there will still not be an optimal serotonin level in the synaptic cleft. SSRIs are responsible for handling this. As such, you will experience a relapse or even an intensification of your symptoms of depression.

Symptoms associated with SSRI withdrawal syndrome

The symptomatology associated with SSRI discontinuation syndrome tends to vary considerably from patient to patient. It is worth mentioning that these effects appear between 1 to 10 days after a person has stopped taking SSRIs. Here we present a list of the most common symptoms:

• Dizziness
• Stomach pain
• Diarrhea
• Difficulty moving
• Nausea and vomiting
• Exhaustion
• Migraine
• Muscle pain
• Cold symptoms
• Paresthesia (itchy or burning skin)
• Visual hallucinations
• Problems with concentration
• Depersonalization
• Negative thinking

Finally, in more severe cases, the affected person may experience psychotic episodes or catatonia (they stop responding to their surroundings).

Prevention and treatment

You can treat the symptoms of SSRI withdrawal syndrome by resuming the original dosage of SSRIs or lowering it properly over an extended period of time. No matter how it is done, this is something your doctor should decide, depending on your specific case.

Preventing this type of situation is also extremely important. Although this syndrome is not common, there is always a risk. This discussion serves as a reminder that we should never make arbitrary decisions about taking or stopping taking medications that our doctor has given us.

In general, if treatment with SSRIs has lasted between four and eight weeks, the best way to stop using them is to reduce the dose for one or two weeks before stopping completely. If the treatment has lasted for several months, it will be both a slower and more progressive process to stop using the drug.

Quitting SSRIs abruptly means putting yourself at risk.