Coming off Sertraline and where I am now...

sure, your anxiety  has shot up with things going on in your life  thit happens, nobody has a perfect life an crap happens, 200mg  is a high dose i have known 400mg on some people 200mg over max.   while things are going on you wont feel good even if you never took meds , it will pass

Hi LTJ,

I can relate. It is one of those huge life shocks that feels like even being on Sertraline will not help. Actually it is helping you like always, but you are in overload with major life stressors that are so big that they would knock over even the strongest among us!

Your reactions are normal. Unfortunately you are going to need to swim through this. Perhaps your prescribing doctor would consider giving you something to help calm you? It would help immensely.

I am so sorry you are going through having your life ripped out from under you. The only way I have made it through huge life shocks such as this is to not fight against it, it is as it is and I must seek to learn the golden life lesson that is buried somewhere in the situation. Then I take that lesson, throw away the rest and move forward.

My heart goes out to you and your husband.

💛 Dawn, USA

Hi Jules,

My heart also goes out to you and your husband with all that you have had to go through. I can relate to being overwhelmed when several life events seem to attack you all at once and coping with the simplest tasks becomes an uphill struggle. You are a strong person, and its the strongest who seem to be particularly susceptible to anxiety and depression. We are sensitive and caring people so things affect us deeply - that's not a weakness, although when our coping strategies are on overload, we blame ourselves for not coping. When I realised that i was not able to concentrate on my job, my company agreed that it was best all round if I had some time off. This at least takes away one stressful aspect of daily life. I really enjoy my job but i've stopped feeling guilty that i've needed some space to allow my medication and therapy to work. I'm due to get back to work this coming week. Stop trying so hard and as Dawn suggests, ride the wave without sinking under. Mindfulness (a type of meditation) has helped me to find this calm in the eye in the storm. It's not just about relaxation (which works for many people) but it's also about listening to your body and not compounding and magnifying the stress and emotional pain that you are feeling. It can give you some space and distance from the destructive thoughts which will allow you to gather your rational thoughts and act from a place of thoughtfulness and self-compassion rather than raw emotion and knee-jerk avoidance of our problems. Deep stuff, I know, but essentially, we all hold the key to our own recovery within us. I think I'm going to be on ADs longterm because my clinical depression recurs several months after I think I'm ok without the drugs. If that's what it takes, so be it. Don't think of your "crutch" as a negative thing. It's doing what it was designed to do, but you are still you, and when you start to cope again it will be because you have found your inner strength. Believer in yourself and take one day at a time. Accentuate the positive (like the song says!)

All the best,

Digsby x

Thank you all for your kind responses. It really has helped me to have this support and i am coming back to the messages and reading again when feeling low.

Thank you again xxx

Hello

I have not posted on here for at least a year. In that time, I take 100mg zoloft, have been for 20 years. And I know what it feels like coming down on this medication. I told my doctor that I wanted to quit, but he said that I should continue. Well I felt good, tired of taking them, so ever so slowly, and I mean slow, I started weaning. My head started zapping, which I could handle, but the nausea, chronic fatigue, among a host of other symtoms. By the time I reached a level of 65 mg, I felt so sick. So I can relate to you on that aspect. Did not feel good until I got back on 100mg.

And what the other answers is exactly true. Your always going to have these events which we don't like but have to cope, knowing it's not the end of the world. And at the time, it seems that way. But like one comment, you take 200 mg, I can't go up even to 125, or I'll feel so jittery. So at 100, that seems to help, even though my dr is changing my meds in a mo. Also, I'm 64.

hope this helps