Coming off of Sertraline

[Brownin]

Hey!

I had psychotherapy alongside my medication, when I first started. I believe I had ten sessions in all. It really helped me. How did you find your physical withdrawal symptoms from sertraline?

Sorry it's taken so long to reply, I've not been on here since I last posted until now.
When I stopped the tablets both times, I just went cold turkey and tbh I didn't have any noticeable withdrawal symptoms I can think of. If anything I just gradually noticed improvements in myself in general. The side effects I had from being on the tablets went after maybe a week of coming off the tablets and I felt more human again.

I'm not saying going cold turkey is a good idea and I'm sure it's probably best to slowly come off them but I did this as I felt in myself I was ready and wanted rid of them asap.

Good luck with getting off of them and hopefully you don't need them again in the future. Life is much better without tablets

---------- Post added at 16:32 ---------- Previous post was at 16:23 ----------

Hi Brownin, great to hear you have managed to stay off the tablets! Before Christmas, my GP and I discussed reducing my dose in the new year towards feb/march time when the days are getting longer. I'm on 150mg, so we don't have masses of room for manouver if I find I need an increase in dose. She'd emphasised March, but over the past few weeks I have been thinking more and more that I want to start the reduction sooner rather than later, but I had been having one major reservation - it's approaching the 1 year anniversary of my Dad dying.

But at the weekend I weighed it up and decided to start the reduction - I take 3 x 50mg tablets, and decided to start by reducing my dose by 25mg, ie half a tablet, so here I am on day 2!

I know my Dad's anniversary is coming up, but it is one day, and I am so proud of how I handled the death itself. Grief is a strange thing - I had visions of it being like how we see it on the TV - people wailing etc, but that's usually in the case of sudden deaths. Dad's deterioration was so gradual, that I think I mentally prepared for it way before it actually happened, and once it had happened, I found ways of expressing my grief. I chose to blog about it because one thing that struck me is no one tells you how to grieve as an adult. I don't think many people have read the blog, but it was an outlet for me. I know I helped one friend as she lost a grandparent, just by talking to her and explaining the processes (both physical, and procedures such as care plans) of someone dying. Knowing I helped just one person made me feel so much better.

Sorry for the long ramble!

I'm sorry for your loss but it's good to hear you're not letting it beat you and are strong enough mentally now to take the steps to lowering your dosage. I personally didn't change the dosage, I was just on the tablets and then not. It's now April, have you managed to take the plunge?

The point about starting the blog, I completely agree. If you even help one person in the slightest by sharing your experiences then in my eyes it's been a success. It also works well as an outlet. It might not be counselling it but definitely helps you get it off your chest. Same reasons I started this thread a few years ago.

Keep up the good work and hopefully one day you will look back at this time, tablet free and remember it for the good times and not the bad

---------- Post added at 16:51 ---------- Previous post was at 16:32 ----------

Anyway, I said I would post an update after seeing a family friend about some counselling. In the end I attended 3 sessions, each being between 1-2 hours.
It was mostly just me getting a lot of stuff off my chest.
The main thing I took from the sessions was the fact that although I was going to work everyday and was doing fine in general life I had no outlet for stress or anger.
This was clearly building up inside and never being released.
I spoke to a friend who has the same type of anxiety issues and he agreed that if he doesn't go to the gym regularly that his tends to flair up more frequently.
It's now been 2 months since I last went to the counselling sessions and on the hole I've been a lot, lot better.
I have been going to the gym 3-4 times a week with football on a Sunday and have been a lot happier a long with a lot less stressed.
It's clear that my mind isn't good at dealing with stress and I'm easily angered, so need a regular release.
In the end we always find some sort of fix for the issues in hand.
Here's to the rest of this year anxiety free