My Sister Has Been Visiting A Shrink For The Last

Posted on Sat, 13 Oct 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 Answered on

Last reviewed on

Question : my sister has been visiting a shrink for the last year..she is 35 and she was diagnosed with mild depression..he prescribed Cipralex for her..she took it for 6 months..1 pill a day..20 mg.. she stopped seeing that shrink for a couple of reasons now she wishes to stop taking the pills without suffering withdrawal symptoms can you please suggest a way or a plan for her to do so?

Answered by Dr. Dr.Raju.A.T (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Tapering dose reduction

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for your query.

Sorry for the delay in my response,

Yes, SSRIs are not to be stopped cold turkey. The dosage has to be tapered before it is completely stopped.

I suggest her to take the Cipralex 20mg half a tab per day for 2 weeks and then stop.

This slow and tapered reduction will not leave any withdrawal symptoms.

Hope, I answered your query.

Wish you good health.

Regards,

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar