Columnist davidlaz is in his third week of antidepressant abstinence after spending more than a year and a half gradually reducing his doses. “It hasn't been easy,” he says.
“I’m dependent on caffeine, but I’m not addicted,” said Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. “It’s not like I’d ever steal to get more coffee.”says addiction “is characterized by an inability to stop using a drug; failure to meet work, social or family obligations; and, sometimes , tolerance and withdrawal.”
And I’ll acknowledge that if what I’m going through is this difficult, I can’t even imagine what it’s like for someone trying to kick an addiction.But a word of warning to those contemplating a change in their drug therapy: Withdrawal is withdrawal. It’s not easy. “Withdrawal symptoms are distressing and drive people to keep taking the medication in order to avoid the symptoms,” said Joanna Starrels, an associate professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
I’m into my third week of abstinence after spending more than a year and a half gradually reducing my antidepressant doses. It hasn’t been easy. I’ve been cranky and irritable. I’m not sleeping well. I feel and hear a whooshing in my head, which I take as my pulse demanding its fix.in the New York Times last year that antidepressants can be more habit-forming than many people realize, and can cause staggering, even debilitating discomfort when the body is denied its daily dose.
That’s how I did it. Working with the endocrinologist who treats my diabetes, I gradually reduced the size of my daily dose. And once we brought that down, we switched my intake from every day to every other day, and then to every two days.The experts I spoke with said the funky feeling I’m now experiencing — and I don’t mean that in a cool,sort of way — will fade, and I should be over the hump within a few more days. Thank God.
Again, let me emphasize: Prescription drugs are not inherently bad. If they’re working for you, great. Don’t make any changes.
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