Withdrawal reactions — rebound tachycardia after a beta-blocker, discontinuation symptoms after an SSRI, rebound hypertension after clonidine, adrenal insufficiency after corticosteroids — are adverse drug reactions too, but they are rarely reported because standard forms are built around starting a drug. When you deprescribe, plan the taper, tell the patient what symptoms to expect, and if a withdrawal reaction occurs, report it to your national pharmacovigilance programme (in India, the PvPI) and note the drug, dose, taper speed and timing. That information is how safer tapering schedules get built.
- Taper drugs with known withdrawal syndromes rather than stopping abruptly.
- Warn patients which symptoms to expect and when to seek help.
- Record the taper schedule and any withdrawal symptoms in the notes.
- Report withdrawal reactions to the pharmacovigilance programme like any other adverse reaction.
Why it matters
Safer deprescribing depends on evidence about stopping that is currently not being collected.
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