How can I quit taking my anti-depressants?
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Q. How can I quit taking my anti-depressants?

Answered by
Dr. Ashok Kumar
and medically reviewed by iCliniq medical review team.
This is a premium question & answer published on Jun 23, 2018 and last reviewed on: Sep 07, 2023

Hello doctor,

I want to quit taking my anti-depressants. Can you help me to slowly reduce doses? I am taking one Valkem of 500 and Flunil 20 mg in morning and one Valkem OD 500, Soltus 100 mg, Rivotril 0.5 mg at night.

#

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understand your concerns about the medications. From the available details, there is a possibility that you suffered from either resistant depression or bipolar depression as some of the medications prescribed to you are often used in these conditions. I mean to say that you are taking an antidepressant (Fluoxetine), mood stabilizer (Valkem-Divalproex sodium), antipsychotics (Amisant-Amisulpride) and sleeping pills (Rivotril). In my opinion, most individuals with resistant or bipolar depression need long-term treatment and any attempt to withdraw medication without supervision can bring the depression back to your life. In case you are really concerned about the medications, I think Rivotril can be tried to reduce. For this purpose start taking three-fourths of Rivotril and decrease it to the half tablet after one week. Then after this make it one fourth for another week and then stop it. In this process, you will need three weeks to four weeks to stop this. Once this is done revert back to me after three to four weeks.


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