How soon can you go off antidepressants?

[Coralrose5]

I will talk to my doctor about it but I am curious, how soon can someone start tapering off medication? I feel better and I don’t like the side effects: constipation, weight gain, low libido.

[Dolphin14]

Definitely a discussion to have with your md. My guess would be you can just say I want to taper off this med. No one can force you to take a med.But, my question is this do you feel better because you are taking the med?

The only way to know is to start the weaning process.

Good luck

[Joanne1972]

I think if the cause (if there was one) of your depression has been resolved then you could talk to your dr about reducing your dose, I had to reduce slowly by something like 5mg every 2 weeks so it's a good way of monitoring your mood whilst you are withdrawing so you see if you are feeling better cos of the medication or are really well enough not to need medication anymore.

I can't wait to come of medication, like you the weight gain bothers me n feel sluggish. I can't come off medication just yet as the cause is still around getting me down....I think when that is resolved maybe 4 weeks later I'll see dr about withdrawing.

Good to read you've been feeling well

Jo

[Coralrose5 in reply to Joanne1972]

Thanks Joanne. I don’t think there was a specific cause for my depression. But I want to reduce one of my medications that I’m on for anxiety. I am also on an SSRI and I will probably stay on it a bit longer but I feel like I can reduce the anxiety med.

[Coralrose5]

Ok, so the doctor said I can reduce one of the meds but not the ssri. They want me to stay on that one for closer to a year, so that I don’t relapse.

[Joanne1972 in reply to Coralrose5]

That's good, hopefully its the medication you wanted to reduce. If it is the anxiety one I would say reduce exactly as your dr says rather than try and Rush thru it a bit quicker, just saying this as if you rush and go into withdrawal the symptoms can be like anxiety so you think you still need the medication when you don't. I'd listen to your dr and also your body, if you think you need an extra week before reducing again take it. I know when I reduced my anxiety medication it wasn't as straightforward for me as with depressants. My dr was really good and I have an open prescription for a small dose of anti anxiety medication for days when I need some support but not on them daily anymore.

jo 😊

[Coralrose5 in reply to Joanne1972]

Well the anxiety med (buspirone) wasn’t the one I really wanted to reduce because the ssri is giving me more side effects but I have to deal with the ssri a bit longer as the benefits outweigh the cost. But Who knows, reducing this med might lessen the side effects. We’ll see!

[foxglove_pnw]

Good luck reducing your meds !

[Hidden]

My thing is if you stop taking antidepressants wouldn’t you become depressed again?

[Coralrose5 in reply to Hidden]

It depends on the person. I’ve never needed them before so I don’t know.

[Hidden in reply to Coralrose5]

Hope all goes well for you

[Coralrose5 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you