When your psychiatrist prescribes a medication, this is a form of treatment for a particular condition. For the treatment to be effective it’s important to follow the directions and continue the treatment until your doctor tells you it’s time to stop. It’s also important not to abuse alcohol or drugs when taking psychotropic medications as they tend to reduce, or inhibit, the medication from working.
What are the Risks of Medication Non-Compliance?
One of the biggest reasons for medication non-compliance is simply forgetting to take the medication. For many people, out of sight is out of mind. It can be helpful to build taking your medication into your routine. This could be keeping your medication in your bathroom by your toothbrush, by your car keys, or near the coffee maker to help ensure seeing them and remembering to take them.
There are a number of risks with medication non-compliance. Some medications like antidepressants build up in the bloodstream over 3-5 weeks to get into the therapeutic range. Missing days of medication can cause you to fall out of the therapeutic range or keep you from ever getting into that range. Treatment won’t be effective if you are not in the therapeutic range. Some assume the medication is not working and end up giving up on the medication which might actually have been effective if taken properly. For other medications like pain medication or some anti-anxiety medications called Benzodiazepines, missing days may put you at risk of withdrawals symptoms when stopped abruptly which can be quite uncomfortable and make symptoms worse. In other cases, stopping abruptly can cause symptoms to rebound. Things like depression and anxiety can quickly get worse. In still other situations stopping abruptly or not complying with medications can be quite risky or dangerous. Bipolar medication that is stopped could put someone into a manic state. Schizophrenia medication could result in delusions and hallucinations returning which may require hospitalization.
Can I Ever Get Off My Medications?
Being able to get off medications depends on the medication and the condition being treated. More serious conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar tend to be lifelong medications in order to keep people stable. Stopping those may be quite inadvisable. Other conditions like ADHD are easier to stop but the person may need to be prepared to deal with the return of symptoms. Common things like depression and anxiety are more likely to get off of medications as these conditions tend to be more transient in nature. That said, it is important to look at a host of factors in making that decision. Generally, if symptoms have been absent for 5-6 months and there are no foreseeable major life stressors on the horizon, this may a very good time to stop medication. Keep in mind that this is still best done with your psychiatrist who can help you wean and titrate down appropriately, so you don’t get rebound symptoms.
If you would like to meet with a doctor about medication questions, feel free to contact IPC so you can schedule an appointment with one of our psychiatrists or psychiatric nurse practitioners. Please call us now at 763-416-4167, or request an appointment on our website: WWW.IPC-MN.COM so we can sit down with you and complete a thorough assessment and help you develop a plan of action that will work for you. Life is too short to be unhappy. Find the peace of mind you deserve.
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