Need some advice. I've dropped myself from 150mg to 100mg. Side effects.
Posted , 4 users are following.
My doctor doesn't agree with medication for mental health treatment and I feel my mental health is much better than it was 6 months ago. He told me that I can reduce my dose at will if I feel comfortable. I do feel comfortable reducing to 100mg.
Yesterday I had my dose at normal time. Didn't really notice much difference. Today I have an all day headache. I get these all the time when I skip doses, but is it normal to have these when reducing doses?
I've also changed my diet to a fruit based one. I eat 75% fruit and 25% whatever else I need to get the required nutrients. I made that change today gradually. Is there anything I need to be worried about in terms of fruits with these meds? I know some fruits with some AD's can cause serotonine issues.
0 likes, 3 replies
julie7525 james63103
Posted
Hi James,
you can check drug interactions on websites ( including ones with fruits such as grapefruit.) not sure if a 75% fruit diet is too much fructose and whether that or coming down off a fructose sugar high could cause headaches? i get migraines when blood sugar drops overnight. more likely cause of this headache today is dropping your dose. itll even out in a couple of weeks but i increased or dropped in 25s to avoid major side effects. good to hear youre doing well. i put so much weight on with sert that my doc put me on low dose prozac instead. its not enough and am considering going back on sert now im working again and dealing with stressful situations.
whodareswins james63103
Posted
Your Doctor clearly doesn't know what he's talking about if he cant see the benefits of medication. I agree not everyone needs to be on A/D's and they can be an easy solution for the GP but they certainly have a place in the treatment of mental health. He might change his tune if he had ever gone through it, exercise, therapy, diet and time all help and popping a pill might not cure all but they without shadow of a doubt help a great many people in their hour of need.
As for fruit, the big one is grapefruit/grapefruit juice but also some other citrus fruits, including Seville oranges, limes and pomelos should be avoided. Basically any fruit that contains Furanocoumarins as they inhibit an enzyme, cytochrome P450 3A4 which plays havoc with the dosage you have taken. From what i have read grapefruit and its juice can be quite dangerous with several drugs including A/D's.
There are plenty of threads/posts on withdrawing off Sertraline, both cold turkey and tapering. Tapering is definitely the way forward and preferably slowly imo. As for side effects, you may get some, all or non but headaches is certainly on the long list. If you find the drop of 50mg to difficult go down less, perhaps 125mg, some go down less than that. Have a good read on previous posts in the Sertraline group. Good luck.
norton77 james63103
Posted
It is possible, even if unlikely that something you're eating can effect the processing of the meds google it, you might be eating something that's reducing the effect of the med so its like taking a lower dose, but you will be surprised how common side effects are coming off AD, i skip 1 dose and I am ill all day.
Julie mentions lower down about sugar, it could be that, though sugar in Whole foods (not drinks) shouldn't be too bad, 75% does seem high.
Tapering off is the way to go, but what ever the Dr suggests, double it, or triple it, as they don't have a clue