Hi. I have been taking Setraline for about 11 months now due to a severe episode of anxietydepression last year. My dose was gradually increased up to 150mg a day and after a month of taking them they began to work and I have been feeling ok since. They have really helped with my anxiety and I have not had any recurrence of my illness whilst taking them. I have been attending a low self esteem group for the past 10 weeks which is due to end soon and although I am not convinced it will cure me I have learnt some useful stuff and its been nice to meet people with similar problems.

I saw my doctor a couple of weeks ago and we both agreed I was ready to start coming off them. She suggested going down to 100mg for 4 weeks then 50mg for 4 weeks then if that had gone ok I could come off them. On wednesday morning I reduced my dose to 100mg for the first time but on Thursday morning I felt terrible. I woke up early feeling anxious and panicky and ended up in tears. I spoke to my doctor who said that the reaction should not have been so bad and that I should go back up to 150mg for a few weeks then go back and discuss other approaches to weaning myself off them. I agree with this but my worry is that I have been taking my normal dose now for 3 days and I am still waking up feeling anxious which terrifies me as it reminds me of how bad I was last year. I am terrified that even though I am now back up to my normal dose that I am never going to feel as well as I did before I reduced the dose and that they will no longer work for me and that I am going to end up back where I started.

Is it normal to have such a reaction from just reducing the dose for 1 day. Has this happened to anyone else. I am looking for reassurance that things will get back to how they were soon and the tablets will carry on working for me.

Thanks