My experience of coming off sertraline

Hi Hilary, GAD is Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I can't believe that I didn't think to ask my pharmacist, that's a great idea. I will have to ask him more about the amount of the sertraline that is stored in fat, since I will be having weight loss surgery in March and will be losing a significant amount of weight fairly rapidly. Because now I am extremely worried about the effects that will have on my mental health. Thanks so much for your input.

Hi Kerriann, you're welcome, it's worth knowing, about sertraline being stored in body fat. I think it just means it takes ages and ages to work its way out of the body, which is why you have to come off sertraline and similar drugs very slowly. But I don't know what effect there would be if you had weight loss surgery and lost a lot of fat in a short time, I'll have to ask my own pharmacist about that! It might be worth ringing him to make an appointment to talk to him in private, rather than just going in on spec and talking over the counter. That way he'll allocate you some time eg 20-30 mins, and be able to give you his undivided attention. Most pharmacists have a private consulting room in the shop these days.

Thanks Crystal. I'm willing to try anything to get off sertraline, and I'll certainly look into essential oils. I believe there are supplements that can help as well, and I'm going to look into acupuncture. And I need to lose a lot of weight as well.

Just an update to my post from 16th December.

I started coming off Sertraline 2 weeks ago, After being on them for about 10 weeks. I have now gone from 50 mg a day down to 25mg a day. I don't seem to have suffered any effects from coming off these as yet except the last 2 nights I have had bad sweats in the night.

My sleep has improved big time and have gone from 2 hours a night to over 8 hours a night. My blood pressure has also come down slightly after being excessively high. Needless to say I am feeling much better for it and have returned to work.

Originally I planned to take 5 weeks to come off these but have decided to take a little longer if all goes well I hope to be taking my last tablet in 6 weeks time. making a total of 8 weeks.

I will put a further update on in a couple of weeks time

Well done Ray, hope it continues to go well for you. Amazing that you feel so much better and are sleeping so much better, it's encouragement for all of us.

Best wishes

I'm experiencing what seems to be some odd effects after coming off Zoloft. Wondering if anyone else has heard of or experienced weirdness with dreams and sleep. I was on 100mg per day of Zoloft for about 9 months. I slowly eased off: 50 mg/day for 2 weeks, 25 mg/day for 2 weeks. (I'm 210 pounds male). I've been 100% off the Zoloft for 3 weeks. My weird after-effects are that I find that I need to take a 1/2 to 1 hour nap EVERY DAY after lunchtime. And, I find that I experience VERY VIVID dreams within almost 10 minutes of falling asleep. Neither of these I experienced before I started taking the med.

Hi everyone...have read all your comments and experiences of sertraline. I am on 200mg daily and have been for about 4 years..prior to that I was on prozac. I have been on most of them over the years since the age of 16. I am now 42. I have wanted to come off sertraline for a while...I am sick of not being in tune with my emotions fully. I have just taken my dose for today and split one tablet in half!...first step!..the brain zaps are what's been putting me off.

I lost my 22 year old son in Afghanistan 18 months ago and the GP advised me to stay on sertraline. The confusion between grief and depression is a major factor in how I feel...but I just want 'me' back...without feeling that chemicals are controlling me?

Thankyou for all of your experiences of coming off this horrible drug!

I'm looking forward to getting off sertraline (gradually) for good!

Much love xxxx

Hello all. Like I said before Christmas, I've been planning on starting to come off Sertraline once the festive season was over. To recap, I'm on 200mg Sertraline daily. Well I decided to cut down by 50mg a day for three months, then another 50mg a day and so on. Unfortunately in the first week I started getting electric shock-type thingies on my tongue and in my head, so had to go back on the full dose for a while till things settled down.

Tomorrow I start cutting down by 25mg a day, and see how that goes.

I keep in mind that a friend's mum took 5 years to come off Valium. So hopefully I'll be able to come off Sertraline, no matter how long it takes.

Hopeful for the Future I hope all goes well for you. I'm so sorry to hear you lost your son.

x x x x x

Best of Luck Hilary, it will be a long haul for you but worth it in the end.

Just as an update to my previous posts. Thankfully I was only on Sertraline for only 10 weeks when I made the decision to come off. That was 4 weeks ago, I have now reduced from 50 mg a day down to 25 mg a day for 2 days then having a day without. I am now looking to reduce again come the middle of this week to take 25mg every other day.

I have suffered just a few effects so far. I regularly get night sweats, sometimes I am fine other nights I will wake up 4 or 5 times a night sweating badly. I have also suffered a couple of times with headaches. Other than that I have been fine. My sleep is almost back to normal and I feel like my old self again most of the time. I have also started driving again after 6 weeks of not getting behind the wheel.

I have now planned to work on my weight again, I weighed myself yesterday and I have put on over 2 stone over the last few months, which is so frustrating as prior to that I had lost 4 stone over an 8 month period through regular exercise.

Thankfully I have not had any of these electric shocks yet, hopefully that may be because I have been on these for such a short time in comparison to most of you.

For those of you just starting out good luck

Thanks Ray, and good luck with it to you too.

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe I just took about an hour and a half reading every single post here. Everything is so relatable!

My story (short hopefully) is I am a 31 year old stay at home mother for 2 years now. about a year and a half ago I was getting really depressed, not wanting to get out of bed, thinking whats the point I'm just going to die, blah blah.. This also had to do with my father passing away when he was 31 from a sudden heart attach when I was 10. At this time I also became the thinest I have ever been, 135 - my high school weight. Then I became pregnant with my second (a son I have always wanted so I could name him after my father) I began crying uncontrollably, and feeling like I was having heart attacks every day (again, stress from my pass). My doctor put me on Zoloft 50mg while I was 3 months pregnant because it is said to be safe for the baby. This definitely helped me. I started finally gaining weight (because I wasn't gaining during my first 4 months pregnant, so we thought all is going well. I ended up get to 180 by the time my pregnancy was over (UGG, but again, I was pregnant and it's what to expect and I had gained 40 pounds when pregnant with my daughter on my own 2 years before - but it came off and more afterwards)

So now that my son is almost 7 months old, I breastfed for 6 months, and I was increased to 100mg Zoloft, I have gained ANOTHER 12 pounds! So a total of 58 pounds in 10 months. So now i am watching my calories, learning no-carb low-cal meals for dinners, i got a gym me membership that I go to 3 times a week, and i have a personal trainer that i have been going to for 3 weeks now. NO WEIGHT HAS COME OFF.

So after all of this reading of your posts, I am going to taper off my Zoloft tonight and thought I should join this forum. I need this weight to come off. I am wearing my husbands jeans and if I buy my current size jeans in the woman's section, it is literally DOUBLE what I was wearing last January 2013.

I am hoping I can taper off gradually so my anxiousness, crying, "dying" spells do not come roaring back and I can start to feel as well as my family makes me everyday.

Thanks for listening and looking for any advice and words you have about weight loss after these dang pills.

-Amanda

I started taking Sertraline a couple of years ago after an awful time at work during which I was submitted to some severe harassment. The medication worked wonders for me, not at first, but after a few weeks and an up in the dosage I was coping with things a lot better.

Luckily the person who was causing me so much grief was found out and no longer works with me and I have been on a slow personal road to recovery over the past year. Recently I decided it was time to stop taking my medication.

I read lots if advice about coming down from these pills and have done what I thought sounded most sensible. With advice from my doctor, I gradually reduced the dosage, then halved the lowest dose, then took this every two days, then every three. I literally couldn't of come down slower.

Unfortunately however I have still got the most horrific side effects; palpitations, a fuzzy head and those 'electric shocks' that go through your head.

I was also told that if you are unlucky enough to get these side effects that they usually go within 2-3 weeks however, it's now been 1 month and my side effects aren't getting any better.

I need to know if anyone else has had this type of experience and what they did to help?

After the journey I have been through over the past 2 years, I can't believe I am now having to go through all of this.

Any advice would be so much appreciated.

I had been on Zoloft for about 18 yrs when it seemed to quit working. Have tried to fond something else that would work with no success. Have been back on Zoloft for a year. Decided to quit taking anything and have been off of it for a week. A little fuzzy headed and lots of zaps but think they are getting better. Just trying to be patient. Lots of hot flashes. The most annoying side affect for me are the zaps