![]() But even if people do that, once they stop taking the lowest dose of tablet available, some still get problems. ![]() Information leaflets that the drug manufacturers provide alongside the drug warn of short-term withdrawal effects, and doctors usually advise people to reduce their dose slowly. ![]() “I know of people who have taken their lives because the withdrawal effects have been so severe,” says Moore, who is now a mental health campaigner. Others who stop taking antidepressants report side effects such as panic attacks or memory and concentration problems. He experienced dizziness, nausea and headaches when he stopped taking the antidepressant mirtazapine. “I felt like I had been run over by a bus,” says James Moore, a 46-year-old stay-at-home dad from Rogiet in the UK. A study in New Zealand found that 55 per cent of people got withdrawal symptoms on stopping antidepressants. Some people say that when they try to stop, they experience intolerable side effects. Many people find antidepressants helpful, and even life-saving, but some struggle to stop taking them when they are ready. “We will be contacting our regulatory partners in the Netherlands to make necessary enquiries.”Īn increasing number of people are taking antidepressants – about 1 in 10 people in the UK, for instance. “Although prescription-only medicines can be imported for personal use, self-medication is potentially risky and we advise against this,” says a spokesperson for the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Its actions are legal in the Netherlands, although most medical bodies advise people not to buy medicines over the internet. The website is in Dutch, but an English-language version is being launched next week. Most of these were for people in the Netherlands, but a few kits have been sent to other countries, including the UK. The charity has been sending out such kits since 2014, distributing around 2000 tapering kits for 24 different medications so far. The website recommends people do this under medical supervision and must first receive a doctor’s prescription. To help people taper their dose more easily, a Dutch medical charity, called Cinderella Therapeutics, together with Maastricht University creates personalised “tapering kits”, with precisely weighed out tablets in labelled packets that gradually reduce over several months. The UK mental health charity Mind advises people who want to stop taking antidepressants of some techniques to try, but recommends they get advice from their doctor or pharmacist first. This has prompted some people to flout mainstream medical advice and use DIY methods for reducing their doses, such as grinding up tablets and dissolving them in water, or breaking open capsules of tiny beads and counting them out. The problem is these medicines aren’t sold in small enough tablets to allow for tapering. ![]() ![]() Some people find it impossible to stop taking certain antidepressants and anti-anxiety medicines such as valium because, unless the dose is reduced very gradually, they get severe mental and physical side-effects. Now a Dutch website that sells kits to help people do this is about to launch an English-language site, triggering safety concerns among UK regulators and doctors. A patient-led movement is helping people taking psychiatric medicines to hack their dosing regimens so they can wean themselves off the drugs without any side effects. ![]()
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