World Tapering Day 2023
SUPPORT our PETITION
for
LOW DOSAGE Tapering Medication
and
BETTER Tapering Guidelines Worldwide
On November 4, 2023, World Tapering Org will be launching a worldwide petition. We will be petitioning for new, more personalised tapering guidelines and easy access to low dosage tapering medication for people tapering psychotropic drugs.
Tapering medication should be made available
for free or at very low cost.
Don't put up,
Don't shut up!
Social Media Campaign
With your help, we will be launching a big social media campaign on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram and possibly on TikTok to support the petition!
You will be invited to share and/or contribute with your own message/statement. At the moment, the campaign is a work in progress!
Sign up for the WTD newsletter and we’ll keep you posted on how you can participate.
WHY DO WE NEED THIS PETITION?
Millions of people worldwide use psychotropic medication such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication, anticonvulsants, stimulants, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers. Coming off this type of medication needs to be done very slowly and carefully, as withdrawal symptoms can be brutal.
However, most medication is only available in dosages that are too large for reducing the dose gradually, making a slow taper almost impossible.
This makes withdrawal needlessly difficult and uncomfortable, often resulting in unnecessary suffering.
After one or two failed attempts, many people become so scared that they abandon the idea of withdrawing completely and continue on their meds for years.
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A taper gone wrong may cause (sometimes irreversible) damage to a person’s physical and mental health. While it is true that some people taper successfully, that does not go for everybody. A taper gone wrong can result in problems that are so excruciating that sometimes people resort to taking their own life.
The sad truth is that neither the political or medical establishment, nor the pharmaceutical industry is interested in taking or sharing responsibility for this problem. This attitude has been holding off a real solution for years and years, and will continue to do so for years to come.
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Meanwhile, volunteers in online support groups work tirelessly to repair the damage caused by this irresponsable, cynical, careless attitude.
Solutions are available, but the motivation to put them to use is sorely lacking. Why? It's all about money. Solutions cost money and leaving things as they are is cheap. Well, cheap...? It's the patients that pay the price.
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WORLD TAPERING DAY is about you
as a PATIENT
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World Tapering Day is about making the tapering of psychotropic meds easier and more humane.
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World Tapering Day is about making medication for tapering slowly available to everybody.
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World Tapering Day is about the stigma attached to being unable to stop taking antidepressants, sleeping pills or other dependence forming psychotropic drugs.
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WTD is about most doctors and psychiatrists not knowing how to help their patients taper psychotropic drugs safely.
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WTD is about not being warned by your doctor of the difficulties that might arise when you try to come off these drugs.
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World Tapering Day is about a bad situation that has been going on for decades. This situation relies for a great deal on patients being silent.
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WORLD TAPERING DAY is about you
as a PRESCRIBER
Medical professionals see the problems that come with trying to stop psychotropic drugs every day.
To work towards change, we need doctors and prescribers, researchers and organisations that are willing to speak out about this!
Patients need easy access to a wide range of low doses and liquid preparations to make tapering psychotropic medication easier. This will help them to taper more slowly and safely. Many doctors are aware of this.
If you are a doctor or a prescriber and you support the need for change, we invite you to join us in speaking out and sign the petition.
WORLD TAPERING DAY is about
EVERYBODY
The problems surrounding the tapering of psych meds affect millions and millions of people worldwide. Approximately one in four people in Western countries uses antidepressants, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers, anti-epileptics or antipsychotic drugs.
But what happens when they want to come off these drugs? Low dosage medication for tapering is often unavailable or too expensive. Many people resort to chopping or filing their tablets to create the proper dosage themselves. Some have to do this for years before they reach zero.
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Alternatives exist. But the system that introduced this medication to the market, approved it for prescription and prescribed it to approx. 1000 million people worldwide refuses to make these alternatives available.
View all WORLD TAPERING DAY 2022 WEBINARS
Last year, World Tapering Day was a three day marathon of webinars. Medical professionals, researchers and people with lived experience from various parts of the world gave their time, energy and support to create a total of 12 webinars. They helped make the first World Tapering Day a big succes.
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Read more about World Tapering Day 2022 and view the webinars.
