Depression Learning

Drug Holiday and Depression Medication

People suffering from a depressive disorder are often using medication daily and this medication takes it told on the body over time. A drug holiday is a period of time when a doctor will take the depressed person off of drugs in order to restore normal functioning without the aid of depression drugs. It is important here to note that not only depression medication might require a drug holiday. Any psychiatric drug may require a drug holiday as well. Many mental illness patients are having to use a drug cocktail, that means a combination of drugs and all of these chemicals do change the natural biochemical brain make up.

The intention of taking depression medication or any other kind of medication is to restore the chemical imbalance in the brain in the first place, but sometimes with extended use of these drugs, the body habituates to the drugs, what that means is that the body gets used to the drugs and they are no longer effective. This is when a drug holiday is often necessary to clean out the system.

In reference for SSRI’s, which are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, they are the depression medication of choice for fighting depression. chemical called a neurotransmitter. Serotonin is the brain chemical responsible for our moods. Serotonin is what is called a neurotransmitter. People who are depressed have lower levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin travels down the neuron and rests in an area called a synapse, which is a gap between one neuron and the receptor, which is the next neuron to receive the brain chemical. What happens is that it is believed that the serotonin does not stay long enough in the synapse of a depressed individual to have the normal effect on the brain that it should have. and it goes back up the neuron way too quickly. Depression drugs such as Prozac are designed to stay in the synapse long enough to be affective.

As stated previously the normal functioning of a neurotransmitter is to travel from one neuron to the next one. When psychiatric drugs are introduced into the brain, there must be receptors or neurons to receive them. The more depression drugs or other psychiatric drugs are introduced to the brain, the more the receptors are created. The effect of all these receptors created in the brain can be the same as being addicted to the drugs, especially when people with depression disorder have other mentally illnesses such as schizophrenia and are on a heavy drug cocktail. The brain essentially wants more and more of the drugs, to the point that some of the drugs for the various mental illnesses may become addictive while others are no longer affective.

Doctors and psychiatrists will determine which drugs need to be halted for a period, or they may decide that all drugs should be suspended for a while. When the patient goes on a drug holiday, the added receptors shrink and disappear Usually a drug holiday is not very long because the patient really needs the medication, and sudden withdrawal affects can have devastating results for the psychiatric patient. Therefore it is important to go on a drug holiday under the supervision of a trained professional and never simply quit using psychiatric drugs that you have been prescribed on your own. A clinical drug holiday does not always happen abruptly most of the time the doctor will reduce the dosage and monitor the side affects. Slow withdrawal is recommended in order to avoid serious side affects such as sleep disturbances, cognitive impairment and of course an increase in depression symptoms. Some depressed patients even report electric shock like symptoms.

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