Tapering off sert after 10 days

[NoPoet]

Hi all,

I have been on sertraline for 10 days at 50mg. I am cross-tapering from mirtazapine 30mg.

However I don't think I can tolerate SSRIs, as they make my anxiety hellish (I've been on citalopram in the past), so I want to stay on mirtazapine and drop the sert.

I know if you've been on meds for a long time you need to taper very slowly, but does anyone have advice for coming off a med you've taken for less than two weeks? Is it possible to just stop it now, or should I cut the tablet in half for another few nights, then stop altogether?

[Sands]

Hi. I've been reading your story with interest as I too am on mirtazapine after trying fluoxetine first. Like you my time on an ssri was absolutely hellish. I felt like I had lost my mind, I will never forget it. I stayed on for 3 weeks and stopped without tapering to start mirtazapine. My opinion is to just get off the stuff straight away. I was so much better off than on. Why continue something that is making u feel so horrible. It will probably take u a little time now to get stable again on the mirt. All the best

[NoPoet]

Hi, thanks for your advice. How long did it take you to get stable again on the mirt?

I just re-read a very old thread of mine called "coming onto mirtazapine". I had tried to go back onto cit and only lasted 9 days before stopping it altogether and changing onto mirt. I recall now that the side effects were EXACTLY the same as I'm getting now, except worse!

It seems the cit withdrawal effects stopped within 3 days and the mirt benefits began straight away. So I definitely cannot take an SSRI again.

Funny how many important secrets might lay in our past, but we forget them because it's a time in our lives we'd rather forget. So hey-ho, hey-ho, it's into the bin my sertraline goes!

[Sands]

I took my last the night before starting mirtazapine and started to feel better from then on. My bro also has anxiety issues and he was put on 50mg sertraline with his mirtazapine. Same thing he couldn't handle the side effects. He took it for 6 days and then stopped. Probably took him 2-3 weeks to get over messing with his meds

[MrAndy]

i stopped cirt cold turkey after 3 weeks and had zero side effects

[NoPoet]

Thanks for the input Sands and MrAndy.

I'll drop the sert today. Hopefully this won't put off anyone who is just starting sert - SSRIs are supposed to be well tolerated by people, but they aren't for everyone.

Wonder if 15mg of mirt will be enough. Apart from the weight gain, the side effects were minimal, I think fondly of it because of how much it's helped me, and I trust that it won't bite me on the bum because I was buggering about with my dose.

At least this episode has shown me areas that need to be improved on and things that must be left alone. It could be the most valuable experience in a year.

[MrAndy]

good luck !

[Emphyrio]

I used to tolerate SSRIs really well in the past; however, in the last year or so I find that I get hit with a tonne of side effects. Some of these side effects go away after a few weeks, others seem to stick around. I've given 3 SSRIs a serious go, and with each one, I've found things about them that I don't like.

However, what I did read was that some people appear to do well on supposedly 'sub-therapeutic' doses of SSRIs and other antidepressants. I found that just 5mg of citalopram vanquished the anxiety and OCD and meant I could drink coffee again without suffering for it (I had to quit it because it caused persistent visual snow that didn't fade). I'm currently taking 5mg of fluoxetine at the moment (have been on it for a week now and starting to get some of the akathisia type side effects - albeit at a manageable level) and hope that will be enough. Its my 4th time on fluoxetine - I stopped taking it in the past because of increased anxiety, however, I hope that the inositol I'm taking can help with that.

Interesting reading on SSRIs and dosing:

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2003/...effects_01.htm

Sertraline unfortunately is one of those drugs that only comes in 50mg tablets, and the liquid apparently costs a fortune so doctors won't prescribe it. Some people have used jeweller's scales successfully to weigh dosages, although in most cases its associated with a long, slow tapering method.

Also, you'll be fine to stop taking it after just 10 days.

[Tufty]

I stopped taking Sertraline after 3 weeks and continued to feel crap, I started Mirtazapine a week later and within 4 days I felt much better. I've stopped and started 8 psychotropic meds in the past 12 months and I have found that the reactions I have to SSRI's tend to resolve a week after stopping them. I think the Mirtazapine should help you get over the reaction to Sertraline.
I think you're right about how we often forget the unpleasant memories of our past - I have had horrid reactions to SSRI's, suffered with akathisia on 4 separate occasions but somehow have convinced myself that the next one will be different and over the past 12 months have tried 5 SSRI's. I've discovered that I'm OK for the first 2 days or so and then it's downhill.


I recently saw a psychiatrist who contradicted what some people on the forum say about getting worse before you get better on medication, I had continued taking medication even though I knew it was making me worse believing that I had to 'come through' the storm. He said that some side effects like nausea, an increase in anxiety and insomnia should be tolerated for 2 weeks but intense agitation and suicidal feelings indicate that the drug should be discontinued. He also said that as a rule if you feel worse after 2 weeks on a medication - stop it, if you feel the same or slightly better after 2 weeks increase the dose if needed to the therapeutic level but only if the side effects have settled and use this 2 weekly review until you reach the therapeutic level.



Another week and you should be back to pre Sertraline. Good luck
Sam

[NoPoet]

Hi everyone, thanks for the thoughtful and interesting posts.

I think from now on, with everything that's been said and done, I will recommend most people to try mirtazapine instead of other medications. My therapist can prescribe meds albeit usually for people with bipolar disorder, but for anxiety and depression, she thinks mirtazapine is probably the best-tolerated medication available. She wants doctors to prescribe it as first line treatment instead of citalopram.

She thinks it's of a higher quality than other antidepressants in some way, hence the lack of side effects, but it doesn't behave exactly like an SSRI and therefore has few of the pitfalls.

My own experience with mirt has been nothing less than excellent. It seems nearly everyone who has changed from an SSRI to mirt has benefited, but everyone who changed from mirt to an SSRI got horrible anxiety.

See this post for information I just received about horrible thoughts - the reason behind them is quite surprising.