Can I stop taking Acotiamide once I take it?

Acotiamide (Acotiamide) is a gastric motility regulator for patients with functional dyspepsia (FD). Its treatment goal is to relieve symptoms such as upper abdominal discomfort, early satiety, and gastric bloating. For patients, whether medication must be maintained long-term is the most common concern. Acotiamide is not a mandatory long-term drug dependence, and its medication cycle can be flexibly adjusted according to the severity of the patient's symptoms and the doctor's evaluation.

Clinical experience shows that the efficacy of acotiamide usually gradually appears after taking the drug for several weeks. After the patient's early satiety, gastric bloating and indigestion symptoms are significantly relieved, the dose can be gradually reduced or even discontinued under the guidance of a doctor. Its mechanism of action is mainly to improve gastric motility abnormalities by enhancing gastric emptying and regulating gastrointestinal motility, thereby improving indigestion symptoms. Since the drug is not a central nervous system stimulant or a dependence drug, there will be no obvious withdrawal reaction after stopping the drug, and no drug dependence will occur.

However, patients may experience mild recurrence of symptoms during drug withdrawal. This is not an adverse drug reaction, but is caused by the fluctuating nature of the disease itself. For such cases, doctors usually recommend short-term reuse or intermittent medication based on symptom recurrence to maintain symptom control while reducing drug burden. International guidelines emphasize that the use of acotiamide should be symptom-oriented, with dosage and treatment duration adjusted individually, and long-term mandatory medication is not required.

In addition, safety studies on long-term use of acotiamide have shown that it is well tolerated and the adverse reactions are mild, mostly mild diarrhea or gastric discomfort, and most patients can relieve themselves after stopping the drug. Therefore, for most patients with functional dyspepsia, acotiamide can be flexibly discontinued or used intermittently after symptoms are relieved without worrying about dependence or serious problems caused by sudden discontinuation.

Reference: https://www.rad-ar.or.jp/siori/english/search/result?n=33322