People who are withdrawing from alcohol or drug addiction?
go into treatment centers..sometimes for months. Yet people who are withdrawing from medications for depression and/or anxiety are expected to go on with their normal lives, working, functioning as if everything was normal. When people withdraw from anti-depressants, they experience horrible withdrawal symptoms, often for months. Shouldn’t they also be admitted to a treatment center or hospital until they can function normally?
If people admit themselves to the hospital without a referral from their doctor, they could be in jeopardy of losing their job. It should be routine to offer a patient a referral to a hospital or rehab center when withdrawing from anti-depressants.
Asked by:Daisy
p.h posted: 27 Jul at 6:05 pm
yes i agree
carpediemmaster posted: 29 Jul at 3:18 pm
If they choose to
k-ray posted: 02 Aug at 12:59 am
That is a really good point!!!
butterfliesRfree posted: 04 Aug at 6:34 pm
The doctor should be weaning you off of a prescribed medication. Years ago I was on Xanax for panic disorder but I DID have to go into get detoxed from it…..
deeeeemc posted: 07 Aug at 10:19 am
I AGREE TOTALLY LOVE!
cz73kz posted: 08 Aug at 1:13 am
Anyone can go into rehab to help get over any addiction if they need to.
Elz =] posted: 10 Aug at 8:12 pm
No because if your depressed, you can’t take something to make you even worse. Like if you had a drug problem and you weren’t in a rehab you could go get drugs. Chances are if your trapped in a place with no family or no friends it’s not going to help any depression anyway and will just make it worse.
Patti posted: 14 Aug at 4:05 am
They certainly could check themselves into a hospital if their symptoms were bad enough. Also any responsible doctor taking anyone off of meds for any reason would wean them off slowly.
Claire S posted: 14 Aug at 7:55 am
You can check into a detox for withdrawing from anything…
What takes months is the treatment afterward – not the actual withdrawl. There are some hospitals that offer rapid detox, which can take as little as a full 24 hours…
If you need to detox, there are definitly places you can go.
Sunshine posted: 16 Aug at 11:32 am
seek and you will receive. tell your doc about this. most of them are high on pharmaceutical kickbacks that they dont care so u need to be persistent.
Dude? Duuuude posted: 17 Aug at 11:27 am
yes they should…..you know you can commit yourself…you don’t need a doctor’s approval. it’s not gonna cost you any less money whether a doctor committ’s you or if you committ yourself.
Katie M posted: 18 Aug at 3:28 am
there are treatment centers for people with those types of problems. i have friends who have been in them. there are also all types of support groups if you look hard enough.
CRYSTAL S posted: 20 Aug at 5:41 pm
You just don’t hear of it as much as alcohol & drug addiction but people do get treatment for prescription drug addiction.
ashj_1218 posted: 23 Aug at 10:11 pm
If they were under a doctor’s care and were weaning down as they should be, there should not be a problem. It is called titrating down. And you should never go cold turkey off your Rx meds. So, no. We have enough issues with treatment center’s as it is, I think that more people in them would just be less effective (as being a counselor or nurse in one of those places is not exactly high on the ‘want to do’ list).
fontaine posted: 26 Aug at 3:04 pm
Heck yes, the problem is that Doctors say that depression meds aren’t addictive…HAHA…I tried to come off effexor and felt like jumping out of the frickin window.. I know some tricks when coming off of AD’s.. Benedryl helps tremendously when tapering off…
ding-a-ling posted: 27 Aug at 10:29 pm
I would be afraid to get off my anti depressents.My several operations have put me into a downward sprial & the anti depressents are the only thing that has helped & i use to tell people ther was no such thing as depression———now i know i was wrong
Luke posted: 30 Aug at 5:08 am
yes they should because anything that makes normal-functioning impossible should require a rehabilitation, or a place where you can stay until you feel normal enough to function.
The reason why alcohol and drug addiction (illegal drugs) get the upper hand for better treatment is because that’s been studied MUCH longer, and has been proven to cause physical and mental addiction and programs have been financed into existance etc,
Anti depressant/anti anxiety, other meds, are newer and they’re not considered as “dangerous” especially if they’re tapered down, or taken under advice, and generally you’re supposed to handle withdrawals and what not from that with your own therapist and psychiatrist, and go visit them on a regular basis and if they feel you’re that incapable of a normal life, they would have the resources available.
However, what you CAN do is,
you can ALWAYS go to the ER, whenever you feel like you’re a danger to yourself, or others, or just cannot function normally, because they do have options and people you can talk to right then and there, who will DEFINITELY check up on your current state mental and physical and advise you what to do.
It’s your health, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a heart attack or anti-depressant withdrawal, it’s not silly, and you are encouraged to get help.
I’ve done that.
I’ve been on ativan, valium, xanax, paxil, effexor, lithium, topamax lexapro, my god so many things.
Most people have friends/family that help them, but you definitely cannot do it all alone sometimes. It’s very hard.
If all else fails, go to the ER, seems extreme but,
you’ll get the help right away.
You really will.
SHEFFERGIRLS posted: 31 Aug at 5:48 am
YES I AGREE BUT I GUESS THE PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF THIS WITHDRAWAL IS NOT AS SEVERE AS DRUG AND ALCH WITHDRAWAL ACCORDING TO THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY IVE GONE THROUGH WITHDRAWAL FROM ANTI DEPR AND I CAN HONESTLY SAY WHILE NOT PLEASANT ITS WAS NOT LIKE THAT OF DRUG ADDICTS AND IVE SEEN BOTH WORLDS ALCH IS THE WORST THEY SAY YOU SEE YOUR DEMONS LIKE THE ONES COMIN STRAIGHT FROM HELL. I THREW UP A COUPLE OF TIMES AND HAD DEMENTIA AND OTHER MINOR SYMPTOMS
Francesca M posted: 02 Sep at 7:38 pm
Well that depends on their doctor. Most likely if they are on anti-depressants then they must be under doctors care and the doctor should klnow whats best for the patient!!! If the person feels they need treatment then they would have to admitt themselves to getting help.
Peace a pie posted: 03 Sep at 9:43 pm
Doctors are supposed to take people off their anti anxiety or antidepressant medications very gradually to lessen the chance of withdrawal. The patient should be closely be monitored by his or her health care provider while on the meds, when weaning off them, and when totally off them. A doctor is not doing his or her job if this monitoring is discontinued too soon.
If the health care provider sees the patient enough, he or she would know that the patient is having withdrawal problems, and should do something to remedy that situation. Rehab might be indicated for some patients, and the doctor should see that they get that.
Many people in detox and rehabs are in for taking anti anxiety meds such as Xanax or Valium – some even for pain pills. Many of those abused those substances rather than taking them as prescribed, but some are just as bad off if they took them as prescribed. You have made an excellent point and I hope it is read by people in the mental health field.