1. Community
  2. Mental health
  3. Sertraline

Feeling weird reducing sertraline with view to stop completely. Advice needed please!

Posted , 6 users are following.

Crazy_mummy
Crazy_mummy

I'm having so many weird feelings and physical symptoms that I am feeling more crazy that when I started taking sertraline!  Is it normal to feel like a zombie, have night time panic attacks and hot sweaty, bad dreams, worse anxiety, snappy, very tired, comfort eating, weight gain, etc etc?! The list goes on and on! 

I just want to be a normal person again.  I've reduced down slowly from 200mg per day to 150 mg, then 100 mg over around a month for each reduction.  Now I'm on 50mg a day.  How long until I can stop? Or do I need to reduce dose further?   Or just go cold turkey and stop completely? 

Any advice or experience appreciated greatly.  

Thank you.  

1 like, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • Tezes
    Tezes Crazy_mummy

    Posted

    You are tapering too quickly and not allowing your system to balance out. The recommendation is to reduce at just 10% of your last dose a month. So from 50 you would take off 10% so going down to 40 for a month then if you feel ok take off another 10% of 40 and so on.

    sounds like you have sent your nervous system into chaos and are having bad withdrawal symptoms, the advice would be to reinstate to your previous dose for a month or until you have stabilised and then start the 10% tapering method. The lower the dose the more slowly you reduce.

    i have just come off sertraline after taking it for two years at 50 mg. it took me six months of tapering but I avoided withdrawal symptoms altogether.

    check out the sertraline tapering method on this site for more details

    good luck

  • sarah14200
    sarah14200 Crazy_mummy

    Posted

    You should speak to your doctor bein on a high doz for a long time they will lower it to 15mg and that wen they deside if ur fit and health to come off them after u had a few week on them wen u come off them they will reviwe u so often and then see u once a mnth an then they can say u ok ive not had any tabs in 4 days and felt worst so am bk on mine again hate them but think i will stay on them till apirl goes away and try again

    What every u do dnt just stop thm with out talkin to ur doctor first

  • Little_miss_sad
    Little_miss_sad Crazy_mummy

    Posted

    Hi Crazy Mummy,

    From one crazy mum to another, it was refreshing to hear you going through the same symptoms... I was initially in 50mg for 10 mo then reduced to 25mg for 4 weeks the cold turkey as advised by my gp. The last 14 days of being tablet free has been the worst ever!!!!! Night sweats, weird nightmares????!!! Depression! Which was not why I was in them I had Acute Anxiety. I keep crying all the time, I'm shouting at my kids all the time, stress levels go from 0-60 in 2.4 secs... I feel flipping awful... I'm run down, feel my anxiety increasing, and I can't stop eating... Binging even... Viscous circle that I hope will go away as I'm praying it's just the body adjusting to the withdrawal... Just wanted to say you are not alone smile

    • Crazy_mummy
      Crazy_mummy Little_miss_sad

      Posted

      Hi, thank you for replying.  Sorry that you are struggling too.  I totally relate and sympathise as exactly the same symptoms.  I've put on over s stone in weight, been on sertraline for almost a year, can't stop,eatting.  I am more anxious now than before I was put on them.  After speaking to my GP, I've gone cold turkey so I'm on day two of no sertraline. Yesterday was horrible, today slightly better but still feel weird, feel sick, hot night sweats, weird nightmares, ready to flip at the smallest things, moody, twitchy muscles, headaches, snappy, thoughts racing, hyper, struggling to concentrate, very tired, no energy,  kids driving me nuts ..... The list goes on and on! ! I just want it all out of my system now...... Patience levels very low!  

      Pare you starting to feel better now? Xx 

    • Little_miss_sad
      Little_miss_sad Crazy_mummy

      Posted

      I feel like I'm in a roller coaster... Weight is slowly starting to come down, lost 5lbs this week following strict diet, which I wasn't able to do before! My emotions are all over the place... Decided to take kalms, finding they seem to help, could be the placebo effect but I'm ok with that... Still cry but allow myself to do so, I understand that it's gonna be a long process, but I won't stop now I've gone this far... But the me... All or nothing... Keep with the positives and don't be to harsh with yourself! And talk over your bad days with loved ones... Helps immensely xx
    • Gonzalez
      Gonzalez Crazy_mummy

      Posted

      Hi, im on sertraline 25mg once during the day and klonopin. 5mg at night with anxiety to help sleep, I've been on the meds for 3 weeks and noticed im feeling more depressed today than usual i found myself crying and not interested in everyday things, i was able to start to eat again but now im not wanting to eat just somewhat forced myself and after my klonopin last night i got light headed for the first time, any ideas on weather this medicine isn't working for me or if I need a higher dose and is this normal?
    • Crazy_mummy
      Crazy_mummy Gonzalez

      Posted

      It can  take 6-8 weeks to settle down I believe.  If it doesn't settle I would advise seeing your GP for advice.  

      Im struggling with withdraw symptoms worse today.  It's like my emotions were switched off whilst on sertraline for a year and now they've been released as I can't stop crying and getting irritable.  I feel sick and just can't concentrate on anything. It's horrible.  It's day four without sertraline and I'm worse than I was before starting sertraline.  

    • Gonzalez
      Gonzalez Crazy_mummy

      Posted

      Are you considering going back on the sertaline? For me im waking up so much more anxious and things dont seem right
    • Gonzalez
      Gonzalez

      Posted

      Its like for the life of me i feel.so tired but can not seem to fall asleep no matter how hard i try, especially way early in the morning, i never had those things happen to me until i got a virus prior to getting my anxiety and depression
    • Tezes
      Tezes Gonzalez

      Posted

      Please read my post further up this thread, coming off too quickly produces the withdrawal symptoms you are having. 

      It is not a case of 'the drugs getting out of your system'.

      The nerves receptors on your brain and throughout your body are trying to readjust and to stabilise. The damage of coming off them too abruptly/too quickly can be long standing and even permanent.

      if you search on this site under the heading 'Setraline withdrawal, does it go away' you will find links to professional advice on how to taper safely to minimise damage to your nervous system.

      it may be that you will need to reinstate the last dose that you took until you feel stable again then you can start the safe taper.

      all the best to you x

    • Gonzalez
      Gonzalez Tezes

      Posted

      Hi tezes thank you for responding, but im not coming off of them im still on them not trying to come off the meds at this time, what im trying to figure out is why i would go back into my depressive state if those 2 weeks i was good i mean ive been crying and don't understand why, which has me kind of curled up in a ball with no ambition it sucks bad, i spoke with my psychatrist and said maybe the dosage needs to be higher, what do you think would be the best route, I'm considering trying something else as far as meds and now my counselor is saying if i don't see him then i cant see a psychatrist either at that facility im in shock and its alot of stress
    • Tezes
      Tezes Gonzalez

      Posted

      Hi sorry I meant to send that to crazy mummy.

      dont know about klonopin or the interaction between that and sertraline. I would suggest asking a pharmacist. 25 mg is a starting dose for sert so if they put it up to 50 I wouldn't worry. It takes up to 3 months to work fully so give it time. I would advise counselling along with Meds you are lucky to have this and input from psychiatry, it's hard to get that here x

       

  • paddy30a
    paddy30a Crazy_mummy

    Posted

    hi! thanks for posting this thread. my psychiatrist suggested i start taking sertraline, after reading all this i dont think i will. il battle on with excercise to keep my mood raised, and look at natural things like st johns wart and lavender. and meditation i sed meditation in prison it lifted my mood more than anything ever. thank, i hope everyone here works through there stuff.  
Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.