Withdrawal "advice"?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Morning Folks!

Terry, yes it is the GP notes, it talks about how to stop different anti d's when changing to other anti d's. But then further down it says
''fluoxetine
at 20mg per day - just stop
at 40 mg per day, reduce over four weeks'' .... I did ask you about it at the time as surely just stopping is wrong, so wrong. But then it's GP's notes (and I have a belting relationship with my GP) but they are jack of all trades master of none.

The only bit I could see was:

normally, gradually reduce the dose over 4 weeks (this is not necessary with fluoxetine). Reduce the dose over longer periods for drugs with a shorter half-life (for example, paroxetine and venlafaxine)

That's the NICE guidance bit.

I did just spot something interesting though:

Stopping antidepressant treatment
the timing of when to stop antidepressant treatment is discussed in menu item below (length of antidepressant treatment)
patients should be advised not to stop treatment suddenly or omit doses - patients should also be forewarned about possible symptoms that may occur when treatment is discontinued

Yeah, stopping altogether is bad. I know GP's do the stop dead method because they are told not to split pills so if the manufacturer doesn't make it, they are left to stick their necks out or not...so they probably won't. Definitely taper.

---------- Post added at 09:31 ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 ----------

"Just stop" eh? His GP said that Prozac has no withdrawal effects so all would be fine and dandy if he went cold turkey..

I think that answers your question. Any medical professional that says any antidepressant has no side effects...is deluded or incompetent.