Sertraline Withdrawal

[Cassius]

Hi guys,

I'm just wondering how slowly i should be withdrawing from Sertraling after taking it for two and a half years.

I've been on 100mg Sertraline since January 2013 and it's been generally wonderful for me. For six months I went up to 150mg in 2013 and came back down to 100mg with few real withdrawal symptoms.

Last week I split my dose in half and began taking 50mg and yesterday, day 10, I gradually felt worse and worse on the journey to work and before the final stop I felt as though every pore opened up on my body and I began sweating like crazy before vomiting and fainting. Some people helped me up, and me being stubborn i headed towards my office. I'd eaten a full breakfast and slept well, so it wasn't that. When I arrived my colleagues were shocked and told me i looked white as a sheet and "like a heroin junkie going cold turkey". They all know I'm on Sertraline and have reduced my dose to half. One of them came with me while i bought some supplies and took the train back home, where i took another 50mg and aside from feeling very tired, felt much better.

This morning, after a generally good night's sleep of 8 hours I woke up with pins and needles in both hands, extreme anxiety and diarrhea. I've taken 100mg again and just getting on with my day but just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences coming off Sertraline?

Thanks.

[helena8888]

Hi Cassius, from personal experience if you are not too much on a hurry I would advise you to stop REALLY slowly this medecine. I was at 75mg for almost a year and was feeling great. What I did was to reduce 1/8th of a pill every 2 weeks. Not easy to cut a 50mg pill in 8 but I would take a few pills, cut them and take them from the biggest piece to the smallest. I usually experienced symptoms (a bit more anxiety, feeling shaky, trouble sleeping) on days 3 to 5. After 2 weeks if I felt fine I would move to the next dosage. If I was not feeling completely good, I would stay on the dosage until I felt ok. Roughly it took me 4 months and if I had to do it again I would do it the same way. Even with this it was not a walk in the park but overall the discomfort was minimal. I am now 4 months after my last pill, I have little downs sometimes but I can manage. Good luck. Helena

[MrAndy]

I got off 50mg in about 3 months ,if i am honest i found it easy to come off,the slower you come off them the less likely you are going to get withdrawal symptoms
take it very slow and you should be ok,good luck

[spawn]

I've dropped from 100mg recently, I done 2 weeks at 75mg and then went to 50, felt a little on edge for a few days? I'm going to stay at 50 now for at least 4weeks before dropping to 25mg.

[Penny19]

Hi, I've been on Sertraline about 2.5 years. Been taking 50mg which I have felt great on. But decided to halve tabs for 2 months. Again ok, but last 2 weeks started to take half every other day. I've noticed I've been quite irritable snappy and tired and worrying. Then yesterday, had a panic attack. Been told by Dr to start on 50mg tabs today. As he thinks not the right time to come off. How does he know? Or is it that I am experiencing withdrawal and must try to ride it out? How can you tell the difference of not ready to come off or withdrawal?

[spawn]

I think that when you settle on the lowest dose and decide to stop its just a case of riding out the side effects. That's what I did when I came off Venlafaxine, I had 4 weeks of hell, but did come out the other side, although it was against my doctors orders!