Sertraline withdrawal 4 months later? Anxiety back with palpitations

Hi there, did you mean that you stopped cold turkey taking your zoloft in October and then you were fine until December 30th when you started having the weird heart beat and if you did stop the zoloft in October until the end of December did you go through any withdrawal process and what was your disease and were you taking it for depression or anxiety or both? 🤔 If you could please clarify that with me I'd greatly appreciate it thanks so much for your help and time

Jumar, I started having irregular heart beats several years ago... way before I took the Zoloft (Sertraline). I was going nuts with the frequent palpitations. They got worse and worse. Even had trips to the E.R. and they found nothing wrong. I have a good cardiologist that I see annually. He gave me EKG's, stress test, and Echo cardiogram that all showed no problem. I even wore a heart monitor for a whole month to record the events. Even though he could see them happen often, he said they were nothing to worry about. HE called them PVC's and harmless. But they were driving me crazy. I could hardly function. I didn't want to go anywhere in fear of having these episodes come on. I finally went to my primary care doctor thinking I might have some chemical imbalance - something was wrong. So my blood work showed nothing wrong. All normal results. That is when he suggested that i have general anxiety disorder and he prescribed an antidepressant. He put me on 25 mg of Sertraline which he said was a very small dose. After about 2 weeks, the palpitations stopped. I went back for a follow up at 6 weeks, and he upped my dose to 50 mg which is said was the regular dose. After a few days, I couldn't take the increase. Palpitations started back, I felt very depressed and it just kept getting worse. I went back on the 25 mg and everything got better. Not perfect, but at least the palpitations stopped. After a couple of weeks, I decided to try to up the dose again. So I took a 25 mg, and cut one in half and took that with it. So I was taking 37 mg for about 2 weeks. Then I upped it to the 50 mg again. The same thing... I was jittery, heart palpitations started up again, loud ringing in my ears, waking up at night wet with sweat. And the feeling of my mind and my body were not in coordination - just felt weird and out of sorts - and extremely depressed. I would wake up in the mornings in a fetal position not wanting to get out of bed and feeling very depressed. So I went back to the 25 mg. I felt a little withdrawal from the decrease, but it only lasted about one day. The 25 mg seems to do right for me. I saw my doctor yesterday and told him what was going on. He said that all people are different and if the 25 works, stay with it. So maybe you are taking too much? Maybe try the lower dose and see if it does anything for you. Good luck.

Hi Jumar, I have gone on and off sertraline more than I can remember, and yes, I have experienced this. Every time I get off of it, and when I get back on, each time I get all sorts of side effects, some are the same and some are different. So, to answer your question, yes, when I got back on sert after going off of it cold turkey, I had really bad heart palpitations. I couldn't even tell if I was going through a panic attack or if it's just one of the side effects of sertraline. So to answer your question this is normal.

Now, I too have gone through a divorce and had a VERY horrible attack during the process, and so, the best advice I can give you during this time is try to manage your stress and be gentle with yourself. Just ALWAYS remind yourself that, "This too shall pass." Take it one day at a time, sometimes even one hour. I don't really know how I managed to survive my divorce. I was in a state all by myself, lost a home and had to move out by a certain date, rent a new place, move, and this was all in the dead of winter. I was so weak, but if I made it through, so will you, Prayers coming your way. Make sure you try to do something that relaxes you a bit. For me, it was soaking in the hot bathtub, but there were days I couldn't even drag myself out of bed to take a shower, let alone a bath. But breathe and remember, this too shall pass. 😃 xoxo

Juman, actually, I am not going through an attack now. I have actually been doing very well right now, thank God, but going on my 3rd year attack-free so far. My last major attack was Dec 2016 to April 2017. Since then, I've been back on 100mg daily.

I've been on/off sert more than half my life now and I am almost in my mid 40s. When I first started taking this drug, it was not generic but under the brand name Zoloft then. If anything, I am a testament that this drug works, but sometimes it takes such an awfully long time to work.

Good luck in court, but this is all the more reason for you to do something to help you relax this week. Please trust me on this. I don't know what works for you, be it breathing exercises, sleeping more, a phone call to a loved one, or baths, or soft music or a book, but you need to do something that relax you.

Prayers for you, take care, we are here if you need us.