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Come off antidepressants and other mental health medications, and avoid dangerous withdrawal symptoms, by following these four steps.
Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome (BZD withdrawal) is the cluster of signs and symptoms that may emerge when a person who has been taking benzodiazepines as prescribed develops a physical dependence on them and then reduces the dose or stops taking them without a safe taper schedule.
A gradual taper is usual clinical course in getting people off of benzodiazepines, but, even with gradual reduction, a large proportion of people fail to stop taking benzodiazepines. The elderly are particularly sensitive to the adverse effects of hypnotic medications.
In medicine, tapering is the practice of gradually reducing the dosage of a medication to reduce or discontinue it. Generally, tapering is done is to avoid or minimize withdrawal symptoms that arise from neurobiological adaptation to the drug.
Benzodiazepines, when introduced in 1961, were widely believed to be safe drugs but as the decades went by increased awareness of adverse effects connected to their long-term use became known. Recommendations for more restrictive medical guidelines followed.
With most benzodiazepines, noticeable effects usually wear off within a few hours. Nevertheless, as long as the drug is present it will exert subtle effects within the body. These effects may become apparent during continued use or may appear as withdrawal symptoms when dosage is reduced or the drug is stopped.
Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) is a hypothesized set of persistent impairments that occur after withdrawal from alcohol, [1] [2] opiates, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and other substances.
Cloniprazepam is a benzodiazepine derivative and a prodrug of clonazepam, 7-aminoclonazepam, and other metabolites. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Some of the minor metabolites include 3-hydroxyclonazepam and 6-hydroxyclonazepam , 3-hydroxycloniprazepam and ketocloniprazepam with ketone group formed where 3-hydroxy group was.