Posted by psychobot5000 on August 17, 2005, at 2:42:29
In reply to Re: question for Bimini » bimini, posted by Sarah T. on August 15, 2005, at 21:10:16
> Hi Bimini,
>
> Why does your doctor discourage drug holidays?
>
> S.This is my understanding of why drug-holidays are thought by many doctors and researchers to be bad. I emphasize that I am not a doctor myself, and am only passing on the information from someone who is, as best I understand it.
Medications are thought to cause stress on the body--your liver and kidneys that process them, and the rest of the body also because it must react to the effects of the drug and maintain equilibrium when medications change the balance of neurochemicals in your body, or whatever other effects they have.
It is thought to be easy to minimize these stresses on your body if dosing is consistent. Your body can thus plan for some extra release of dopamine or whatever, starting at X o'clock every day. If you take holidays, your body's planning is thrown off, creating new stress.Thus, it is thought to be best for your health if you follow the same dosing regimen every day, except when changing doses. It's worth noting that some meds liked birth-control pills have their efficacy much reduced if they are not taken consistently.
poster:psychobot5000
thread:541402
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050816/msgs/542812.html