Stop niet te snel, dan lukt het wél

• Polypharmacy may result in interactions and side effects that lead to morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is important to evaluate on a regular basis the possibility to stop medication.
• Sometimes it is necessary to temporarily discontinue certain medication, for example when a patient is unable to swallow or suffers from a delirium.
• Not all drugs can be stopped abruptly, since this can result in a rebound-effect or withdrawal symptoms
• Especially drugs that act on the central nervous system (e.g. psychotropic drugs, dopaminergic drugs, opioids) are known to cause (severe) withdrawal symptoms when stopped abruptly
• In addition, beta-blockers, corticosteroids and proton-pump inhibitors cause symptoms when stopped without tapering.
• Gradually tapering off these medicines is needed, sometimes under guidance from a specialist.
• Moreover, it is important to realize that stopping medication can also introduce interactions.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.