Sertraline Withdrawal .. Does it go away?
Posted , 276 users are following.
Hi. I just wondered if anyone had been through sertraline withdrawal and got better? I look on the internet and can't find anything positive about ssri withdrawal, particularly sertraline. I guess when people stop posting, it means they've got better. All I seem to see is posts from people who've been suffering for months or longer. I just want some hope.
I was on citalopram last year (first ever anti depressant) and came off it after 2 months because I had terrible reactions to it. A week later I was put on sertraline and reacted terribly to that too (I'm still suffering the side effects).
I took my last sertraline 3 weeks ago. My top dose was 100mg and I was going nuts. I dropped down to 50mg for about 5 weeks, 25mg for 2 weeks and 25mg every other day for a week.
Since then (and during titration) I have been having brain zaps all day every day and every time I move my eyes. I'm more exhausted than I've ever been in my life. I have sweats. I have worse sinus problems than I've ever had. I have loads of pressure behind and around my left eye. I can barely look at the television or read. I have long crying bouts. All this on top of the existing hideous and ongoing side effects which are worse than withdrawal.
I was on sertraline for a total of about 3.5 months and have been off 3.5 weeks. I've heard the average for withdrawal symptoms is around 6 weeks but can be much longer. Given my extreme sensitivity to medication, I'm afraid that I may be one if the unlucky ones. I was much better before I took any meds.
I'm taking loads of fish oil and magnesium, eating healthily and drinking lots of water. I was trying to be positive but am becoming less positive by the day.
Anyone else experienced this and recovered? I can't bear the thought of going on any more meds because I can't tolerate them.
Thank you.
31 likes, 714 replies
bob1456 meteor63
Posted
Tezes bob1456
Posted
Yes your nervous system has gone into shock hence the withdrawal symptoms you describe.
to avoid lasting damage reinstate your dose and follow the 10% taper (in brief reducing by 10% each month)
you will find more detailed info if you read way back on this thread and on this site regarding the safe way to come off sertraline
BTW you will see GP's are notoriously poor with their advice
all the best
Tezes
Posted
The link for anyone who needs it
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/sertraline-withdrawal-does-it-go-away--175456
heather52246 bob1456
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heather52246 Tezes
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Thank you really is kind that you care enough to even reply to us definelty means a lot as it's been horrible process and nice that there's others who have went through it also not nice but re assuring that it can get better and there's others who have also been through the same
carina.petrelli bob1456
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Hi everyone, i'm from Brazil so escuse my bad english. I started taking Zoloft 1 year and a half ago. I was in a very bad place and the pills helped me get out of a bad relationship. When i first started taking it i was feeling very ill, but i thought that was the worst part of it. Then, about onde month ago i decided to take off the medication. I talked to my GP and he said that i should at first reduce to 75 mg ( i was taking 100mg), I felt very sleepy, but it was ok. On the next month i reduce again, now to 50 mg, and it has been hell. I listed all of my symptoms and so far i have 25 different symptoms, which is crazy. Sometimes i fell like i'm going insane, but I try always to remind myself that this is just a fase. I 'm trying alternative medication, different teas, exercise, but somedays is just not enought. Anyone have some experience of how to deal with the symptoms? The worst for me is fatigue and weakness, and, of course de severe anxiety.
mackenzie808 meteor63
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So I was taking Zoloft since January and I was on 50 mg. Everything was going okay. But they increased me to 75 I think in march then in may they increased it to 100mg. I stopped taking it in the beginning of July because it wasnt working. I'm still having withdrawls like feeling like im going to pass out every couple minutes and getting major head aches and getting hot flashes all the time. I been off of it for about a month now and the withdrawls that I'm still having is head aches all the time hot flashes and I been less hungry. I eat once or twice a day and there small meals. I lost 10 pounds in the past month. Is any one else having these withdrawls?
gary27777 meteor63
Posted
I was on 100mg sertraline for 2 years but had to come off them recently due to side effects of insomnia and restless leg syndrome, etc.
I went to 50mg then 25mg then nothing over a period of about a month and its real, real tough....
My anger level is through the roof and I'm agitated beyond belief. I could literally bite a chunk out of my hand, its that bad. I cant sleep and my body and brain are racing at a million miles an hour. The only relief I get is when I exercise strenuously. I need to go back to the Docs as I certainly cant carry on like this.
jennifer87096 meteor63
Posted
Hi, I am so sorry of the side effects that I now call The Evil Tablet. I was on Sertraline for over a year and because I had gone through some recent tragic events, I put what I now know to be side effects, down to grief, upset and change. I was on 100mg and the side effects were kind of like getting a cold, then my throat felt as though I had a hard-boiled egg stuck in it and the icing on the cake was constant Burning Mouth Syndrome which still plagues me six months clear of Sertraline.
My moods became very much like yours. Rage, unbearable irritation to others, even my beloved family. If anyone was in my way I wanted to screm and push them aside. This is not at all my 'normal' behaviour. I was put on Lamotrigine as a mood stabiliser as I was suicidal. Now I'm wondering if the mood swings were to do with withdrawing from Sertraline?
The brain zaps will go. They seem endless and and distressing to say the least but I had them too and finally they have gone.
It sounds to me that you are doing everything to help yourself Do more research and don't take a 'professional's' opinion as law. You know how you feel, you know you're own body
The very best of luck to you!
marcia_33596 jennifer87096
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jeanne21680 meteor63
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ann55375 jeanne21680
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marcia_33596 jeanne21680
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i'm on the journey that I have failed many times. I will endure anything to get me thru to the side when I was ok before all this s**t.....
Guest meteor63
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I'm in the same place, only I was given this drug without my knowledge and now I'm trying to find help to get something done about it. Drs are so damn deceitful and I'm actually getting scared of what they'll do next.
i hope you get well soon.
eddie2512 Guest
Posted
it was the worst time of my life i believed i had gone mad after 3 days on it.
panic attacks depression sweating
feeling ill out of control out of my mind.
been of it for a week still having side affects but getting better slowly.
will never trust a doctor again.
this needs to stop
ann-juliet88520 eddie2512
Posted
Totally agree with you. I don't think you are prepared for the absolute unmitigated hell you feel. It is like no other experience I have ever had in my life. i like you felt like my mind was poisoned and to make matters worse the orginal symptoms can get worse. Will Self said something like , ' The pathos of it all is that people who are not sick are taking medication which is making them very sick.' There has to be another way to deal with issues than this ! I wonder how many Doctors have tried them themselves. If they did and went through what we went through would they hand them out so readily? I doubt it.