Quality Laboratory Equipment

Without the Medical Price Tag

If You Need Information On Doctor Biological Then This is Where You Want to Be

What are the biological reasons behind anti-depressant withdrawal?

I heard people get "brain zaps", muscle spasms, headaches and various other neurological symptoms. When I asked my doctor about stopping Lexapro, she said there is no such thing. If people have symptoms when they stop taking these medications, it's all psychosomatic. Is this true?

"If people have symptoms when they stop taking these medications, it's all psychosomatic. Is this true?" - No.

Although many people have been told it is 'all in their mind'. e.g. taking one common possible symptom, headaches, and narrowing it down to those who have experienced severe withdrawal headaches, people have had medical experiences ranging from: emergency hospital admissions & brain scans; down to dismissed as 'psychosomatic' and left to crawl along the floor because they cannot stand up for the pain.

Antidepressant withdrawal is long established, there's been a book written about it, drawing on the scientific evidence - including what happened to those on the drug trials - and discussing the 'whys' and the 'hows'. The title of this is 'The Antidepressant Solution' by Dr Joseph Glenmullen. There have been papers and pamphlets written about withdrawal, some drawing together considered/best approaches for weaning. e.g. Healy, Icarus Project.

The pharmaceutical companies have been aware of this for many years, and marketed the phenomenon as "discontinuation" so as to avoid the ramifications of the word 'withdrawal. In some countries, the following has been stated... "The term 'withdrawal reactions' should be used, not 'discontinuation reactions' as has been proposed by some marketing authorisation holders.", "...confirming that persistent misdescription of drug "withdrawal symptoms" as discontinuation symptoms" was inconsistent with both UK and European regulatory requirements."

The phenomenon is clear, the range of symptoms wide but consistent, usually appearing as a classic mix of psychiatric (e.g. anxiety, depression, irritability) AND physical (e.g. zaps, headaches, dizziness, 'flu', digestive issues) symptoms.

You also see this dual withdrawal presentation in people who were not placed on the medication for any psychiatric issue (e.g. testicular cyst, high Blood Pressure, migraines) - they too can manifest the psychiatric as well as the physical withdrawal symptoms. And, of course, the same things happened to the healthy volunteers on the drug trials: e.g. "...does not seem able to account for the depression and anxiety outlined by Kramer et al for instance, that in fact are the commonest symptoms occurring after discontinuation of SSRIs by healthy volunteers." and "It can be noted at this point, that company healthy volunteer work on the SSRI drugs demonstrates a consistent 50% rate of jaw dystonias and dyskinesias during early weeks of exposure, and a series of disturbances on withdrawal that can generically be described as neurological and in many instances include clear dyskinesias and dystonias. Such features were also reported from very early on following Seroxat [Paxil] withdrawal." (Healy paper, linked below)

Not everyone will experience withdrawal, but many will in some form or another e.g. Cold turkey situation - "In studies involving hundreds of patients, 66% of people stopping Paxil, 60% of people stopping Zoloft, and 78% of people stopping Effexor have withdrawal reactions" (ref Glenmullen's book). Lexapro is an SSRI antidepressant, as are Zoloft and Paxil.

The subject is huge, a range of references is available. People's individual experiences e.g. as given in their umpteen thousands on the internet, are compelling and cohesive - yet, still, one fact spills out, over and over - the reactions of their physicians, who may often appear academically unaware of the situation, its presentation, and progression ('Coming Off' link may explain 'why')

The 'brain zaps' are classic SSRI withdrawal, and with one possible exception, seem confined to this situation. The source of this effect seems as yet unclear. Not everyone gets them though! Some people have a mild withdrawal experience. Some people exhibit no obvious withdrawal at all. Look up 'brain zaps' on the Wiki, for some background info.

For the biological reasons behind withdrawal have a read of Glenmullen's book, then if you wish to research further, perhaps have a closer look at 'down regulation' , levels of hormone disruption and effects, pituitary effects, dopamine/serotonin connection, connection between serotonin and the digestive system, SSRIs and dystonias/dyskinesias, SSRIs and cardiac symptoms...

Tags: doctor, doctor biological clock, doctor biological engineering, doctor biological psychiatry, doctor biological sciences, health, medical, medicine, tooth

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 25th, 2010 at 3:01 am and is filed under lab equipment pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.