Drugs, when suddenly stopping is dangerous – breaking latest news

Quit? Sometimes it is the hardest part of a therapy. And interrupting a treatment badly, or at the wrong time, is one of the most common mistakes. It happened to Fedez: «In January I was prescribed this very powerful antidepressant psychopharmaceutical that changed me, it agitated me a lot and also gave me very strong side effects from a physical point of view to the point of causing nervous tics in my mouth and to prevent me from speaking freely. I was running important risks and therefore I had to suspend it suddenly, without climbing it and this caused me the so-called rebound effect: something I don’t wish on anyone». A first fundamental rule applies, as the pharmacologist Sif explains Gianni Sava: «The longer a treatment has been, the more delicate is the path to follow to suspend it. In order for the drugs to work, they interfere with the body and it must have time to re-adapt to being without them, to gradually “wash out” the effects».

The drugs “most at risk”

For some active ingredients, the need to scale the doses to “get used to it” is known: i cortisonefor example, should be abandoned gradually because they affect the natural production of hormones by the adrenal gland and one stopping too abruptly could cause adrenal insufficiency. «Less known, however, is the importance of interrupting a therapy with
benzodiazepine
in a controlled way: this is often done by changing the drug and switching to products with a longer half-life (that is, which remain in the circulation for a longer time, allowing for a “thinning” of the pills and therefore a progressive abandonment, ed.),” says Sava .

Withdrawal symptoms

The sudden interruption can in fact give symptoms of withdrawal as insomnia often associated with nightmares, severe anxiety up to panic attacks, muscle tension: a kind of “rebound”, with the very appearance of the symptoms for which these drugs are usually taken. Suddenly removing the inhibitory effect of benzodiazepines on the brain, to which we had become accustomed after months of therapy, in fact leads to an increase in the excitability of the nervous system, as if a brake were missing: then over time it returns balance, thanks to the recovery of the functioning of the receptors on which these anxiolytics act, but the symptoms of a sudden stop can be very unpleasant. Furthermore, the drugs active on the central nervous system are those for which the suspension of the therapy must be carried out with greater attention, under the guidance of the doctor: a recent study by Mireille Rizkalla of the Department of Clinical Integration of the Midwestern University of Chicago, for example, has reported that many patients may experience a sort of antidepressant discontinuation syndrome with disturbances such as insomnia, headache, sensory and balance alterations, flu-like symptoms. To avoid them, it is advisable to manage the abandonment of therapy with the doctor, perhaps by associating the progressive reduction of dosages with a phase of greater non-pharmacological support with psychotherapy.

Communicate with your doctor

“Abrupt interruptions, especially in psychiatric pathologies, can lead to relapses and should be avoided”, observes the pharmacologist of the University of Catania Philip Dragon. «In general, any suspension of treatment must be agreed with the doctor, who must understand the reasons why the patient would like to interrupt: is he still sick because the therapy is not correct? Or is he fine and therefore sees no reason to continue? Depending on the case, it may be appropriate to change medication or increase patient awareness of the need to continue treatment even if there are no longer any obvious discomforts. The alliance with the doctor is always essential to avoid therapeutic errors of all kinds”.