Sertraline Withdrawal - My experience

Hey all,

I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place or if anyone will ever see it but I'm on my 15th day of Sertraline withdrawal and before I came off it I couldn't find anything online that was positive about withdrawal so I promised myself I would report what my experience was to maybe give people some hope. Obviously everyone will withdraw differently, but this is just how it was for me.

For background, I was on it for three years, my highest does before tapering, was 100mg. I tapered down by reducing my dose by 25mg every three weeks as I figured slow and steady would be better. When i got down to 25mg, I tried doing every other day but that really didn't work for me and just led to being up and down all the time, so i went back to 25mg for a week every day, before stopping altogether.

I have also come off Cipralex around 10 years ago, and did lots of research about supplements that can help withdrawal at the time, so knew that I would try and use those again. What worked for me, was a B complex vitamin, a Vitamin D, Flaxseed for my Omega 3 as I can't have fish oils, and L-Theanine. I started taking all of these from the day i withdrew, but as with anything, check with your doctor before taking any supplements. I exercised regularly before withdrawal, and kept that up, and found that every time I exercised, all the withdrawal things went away, but they did come back about half an hour after.

I know weight gain is a big thing on Sertraline too, and I had put on 7 stone since i started taking them which is a lot. This was one of the key factors why i wanted to stop taking them. I also started to find that I was having more thoughts of self harm and depression the longer I was on them, and I figured that for me, I couldn't feel much worse off them than on. But...the big thing for me is that if i need to go back on them again i of course will.

The other thing I would say is that I've kept working during withdrawal as I work from home so could take breaks when i wanted. Had i not worked from home, I probably would have taken two weeks off as it can be hard to concentrate sometimes during withdrawal.

So on to the withdrawal, I've set it out as a day by day thing:

Day 1 & Day 2 were fine to be honest, I didn't really feel any different, just a bit more tired than normal.

Day 3 - The brain zaps started, which felt like tiny little shocks in my head. In the day they weren't very frequent, but from about 7pm, they were every few minutes. They didn't hurt or anything like that, it was just a weird sensation. I also developed a headache on day 3 that wouldn't budge no matter what painkillers I took and every time I got up, it was like my legs were jelly and didn't want to work.

Day 4 - I was so hungry I wanted to eat my own arm and it was almost like I imagine pregnancy cravings to be. In the middle of the day, I was dipping Ritz Crackers into a tub of ice cream, and loving it. I also started to feel really angry on day 4. I wanted to scream and everyone and cry with just pure rage. I also became really withdrawn from people, didn't want to speak.

I also started to feel really resentful of everyone particularly my friends as although I'd told them i was withdrawing, their lives were carrying on as normal and the fact I was doing something so major wasn't a big deal for them but was for me. I felt like i needed someone to just acknowledge it was hard and i was doing something brave, and was resentful that no one was.

The insomnia also started on day 4. I was so tired I felt like I could sleep for a week but I'd get into bed and just not fall asleep at all.

I also found on Day 4 that I was angry at myself for having to go through this, like i was weak or a just a terrible human for needing to take the Sertraline in the first place. The headache and weak legs also continued, so did the insomnia.

Day 5 - I felt like things were getting better, I felt like i wanted to get healthier. I also got some sleep for the first time in 48 hours, albeit only about 5 hours. I also kept being woken up in that five hours by a banging in my chest. Almost like a jolt. It set me on a road of full on anxiety and many visits to Dr Google, where I found lots of posts about people having heart attacks. I wasn't having a heart attack, and if you're going through that, you probably aren't either (although don't ignore chest pains).

I was also super anxious in general on day 5 and was convinced if i didn't die of a heart attack, I'd die of Coronavirus if i went to the ER to get checked out. I didn't go and get checked out as personally I knew I didn't need to. My thoughts raced away with me on day 5 and none of those thoughts were good.

I also made the mistake of reading the patient information leaflet that came with the Sertraline which i hadn't done before I took them as apparantly the side effects are the same as the withdrawal effects.

Day 6 - Still only a few hours sleep which i knew wasn't going to help and I felt exhausted. My body felt like i kept getting electric shocks and I didn't want to do any work. I also found myself worrying more about things like money, my job, my life plans, or lack of, and I was super angry again. I cried a lot, and just felt delicate. I realised I'd also got to the point where I almost felt scared to sleep and the sensations in my body again made me think I was having a heart attack.

Day 7 - Took a sleeping tablet last night and got some sleep and felt better for it. This was the first day I started to feel better. I had a really bad headache, and still had the electric shock things in my body, but it wasn't a terrible day compared to those before.

Day 8 - Didn't sleep again, and all I seemed to be doing was thinking, about everything, I couldn't turn my brain off. I couldn't concentrate, had a lack of appetite, and was quite jittery. I didn't have the energy to even shower and was really bunged up, like i had a cold. I wrote down that i felt lost and hopeless on day 8 after the euphoria of feeling better the previous day and then feeling worse again. I also felt like my heart was beating out of my chest.

Day 9 - no brain zaps or body jolts until the evening. I did feel angry again and was weirdly angry around food. Like I wanted to eat, but didn't know what, and it made me feel really agitated. I did feel a little bit more engaged with life today, but just really tired.

Day 10 - I felt so tired again today as didn't sleep the night before again, but I felt fairly normal today, the brain zaps started around 8pm and I was really tired but that was about it.

Since day 10, I've still had the brain zaps at night, and the insomnia is a killer. I feel like my appetite is settling down, and haven't wanted to binge like i did when i was on Sertraline and in the early days of withdrawal. I have spoken to friends more and I've been more productive.

I do still feel a weird anger every now and then that I can't explain and isn't like me, and my thoughts also race all the time. When i talk to people, it's like I'm a human chatterbox or like I'm on speed as i just have all these thoughts racing around that i think the sertraline numbed. I do also feel quite scared about my future in general but again, I found for me that sertraline stopped me thinking quite as much so I figure my brain is just learning to do stuff for itself.

I know the end of my two weeks isn't all sunshine and roses, but withdrawal has so far, been no where near as bad as most of the things I read online before I came off sertraline and I do genuinely feel like I'm over the worst of it. I've also noticed that my face and my tummy are less bloated, but I haven't seen any weight loss on the scales. Having said that, I've also not made adjustments to my diet yet to help with weight loss as I just wanted to deal with one thing at a time.

I've also read that at around two weeks, you can feel a little like you're relapsing and that can last until up to week 6 so I'm being kind to myself and just going with it. The only things I wish were different are that i was sleeping more and I'd already lost the 7 stone 😉

I hope this has helped someone else starting or thinking about withdrawal and for me, things are definitely better now and I feel like I've done the right thing but the key thing I would say is don't be firm with yourself to say you'll never take them again as in my view it takes more courage to seek help than it does to not.

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