Core Tip: For good luck, many patients with chronic illnesses, or those requiring long-term medication, stop their medication. Some patients also discontinue their medication because they feel well and have no symptoms. Experts say that during the Spring Festival, cases of acute emergencies caused by patients stopping their medication occur from time to time. Therefore, chronic patients must consult a doctor before reducing or stopping their medication.
College Student Stopped Medication and Attacked Family with a Knife
Mental illness is still considered disgraceful by many, so it is often hidden, and there is resistance to taking medication during the Spring Festival. A college student was hospitalized due to delusional symptoms and diagnosed with schizophrenia. The patient only took medication for two months. His parents saw that his symptoms had disappeared and, with the New Year approaching, felt it was inauspicious to continue taking the medication, so they did not urge him to take it. A week after stopping the medication, the child was actually chasing and attacking his parents with a knife at home. It turned out he had a relapse of his old illness, developing persecutory delusions, believing his family wanted to harm him, and thus attacked them with a knife.
Professor Gong Meien from the Department of Psychology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College stated that after the first episode of schizophrenia, medication must be taken for at least two years. Stopping medication on one's own is the easiest way for the illness to relapse. Once it recurs, the difficulty of treatment increases, and the duration of medication becomes longer. Because a second episode requires medication for more than five years, and a third episode requires lifelong medication.
Cardiovascular Patients
Stopping Medication Can Lead to Sudden Death
Every Spring Festival, there is an increase in patients with cerebral hemorrhage caused by high blood pressure and patients with acute myocardial infarction due to coronary heart disease, leading to fatal accidents. This is related to patients reducing or stopping their medication on their own without following medical advice during the festival. Coupled with factors like emotional excitement, excessive drinking and smoking, or staying up late watching shows during the holiday, the disease is more likely to be acutely triggered. Chief Physician Xiong Longgen from the Department of Cardiology stated that high blood pressure chronically damages organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys. Hypertensive patients on medication cannot stop taking their pills just because their blood pressure has returned to normal.
Expert Advice
Consult a Doctor Before Reducing or Stopping Medication
Patients stopping their medication during the Spring Festival is partly for good luck. Chronic patients who should be on long-term medication stop it on their own, such as those with diabetes, high blood pressure, COPD, or asthma. Stopping medication on their own can easily lead to an acute worsening of the disease and increase the difficulty of treatment. On the other hand, many patients who need to take medication for a long time also stop it on their own because they feel well, such as patients who have undergone stent surgery after a heart attack or patients with liver cirrhosis and vomiting from bleeding. In the latter case, if the condition recurs without consistent medication, the mortality rate is extremely high.
Experts recommend that if patients want to stop or reduce their medication during the Spring Festival, they should first consult a doctor. Due to the colder weather during the festival, as well as the tendency to overeat and changes in daily routines, these risk factors increase the risk of accidents for patients.