Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAn Overview of TachyphylaxisHow Is Tachyphylaxis Diagnosed?What Causes Tachyphylaxis?Types of TachyphylaxisWhat to Do If You Develop TachyphylaxisTachyphylaxis TreatmentCan You Prevent Tachyphylaxis?
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
An Overview of Tachyphylaxis
How Is Tachyphylaxis Diagnosed?
What Causes Tachyphylaxis?
Types of Tachyphylaxis
What to Do If You Develop Tachyphylaxis
Tachyphylaxis Treatment
Can You Prevent Tachyphylaxis?
Close
Tachyphylaxis occurs when you have had continuous exposure to a drug, causing it to become ineffective for your body. Essentially, your body develops a rapid tolerance to the drug and no longer produces the same response as before.
At a GlanceTachyphylaxis is a condition that occurs when a drug suddenly becomes ineffective. This can happen with any medication and to any person. It’s something that can happen with a variety of medications, including those used to treat mental health conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder.If you experience tachyphylaxis, you’re doctor may recommend changing your dose, temporarily stopping your medication, or switching to a different type of medication. Talk to your doctor if you feel like your medication isn’t working as well as it used to. Just be sure that you don’t stop or change your medication without talking to your doctor first.
At a Glance
Tachyphylaxis is a condition that occurs when a drug suddenly becomes ineffective. This can happen with any medication and to any person. It’s something that can happen with a variety of medications, including those used to treat mental health conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder.If you experience tachyphylaxis, you’re doctor may recommend changing your dose, temporarily stopping your medication, or switching to a different type of medication. Talk to your doctor if you feel like your medication isn’t working as well as it used to. Just be sure that you don’t stop or change your medication without talking to your doctor first.
Tachyphylaxis is a condition that occurs when a drug suddenly becomes ineffective. This can happen with any medication and to any person. It’s something that can happen with a variety of medications, including those used to treat mental health conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder.
If you experience tachyphylaxis, you’re doctor may recommend changing your dose, temporarily stopping your medication, or switching to a different type of medication. Talk to your doctor if you feel like your medication isn’t working as well as it used to. Just be sure that you don’t stop or change your medication without talking to your doctor first.
Tachyphylaxis tends to develop quickly over a short period. It occurs when a person’s response to repeated doses of a medication rapidly decreases over a short period. The condition is also known asacute drug desensitizationand can occur with any drug.
The term tachyphylaxis stems from the Greek “tachy” meaning swift and “phylaxis” meaning guarding/protection.
One of the first indications of tachyphylaxis is the return or worsening of your condition’s symptoms. When your body stops responding to a medication, you are most likely to start experiencing a recurrence of your condition’s symptoms.
In antidepressant tachyphylaxis, for example, a person’s treatment response would suddenly disappear, and their depressive symptoms would return despite being on a maintenance dose of the medication.
Non-Medication Adherence
A possible explanation for tachyphylaxis is that a person has stopped taking their medication. Your doctor will first identify if this is the cause of the condition before starting you on a new round of medication or an adjusted dosage of your old medication.
This is known asnon-medication adherenceand isn’t true tachyphylaxis.
Inadequate Dosing
Inadequate dosing at the start of medication might also cause a person to think they have tachyphylaxis. If you weren’t started with an adequate dosage to treat the symptoms of your condition, you are most likely to stop responding to the treatment before your condition is fully treated or managed.
To rectify this, your doctor might adjust your dosage and see if you start to respond to the medication. If you don’t, then you might have tachyphylaxis.
Changes in Disorder Symptoms
Treatment of certain conditions might also make it difficult to identify tachyphylaxis. For example, when treating bipolar disorder a person with the condition might appear to have stopped responding to treatment while in reality, they are onlygoing through different stages of the disorder, which tend to range in severity.
What Is Bipolar Disorder?
In several cases, a person might develop tachyphylaxis to medication for no apparent reason; however, there are some factors that could either cause or increase the likelihood of tachyphylaxis occurring:
Tachyphylaxis can occur when using any type of medication. However, some of the most common types of tachyphylaxis include:
Antidepressant Tachyphylaxis
When a person who is on antidepressants suddenly loses the effectiveness of the drug even though they have been on the same drug and dosage, it’s called antidepressant tachyphylaxis.As many as 33% of people takingantidepressantsmay experience this type of tachyphylaxis.
This form of the condition was first noticed in the 1980s among people who were onmonoamine oxidase inhibitors(MAOIs). Doctors and researchers also observed antidepressant tachyphylaxis following the introduction ofselective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRIs).
Unfortunately, one of the ripple effects of this condition is that it may also cause you to become unresponsive to other depression medications. In other words, if one antidepressant stops working because of antidepressant tachyphylaxis, then other antidepressants may also prove ineffective.
Some research shows that people who experience antidepressant tachyphylaxis might be less responsive to subsequent treatment for their depression, even when using other types of antidepressants.
This can make depression more challenging to treat. In such cases, your doctor or therapist may recommend other treatments for depression such as psychotherapy (including cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy),ketamine infusion therapy, orrepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).
Lifestyle changes such as getting enough sleep, engaging in regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, and managing stress effectively can also be helpful.
Ocular Allergy Medications
Some of the most common ocular problems people experience include itching, swelling redness, and tearing up. When this occurs you are most likely to go to your local pharmacy and get some over-the-counter medication such as corticosteroids and decongestant drops. However, using over-the-counter ocular medication has been commonly linked to tachyphylaxis.
Medication typically used to treat glaucoma and conjunctivitis are most commonly subject to tachyphylaxis.
It is typically recommended for people to discontinue the use of over-the-counter ocular treatments if they begin to experience tachyphylaxis. You might experience a worsening of your side effects initially but this is only temporary.
For patients with glaucoma doctors typically recommend a reduction of the frequency of their medication.
If you begin to experience symptoms of tachyphylaxis to a medication don’t discontinue the medication. You also shouldn’t increase or decrease the dosage you are taking without speaking to your doctor.
Your doctor will make an assessment of your condition and the symptoms you are experiencing before deciding on the next steps you should take. This could include switching the medication, adding on another treatment option, increasing or decreasing your dosage.
How Is Tachyphylaxis Treated?
In many cases, tachyphylaxis occurs simply because a person has been given either too little a dose for their specific needs or hasn’t been on the medication for long enough to see improvements.
Each person is unique and there’s no single way to treat conditions like depression and bipolar disorder. Treatment plans must be tailored to each individual’s specific needs. Even when this is done, it’s still possible for tachyphylaxis to occur.
Time is relative when it comes to treating conditions. While some research says that you can expect to start seeing improvements six weeks after starting antidepressants, this isn’t always the case.
There’s no specific treatment for tachyphylaxis. In most cases, treatment typically consists of increasing the dosage of the medication.
Here are some other treatment options that might be considered:
Decreasing the Dose
Although it might seem counterintuitive, decreasing the dosage of the medication, might help with tachyphyalxis.
Psychotropic medications which are mostly linked to tachyphylaxis and some drug combinations have been known to sometimes cause side effects which may make it seem like a condition is worsening or not getting any better.
Changing the Type of Medication
Changing the type of medication a person is on might help. For instance, with antidepressant tachyphylaxis, switching from MAOIs to SSRIs, which are two different classes of antidepressants that work in different ways to alleviate depression symptoms, might help.
Simply switching from one type of medication to another in the same class of drugs might not work because the mechanism of action, in drugs that belong to the same class, remain the same.
Combination Treatment
Sometimes one type of medication might not be adequate in effectively treating the symptoms of a condition. For instance, many people living with major depression are given more than one type of medication to treat symptoms and still maintain responsiveness to the antidepressant.
There’s no clear consensus on what might be helpful in terms of preventing tachyphylaxis. Some experts believe that taking a drug holiday or stopping the medication for a period of time, may help prevent or treat sudden onset drug ineffectiveness. However, they note that this may require several weeks to be effective, which is not always feasible for some people.
It is also important to note that you should never stop taking your medication without talking to your doctor first. If your doctor recommends trying a drug holiday, you’ll also need to discuss specific plans for managing your condition while not taking your medication.
Negative Side Effects of Antidepressants
4 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Skaff R.Tachyphylaxis and desensitization depression.CNS Spectr. 2021;26(3):191-192. doi:10.1017/S1092852919001445Targum SD.Identification and treatment of antidepressant tachyphylaxis.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2014;11(3-4):24-28.Katz G.Tachyphylaxis/ tolerance to antidepressive medications: a review.Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 2011;48(2):129-135.Review of Ophthalmology.The Truth about Tachyphylaxis.
4 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Skaff R.Tachyphylaxis and desensitization depression.CNS Spectr. 2021;26(3):191-192. doi:10.1017/S1092852919001445Targum SD.Identification and treatment of antidepressant tachyphylaxis.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2014;11(3-4):24-28.Katz G.Tachyphylaxis/ tolerance to antidepressive medications: a review.Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 2011;48(2):129-135.Review of Ophthalmology.The Truth about Tachyphylaxis.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Skaff R.Tachyphylaxis and desensitization depression.CNS Spectr. 2021;26(3):191-192. doi:10.1017/S1092852919001445Targum SD.Identification and treatment of antidepressant tachyphylaxis.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2014;11(3-4):24-28.Katz G.Tachyphylaxis/ tolerance to antidepressive medications: a review.Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 2011;48(2):129-135.Review of Ophthalmology.The Truth about Tachyphylaxis.
Skaff R.Tachyphylaxis and desensitization depression.CNS Spectr. 2021;26(3):191-192. doi:10.1017/S1092852919001445
Targum SD.Identification and treatment of antidepressant tachyphylaxis.Innov Clin Neurosci. 2014;11(3-4):24-28.
Katz G.Tachyphylaxis/ tolerance to antidepressive medications: a review.Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 2011;48(2):129-135.
Review of Ophthalmology.The Truth about Tachyphylaxis.
Meet Our Review Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
What is your feedback?
