Comming off Sertraline and having an awfull time
Posted , 3 users are following.
Sertraline was not working for me too many side effects so on desided to come off it, I am now into my third week off reduction and still feel awful. When I wake my bowel is blocked and uncomfortable until I manage to move it. I had a 4 day headache which has now passed thankfully. Dry mouth and anxiety when I wake up and my appitite is comming back but still not good. I should have mentioned that I have multiple sclerosis and am finding it difficult to function and get out of the house due to tight abdomen and worry about my bowel movements.I have had blood tests taken which came back normal so my worry about every disease under the sun causing my problems is ok. How long do these symptoms last when comming off sertraline? I need a bit of normal in my life
0 likes, 7 replies
maureen75524 paul89462
Posted
You may find this link helpful. I have been off sertraline for TWO years and many mornings have to leap out of bed to the bathroom wth loose bowels. I'm thnkng this is now permanent, most other withdrawals have dissipated. I was on 150mg for 10 months and withdrew over three months which ws too quickly.
I feel your pain Paul but hang in there, it does get better. We all react differently to these drugs~never again shall I take an A.D.
paul89462 maureen75524
Posted
maureen75524 paul89462
Posted
I wsh you well and may 2016 see you completely symptom free of this toxic med.
betsy0603 paul89462
Posted
paul89462 betsy0603
Posted
paul89462
Posted
betsy0603 paul89462
Posted
We are taught to trust our doctor, that he knows best, but thanks to the internet we see over and over that doctors are not infallible! And so we must always advocate for ourselves first and foremost and question everything! The internet can be bad in that we spend TOO much time googling everything, but at the same time it can be our friend to do research on drugs and treatments. Thankfully there are forums like this one where we can see what others' experiences are!
I am happy for you that you feel better off the sert. However, you did a very fast taper and you may experience a "honeymoon" period of feeling great before withdrawal symptoms hit you. This is another example of how doctors don't know what they are doing with these drugs; they know how to put people on (and sometimes not even that!) but don't know how to get them off, having their patients taper so fast as to be the same as a cold turkey.
Hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones, and there are those! Some come off these drugs seemingly with no problem, yet many of them go back on the drug at a later date, which suggests that indeed they did have a problem, but just didn't recognize it as protracted withdrawal!
So, I just want to prepare you, not to scare you but to give you awareness so that in case it happens, you won't be blind-sided and not recognize what is happening.
Many will feel decent for up to 2 months. Then, withdrawal symptoms start, maybe more physical, like brain zaps, nausea, dizziness, sweats, temperature regulation problems, heart palps, increased heart rate and Bp, mental fog, and more. Over the next months, emotional issues start to pile on, anxiety, depression and insomnia, perhaps panic attacks as well. These take on a life of their own, far worse than anything experienced before.
So, if you find yourself starting to have the physical in the next couple of months, your best bet is to actually reinstate a very small amount of sert. Reinstatement has the best bet of working sooner rather than later. The point of reinstatement is symptom relief. Once stable, then you can do a very slow taper, following the recommendations in the topic "Reducing ADs using a 10% withdrawal method" in this thread:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/depression-resources-298570
Good luck, Paul - I hope you don't need this information and that all goes well for you! I'm sorry to hear you will have to have surgery, but then you can get on with good health!