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trying to come off 50mg of sertraline

Posted , 6 users are following.

karen261
karen261

Hi all

Im trying to wean off 50mg of sertraline, the doc said take one every one day for a week then after a week miss one every 2 days etc, does any one know of another way to come off. ive been on them for 2 years, feel awful on them, swaying in head, numbess in head, ringing in ears etc

 

1 like, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • colin878
    colin878 karen261

    Posted

    Hi Karen.

    Sounds to me like your doing it to quickly.i tapered off them over a period of 6weeks,starting with 3/4s of the 50mg for 2weeks & then 4weeks at 25mg,the last few days taking them every 2nd day.i had withdrawl symptoms the 1st week or so of tapering then things got easier. You have been on it for 2 years which is a long time so you need to do it very very slowly.i was on it for 6months in total,if i were you I would be looking spreading it out over at least 8-10 weeks.

  • jGloucs
    jGloucs karen261

    Posted

    Hi Karen, 

    I'm right inthe middle of this process myself, and it's an uncomfortable journey. I'd been on Sertraline for 5 years and started to cut down back in February. I went to half a tablet every day, rather than a whole tablet every other day, because the half life of Sertraline is quite short. That means the amount of circulating Sertraline only lasts for about 26 hours in the body so if you took one 9am Mon. and another 9am Wed. you've gone more than that time, and your body is probably craving Sertraline. Going to half EVERY day means you have Sertraline circulating all the time to minimise discontinuation symptoms, but you are still weaning yourself off. I was fine at half a tablet, I did eventually go to half a tablet every other day, and then to a quarter of a tablet every day, then every other day, but I found symptoms severe at that low level, so went to a quarter of a tablet every day to keep some active ingredient circulating. I finally went to a quarter tablet every other day, but by that time I had been cutting down for some time. This amount meant I experienced symptoms, but I tried to tolerate them by taking it easy for a few days. I took my last 1/8th of a tablet last Tuesday and hope I won't need to take any more. Some of the symptoms I experienced are visual disturbance, digestive upset, wooziness, swaying, feeling cold then having hot sweats, breathlessness, feeling slightly nauseous, thirst, aggression, unusual dreams, sleep pattern changes.  I've been surprised at the extent of the symptoms. Even last night Sun., 5 days after not taking part of a tablet, I'm still feeling symptoms, but I suppose they're gradually lessening, but definitely not gone. This is over a period of 4-5 months, and I suspect if I'd tapered even more slowly towards the end, I could have minimised the symptoms even further, but I was keen to get off them. As I said, the symptoms are very unpleasant and I found them particularly disappointing as it takes such an effort to wean yourself off. This has only been my experience and it may not be right for you, but I did find taking a small amount each day minimised symptoms better, even if it was only a small part of the tablet, rather than missing out days. I hope you find a way of managing your discontinuation and that your symptoms resolve soon. Best wishes,

    J

    • jGloucs
      jGloucs don45258

      Posted

      Not quite sure how this works, but I'm reading it that don45258 is asking me, jGloucs, why I stopped taking them? Hope that's right. Sorry if you're asking someone else. I thought 5 years was a long time to be on them. I was due for a review with my Dr and didn't want to get into why I was still taking them, so decided to come off them myself. I also spent a lot of the 5 years reading books on personality, self help, psychology etc., and felt I'd learnt some 'tools' that I knew were missing from my life, that might help me cope better. I was keen, if apprehensive, to put these new 'tools' into practice. I wanted to be able to cope better with life myself, rather than rely on drugs. I think I've already had some successes, like the time my husband 'threw a wobbly', went out without a word and then proceeded with the silent treatment. That would have been it for the night under the old ways, but I wasn't prepared to put up with it so I calmly, but firmly, said I wasn't prepared to accept the silent treatment until he felt ready to speak. We'd had a misunderstanding, so I said we were both right, and we were both wrong. No point in trying to prove one of us was correct and the other wasn't. I explained my feelings and I saw him visibly melt. Just enough to prevent the 'I'm-not-talking-to-you' from escalating into an 'all nighter'. I actually felt proud of myself for shortening what used to be a long drawn out process with no real resolution. I know not everything will be successful, like last weekend when my sister wound me up royally, but I write things down now as a way of working through my feelings. That helps, and then I usually find a better way of handling the situation. I now feel she behaved the way she did because she didn't know how to express her feelings in a non confrontational manner. I used to blame myself for every interaction that didn't go well. They say you can only change yourself, not the other person, so I took all the responsibility. I'm trying not to do that now, realising some people just exhibit behaviours that 'jerks' use. ( And there's another one.....label the behaviour, not the person! I didn't call my sister a 'jerk', I just said she exhibited some 'jerkish' behaviour. That means I'm not condemning her or writing her off as incorrigible, just that she made some immature choices through lack of 'tools' to express herself more maturely. She actually reverted to behaving like a 5 year old! She's 61! Quite funny when you think about it.) I'm hoping these  new mind sets will minimise the need for Sertraline. 

      jGloucs

    • don45258
      don45258 jGloucs

      Posted

      Thanks fir that did the Sirtraline work for you I'm on my 3rd week first two weeks were terrible last week been a bit better but still not myself feel worse first thing in a morning and still have anxitey inthe day it's getting a bit to much for me know just wondering if you could tell me anything as you are experienced with this med
    • jGloucs
      jGloucs don45258

      Posted

      Hi,

      I didn't feel better for quite some time when I first started taking Sertraline. I was sleepy, dry mouth, anxiety, weird dreams, no lessening of my OCD symptoms. I also felt angry at having to take tablets to help me cope. I was so agitated that I should see some improvement in my behaviour, it  was not a good time to try to be patient. The improvements are gradual, so it's hard to say when I felt better specifically, but it was certainly weeks and I don't think the full maintainance effect happened until about 3 months. For all that, they did help me through a very difficult time in my life. Although I complain about the discontinuation symptoms taking me by surprise, I'm not sure I would have done anything different looking back on how debilitating my anxiety and OCD symptoms were. They definitely gave me a rest from my symptoms and so feel 'normal' for a while. At least by starting them I knew each day was one day closer to feeling better, even if I couldn't see the improvement that particular day. 

       

  • imelda16796
    imelda16796 karen261

    Posted

    yes take one every other day for about 6 weeks is what my doc told me but of course i did it in 2/3 weeks and had side effects after stopping them but ok now, doc wanted me to go back on them and do the 6 week thing but i perseviered and now  fell great with out them, now i'm trying to get of certirzine,
  • david49878
    david49878 karen261

    Posted

    Geez, you are only talking about weaning yourself off 50mg of sertraline and I have been taking the stuff for five years or so at 150mg/day. Damn, will I be a slave to this forever? I stop a few days from time to time and if I stay off it maybe two weeks or so, seem to have many more bad days. I do not notice any immediate symptoms afterwards such as you mention, but am shakier and easier to anger. But duh, I supposedly am given this powerful med, and at such  a high dosage, for anxiety and anger management. Only side effects I am aware of using this drug are tiredness (but at 64 and still working or trying to, I stay tired much of the time anyway) and loss of libido, which really sux. I take other drugs too, so who knows what, if any, effect sertraline really has. 

    I don't post here that often, but would welcome any comments.

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