Everybody forgets to take medicine every now and then, and for most individuals, lacking an occasional antidepressant dose is okay, says Jared Harp, DO, a psychiatrist on the Heart for Grownup Behavioral Well being at Cleveland Clinic.
Right here’s what our specialists suggest when you miss a single dose of your antidepressant:
- Take it as quickly as you bear in mind if it’s not virtually time for the following dose.
- In case you bear in mind too near your subsequent dose, skip the missed dose and get again on schedule with the following one.
- Don’t double-up in your subsequent dose.
- Name your pharmacist or healthcare supplier when you’re undecided what to do, or in case you have different questions.
“In case you understand that you just missed your dose quickly after you’ll usually take it, you’ll be able to take it at the moment so long as you aren’t virtually due to your subsequent dose,” says Dr. Harp. If it’s virtually time to your subsequent dose, then you’ll be able to skip the missed dose and take the following one on the regular time, he says.
Once you skip a dose, you might really feel tempted to take two to make up for the one you missed, however you shouldn’t try this, says Sharon Batista, MD, a psychiatrist and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York Metropolis.
“Doubling up on doses is usually not advisable, as this will improve the danger of uncomfortable side effects,” she says. That is true for many antidepressants, together with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), says Dr. Batista.
As a result of totally different antidepressants keep within the physique for various quantities of time, and other people take them at totally different dosages on totally different schedules, there’s no hard-and-fast rule for what number of hours is “too shut” to your subsequent dose. As a result of these variations, specialists advise reaching out to your physician or a pharmacist for assist whenever you’re undecided what to do.
“I might encourage folks to achieve out to both their pharmacy or prescribing supplier ought to they’ve any questions on what to do after lacking a dose of their antidepressant,” says Malika Closson, MD, a psychiatrist and the proprietor of Closson Psychiatric Consultants in Washington, DC.
